Month: February 2024

HOLINESS FROM GRACE

Archpriest Sergiy Baranov

Church of All Saints at Kulishki, Moscow

11.02.2024

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

I am very glad today to have a chance to serve at your church dedicated to All Saints. In addition, today we commemorate such an amazing saint as Ignatius the God-bearer!  

The very epithet to his name inspires me to say a few words about the nature of this unique phenomenon, holiness. I would like to speak a little about what this outstanding phenomenon of holiness is. If we do not understand the essence of this phenomenon correctly, we will commit a great and horrible spiritual mistake. The mistake that was committed by our forbearers, Adam and Eve, in heaven.  

When the serpent tempted them and invited them to taste the forbidden fruit, Adam said with childish naivety, “It is forbidden to us to eat from this fruit, as we will surely die!” To which satan answered them like a human, “You will not die but you will be like gods!”1 After all, this was probably the biggest temptation. To become a god without God. The Lord says, “Do not do this, I am asking you.” He addresses them like children, very gently and kindly, “I am asking you.” He said the following words, “I am asking, do not eat.” However, Adam and Eve could not cope with this temptation. They wanted to become saints or gods without God. A while later, the builders of the Tower of Babel made the same mistake.  They also had a negative result, a failure. 

Their inner compulsion to move upwards, there, in the heavens, induced their activity. They made that tower, made bricks, put them one on top of another and tried to move there, upwards, but again, the result was negative; it was a failure. Everything was ruined, including all their efforts and asceticism.  

We should understand the main sense of holiness. Holiness is a feature of God. It is not a feature of a human. A human can touch holiness only through union with God. In the Holy Fathers’ theology, it is called deification. A human is not holy by himself but he becomes holy through touching God’s holiness. 

During the Holy Liturgy, we have just heard the following words, “Holy Things are for the holy.” These words concern every one of us. What is the meaning of them? It does not mean that we are all saints and we came to get our Holy Things. Our participation in holiness is made through the Mystery of Baptism, when we enter the Church, or the Body of Christ.  We come inside the Body of Christ, into the realm of holiness, but we are not holy by ourselves, we only entered the realm of the Body of Christ that is holy.  We are allowed to approach the Holy Things, participate in the Mysteries of the Church and thus we can hear “Holy Things are for the holy.” 

Today, now, in a minute, you will receive the Eucharist, you will directly receive  the Body and Blood of Christ into yourselves. Christ will be inside of you. To an extent, it will be possible to say about you that you are holy. However, this will not be your holiness, but the holiness that will dwell in you after the Communion. This is a unique phenomenon. “No one is holy but One, that is, God,”2 the Lord says in the Gospel. Every person can be holy by relation and involvement into Divinity.  

Holiness is the nature of Divinity, it does not belong to us. At the same time, you might wonder, “So, no effort is needed on our part? Just go and take Communion, touch the Mysteries of the Church, be a Church member and you are already holy? And it is said about you at the Liturgy ‘Holy Things are for the holy.’”   

Do you know what it is like when the holiness of God enters every one of us through the mysterious Body of the Church by His mercy? I would compare this with a sad phenomenon, when the light of God, His holiness and purity descend into a filthy and dark prison. Untidy, ill-smelling and nasty, and He descends there by His mercy. He does not defile Himself but the prison remains nasty. If one takes a precious pearl and throws it into dirt, then he will hold a piece of dirt in his hand but the pearl inside of it will not change, it will remain the way it used to be.  

Therefore, to this holiness that makes us holy by the mercy of God, through the Mystery of Baptism, thanks to which we can approach the Mysteries, including the Mystery of the Eucharist, we should add our personal effort and sincerity. This is like the renovation of an old dark and greasy icon, in which we might even not see the image, but it still remains an icon. The dirt on the icon remains dirt. Thus, our asceticism, our spiritual life resembles the renovation of an old icon, which needs to take off the soot, darkness, and dirt, layer by layer, in order to set free the holiness that lies underneath, so it could shine. 

