Homily 39 #
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, says Scripture (Proverbs 1:7). But the only truly wise one is God. Therefore, anyone who desires to enter the kingdom of heaven and live under God as King—so that his mind, thoughts, and reflections may be directed by God Himself, the one and only true King—must first and foremost acquire the fear of God. But how can one acquire fear of Him whom one does not see? For this reason, it is necessary first to behold God, in order then to fear Him. But how can one see God, whom no one has ever seen? To achieve this, one must seek the divine intellectual light of God, so that the mind, being enlightened by it, may spiritually behold God. And when someone thus beholds God, he can also come to fear Him; and once he has the fear of God, he can also see and understand himself, this temporary and vain world, and all the works of this world. Furthermore, whoever sees himself and the vanity of this world—having the fear of God ever present within—cannot act unjustly toward others, and when he himself suffers wrong from another, he does not seek revenge, but awaits help that comes from God, and endures injustice with good courage. He marvels and glorifies God, who, seeing iniquities, patiently bears with and endures the unrighteous—while he himself strives earnestly to bring forth all kinds of fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, we are in need of the divine intellectual light that makes us partakers of the grace to see God. But what is this light? Christ Himself says of it: I am the light of the world (John 8:12). Likewise, the Evangelist John says: In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (John 1:4). Explaining this, John the Baptist says: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36). And who is it that does not believe in Christ? It is everyone who transgresses even one single commandment of His, as Christ Himself says: Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments… shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:19). He that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much (Luke 16:10). But what wrath abides on such a one? The wrath of the curse that fell upon Adam for transgressing the commandment of God—that is, corruption and death. And those who remain in corruption and death shall also remain in the hell of Gehenna. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ says: His commandment is life everlasting (John 12:50), and: If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death (John 8:51). So then, whoever does not keep the commandments of God deprives himself of eternal life. Thus, above all else, one must believe in Christ, who is the light of men, in order to see God.
But how can one behold God? From the works created by God one may see and know the Creator—namely the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all other creatures—especially man himself, who is a rational being, conceived in such humble form, and yet becoming such a wondrous creature, appearing as a god over all that is visible, by virtue of the reason which distinguishes him. Whoever thus sees God—how can he not come to fear Him? And whoever fears Him—is it possible that he would not revere Him, not watch over himself with care, not live in accordance with His commandments and ordinances laid down in His law?
From this it naturally follows that whoever does not live according to the law of God does not fear God; and whoever does not fear God has not seen Him; and whoever has not seen God does not have within him the intellectual light; and whoever does not have this light does not believe in Christ; and whoever does not believe in Christ does not have life within him. For it is clear that he has not laid the foundation upon the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom—thus he is mad, blind, dead. And rightly does the Evangelist John say: Whoever sins has not seen Him nor known Him (1 John 3:6). And the Prophet Jeremiah vividly describes such a man: who is it that does not know God? He who commits adultery, who commits violence, who bends his tongue like a bow, in whom lies and unbelief have taken root, who moves from evil to evil, who mocks his friend and speaks no truth, who has taught his tongue to speak nothing but lies, who acts unjustly and does not wish to turn back, whose usury is piled upon usury and deceit upon deceit, whose tongue is a wounding arrow and whose lips speak flattering words, who speaks peace to his friend while harboring hatred in his heart. Of such a man the Lord says: He has not known Me and did not desire to understand Me (Jeremiah 9:3–8).
If this is the image of one who does not know God and does not wish to know Him, how is he any different from those who do not confess Christ and do not believe in Him? A Christian who does not believe Christ—what kind of Christian is he? Whoever believes Christ keeps His commandments; and whoever does not keep His commandments does not believe Him. But he who does not believe Christ—is he not also an unbeliever? Therefore, let all those who call themselves Christians but do not live according to His law and commandments understand that they have not yet believed in Christ, even if they confess Him as God. For he who truly believes in Christ will not live lawlessly or break God’s commandments—just as one who sees a precipice before him will not throw himself into it, unless he has lost his mind.
