Homily Three for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Three for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son 

By St. John of Kronstadt

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you” (Luke 15:18)

Beloved brethren, who among us has not labored and does not labor for sin every day, willingly or unwillingly, consciously or unconsciously, in understanding or in ignorance? Who has not angered the Lord, infinite Truth and Love? Who has not been wounded by the blade of sin and felt its sharpness and bitterness — the heavy confusion of conscience, sorrow and distress, those constant companions of sin? All of us, from the least to the greatest, are sinners before God, and therefore are subject to punishment and separation from Him. And if the Lord, in His boundless love and mercy toward fallen humanity, had not granted repentance and the forgiveness of sins for the sake of the sacrificial death on the Cross of His only-begotten Son, then all people would have descended into hell, the place of eternal torment. But glory be to the all-good and all-wise God, who has given repentance to sinners unto eternal life. Countless multitudes of sinners have been washed by the words of repentance, justified and sanctified by the most pure Blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself our sins and bore all the punishments prepared for us — and now they rejoice with the Angels in the dwellings of the saints. All of you standing here, sinners like myself — do you cherish this priceless gift of the Lord, the gift of repentance? Do you sigh like the publican, weep like the harlot, wash your bed with tears like David the forefather? Do you return to the heavenly Father with sincere and deep repentance, like the prodigal son of whom you heard in today’s Gospel reading?

Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Stratelates in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Theodore lived during the reign of Emperor Licinius (the first decades of the 3rd century AD). He came from Euchaita, but resided in Heraclea of Pontus. He surpassed most people in the beauty of his soul, the stature of his body, and the power of his speech. For this reason, everyone sought to gain his friendship. For the same reason Licinius greatly desired to meet him, even though he had heard that Theodore was a Christian and abhorred the so-called gods. Therefore, from Nicomedia he sent several men of the same rank as Theodore and ordered them to bring the martyr to him in a courteous manner. When they returned saying that the blessed Theodore had objected, stating that the emperor should rather come together with his greater gods, the emperor immediately came to Heraclea.

Saint Theodore, who willingly agreed to meet Licinius after a nocturnal vision sent to him by God, when he learned that the emperor was approaching, mounted a horse, went out to meet him, and honored him as was fitting. The emperor then extended his right hand and warmly greeted Theodore. He entered the city, and after sitting upon an elevated platform, urged the blessed Theodore to offer sacrifice to his gods. The Saint asked to take the statues of the most prominent gods to his own house, to offer his prayers there first, and afterward to make public libations to those gods. The emperor agreed and gave orders that the golden and silver statues be handed over to him. The Saint took them, and in the middle of the night shattered them, broke them into small pieces, and distributed them to the needy and the poor.

On the following day, when Maxentius the commentariensis reported that he had seen the head of the great goddess Aphrodite being carried about by a beggar, Licinius gave orders, and immediately the Saint was arrested by the emperor’s guard. First they stripped him naked, stretched him out held by four men, and flogged him with whips made of ox sinews: seven hundred blows on the back, fifty on the belly, and blows with leaden balls to the nape of his neck. Then they scraped him until blood flowed, burned him with torches, and rubbed his swollen and burned wounds with shards, after which they threw him into prison, fastening his feet in a wooden vise.

He remained in prison without food or water for seven days. They brought him out again and nailed his hands and feet to a cross, and there they drove a spike through the lower part of his body, reaching his entrails. Around him stood even children, who shot arrows at the Saint’s face and eyes, and from the arrows that struck his eyes the pupils fell out. Others cut off his genital organs, making transverse incisions. He spent the night upon the cross, and Licinius thought that he had already died. But he was mistaken. For an angel of the Lord released him from his bonds, and he became completely whole and healthy, and he sang and blessed God.

At dawn Licinius sent orders for the body of the martyr to be taken down and thrown into the sea. But when the emissaries arrived and saw that the Saint was still alive and entirely healthy, they believed in Christ — about eighty-five men in number. After them, another three hundred soldiers also believed in Christ, led by the proconsul Cestus, who had been sent to kill the former group. When Licinius saw the city in turmoil, he ordered that the Saint be beheaded. But vast crowds of Christians stood in the way and hindered the soldiers. Only when the Saint calmed them and prayed to Christ did they cut off his head, and thus the course of his martyrdom came to an end. His body was transferred from Heraclea to Euchaita, to his ancestral home, according to the instructions the martyr had previously given to his secretary Augaros. Augaros, who had been with the Saint throughout the entire period of his martyrdom, wrote the martyrdom account of the Saint in full detail — namely the questions posed to him and the answers he gave, the various kinds of tortures he endured, and the manifestations and help granted by God.