Holiness is a unique phenomenon, if a person understands its essence. Ignatius the God-bearer… It is so good that today is his day. There is the tradition… Look, the very epithet “God-bearer” tells us where his holiness was, he was bearing God inside of himself and emanated light, which did not belong to him but to the Divinity because God dwelled in his heart. This is why he was a God-bearer. 

No matter how much effort we apply, what kind of feats, perseverance and stability we perform, no one of us can become holy through our own effort, diligence, techniques or some exercises.  God makes humans holy, when we, having humbled ourselves, realize our narrowness… Look, how the prayer “O Heavenly King” goes, “Come and dwell in us, and cleanse us of all impurity.” These words are very exact.  It is not I who cleanse myself by the feat of prayer, fast, asceticism and vigilance but You cleanse me. Whilst all of my feats are just an indication of my sincerity and eagerness, so You come and dwell in me and cleanse me of all impurity. 

You will now come up to receive the Eucharist like holy ones, partially. This holiness is not a dignity or honor. This holiness is a big responsibility. Our holiness consists only in the fact that the Lord accepted us into His Body or the Church of Christ, that we became the particles of this Body. Being related to this Body, the holy ones approach the Holy Things. However, this is a great responsibility! We should not let the Body and Blood of Christ go into a dirty, ill-smelling and filthy prison. He, by His humility, will descend and will dwell there but we should feel that His holiness is offended and do something with ourselves.  We should renovate our own image a little.  

Glory to our God, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages! 

1 Gen. 3:5

2 Mk. 10:18

 

DARING LOVE

Archpriest Sergiy Baranov

Holy Trinity Cathedral, Iveron Monastery of Orsk

18.02.2024

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

God put into our human nature such feelings that touch and disturb the powers of the soul. We feel when we do wrong and through our conscience perceive the signal of wrong behavior. We feel our narrowness, imperfection, and God embedded all this  into us, so we could act right in our life. However, satan enters these powers of the soul and aggravates them, parasitizing on them. He aggravates our sense of imperfection to inferiority. He brings our sense of guilt to depression and diseased states. This is how he paralyzes a person and carries him to desperation.    Thus, a person seems to repent but only admits his sin and after this nothing happens. Because satan aggravated everything in us and we sunk into despair and could not do anything then.   

Take today’s Gospel. Today we remember a small and worthless man,  Zacchaeus the Publican. Judging from his appearance, he was a short and worthless man, and judging from his inner state, he was a publican, the person who collected taxes from his own people. It might seem that satan would work with him as he usually does. Christ comes, a crowd of people, he is the shortest of all. “I will not squeeze between them anyway. I am shorter than any of them. I won’t see anything. I won’t be able to approach. The crowd will push me aside.” And deeper, “I am worthless. I might come up to Him and He would say, ‘Get behind Me, you are a worthless person, do not desecrate My holiness by your worthlessness.’” However, a sane spirit lives in this man.  Despite his worthlessness, the worthlessness of his height, public position and inner state, there is a sane spirit that dwells in him. Regardless of everything, no matter what, he applies effort and seeks a means, “I am short of  height, I will climb the tree and see Him from the tree.” 

Look, what an inspiration, what daring this little person has! He climbs up a tree to see the Lord. And immediately the Lord says the words which no worthful person surrounding Him is honored with, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”1 The Lord chooses the most worthless one, the smallest one, but the most daring one, who acts notwithstanding of his worthlessness. His love overcomes his pride, suspicion and the fear of being rejected. His love overcomes everything. He climbs the tree, clambers there and hears the following words, “I will come and dine at your place.” The Lord comes into his house and “the righteous ones” become confused and even express their confusion over the Lord, “Doesn’t He see? He should see, He should see people’s hearts, He should be a clairvoyant. How is it possible that He can’t see who He pays visit and who prefers to us?” 

The love of God prefers the humble ones and gives His grace to them. What does the Holy Scripture say? “On this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,2 and he will receive My grace.” In other religions, worthful people receive grace, but in Orthodoxy it is the humble ones. It happened despite and in contradiction to logic. “He shouldn’t receive it.” But the Lord gives it to him.  

