Homily Two for the Sunday of Saint Thomas
By St. John of Kronstadt
By St. John of Kronstadt
Behold, the feast of feasts has passed for us, the royal gates in the temples of the Lord are closed, and the service has become less solemn than it was during Bright Week. What, then, brethren, has this feast left in our souls? After all, Christian feasts do not pass before us in their turn in order to leave our souls idle, but in order to abolish, to free us from the cares and affairs of worldly vanity. In other words: the Lord gives us feasts so that for a time we stop thinking, worrying, rejoicing or grieving about worldly, earthly, transient things, and to think, care, rejoice about heavenly, eternal things. It was precisely for this purpose that the past feast was given to us.
The Lord has granted us to behold the all-bright feast of the Resurrection of Christ so that we might see in it the beginning of the general resurrection of the whole human race on the last day of the world: "Christ is risen from the dead, He has become the firstfruits of them that slept" (1 Cor. 15:20), says the word of God. For us, the Lord suffered, died, was buried, and rose again: and His death, burial, and resurrection are, as it were, our own death, burial, and resurrection. That is why we sang at Matins during Bright Week: "Yesterday I was buried with You, O Christ, today I rise with You, having risen again." Yes, we will certainly all rise again, and we all look forward to it, that is, we await the resurrection of the dead. This is as certain as it is certain that tomorrow will be a day. Has this ever occurred to you, have you thought about it during the feast? But it was absolutely necessary to think about it. All the great ecclesiastical feasts, and the feast of Easter especially, remind us of our redemption through Jesus Christ from eternal death and of our resurrection for the life of the age to come.
But he who believes in his resurrection from the dead, prepares himself here for the future life, tries to live according to the commandments of the Lord, honors the feasts of the Lord and is extremely careful not to offend their holiness with deeds of carnal impurity. And what did we do on the bright feast, we Orthodox Christians? It is shameful to speak, but it must be spoken. Christians have made, to the greatest sorrow of the Holy Mother Church, dark days out of the bright days of Pascha week, days worthy of tears and lamentation. Very many celebrated not the feast of the Resurrection of Christ and our own resurrection from dead works, but the feast of the demonic resurrection in their souls. Great Lent was a defeat, a death for the devil, because he fled from many souls and seemed to die for them after heartfelt repentance and communion of the Holy Mysteries; but on the feast of Pascha he rose again in very many souls. How did he rise? Through gluttony, drunkenness, debauchery and other vices, which drunkenness leads to and to which many Christians indulged. This is how Christians love Christ; this is how they celebrated the greatest feast of the year! What benefit does the name of Christians give to such people? Many pagans live better than them and, without a doubt, are more worthy than them in the eyes of God. The non-believers and non-Orthodox living in our city are astonished by their behavior during such a great feast and say: "Here you have Christians, here you have Orthodox! They celebrate like true pagans, and what a celebration it is!" Thus, the non-believers and non-Orthodox speak of us. But what does the Lord Himself say about our celebrations, or rather about our manner of celebrating? "I hate your feasts, and I cannot bear the solemn assemblies; your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them" (Isaiah 1:14), says the Lord.
Brethren! To whom have we become similar? To what extent have we forgotten ourselves? And upon us is fulfilled in all its strength the word of Scripture: "A man is held in honor, yet does not understand; he is like the beasts that perish" (Psalm 48:13, 21). Christ the Lord has honored us with His name, washed us with His blood, made us a chosen people, a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9); yet we have boldly, foolishly disregarded the mercy of God and bring dishonor upon ourselves through various unworthy deeds. "Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminates, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the Kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9–10). Yes, if you do not cease to behave this way, especially during the feasts that should be sanctified according to the command of the Lord, you shall not see the Kingdom of God.
Brethren! It is extremely necessary for us to be more sensible and attentive to ourselves on the feasts of the Lord. The Lord will strictly demand of us for unreasonable celebration. We must celebrate our feasts not according to the flesh, like the idolaters, but according to the spirit, although physicial celebration, if it occurs together with the spiritual, is permitted and not contrary to the Lord, but in this case it should never go beyond the bounds of moderation. "God is Spirit" (John 4:24; 2 Cor. 3:17); our soul, redeemed by the Savior, is spirit: therefore our feasts should be more spiritual than carnal. He who celebrates only according to the flesh, celebrates not God, but his idol, the belly, or, what is all the same, the demon of intemperance. God deliver everyone from such feasts! The abundance of carnal food is permitted to Christians on feasts for the glory of God, i.e., so that we eat and drink with moderation, giving thanks to God, Who with spiritual joy sends us also bodily consolation in the variety and sweetness of food and drink, so that our joy would not be lacking. But spiritual joy on a feast should always be higher than bodily; yet for us it is the opposite.
It is said in God's commandment:"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Ex. 20:8); in our New Testament language this means: Remember Sunday, do not forget its holiness and try to sanctify it yourself with your good deeds.
Lord! Grant us to always remember Your commandment to celebrate feast days, to keep them sacredly and to please You with spiritual celebration. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