The mind of Saint Theodore, set aflame with divine longing, is the key that explains his endurance amid the many torments he suffered, as well as his power first to transcend all the offers made by the emperor himself. One must have one’s mind entirely turned toward God and be inflamed with love for Him in order to despise the friendship of a king — especially one wielding such authority in that era — and to scorn tortures that shatter the human body. This is precisely what the Church continually seeks for the faithful person: not merely to restrain him with certain commands and rules — for that would be a Judaization of her spiritual life — but to orient him toward love for God, the first and great commandment that God has given to humanity. “With your mind set ablaze by divine longing, with courage and great boldness you advanced to death by fire,” notes the Saint’s Hymnographer in the Kathisma of Orthros. “Your longing for God erased every impassioned attachment to earthly things, O all-blessed one, the pleasure of glory, wealth and luxury, and the famed height of universal recognition” (Ode 4).

The Hymnographer Nicholas, who wrote for Saint Theodore, emphasizes his beauty and bearing: Saint Theodore was “a handsome young man, of rare beauty, distinguished for the beauty of soul and body.” Yet human beauty, according to the Hymnographer — as we see in our Saints such as the one commemorated today — lies chiefly in the beauty of the soul. “A handsome youth you were shown, exceedingly comely, fittingly radiant with the beauty of soul and body, beautified by the loveliness of virtues and adorned with the marks of martyrs” (Ode 3). Indeed, for our faith, bodily beauty is a good, but because it is perishable it does not have primary importance. Old age comes, and what is often a source of pride for the possessor of this good disappears — without even taking into account possible injuries, illnesses that disfigure a person, or the all-destroying death. True beauty lies, as the Hymnographer says of the Saint, in the acquisition of the virtues. When the human soul is clothed in virtues, when the grace of God overshadows a person, then even one considered outwardly unattractive acquires a sweetness and a “radiance” that captivates and draws everyone. “A glad heart makes the face shine,” we hear the word of God say in this regard. In Saint Theodore, of course, both elements coexisted: the beauty of the body and the beauty of the soul. But for the Saint the priority was clear — the beauty of the soul, and not only through virtues, but above all through the sufferings he endured, for they clearly placed him in the footsteps of Him who is “fairer in beauty than all the sons of men,” Jesus Christ.

Through the martyrdom of Saint Theodore, however, we also have a kind of confirmation of the resurrection of the bodies that will come with the Second Coming of the Lord. That is to say, when the Lord, through His grace and by means of an angel, restored the body of the Saint — dismembered by tortures — making it once again completely healthy as it had been before his beheading, He gives us with great clarity an image of the re-creation of bodies that will take place. For there are Christians who ask: how will bodies dissolved by death, burned by fire, or devoured by beasts be raised? The answer, of course, is simple: God will bring about a new creation of them. He who created all things “out of nothing” will again create what has become corrupt and dissolved. And here precisely, in the martyrdom of Saint Theodore, we receive an image of this future creation: by a single act of His will, and indeed through His angel, the body is restored. “You were shown victorious, completely whole, after the crucifixion and every other cutting off and mortification of your members, you who conquered the world; for Christ, the Prince of Life, by the hand of an angel, restored you to life” (Ode 5).

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

Prologue in Sermons: February 8

How the Rich Should Conduct Themselves in Order to Be Saved

February 8

(A Discourse of Saint Ephraim to the rich on almsgiving.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Saint Gregory of Nazianzus says: “He who makes poor use of his wealth is himself poor, just as is the one who willingly wounds himself with the sword which he carries for the avenging of enemies.”

If you are rich and wish to be saved, do not attach your soul to riches in such a way that, for their sake, you forget God, trample the law, and lull your conscience to sleep; but strive more and more by your deeds to glorify Him who bestowed them upon you (from the book Imperishable Food, p. 216).

How are these words to be understood?

