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Already we have reached the fifth week of the Great Lent, dear brethren. For the past several weeks the Church has been instructing us in the different aspects of spiritual life that we must develop within ourselves, in order for the Triumph of Orthodoxy to become an actual fact of our everyday life. On the second Sunday of Lent the Church taught us prayer, especially inner prayer as its most perfect example, uniting us in constant communion with the Lord God. The third Sunday was devoted to the bearing of the cross, which is necessary to each Christian who wishes to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who redeemed us and granted salvation to all of us through His sacrifice on the Cross. On the fourth Sunday we learned how to ascend the ladder of virtues, which led us straight into paradise and eternal life.
Now we have reached the most important stage of spiritual life – repentance. Repentance is the most important in the sense that it the very basic stage, the beginning of all spirituality. All our prayers, virtues, and Lenten endeavors are very well in their own right, but without repentance they have little value, they are in vain. And that is because without repentance we cannot come to a realization of our sins, of our spiritual shortcomings, and without realizing them we cannot rectify them by asking the Lord for forgiveness and receiving the remission of our sins.
We see the importance of repentance from the moment when Adam and Eve fell into sin by disobeying God’s commandment. We see how God called upon Adam to repent while he was still in the Garden of Eden: “Adam, where art thou?” But instead of repenting and realizing his sin, Adam began to justify himself. And from that time on, this self-justification continues throughout man’s entire existence on earth.
In the Orthodox Church repentance is one of the seven sacraments. Without repentance there is no salvation. We see this in the writings of the Holy Fathers, which were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when He came down to earth, said to His disciples: “I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance.” The Lord had no need to call the righteous, because their righteousness was based upon a foundation of humility, and through humility they clearly saw the sinfulness of their nature. Even such a notable desert-dweller as Anthony the Great, who by the end of his life reached an angelic state, used to say to his disciples with great humility and weeping over his sins: “I have not even begun to do anything for my salvation.”
Such is the humility of the righteous, while sinners, following in the footsteps of the fallen Adam, engage only in self-justification. How many times we have heard people say the following words: “While I’m still young, I’ll enjoy life to the full, and when I get old, then I shall begin to think of repentance.” But will it turn out that way? Are not such people deceiving themselves? What assurance do they have that they will live until tomorrow, not to mention old age? “As we live, so shall we die” – says popular wisdom.
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And so, on this fifth Sunday of Lent, while calling us to repentance, the Church as usual offers us a supreme example of it by showing us the life of St. Mary of Egypt. And what an extraordinary and deeply-moving example it is! Here before us is an absolute sinner. For seventeen years she leads an incredibly depraved life. Suddenly she decides to go to Jerusalem, in order to continue her iniquity even there. She follows this impulse, totally unaware that this is God’s Providence working within her, calling her to repentance. At that moment she probably did not yet realize that her soul was yearning to free itself from the shackles of sinful life. And so she comes to the Holy Land, where she spiritually awakens and realizes the grave error of her ways, and under the protection of the Holy Mother of God she goes away into the Jordanian desert, where she spends 47 years in incredible spiritual endeavors, repenting all the while her sinful life.
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Elder Zosima gives holy communion to St. Mary of Egypt |
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Similarly the Lord calls each one of us to repentance, dear brethren. And we can see in our everyday life what unrepented sins lead to. Look at the horrors we see all around us: it is no longer only adults who commit murder, robbery, violence, etc., but even children.
It is now the fifth week of Great Lent. Have we begun to repent of our sins? Do we come to confession, do we take communion? Even if someone were to think that he is not yet ready, did not have time to prepare himself – do not wait, dear brethren! Next week we will be greeting our Saviour. With what kind of soul will we meet Him? With what kind of heart will we glorify Him, sing “hosannah” to Him? Perhaps someone may think that Lent is nearly over and that he will probably have no time left to repent? No, dear brethren! We must repent immediately, we must repent always, we must repent throughout our entire life. While we live on this earth, it will never be too late. The only time when it may be too late is when we die, when our soul leaves our body. Then it will truly be too late, and we will be totally unable to do anything for ourselves. Then, at best, perhaps someone will be left on earth who will pray for us, and at worst – we will remain in hell with our unshriven sins.
Dear brethren, it is not too late to realize our sins, to come to the Lord in penitence, to step upon the path of salvation. Let us heed the wondrous example of St. Mary of Egypt, let us heed the example of the wise thief, who repented at the very last hour of his life, and let us say to the Lord in the words of the humble publican: “Lord, have mercy upon us, sinners!” Amen.
Father Rostislav Sheniloff
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