An Instruction for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday: On Thanksgiving and the Glorification of God

The account of the healing by our Lord Jesus Christ of ten leprous men, which was read today in the Gospel (Lk 17:12–19), has been placed by the holy Church to be read at all times when we offer public thanksgiving to God for a benefit or benefits granted to us. Of the ten leprous men healed by the Saviour, only one thought to offer thanksgiving to the Saviour; nine, having received a benefit, having seen over themselves an astonishing sign of God’s mercy and almightiness, gave no spiritual value either to their sudden healing or to Him by whose command the sudden healing of an incurable disease was wrought.

The deed of the ungrateful, hardened ones, dead in mind and heart is condemned by the Lord. When one of the lepers, upon receiving healing, returned to the Lord, with a loud voice glorifying God, fell at the feet of the Saviour, offering Him thanksgiving and singing His praises, then the Lord said: “Were not ten cleansed? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Lk 17:17–18) These words have a profound meaning. The God-Man, in His humanity, did not seek His own glory from men: He sought that by them, for their good, God should be honored in the proper manner. Those who were disposed toward true worship of God – O marvel! – found God concealed in humanity, found the Saviour and in Him their salvation. Those rejected the Saviour who had first rejected God in their souls. The Lord said to the Jews who had hated and blasphemed Him: “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you do not belong to God.” (Jn 8:42, 47).

Gratitude is a rare virtue among men. Unfortunately, it is heard and heard among us the solemn exclamation, accompanied by solemn laughter: “I got that and that from that one!” By this exclamation is expressed a terrible corruption of the soul. What does this exclamation mean? It signifies that a benefit has been extracted by flattery, pretense and similar means, that the person who submitted to deception and offered the benefit is subjected to mockery for the very benefit itself. In some bodily illnesses a mysterious wilfulness is observed. This wilfulness exists also in soul illnesses. Often benefits sow in the benefited a feeling of implacable, frenzied hatred toward the benefactor. So often does this unnatural strangeness occur that from it a folk proverb has been formed: “neither feed, nor give drink, nor you will make an enemy”. Powerful is the poison of sin with which we are poisoned; those infected by it are capable of hating not only their benefactors – men are capable of hating God. They proved this by many experiments.

Enmity toward God is expressed in disregard for God’s commandments, in living according to one’s own will and one’s own reasoning. The Saviour said: “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words” (Jn 14:24). Why do we disregard God’s commandments? Why do we forget God? Why do we not know Him? It is because we do not reflect either on God or on ourselves, we conduct our lives frivolously, occupied only with vanity. The visible creation proclaims the almighty, all-good, all-wise God; and we ourselves proclaim Him. We, without deliberation and awareness on our part, received our existence and all the faculties of soul and body, all the means for material existence and for the cultivation of our spirit. We create nothing out of nothing: we create from prepared means; the very ability to create is implanted in our nature, and is in no way an acquired skill. We are surrounded outside and within ourselves by causes for reflection on God, for thanksgiving to Him. Sacred Scripture and the writings of the holy Fathers reveal to us the boundless multitude and significance of God’s benefits to mankind, calling us to thanksgiving to God. Thanksgiving to God has its own particular property: it gives birth to and strengthens faith, draws us closer to God. Ingratitude and forgetfulness of God destroy faith, separate us from God. The Apostle says that those who truly believe in Christ “are rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Col 2:7).

Because of the substantial benefit to the soul that thanksgiving to God provides to man, God commanded us to exercise ourselves carefully in thanksgiving to Him, to cultivate in ourselves a feeling of gratitude to God. “Give thanks in all circumstances” – says the Apostle; he declares: “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thes 5:18).