The Death and Resurrection of a Cart Driver (From the Life of Saint Parthenios of Lampsakos)

The Death and Resurrection of a Cart Driver

(From the Life of Saint Parthenios of Lampsakos)

The demons did not refrain from interfering in the beautiful and good works of Saint Parthenios. For this reason, one day the following event took place:

When Parthenios had completed the construction work of the house of worship built in the name of the Most High Lord, he found a flat stone which he deemed suitable for the altar. He ordered a cart driver named Eutychianos to transport this flat stone to the church that was being built. However, the crafty evil spirit, envying this good work of Parthenios, sought to create an obstacle to his plans. Thus, during the transport of the flat stone, it enraged the oxen, and in their frenzy they threw the poor cart driver between the wheels. As a result, his belly was torn open, his intestines spilled out, and shortly thereafter he died.

Venerable Luke of Steirion in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorborakis

This holy man is an offshoot and delight of Greece. His ancestors were from the island of Aegina, who, unable to endure the continual attacks of the Hagarenes, migrated and arrived in central Greece, where the blessed Luke was born. From early childhood he abstained not only from meat, but also from eggs and cheese. His food and drink were barley bread, water, and legumes. By afflicting his body with every form of ascetic hardship and discipline, he considered it his joy to feed the hungry and to give clothing to the naked, and by these deeds he was satisfied. For this reason, because he often gave away even his own garment, he would return to his dwelling naked. And whenever he lifted up his prayers to God, his feet would rise almost a cubit from the ground and appeared not to touch the earth at all. When he later embraced the monastic life, it is impossible to describe the degree of self-control and hardship the blessed one displayed. As a monk he traveled through all the coastal regions, and through the miracles wrought by him he became a cause of salvation for many. Afterwards he ceased his wanderings and remained at the Monastery. Seven years later, in that very place, he foretold his end to all, and thus departed this life.

The life of Venerable Luke of Greece — known to us as Hosios Loukas of Steirion in Boeotia — constitutes a precise and living commentary on the words of the Lord: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.” For Venerable Luke indeed, from a very young age, turned with a fervent love toward Christ so strong that it surpassed even his natural love for his parents, especially for his mother, who loved him deeply.

Prologue in Sermons: February 7

Chaste People, By Preserving Chastity Themselves, Take Care That Others Preserve It As Well

February 7

(A Saying from the Lemonarion about a black-robed nun who fled into the desert for the sake of a young man.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

To turn a sinner away from sin and to bring him back from the error of his way is a great work, as the Holy Apostle James also teaches. “Brethren,” he says, “if any of you err from the way of truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he who converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19–20). Thus the Apostle teaches, but does he teach rightly?

One of the desert elders, named John, related the following: There was in Jerusalem a certain maiden, tall in stature, chaste, and of holy life, named Mastridia. The devil, envying her piety, implanted in a certain young man the thought of seducing her into sin. Mastridia learned of this and, in order to turn the young man away from sin and to preserve her virginity, acted thus: she gathered bread-grains into a basket and departed into the desert. By this she drove away from the young man the evil thought that inclined him toward sin and brought peace to his heart.

Hymns to our Venerable Fathers Barsanuphios and John (Venerable Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis)

On the sixth day of the same month [February], the commemoration of Venerable Barsanuphios the Great Elder and of Venerable John, called the Prophet, his disciple.

Verses

From the earth was formed the body of Barsanuphius.
And he returned to the earth, to his own mother.
It is just, O John, at the same time
To place you here, the beloved teacher.
On the sixth, the divine spirit of Barsanuphius was lifted from the earth.

Apolytikion. 
Tone Plagal First. "Ton synanarchon Logon."

Having lived a life equal to the angels, O Father Barsanuphios, together with John, you appeared as radiant stars of asceticism and guides of monastics toward the better path. Being full of divine light, you unceasingly intercede that our souls may be shown mercy.

Saint Photios the Great in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The great Father and Teacher of the Church, Photios (9th c.), the Confessor of the Faith and Equal to the Apostles, lived during the reigns of the emperors Michael, son of Theophilos, Basil the Macedonian, and Leo his son. His earthly homeland was the imperial city of Constantinople, being of origin from a pious and distinguished family, while his heavenly homeland was the Jerusalem above. Before entering the priesthood he distinguished himself in high offices, serving as a professor at the University of the Magnaura; and always living a virtuous and God-loving life, he was later entrusted, as Patriarch, with the guidance of the Church of Constantinople.

