Homily on the
Sunday of All Saints
By St. Philaret of
New York
The
Orthodox Church as it were completes and finishes on the current Sunday that
special liturgical-ecclesial period that began long ago, more than one hundred
days ago, when the Gospel of the Publican and the Pharisee was read and the
Church for the first time this year chanted that song of repentance: “Do Thou
open unto me the doors of repentance, O Giver of Life.” Completing this period,
which occupies of full third of the year, the Holy Church celebrates the memory
of All the Holy God-Pleasers. As the Holy Fathers have pointed out to us, the
Church thereby as it were responds to Christ the Savior for all that He has
done for us and for our salvation: He was incarnate on this earth, taught,
worked miracles, healed, suffered, arose, ascended in glory, and finally sent
down the Holy Spirit. Now the Church, which was founded by Him and guided by
the Holy Spirit, offers Him as if in response this incalculable host of God-Pleasers.
We know thousands and tens of thousands of them, but we know far from them all.
There were many great God-Pleasers who are unknown to us and whose names we do
not even know.
Here
is one such example from the Sarov Hermitage. You yourselves know how the Savor
monastery was adorned by the great God-Pleaser of the Russian land, Fr.
Seraphim of Sarov. Who does not know him in the Russian land! The humble
Seraphim (as he liked to call himself) was also known beyond the borders of
Russia as a great God-Pleaser. And when one pious monk (one of the Sarov monks)
prayed to God, the Lord revealed to him (this happened to be when St. Seraphim
was still alive and shining forth in the Sarov monastery by his miracles and
holiness) that among the brethren was a monk by the name of John who was equal
to Seraphim in the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit, spiritual heights,
and ascetic struggles. But this was revealed to this monk alone, and the rest
did not know about it. But even this monk did not know exactly who this ascetic
struggler was, since in the monastery there were many monks with the name of John.
Thus this great God-Pleaser remained unknown, about whom the Lord Himself
revealed that he was equal to St. Seraphim in the spiritual heights to which he
had ascended to God in his enlightened spirit.
From
this example and others like it, we see that there are many, many God-Pleasers about
whom we do not know, but that are known to the Lord God alone. It is known that
such a great Elder as Ambrose of Optina – that adornment of the Optina
Hermitage – had a spiritual father who was a hidden ascetic known to nobody,
but who stood on such spiritual heights that the great Elder himself, as his
spiritual son, enjoyed his instructions, although other people did not know
him.
Great
and incalculable is that host of God-Pleasers that stands before the Throne of
the Lord of Glory and prays for us, sinners. How diverse were the images of
their life! There was everything: both kings and princes, both rich and poor,
both famous and unknown, both monks and pastors and archpastors, both fools for
Christ and martyrs, as well as simple laymen of righteous life… Most diverse were
their life’s paths! But they also had something in common that united them and
for which reason they are all together glorified by the Holy Church. That which
united them is clearly indicated in the Gospel that was read today in their
honor at the Liturgy. In this Gospel reading the Lord says: He that loveth father or mother more than Me
is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not
worthy of Me [Matthew 10:37]. All this was fulfilled by them. This does not
mean that they refused good earthly attachments, or personal love for their
parents and children. These words of the Lord do not at all mean that one needs
to “stop loving” all one’s earthly loved ones who are dear to us on earth and
to love Him alone. By no means! This only means that love for Him should rule
over everything and cover everything else like a tent, just like a big tent
covers everything that is secure, protecting it. That is how love for God
should be like a tent covering everything earthly.
There
is a well-known case from the time of Caesar Julian the Apostate, of the son of
a pious father, a pious Christian who led a righteous life and loved his son,
the hope of his old age, who suddenly changed his Christianity by persuasion of
the Apostate king, ceased being an Orthodox Christian, and renounced Christ.
The Father, for whom the son was the comfort and hope of his old age, abhorred
such a son and in turn disowned him, for Christ and the Truth of His Gospel
were more precious to the father than even his beloved son. Soon after this
there was a royal feast. The father was among those close to the king. When he
sat down with the king at this feast, the son was there too, not far away. The king
began to ask the father that he return his son to his favor, but the father
replied: “About whom are you asking, Sovereign? About the apostate? Do not ask
for him; he is no longer my son; he is completely foreign to me now. I do not
know him…” This is how spiritual love overcomes the bonds of earthly love!
In
another place the Holy Gospel cites the words of the Savior: If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother… he
cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26). This does not mean that the Lord
teaches us to hate, and especially not to hate those who should be most
precious to us. No, this means that in those cases when on one’s path to God
people become an obstacle, even if they are one’s parents, then one should
remove them – even one’s parents – from one’s path, dispensing with them as
with enemies who stand in the way of one’s salvation. Not hating them of course
with a personal hatred, but mercilessly removing even them if they will take it
into their head to hinder one on the Christian path.
Such
fidelity to the Lord and wholehearted love for Him united all the God-Pleasers,
the whole host of whom we now glorify. And in this fidelity and love for God
they should serve for us as a lesson and instruction.
If
one asks many present-day Christians: what is you personal attitude toward
Christ the Savior, they will become perplexed. What does one mean by
“personal…” I pray to God, I go to church, what more is needed? But the Lord
says that one needs to love the Lord God with all one’s heart, with all one’s
soul, with all one’s strength, with all one’s mind, so that the thought and
heart of the believing person would always be directed to his Heavenly Father.
Recall how the troparion to St. Seraphim of Sarov begins: “From thy youth thou
hast loved Christ, O Blessed One…” This love for Christ should be constantly
aglow in the true Christian. The Lord Jesus Himself said the following words: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy
mind [Luke 10:27]. St. John of the Ladder, speaking about such personal
love for God, did not stop there to say: You know how someone loves his
beloved; so, too, learn to love the Lord thy God, so that He would become more
precious to you than anything in the world. When one loves another person, his
beloved is constantly in his memory; his thoughts turn to him constantly; and
when he meets with him, he is not bored with him: he is ready to spend hours
and days with him. It does not get boring with one’s beloved. This example is
similar to how man should be united with the Lord God in the bonds of love –
namely united.
Let
us recall the first commandment of God’s law: I am the Lord thy God… Thou shalt have no other gods before Me [Exodus
20:2-3; Deuteronoy 5:6-7]. Does the
Lord Himself need this? It is clear that the commandment is given to the
believing person, so that he would love God with all his soul, with all his
mind, and with all his thought. I am the
Lord thy God. You yourselves know that when someone writes a letter, then
only if he is writing to a particularly close or dear person does he write at
the end “Thy” or “Yours.” This is an indication of a special mutual proximity.
So it is here, if the Lord says I am the
Lord thy God, He is thereby, so to speak, offering Himself to man as an
object of love and reverence; and knowing what good there is in this for man,
the Lord adds: and you will have no other gods besides Me. In the love of God
there is for man an endless source of joy and spiritual light. The Holy
God-Pleasers were aflame with such love, and this love and fidelity united them
in the lofty and sacred host that is now glorified by the Church.
May
this Divine love of theirs serve as a lesson for us sinners of how we should
love God, of how we should always think of Him and turn to Him with our soul
and heart. When we love another person, we think about him so much that we want
to spend our whole life with him, to correlate all our actions with the beloved
person, and always to be in his presence. Thus does the true Christian abide
with God constantly, cleaving to God and not doing anything without thought of the
Lord God and of turning to Him. And it is no accident that one of the beautiful
sayings of the simple Russian people says: “Without God you won’t make it to
the threshold” [“Bez Boga ni do poroga”]
i.e., without God, you cannot take a single step… Amen.
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