The holy Apostle, after saying that the will of God concerning thanksgiving for all that he proclaimed is God’s will concerning “Christ Jesus”, expressed by this the following: “The New Testament commandment of thanksgiving – is mystical, spiritual, divine; it flows from the mystery of Christ’s incarnation and is based on this mystery”. The God-Man spent His earthly life in privations and sorrows. By this He sanctified the privations and sorrows of those who truly believe in Him, elevated earthly privations and sorrows above earthly well-being. In the latter He did not take part. The commandment about thanksgiving is foreign to carnal reasoning: it is understood solely by spiritual wisdom; it is accomplished in the light of spiritual wisdom. Carnal reasoning if it gives thanks at all, thanks only for material benefits; in tribulations it is thrown into confusion; it complains and blasphemes; God’s commandment commands thanksgiving for all, for sorrows themselves. It commands thanksgiving for sorrows as for the lot of Christ; it commands thanksgiving for well-being and prosperity as for God’s condescension to our weakness. “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Heb 13:12–14). “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Phil 1:29). Thanksgiving naturally follows a gift. If sorrows for Christ are God’s gift, granted by God to the true Christian, then the Christian is obliged through thanksgiving for sorrows to demonstrate experientially his Christianity, must confess and accept God’s gift through thanksgiving for the gift. Through thanksgiving faith is strengthened, the deep mysteries of Christianity are revealed, extensive and clear knowledge of God is brought into the soul by the action of gracious peace and spiritual consolation, which are the inevitable consequence of thanksgiving. “Lips that constantly give thanks” – said a great Father – “receive blessing from God; in the heart that remains in thanksgiving, Divine grace dwells. Grace is preceded by humility; punishment is preceded by conceit. The heart that continually strives to give thanks to God draws grace into itself; the thought of complaint, constantly moving in the heart, brings temptation to the soul. Thanksgiving of the one receiving gifts encourages the One Giving gifts to give still other, greater gifts. Gifts only remain without increase when there is no thanksgiving for them. The portion of a fool is small in his own eyes.” Like the Father we have cited, all the Fathers of the Orthodox Church reason. They instruct us to give thanks to God for all that happens in life, both pleasant and sorrowful. Faith teaches us that all that is accomplished over us is accomplished by the all-good and all-wise Providence of God for our essential benefit. Faith thus guides us toward thanksgiving to God, and faith is increased by thanksgiving. By the conviction of the mind we begin to give thanks, and by thanksgiving the conviction of the heart is awakened.

A broad field of thanksgiving and praise opens before the Christian who conducts a pious life according to the Gospel commandments, who does not allow himself to be blinded by vain attachments and cares, who constantly looks toward the haven of eternity. All temporal things pass in their turn. The future becomes the present, the present becomes the past. All that has been has passed and will not return; all that is to come will arrive for the shortest time, only to become the past.

Only one who conducts his earthly life as a stranger by way of thought, by heart feeling, by the activity flowing from them, can continually praise and thank God. Saint David had this feeling; it was given to him by the Holy Spirit, and he sent up praise and thanksgiving to God from the depth of his soul, was embraced and intoxicated by praise and thanksgiving. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits” (Ps 102:1–2). “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds” (Ps 9:2). “I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you, and praise your name forever and ever” (Ps 144:1–2). For the cause of God’s praise Saint David sets forth the infinite greatness of God: “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable” (Ps 144:3). David perceived God’s greatness from God’s deeds: “O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty, wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent” (Ps 103:1–2, 5, etc.). The visible creation may very justly be called the garment of God; the invisible God, clothed in this garment, is seen: “you are robed in splendor” (Ps 103:1). Magnificent is the nature we behold! It proclaims the existence of God, it proclaims God’s omnipotence, wisdom, and goodness. Both gigantic creations and the tiniest creations have their own laws; the discovery of a portion of these laws is a glory for the human mind, which must acknowledge that what it has discovered is insignificant before what remains undiscovered. The tiniest fraction of what could have been discovered within the limits of human capacity has been opened; a countless multitude remains hidden; a countless multitude of hidden things cannot be discovered because discovery is impossible. The human mind, which has measured and calculated the paths of planets in the immense celestial realm, stops in perplexity before a tiny plant, carelessly trampled underfoot. It cannot explain in what the life of this plant consists, what juices it draws from the earth through its roots, how and by what these juices are broken down and give plants their different species, different fragrances, different colors, different tastes. What is a ray of sunlight? What is the phenomenon of electricity? Questions of this kind can be proposed without number. We see the action; the action testifies to the existence of laws; the laws are hidden from the human mind by incomprehensibility. And the discovered laws, and the discovered existence of laws exceeding comprehension, constituting the work and glory of the human mind, testify clearly that they were produced and established by the highest Mind. This Mind is incomprehensible, because its production – nature – is incomprehensible. “O Lord, how great are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures” (Ps 103:24); only madness and insanity could proclaim that creatures existing according to the wisest laws are the productions of chance, the productions of madness. The works of Mind are slandered as madness by godless blasphemers, boasting of their own understanding, when they discover some law from among those laws, whose composition they attribute to blind chance. What could be more senseless than the slander which contradicts itself?