Satan always tries to aggravate everything. He aggravates our repentance, the vision of our sins, drives us to despair and paralyzes our activity to make us give up. I understand when during repentance a person lowers his eyes and head, as he feels embarrassed and ashamed of himself. You might lower your eyes and head but do not lose your heart, you should not give up, you should act.  If you lack courage and inner power to fly towards God, run. You lack energy and courage to run, go. No courage to go, crawl. Even if you don’t have energy to crawl, you can lie down towards Christ, turn your head towards Him and cry, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” If you don’t have energy to cry, just look towards Him and He will see you.   

How often we do not feel one another and the situation. Don’t we? He is slamming and slamming and slamming that door. Doesn’t he feel that it disturbs us? Should we be patient? We will be. However, every one of us should be delicate; we should feel one another. Not only ourselves but also the people who stand by your side at the Liturgy. Everyone is concentrating on the altar now. Stop walking around the church. Do not put the candles, whisper and rattle. You should feel it, it is not something supernatural, just an elementary politeness.  

Glory to our God, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages!

1Lk. 19:5

2Is. 66:2

UNIQUENESS OF THE UNIQUE

Archpriest Sergiy Baranov

Sermon on the Day of the Blessed Xenia of Petersburg 

Holy Trinity Cathedral. Iveron Monastery of Orsk

06.02.2024

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

Once, a priest asked me how it is possible to serve the Holy Liturgy, read the ectenia, dismissals, and say secret priest’s prayers without losing their meaning and to say the Jesus prayer without ceasing at the same time. And he said the following phrase, “It is impossible to have two thoughts in your mind simultaneously.”  

In fact, it is impossible to have two thoughts at the same time, if we do not understand the nature of a soul. Our soul is created by God in such a way that here (in our head) dwells the mind, and here (in our heart) dwells wisdom.  Here we reflect on something, but here we give the final assessment. The mind is here and wisdom is there. The mind approaches the object of investigation and analyzes it. The mind considers it from different points and studies it but the final esteem is given by the heart.  

You might agree there are cases when the mind breaks everything down for you and everything seems to be correct but your heart isn’t in it. The heart looks somewhere deeper, into subtler states, where the mind cannot permeate. The mind, to its capacity, seems to estimate, reason out and approve everything but the heart says “no.” 

Therefore, we should understand that our soul is here (in the heart), and the mind is here (in the head). Why don’t we understand this?  Because the wise part of our soul is damaged in its essence and it simply almost does not exist. We live through our mind. We live by it and we put our trust in it too much, we base ourselves upon it but always make mistakes. Somehow, it does not save us from mistakes. We trust in it too much, strain and apply it everywhere and base upon this reasoning part of our soul.  Everything seems to be right to us, we have weighed and mentally compartmentalized it all, but the result is as usual negative. This is because it is one’s wisdom, not mind, that sees the point of things. However, unfortunately, we do not have wisdom. We only have our mind. We have the ability to reason, while wisdom comes from God, it is the voice of God that tells us about the essence of things. The mind acts superficially, while wisdom looks into the essence, the very depth. 

In order to serve the Holy Liturgy (say ectenia, read secret prayer and follow everything attentively) and combine it with the Jesus prayer, a priest should use the mind he has in his heart or wisdom. We cannot have two thoughts in our mind, only one, otherwise, they will obstruct each other. But it turns out we can serve the external Liturgy with our mind and say the Jesus prayer without ceasing with our mind in the heart, “Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest Jesus.” 

For those people who live only by the reasoning part of their soul, this theme is not clear. But if the mind, which dwells in their hearts, reanimates through a correct spiritual life, through nourishment by the Jesus prayer, the name of God, if it suddenly comes to life, then it turns out that you can serve the Holy Liturgy, say the dismissals, and simultaneously experience the Jesus prayer with another part of your soul. You may even be an accountant: your mind will calculate and your heart will say, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” 

I do not say it is easy, that it is done in a snap. The Holy Fathers dedicated the whole of their lives to this, to reanimate their heart not like an organ of feelings and emotions but like the center of our wisdom, the center of our “I.” Only in our heart can we understand the essence of things. In our head we can only beat about the bush and keep on approaching the center. But the final esteem lives in our heart because God dwells there.  