Let such people then strive to believe in Christ rightly, and thereby begin to live according to God, to receive within themselves the intellectual light, to behold God, to acquire the fear of God, and so to lay the foundation of wisdom—for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Faith without works is dead, as the body without the soul is dead. For faith without works does not possess God, who gives it life, and thus it is dead, not having attained that of which Christ speaks: If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him (John 14:23)—to raise the soul from the dead by His visitation and to give life to the one who is counted worthy to receive this. This is why such faith is dead, and dead also are those who possess it without works. Whoever lives in Christ possesses also the character of Christ; and whoever does not have Christ’s character is dead and should not deceive himself. As Christ says: Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46). The sign of death is inaction, for every dead person is inactive. Therefore, whoever does not act according to God is dead to God—there is no divine life in him. And whoever does not live unto God and according to God would be better off not living at all. Our bodily life is simply life—as is the life of all animals. But the rational soul ought to receive that life which is given by God and which is the light of men, bestowed from above. Whoever is deprived of this life lives as do irrational animals—but since he, having reason, descends to such a level, he will be condemned along with those bodiless rational beings who were also deprived of this life—namely, with the demons—to eternal death, or unending torment in hell.
From all this it becomes evident that our chief task lies in living a life pleasing to God. Christians who do not live in a way befitting Christians are weak both in their nature and in their powers, in their life and in their actions. The strength of Christianity consists in this: that through Jesus Christ, complete well-being (blagobytiye) is obtained from God, who granted us being (bytiye). That is why, naturally, those who have not sought to receive from God through Jesus Christ this well-being—which was lost in the first-formed Adam—are not found worthy to live as they ought, neither in relation to God nor to other people.
Therefore, any Christian who does not live as Christ commands bears the name of Christian in vain. He does not have well-being—either because he never believed in Christ at all, or because, having believed, he later despised that faith and lost the gift, or because he was never properly taught and has not come to know this great and mysterious gift of grace. Just as we know that being was at first granted directly by God according to the law of creation—though now it is not directly given from Him, but rather, a man is born from a man and woman, as He Himself, the Creator of all, ordained when He said, the two shall be one flesh, and that flesh is the flesh of the child born from both—so likewise, well-being is also evidently a work of both God and ourselves. For if it were solely God’s doing, then all people would possess it.
Our part in this consists in recognizing that we do not have well-being and cannot acquire it on our own—for from Adam until now there has never been a man who could attain well-being by himself, no matter how wise or clever he considered himself to be. As the prophet Isaiah says: Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight (Isaiah 5:21). Therefore, just as our being is from God and His creative power, so too is well-being from Him. And well-being in us is something higher than mere being—for being, if it does not become well-being, decays and perishes.
And just as the Almighty God, having once created man, now grants being to no one except through a man and woman—since otherwise it would not be proper—so too, He does not grant well-being to anyone unless the person himself desires it with all his soul and all his thoughts. Otherwise, the dignity of human nature—that is, free will—would be violated. Thus, whoever desires this well-being must seek it from God with loud cries and tears, as Christ Himself did—who, being both God and man, as man offered prayers and supplications to God with strong crying and tears, asking to be delivered from death, as the Apostle says: Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared… became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him (Hebrews 5:7,9).
And what is this salvation which He grants to all who obey Him? It is precisely that well-being, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The spiritual fruit, says the divine Paul, is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control: against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22–23). For the law is not laid down for the righteous (1 Timothy 1:9). The Word of God and Son of God, the Creator of natures, became man according to nature so that He might naturally grant well-being to men. In order for mankind to receive this well-being, He came, was incarnate, suffered, and died—so that the faithful might attain it as something natural—that is, that they might become loving, joyful, longsuffering, kind, merciful, faithful, meek, and self-controlled. For these very qualities constitute well-being.
And woe to him who does not possess such well-being as is granted by Christ—for in that case he is deprived of that great blessing for which alone God became man, died, and rose again. This blessing he forfeits—and so too do those who do not believe in Christ—not to say that he becomes even worse than they. But may it not be so with us—that we should be deprived of this blessing in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory forever. Amen.