This took place as follows: when Saint Ignatios was violently deposed from the archiepiscopal throne by the emperor, the vacant throne had to be filled, and so the emperor turned to Photios and compelled him to succeed Saint Ignatios canonically. Thus he was first tonsured a monk and then passed “in rapid succession” through all the ranks of the priesthood.

As Patriarch he struggled greatly on behalf of the Orthodox faith against the Manichaeans, the Iconoclasts, and other heretics, but above all against the papal heresy which appeared for the first time in his era, whose leader was Pope Nicholas, the father of the Latin schism. After reproving Nicholas for his heretical views with proofs from Holy Scripture and the Fathers, and after judging him synodically, he considered him outside the Church and consigned him to anathema. For these actions, he naturally suffered many persecutions and dangers from the supporters of papism, many attacks and acts of violence against him, all of which he endured in a Christ-like manner, he who was distinguished for his long-suffering, patience, and adamantine character — facts well known to anyone who studies Church history.

What must especially be recalled, however, is that the blessed Photios, who ministered the gospel like another Apostle Paul, converted to the faith of Christ the entire nation of the Bulgarians together with their king, after catechizing and baptizing them. Likewise, by his words full of grace, wisdom, and truth, he regenerated and returned to the Catholic Church of Christ many different heretics — Armenians, Iconoclasts, and other heterodox believers. Indeed, when by the firmness of his conviction he astonished the murderous and ungrateful Emperor Basil and uprooted the weeds of every false teaching with his fervent zeal, he appeared more than anyone else as a genuine successor of the Apostles, filled with their Spirit-bearing teaching.

Thus, after shepherding the Church of Christ in a holy and evangelical manner, after ascending twice to the archiepiscopal throne against his will and being twice exiled from it by tyrannical force, and after leaving to the Church and the people of God many and varied writings — excellent and most wise, such as every age can truly admire — and after suffering greatly, as we have said, for his struggles on behalf of truth and justice, the much-contending one finally departed to the Lord, dying in exile at the Monastery of the Armenians, like the divine Chrysostom at Comana. His sacred and most honorable body was laid to rest in the monastery called Eremia or Hiremia. In former times his most holy synaxis was celebrated in the Church of the Honorable Forerunner located in that monastery, but now it is celebrated at the sacred and Patriarchal Monastery of the Holy Trinity on the island of Halki, where the Theological School of the Great Church of Christ is also located.

Saint Boukolos of Smyrna in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Boukolos from a young age sanctified himself and became a vessel of the Holy Spirit. He was found worthy and fit by the all-praised and Christ-beloved divine John the Theologian, who ordained him bishop and good shepherd of the Church of Smyrna. Boukolos, illumined by the Holy Spirit, led those who were in the darkness of error into the light of the faith of Christ, and through holy baptism made them sons of the day, saving them from countless savage beasts. Thus, before departing this life, he ordained and appointed as shepherd and Teacher of the rational sheep in the same city, Smyrna, the blessed Polycarp, and then he fell asleep in the Lord. And when his honorable body was laid beneath the earth, God caused a plant to spring up that provides healings to this day.

Saint Boukolos is not very well known to most of our Christians, although he belongs to the Apostolic Fathers, who shone by their life and preaching. Perhaps this is because he stood between two most eminent men, great stars of our Church, who overshadowed him with their brilliance: Saint John the Theologian and Saint Polycarp of Smyrna. And on the other hand, he is also commemorated together with another star, a universal father and teacher, equal to the apostles and confessor, great in his very title — Saint Photios, Patriarch of Constantinople. Yet despite all the radiance of these great and eminent figures, Saint Boukolos, according to our Church, never ceases “to flash forth with the light of his God-working virtues, being set as a light on the lampstand of the divine Church and making it radiant with his sacred teachings” (“Shining with the light of God-working virtues, most holy one, you were mystically set as a light on the lampstand of the divine Church, making it radiant, Father, by your sacred teachings” - Vespers sticheron). He is the man who, as Saint Joseph the Hymnographer notes elsewhere in his Canon, “shone as light, as radiance, as a great sun, as lightning in the Church of Christ, and illumined the minds of the faithful” (“As light, as radiance, as a great sun, as lightning you shone forth in the Church of Christ and illumined the minds of the faithful” - Ode 9).