Why am I saying such a strange sermon? Because today we commemorate our Blessed Mother Xenia, who is a fool for Christ, and this unique feat of being a fool for Christ in general. Fewer people understand the essence of it. If we approach this feat through our mind, we will receive it only through our mind. We cannot fathom the essence of their feat. What happened to them? What did they live by? What subtle states of soul did they have? They left their mind for wisdom, which is in the heart, and preferred the heart to the head. There are only doubts in your head, while God dwells in your heart.  

By a miraculous way, through revelation, they come to see the point of things, see where God is and turn their lives around.   The mind always keeps moving forward, outwards and suddenly, a person who realizes where God is, turns around and follows inside of himself. He goes here, in the heart, where there is the mind, the wisdom, and the meeting with Christ is possible. Can you imagine, millions of people go one way and suddenly one of them turns around and goes against the stream the opposite way. He runs into people, being in their way, irritates them, annoys them, sometimes even to hatred. They do not simply become irritated, but push, shove, kick and call him names. But he bears all of this because he knows where he is going.  He is going against the crowd, yes, he realizes where he is going. He goes towards Christ, inside of himself, to the place where, according to the Holy Gospel, is the Kingdom of Heaven. “The Kingdom of God is within you.”* This is where he goes and the rest of the people go the other way. 

Certainly, there will be a special attitude to this person. A madman, a freak. He encumbers everyone greatly. It would have been impossible to bear the hatred of the crowd, if you did not have a pearl in your hands. You know that you carry it, it warms you, you know this gift, you have a little treasure, and all of your attention is drawn to it.  You do not pay attention to insults, misunderstanding and aggression, you are concentrated on the pearl. They push you, you fall, smash your knees, rise up and go on all the same, because you have got your treasure. Christ is the Kingdom of God. Christ is the Treasure.  

How many smart people in the world! In the format of the mind. Oh, a great number! What is the result? Nothing. It’s only in minus and minus. They say smart words and have serious eyes. All stupidity on earth is done with a smart expression on the face. All this is nonsense. But all of a sudden, these mad people go against the crowd and reprove the silliness of this world. They do not do this out of disdain or hatred but they do it with the essence of their life.  They do not want to prove anything to anyone. They do not shutdown or convince anyone. They just go the right way and by this denounce the world. And often, this world cannot do with being denounced.  It becomes very angry being exposed and takes a strong revenge. Sometimes, they seem to lose but we should look at the final point. They will not lose but win there. Because Christ will win there. And the wisdom of this age will be covered with shame. They do not behave like mad people, they run from their mind towards their heart.   

* Lk. 17:21

ORTHODOXY IS PAINFUL

Archpriest Sergiy Baranov

Sermon on the Day of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia 

Holy Trinity Cathedral. Iveron Monastery of Orsk

04.02.2024

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

Once, a woman came to our monastery. She came up to me and said, “I came to your monastery to live. My life broke me down. It brought me so much sorrow, disappointment and perplexity that, being overstrained, I came here, to this quiet place, in order to spend the rest of my days peacefully, to enjoy silence, peace and relevant inner comfort.”  I told that woman then, “In no way should you go into a monastery.” Certainly, she was bewildered by my sudden answer. I said, “On no occasion should you go into a monastery because you do not understand what a monastery is. In your stereotypes, a monastery is a place where you can sit tight and wait it out. You do not understand at all that a monastery is the front line. Bombs and bullets whizz and people are killed here and pieces of flesh fly apart. You have no idea what a monastery is. You have made up a story for yourself about a quiet comfortable place, where one can sit out, but this is not about a monastery. I assure you as I have a little monastic experience. You have fancied something and in a month you will be so disappointed that you will leave cursing us.” 

