Homily One for Cheesefare Sunday (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily One for Cheesefare Sunday

By St. John of Kronstadt

“When you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance.
For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting" (Matthew 6:16).

At present there are very few people who, through hypocrisy, would want to seem to others during Great Lent to be great fasters – in order to earn glory from people. Most likely, there will now be people who do not want to be or seem to be fasters, because they consider fasting to be a useless and superfluous matter for themselves, and those who seem to others to be fasters – a stupid and ridiculous matter. But, despite these extremes, there are undoubtedly among Christians those who keep to the golden mean, and, without deviating either to the right or to the left, go the path of fasting straight and evenly, like true fasters, fasting a fast that is pleasing and acceptable to the Lord.

Tomorrow begins the Great Forty Days or Great Lent – a truly precious time for people who know how to fast as they should in the Christian spirit. So that this time may serve us for spiritual benefit and salvation, let us now talk about the necessity and benefit of fasting.

Is fasting necessary, that is, abstinence not only from certain foods that are not eaten during fasting, but also abstinence from eating them in large quantities? Is fasting necessary as abstinence from the pleasures of gross sensuality? Is fasting necessary as abstinence from disorderly thoughts and movements of the heart and disapproving actions? And do you want, beloved, to inherit blessed eternity, or the kingdom of heaven, which also undoubtedly exists, as undoubtedly as it is that we now live on earth, because the incarnate God the Word Himself, His prophets, apostles and all His saints assure us of this? How could we not want it! There, according to the faithful and immutable word of God, “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17) live forever and ever, there is God, there are blessed spirits, there are righteous people; and on earth, for a little more than seventy years only, and you see sins, confusion and disasters everywhere. If you want this, then you must certainly fast, since "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 15:50), because "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink" (Rom. 14:17). Flesh and blood, food and drink, as gross, elemental, earthly things, must remain on earth and be subject to the common fate of earthly bodies - corruption. In heaven there is not and cannot be a place for gross flesh and blood precisely because there is heaven, and not earth, because the creatures of that world have properties completely different from the properties of people living in the lusts of the world - spiritual, light-bearing properties. Should I tell you about God Himself, the Father of the blessed inhabitants of heaven? He is the purest Spirit, Who abhors as filth the deeds of the flesh, which go beyond the bounds of law, moderation and decency. “My Spirit shall not dwell in these men forever,” He said of the people who offended Him with their attachment to sensual pleasures. Why? “For,” He says, “they are flesh” (Gen. 6:3), because they are gross flesh, a piece of earth, in which there is nothing spiritual, akin to Me. Behold, He also now speaks of us: "My Spirit cannot dwell in these men, because they are thick flesh, in which My Spirit cannot rest, since sin dwells in them, impurity, but I am righteous and holy." Does he speak of created spirits? These are the second saints according to God, who, being also alien to all materiality, pure and holy, can accept into their blessed community only those who throw off the yoke of carnal slavery, and, living on earth, think about heaven, do not serve the whims of their flesh, knowing that it will decay in time in the earth. Does he speak of the holy men of God, who have passed from the corruptible earth to the eternal abodes of heaven? These are earthly angels, who, either by fasting and vigil, or by the exploits of martyrdom and various virtues, rose above their flesh, made their nature so venerable that the bodies of many of them, having partaken of divine grace, became above the common lot of everything material, that is, corruption. They knew that our body is a house built by the hand of a skilled artist, in which a being of heavenly origin lives only for a time, who after a short time will leave his earthly hut and soar to his place, and therefore they lived not for the body, but for the soul. Yes, in order to make our existence most blessed, the Lord was pleased to settle us in this world. Only for a short time, so that, enjoying on earth and from earth the contemplation of the material creations of God, heavenly and earthly, their beauty, correctness, harmony and diverse, innumerable multitude, we would love their Creator, desire union with Him - the original beauty - and by deeds of holiness and love are found worthy of this eternal unity here.

