Monastery Church of Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
May 26, 2025
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christ is risen!
Today, as we draw near to the end of the Paschal feast, whose Leavetaking will take place two days from now, our liturgical readings strike a seemingly ominous chord.
The Gospel tells of the involuntary prophecy of Caiaphas, high priest that year, who says that one man must die for the people. This triggers the Pharisees to begin to plot against Our Lord, and they begin to seek someone who will betray him into their hands.
In the reading from the Acts of the holy Apostles, the report is hardly more cheerful: we read of Sts. Paul and Silas being driven from Thessalonica to Berea, and then from Berea to Athens. They are hounded by threatening men who stir up both the crowds and the authorities against the preaching of the Word of the Gospel.
All of this can be understood against the background of the nearing Ascension of Our Lord: he has been with his disciples for nearly forty days, teaching them of the kingdom, and the time draws near for him to return to the right hand of the Father—the right hand which he never left—there to be enthroned in his crucified, risen, and most adorable flesh forever.
As the disciples whom he leaves behind await the coming Pentecost, they also await their dispersion throughout the world. Today, the Bridegroom is still with them; soon the Bridegroom will go his way on a light cloud, and they will all go their own way, to the very ends of the earth. The Bridegroom will be taken from them once more, and it will be time to fast once more: and so we keep the Apostles’ Fast.
And yet, today, it is still the joyous and glorious feast of Pascha: why do we ponder sorrowful things?
The truth is, the joy of Pascha can never be separated from the reality of the Cross and the Passion: “Through the Cross joy has come into all the world.” “Rejoice, O life-bearing Cross.”
The Lord bore this Cross to the end, and, now, until the end of the age, all who desire to partake of the joy of the Resurrection must bear their own Cross of discipleship. As he was once persecuted by the Pharisees, as the apostles were once persecuted, so too must we experience persecution in one form or another. “If the world hates you, it is because it hated me first,” says the Lord.
When I speak of persecution, I am not necessarily speaking of the civil authorities attacking our faith with lawless laws and harsh imprisonment – though, as I have heard from some of our Canadian clergy, in some places where the Orthodox Church in America sojourns, that reality might be closer than we think.
Rather, what I have in mind is the way the world and the devil tempt all Christians, in every place and time, trying to shake us in our faith.
Allow me to give one simple, but ubiquitous, example of the way in which the world persecutes all of us today.
We know that the high calling of man is eternal communion with God, an endless partaking of the ever-flowing life, light, love, bliss, and beatitude of the Most Holy Trinity. Furthermore, we know that we can achieve this communion with God even in this life through the life of prayer, repentance, and worship. This is what it means when we say that the saints and elders behold the uncreated light – and when we say that others behold the divine light in them.
The world, however, presents us with a different menu of man’s so-called highest goals: power, money, and – perhaps most insidiously – simple entertainment.
The moment we seek to lead a life of prayer, the moment we set on the path of seeking eternal union with God, the world responds with questions like these:
“Perhaps you should focus on getting ahead in life, and gaining the power to get what you want?
“And you can’t live without money—surely your career and your comfort must come first?
“And, in the end, aren’t you tired? You deserve some relaxation. Put down your prayer rope, skip your prayer rule, stay home from the service, schedule confession for another time. Turn on a movie instead. Or, even easier, just plop on the couch, phone in hand, and watch some YouTube videos!”
This is the way in which the world tempts and persecutes Christians every day. The apostles were hounded by violent men, but we are hounded by apps and games and streaming services streaming services. The Pharisees plotted against our Savior, and laying snares for us are the allure money and power.
How do we flee such insidious, such subtle and ubiquitous, persecutions as these? As always, we find wisdom in our holy fathers who have gone before.
We read in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers that, once, Abba Anthony looked out over the world and saw the snares of the devil laid as traps everywhere. Groaning, he asked how anyone could be saved. An answer came to him from an angel sent by God, and the answer was one word: Humility.
Humility could be subject of another hundred sermons. Indeed, insofar as our Lord Jesus Christ is the supreme manifestation of humility, and all his works are impressed with boundless humility, the world itself could not hold the books that would tell of the value of this virtue.
But for our purposes, as we face these persecutions, humility perhaps best begins with the realization that these persecutions are necessary: “I have chosen you out of the world,” says the Lord. “That is why the world hates you.” The way of the Cross—the way of self-denial, the way of the persecuted—this is the way of Christ.
When we face the temptation to put power or money, entertainment or relaxation, before our true life and our true calling, this is not something unfair: this persecution is part of our true calling. St. Barsanuphius says that it is impossible to obtain true prayer without persecution.
In this sense, persecution is a gift, part of the saving cross sent down from above, as St. Seraphim of Dmitrov expresses it.
Therefore, as we endeavor to bear this cross, to take it up and follow—as we attempt to seek always true life with God, and not the false and fleeting aspirations of this world—as we do this, let us always humbly submit to whatever persecutions and tribulations may come.
And in so submitting, let us rely not on our own seeking and striving—however necessary these may be—but instead on the Cross of Christ himself, the Cross through which the Resurrection is revealed to the world, the Cross through which we learn to shout with Paschal joy:
Christ is risen!
To our risen Lord be all glory and adoration, together with his Father and his All-holy Spirit, always, now and ever and unto the never-ending ages.
Amen.
Christ is risen!