The same we can say not only about monastic life but also about Christianity in general. Some people invent a stereotype about Christianity. They fancy it is the religion where you come and get everything you want: comfort, peace, well-being, everything will be set in your family, you will have inner harmony, and you will always be inside of an everlasting pink cloud. I often say such terrifying words as “Orthodoxy is painful” and “Orthodoxy is horrible.” Those who convert into a different Orthodoxy should better not convert at all, or you will be disappointed. Go to a hall of meditation, where you will dive into an illusion and be in peace, in the peace of absolute indifference. Orthodoxy hurts and it is fearful. Christ did not deceive anyone. From the beginning, He disappointed many people who came to  Him, “If you want to be My disciple, take up your cross and follow Me.”1 However, He was honest, “My religion is the religion of the cross.” And the highest confirmation of His sincerity  is that He was the first One to go through the Cross. Then, all of the Christians martyrs followed Him. It happens that a teacher teaches something that he does not practice himself.  Our Heavenly Teacher did not only say but went through this Cross the first. No one can reproach Him for hypocrisy. No one can reproach Him for pretension or falsehood because He can tell anyone of us from His Cross, “Well, I did not deceive you. I honestly and openly told you that Orthodoxy is the cross. If you want to be My disciple, take up your cross.”  If you want well-being, you should choose another religion, here is the wrong place for you. Our well-being comes through the cross. The cross first, then resurrection. The cross first, then well-being. 

Often, when people come up and ask me what special prayer they should read or what icon they should approach to ask for this, for that, for anything, I tell them “Go to the Cross, look at His arms and legs, His ribs, and then ask. No, do not ask, demand. Do not hesitate to demand, as He said in the Gospel, “Ask and you will be given.”2 Say, ‘I demand and You should give it to me.’ Go and try, particularly before the Cross. If you want to go to the Theotokos, you may go to the Theotokos.” We have just sung, “Deliver us from every need and sorrow.” We sing this to the One Who heard at the very beginning, when She brought a little Baby to the temple for churching, the first words She heard, “A sword will pierce through Your own soul.3 It will pierce the bottom of Your heart. Your Son is born to die, so every son and daughter of all earthly women could live forever. He will be the First to come through this point of death.” What does the Theotokos say? “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”4 

Ask the Crucified One, ask the Mother of God, ask our martyrs to deliver you from martyrdom. If you have the heart, ask them. Perhaps, the most sincere Christian prayer sounds very shortly like, “Your will be done.”5 

Why am I saying all this now? Today we commemorate the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church. Not even hundreds or thousands but millions of them agreed to the cross in the twentieth century. The Lord did not disappoint them, when He did not multiply loaves, or open eyes, or heal paralytics, but said, “My religion is the religion of the cross.”   To which millions of our new martyrs said, simply, shortly and honestly, “We agree.” How easy it is for me now to say these words “we agree.” And how unbearably difficult it is to say them at the threshold of life and death. The throat becomes dry, the tongue refuses to move and the legs give way. Nevertheless, millions of people at our Church suddenly say “Your will be done.” At the threshold of life and death. And the Lord did not disappoint them. How do you think, did every one of them pray with Christ’s prayer “let this cup pass from Me?”6 Certainly, they did. They were humans  and had natural fear, the sense of pain and anxiety. But suddenly they allow themselves to pronounce these words “Your will be done.” If I cannot but drink this cup, let it be so.  

What a great day it is today! You know, sometimes we read the lives of the venerables and martyrs and involuntarily we begin to imagine ourselves in their place and compare ourselves to them. Frankly speaking, it is even shameful for me to take up any role and compare myself to them. Sincerely, it is a shame for me to get into a character because they are so high and I am so low. I cannot even imagine how I could stand all this, I cannot, my conscience does not allow me. Only with God can one stand out. You only need to change your religion of comfort to the religion of the cross. Lord, I agree, but please support me. I agree but You can see that I cannot do this without You. Please support me. This “I agree” is the clue, it is the essence. What does one need to give for this “I agree?” Our worldly well-being, everything that we come here with, put down into the commemoration notes, for the health, for the travelers, for those who are in sorrow, or for the pregnant. This is all we should give for the “I agree.” Lord Jesus Christ. 

Orthodoxy is painful and Orthodoxy is horrible. The only thing I can say is “Lord, I agree. The rest is in Your hands.” And nothing else. 

Glory to our God, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages!

