Homily for the Sunday of All Saints. -Met. Korniliy (Titov)
Reading: Matthew, Reading 38 (10:32–33, 37–38; 19:27–30)
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of all the saints. After the feast of the Descent of the Holy Ghost, the Church now reveals to us the operation and fruits of the glory and grace of the Holy Ghost, which sanctified, enlightened, strengthened, and glorified all the saints from the time of Christ until our own day. The Holy Ghost, who descended upon the apostles in the form of fire, inflamed their hearts and lifted their souls on high. The grace of the Holy Ghost, which enlightened the apostles, also sanctified many Christians, made them wise, raised them to the rank of the angels, and in holiness led them to God. At times, the working of God’s grace even accomplished what surpasses the laws of nature—it strengthened the martyrs, helped in the life of virtue, in love and self-sacrifice. The saints, as the blessed fruits of the coming of the All-Holy Spirit, shine upon us like stars in the heavens.
Among them we behold the holy prophets and patriarchs, who lived by faith in the divine promise of the coming of the Redeemer into the world, seeing Him afar off. Proclaiming His coming, they rebuked the vices and ungodliness of their people, calling them to prepare in repentance for the meeting of the Lord who was to come into the world—for which they endured scorn and persecution.
Like stars shine also the ranks of the holy apostles, who, having left all, followed the Master and, amid temptations, persecutions, and sufferings, preached the Gospel of Christ throughout the world. While enlightening the whole world, they themselves endured sorrows and deprivations, sicknesses and afflictions, torments and death.
Here shine the ranks of the holy martyrs. For confessing the faith and the name of Christ, they endured many kinds of torture, cruel suffering, and torment.
Like wondrous stars on the firmament of the Church shine the ranks of pastors and hierarchs, who by word and deed, by teaching and by life, instruct us in living faith in Christ and in piety. They interpreted the Word of God through their divinely wise writings, upheld the truth of Orthodox doctrine, silenced the mouths of heretics, and laid down their lives for their flocks.
Here are the ranks of the venerable men and women. They lived in fiery prayer, in fasting, in complete renunciation of self—wandering in deserts, in the mountains, in caves, and in the clefts of the earth. Through their wondrous labors and virtues, they showed to what angel-like heights of spiritual perfection a man may be raised by living faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and by the grace of the Holy Ghost.
Here shine the ranks of the holy righteous ones, who, though living in the world, were not of the world—and who, amidst the sins and temptations of this fallen world, were able to preserve their souls and hearts in purity and holiness.
In a special way, we honor the memory of the strugglers of ancient piety, who, during the persecutions following the schism in Rus’, preserved the purity of the faith with zeal.
In honoring and glorifying the saints, the beloved of God, we first of all glorify God Himself, who is wondrous in His saints—for the saints are living images of Him, bearing in themselves the seal of the perfection of our Heavenly Father. The moral and spiritual perfection of the saints inspires us with reverence and veneration. We seek to turn to them in our prayers as close intercessors before God, as helpers in our spiritual and bodily needs. They, having boldness and nearness to the Lord, being His zealous servants in fulfilling His holy will, are able to carry even our unworthy prayers to His throne and incline the Lord to mercy and the forgiveness of our sins.
Today’s glorification of all the saints is also celebrated in order to give due honor to those righteous ones who, though having received glory before God, remain unknown to men. In this, the Holy Church shows its unity, sanctified by the grace of the Holy Ghost.
From the lives of the saints, we see that even while still in the mortal body, they were at times able to hear and see the Lord. Therefore, having been released from the bonds of the flesh and having reposed, filled with the light and grace of the Holy Ghost, they now see and hear our deeds and prayers, know our sorrows and needs, and together with the holy angels, guide us toward salvation. Thus, the Holy Church in every age has rendered honor and thanksgiving to the memory of the saints. Over their graves, temples have been raised; their images have been preserved on holy icons. In memory of the righteous saints, sacred canons and hymns, services and prayers have been composed. From ancient times, the pious custom has endured of venerating and kissing the holy icons and incorrupt relics of God’s chosen ones, whom the Lord has glorified with wondrous miracles.
The saints, having become citizens of Heaven, continue to take part in the lives of their earthly brethren. They, while still living on earth, by the help of God conquered the passions, having removed the obstacles to the salvation of their souls; thus they are able to help us, who are beset by temptations. They, like our elder brethren, seem to instruct us, saying: “Live for God in purity, prayer, and virtue—for without this, whatever else you may do, whatever you may gain, however you may be glorified by the world—all is vanity and dust, ashes and decay. One thing is needful: the salvation of the soul and the attainment of the Kingdom of God.” Indeed, how many people in this world have been famous and powerful, yet the Church glorifies not them, but those whom the world often persecuted and tortured—those “who were stoned, were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth—of whom the world was not worthy” (Hebrews 11:37).
Not the noble and the mighty, but those glorified in humility, patience, purity of soul and body, in love for God and neighbor—those who bore their cross without complaint throughout life—these are they whom the Church honors today as great in the sight of God.
From the entire wondrous variety of holiness, this richness of human potential, those saints who shone forth on the land of Rus’ are especially near to us. They, close to us by blood and by the history of Holy Rus’, became its glory—rich and beautiful fruits of the sowing in Christ’s field.
In Russian holiness, certain traits are especially esteemed and venerated: boundless patience, the ability to endure all deprivations while awaiting the fulfillment of God’s will. The Russian people came to love humility—in which Christ came for our salvation, taking the form of a servant. A general trait of Russian holiness is that sanctity was always accompanied by an outpouring of love. In the tragic and often dreadful history of Rus’, where sin and cruelty increased, holiness—manifested in solitude, monasticism, ascetic struggle, and other labors—abounded all the more in love and grace, as a witness of divine mercy and human compassion.