It is as if He were saying to every person living here and contemplating His creations: "Look how immense My creations are, but at the same time how harmonious and beautiful. Look at yourself, how small and invisible you are in My creation, and I promise you, as an insignificant one, heaven as your lot, with its infinity, with its eternity; I promise it to you on certain conditions; and you know that I am the truth and cannot lie. Why do you not try to fulfill these conditions, why do you cling to the earth, and so strongly that you cannot be torn away from it? Do you really not want to come to Me in order to receive eternal pleasure from the knowledge and contemplation of My innumerable creations in union with Me, the Creator of everything that you see, and most of all, to be blessed in Me, the source of blessedness for all rational creatures? How can you not soar your soul to heaven, not “to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11), not to gain the upper hand over your sin-loving flesh, which pulls you to the earth, and in time will certainly lie down in it, like a lump of earth? What benefit do you get from tasty food and drinks, how are you not ashamed to burden yourself with them? Why do you give yourself over to the power of sensuality? Or do you enjoy it? Look: the imaginary sweetness of your pleasures is a dangerous bait of the flesh, through which it easily gains the upper hand over your soul, and does not give you the opportunity to think about heaven and strive there. Fear this bait. Like a fly in honey, you will get stuck in it and remain - until death."

Is fasting necessary as abstinence from disordered thoughts and movements of the heart and disapproving actions? If you agree that God is your Lawgiver and righteous Judge, Who knows how to punish violators of His laws, if your conscience tells you that your soul has more than once violated the order of moral life out of order, has disobeyed the laws of the Creator: then you must necessarily agree that you need to restore the order of your moral life, bring your thoughts into proper order from disorderly wandering here and there, force your heart to tear itself away from unworthy objects, to which, through your inattention and oversight, it has clung so strongly that it has forgotten the first object of its love - God; behave in such a way that your actions would not be shameful to present both before the judgment of your conscience and before the judgment of people and God. You know that an unrighteous thought is an abomination to the Lord, that God asks for your heart, which you have given over to the will of passions, that "no evildoer" (Psalm 5:5) or unclean person will dwell with Him. If you want to be with God, if you want to be eternally prosperous, then you must agree that you need to fast with your soul, collect your mind, correct your thoughts, purify your thoughts, instead of the rags of unrighteous deeds adorn yourself with the precious garment of good deeds. Bodily fasting is established so that it would be easier for the soul to fast.

Should we speak any more after this about the benefit of fasting, since, having spoken about its necessity, we have also partly pointed out its benefit? It pacifies our sinful, capricious flesh, frees the soul from its heaviness, giving it, as it were, wings for free soaring to heaven; it gives place to the action of God's grace. He who fasts freely and correctly knows how light and bright the soul is during fasting; then good thoughts easily come to the head, and the heart is purer, more tender, more compassionate. We feel a desire for good deeds; contrition for sins appears, the soul begins to feel the destructiveness of its situation and begins to contrite over sins. But when we do not fast, when thoughts are in disorder, feelings are unbridled and the will allows itself everything, then you rarely see a saving change in a person, then he is dead in his soul: all its forces act in the wrong direction; the main goal of action, the goal of life is lost sight of, there are many private goals, almost as many as each person has passions or whims. A strange work takes place in the soul, the result of which is, apparently, some kind of creation: you see the materials for construction, the beginning, middle and end of the matter, but in fact the end of everything turns out to be nothing. The soul goes against itself, against its own salvation with all its strength: with mind, will and feeling. He who fasts in a Christian way, wisely, freely, he, according to the true promise of the Lord, is honored with a reward for his feat from the Heavenly Father. "Your Father," said the Savior about the true faster, "who sees in secret, will reward you openly" (Matthew 6:4). And this reward, without a doubt, is always generous, truly paternal, serving our most essential benefit.

Brethren! let us recognize that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, that we are not our own, but God's, because we were bought with the price of the blood of the Son of God. "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and are not your own, for ye were bought with a price?" (1 Cor. 6:19, 20). Let us respect our nature, exalted to the communion of the divine nature; let us eat and drink as much as is necessary for the support of life and for the strength of our powers; let us not give it over to the power of impure passions, let us make it a sanctuary, which we ourselves would not be ashamed to look upon, and in which God would recognize the work of His hands. Hitherto we have sinned and given ourselves over to the pleasures of gross sensuality; let us live at least now chastely and holy. We have hitherto been far from God by our carnal deeds; let us at least now draw near to Him. Let us learn how good He is. Behold, He gives us His flesh and blood to eat. If you are convinced that in yourself, without God, you are nothing more than unclean decay, dust, a sinner, alien to the blessed life, then you will understand how great is the good deed of the Lord, who feeds us with His flesh and blood. He is the source of life for all creatures and wants to settle in you, through union with Him in the Mystery of Communion, His life, His perfections, His peace, His blessedness, and to make you eternally alive. Let us always keep in mind that our soul must strive for godlike perfection, for the dear freedom of the spirit, and that it cannot attain this perfection if we bound it with carnal deeds, fetter it with the tight and heavy chains of matter.

May the Lord help us to meet Great Lent with joy. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.