1 Mt. 16:24

2 Mt. 7:7

3 Lk. 2:35

4 Lk. 1:38

5 Mt. 6:10

6 Mt. 26:39

IF YOU ARE WILLING, YOU CAN HEAL ME

Archpriest Sergiy Baranov

Holy Trinity Cathedral. Iveron Monastery of Orsk

21.01.2024

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

I did not tell you a sermon on the Feast of Theophany because I did not feel well, but I do not want to skip this great event. This is why now, two days later, I would like to say something about this great Feast.

Baptism is also called Theophany. This name, Theophany, is personally closer to me. It is closer because it is theologically deeper. It is not simply about the Baptism of the Lord. Theophany speaks about the manifestation of the Lord before humankind. Again, this phrase might stop some people and not let them go into the depth. God appeared in the flesh and for some this seems to be all.

However, I would like to go deeper, closer, greater and more solemnly. Theophany is not only about God Who appeared in the flesh, it is about God Who appeared in His essence. What do I mean when I say such words “God appeared in His essence?” At this moment, again, God underlines the depth of His essence: God is Love. What is the point of the Feast of Theophany in relation to this phrase “God is Love?”

When we blessed the holy water, the great agiasma, on Theophany after the service, we used the special order of water blessing for priests and the choir.  In the end of this order, there is a footnote in small red print, a footnote for a priest, like a guideline. There, in this footnote, it is said something that common people, who stand at the church, do not read. Only the priest reads it. This explanatory note says, “And then the priest blesses everyone and everything with this holy water.” The definition of this note says that this “everything” includes that “He blesses by sprinkling barns and even (there is such a word) dirty places.” Why are these words great? Because in His love for the humankind, the Lord is ready to humble Himself and go to the dirtiest places.

Some of you might have read the Life of St Porphyrios of Kafsokalivia. Once he went to bless houses after the service on the Feast of Theophany. They have such a tradition to bless houses on Theophany. He came to a house, a woman opened the door and he said, “Blessed Theophany! I came to your place to have it sprinkled with holy water and blessed everywhere!” After a short pause, suddenly, that woman told him with sarcasm, “Priest, where have you come? This is a brothel.” To which Father Porphyrios said, “There are no obstacles for the Lord anywhere. Today we sprinkle and bless everyone and everything. We do not simply throw seeds into the soil understanding that there will be no sprouts in advance, but we throw them everywhere hoping that the Grace of God will make sprouts and fruit grow even on the dry ground.” Then he came in and blessed all those poor girls, no matter what and despite everything. This was the essence of the Feast of Theophany, which the Lord manifested through the Venerable St Porphyrios.

I repeat it again, there are the words written for the priest, “The priest blesses everything.” Orthodox people usually observe everything ardently, “This one can do but this one cannot.” But suddenly, in the order of the great agiasma, we read, “Everyone can, everything is possible.” Nevertheless, it does not mean that people should relax and think they can lead a loose life and the good God will save everyone. No, this is blasphemy. This is about the readiness of the Lord to descend to the bottom, in the midst of filth, without disdaining or having an aversion to take us by the hand and pull, pull into the light from this filth.

Unfortunately, we speak less about this essence of the feast on Theophany! We speak about the miracle of the holy water, about how it is blessed and that the worthy people take it worthily. It turns out to be even for the unworthy. The only virtue we can have is to admit our worthlessness. Lord, I am at the very-very-very-very bottom. Do you remember that leper? “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me healed.”^* “I lie at the very bottom, Lord, if You are willing, You can heal me.” This is how these lepers differed from those puffed Pharisees and Lawyers who pray to god at church and say, “I fulfilled everything to the tiniest detail, I am clean, I am gorgeous, I am worthy.” How the lepers differ from them! Look, what they say, “ Lord, if You are willing, You can heal me.” Everything is in Your will, everything is in Your hands. I am nothing. I am simply (forgive me for such a word in a sermon), I am lower than  sewage, I am a shame. Lord, if You are willing, You can heal me. Just call me and I will go. That’s it. That’s all our salvation. It is not in long prayers, prostrations, hard fasts, or going to church. This is the point. Lord, if You are willing, You can heal me.

Do you know what I hear from God? “Yes, My child, I will.” And this strengthens me a lot.

Glory to our God always, now and ever and unto the ages of ages!

^* “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (Mt. 8:2)