We must partake of this Russian holiness, that we may be one with those ascetics who, in their boundless, unshakable patience and in humble love, had the ability to reject no one, but, according to the word of the Apostle, blessed all, received all.
Today each of us commemorates the saint whose name we received at Holy Baptism. They are our defenders and intercessors, our guides on the path of true and authentic Christianity. That is why it is so important for us to remember the saints after whom we were named. Living under the protection of their holy prayers, we must know their lives and, continuing in their path, glorify them by our own way of life. Let us live so that, when we stand before the face of God and before those saints whose names we bear and to whom we have been entrusted by God, we will not be ashamed before our heavenly patrons.
The Lord, whose aim is to bring us to Himself and unite us with Himself through the grace of the Holy Ghost, tells us in today’s Gospel how this union may be attained—how holiness may be reached. Christ tells us where holiness begins: “Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in Heaven.” The Lord calls us to confess—that is, to “speak out from within” to the whole world that we are Christians. This means we must live in this world as Christians, and not by the sinful customs and laws of the world. Let others commit sin—but we must show forth a life that is fundamentally different. In regard to the world, which lives by its own elements, the Christian must be an inok—that is, “other.” Then the Lord Jesus Christ will also confess us before His Father in Heaven and will be our Advocate before Him in the Kingdom of God. “He that loveth father or mother, son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me,” says the Lord (Matthew 10:37). We must dedicate all that is dearest to us to God. And if in order to please our loved ones we fail to fulfill the commandments of God, then we love them more than we love the Lord. The saints, when faced in their lives with a choice between earthly attachment and Christ, chose Christ without hesitation. And so Christ confessed them before His Father.
If a person loves God, then he will desire to dedicate his child to God, raising him in the Orthodox faith, in prayer, and in the commandments of God. Today, when sin has increased and love has grown cold, parents must exert far more effort to raise their children as Christians than, for example, a hundred years ago. Therefore, the Lord calls us to lay down our soul, so that our love for God may also be shown in our relationships with our loved ones. “He that taketh not his cross and followeth after Me is not worthy of Me,” says the Savior (Matthew 10:38).
And if we humble ourselves before God, take up and patiently bear the cross the Lord has given us, and follow after Him, then we draw near to holiness. The Lord promises: “Everyone who has left houses or land, brothers or sisters, father or mother, wife or children for My name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit eternal life. And many that are first shall be last.” In other words, the Lord offers us a choice between worldly success and spiritual life—for just as no man can serve two masters, so one cannot simultaneously succeed in worldly affairs and in the life of the spirit. What matters most is the soul; all material things are secondary. That is why the Lord says that if we first seek holiness, then all the rest will be added to us (Matthew 6:33).
The Apostle Peter commands us: “As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy also” (1 Peter 1:15). The call to holiness leads us to change our sinful lives after the image of Christ, who called us. “But is holiness even possible for us,” asks Bishop Mikhail Semenov in his homily ‘Transfiguration into Holiness’, “when we are so entangled in the nets of worldly vanity that we cannot even walk firmly upon the earth, but constantly stumble and fall into the mire of sin?” And he answers: “Not only is it possible—it is necessary.” He goes on to write that there are different kinds and degrees of holiness. No one can leap to the summit of a mountain in a single bound. But one who strives upward and steadfastly climbs—such a person is already on God’s path and has seized a portion of the Kingdom of God, which is taken by force. The prophet David asks in the Psalm: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place?” (Psalm 23). And he gives the answer: “He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor”—that is, one who has no sinful deeds, who has purified his heart through repentance, who does not live by worldly vanity, who does not lie to his neighbor—he it is who may enter into holiness.
“As He who hath called you is holy, so be ye also holy.” We must not think that when the Apostle commands us to be holy, he demands that we be immediately clothed in the light that shone from the saints. For us, the school of holiness begins with serving God with the strength we have and in the place where we now stand. If you are able to transform the life of your household, your family, into the Kingdom of God—this already shows that you are transforming your soul after the image of Christ. The most important thing in the work of salvation is to do all things to the glory of God. The Apostle writes: “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and differences of administrations, but the same Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:4–5). Let each one bring holiness into his own, perhaps small, task—doing it to the glory of God—and then we all will be co-laborers in the building of the Kingdom of God, each offering our part in the transfiguration of the world.
Bishop Mikhail Semenov concludes his reflection on holiness with these words: “If a man has embodied Christ in his small labor, he will continually ascend upward—for he in whom Christ lives cannot stand still. Having felt God within himself through an act of love, a person becomes united to Christ, and with His help will discover the strength to go further on His path and on the path of the saints, to the very summit of the mountain of the Lord. He that is faithful in little, the Lord, in His good time, will call to greater things. We must only remember that on every path and in every labor, it is prayer that lifts us upward—not dead, formal prayer with silent lips, but true, burning, and sincere prayer, which strengthens and gives us the power to work for the glory of God and to ascend the high mountain of the Lord.”
Behold, brothers and sisters, this is the path by which all the saints journeyed and entered into the Kingdom of Heaven: the path of keeping the commandments of God, of renouncing one’s own will, and submitting to the will of God—the path of repentance and prayer. Therefore, with all zeal let us pray and entreat the saints of God, that they may strengthen us in the faith, teach us to live virtuously, and help us to be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ—to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.