The greatness of God’s works, contemplated in visible nature, leads to the praise of God: “Generation after generation will praise your works, and will proclaim your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate” (Ps 144:4–6). “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made” (Rom 1:19–20) – to all those who have not known and not recognized God from the contemplation of visible creatures. Visible nature is directed in service to us: directed to this service are the heavenly bodies, the air and many other gases, the earth, seas, rivers, animals, plants, metals, minerals. O earthly wanderer! Look upon nature, upon this inn and refuge in which you are placed for the shortest time, for the time of your earthly life – look upon it with a pure mind, formed by virtuous life and abstaining from a beast-like existence; look upon the abundance of goods with which you are surrounded! From such a view it is natural that the soul is filled with thanksgiving to God. This has occurred with all who have contemplated nature from the disposition provided by Christian life. The prophet foretold of them: “They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and tell of your power, so that the sons of men may know the mighty deeds of the Lord, and the glorious splendor of his kingdom. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your faithful shall bless you” (Ps 144:7–10).

To see God, clearly visible in visible nature, to offer Him worship, praise, and thanksgiving is given to all men; very few have seen Him: those saw Him who have not deprived themselves of the ability to see through scattered, sensual life, by accepting false thoughts, who have not entered under the guidance of these destructive guides into false direction and false activity, decidedly hostile to God, rejecting God in various forms of rejection. God, by His infinite goodness, appeared to men also differently, appeared incomparably closer, so that they might draw near to Him, appropriate Him to themselves, become united with Him, find in Him their salvation and bliss, freed from the perdition and eternal misery into which they cast themselves by willful fall. God appeared to men not in magnificent attire – in visible nature – while remaining nonetheless in this royal purple as exceeding all comprehension by anything; He appeared in the humble form of a man, taking upon Himself humanity, taking upon Himself all our infirmities, the consequences of our fall, except the sin that caused the fall. God appeared clothed in humanity, appeared in the land of our exile, spent His life in it, as an exile should – in privations, in sorrows, in persecutions. He ended this life by violent death upon the cross. The God-Man proclaimed by His life and death the righteousness of God, by which men were cast out of paradise to the earth. He confessed the guilt of men before God, because the confession of this guilt was necessary, the sole condition of the reconciliation of men with God. All who wish to be true Christians must necessarily confess this guilt, first by inner awareness, then by word and utterance, finally by activity or life. Each must take his cross and follow Christ; without this no one can be a disciple of Christ.

The Christian stands in awe before the greatness of God’s goodness, contemplated in the incarnation of God the Word and in the salvation of men wrought by Him. By this contemplation abundant praise and thanksgiving to God are awakened; by this contemplation the ardent zeal is kindled for living according to the commandments of the Gospel, for following Christ along the narrow and sorrowful path. When the Christian stands upon the narrow path, then he perceives the ruinous delusion governing the broad path. When he tastes the spiritual consolation with which the Saviour nourishes those walking the sorrowful path, as He nourished the Israelites with manna in the wilderness, then he loathes the fleshly and sinful pleasure so abundant in Egypt. Unspeakable praise and thanksgiving to God embrace the Christian amid his privations and sorrows, by which God’s Providence removes him from complicity and enslavement to sin, by which he is numbered among the followers of Christ. Man has never raised to God such praises for his earthly well-being as were raised by the holy martyrs for the tortures and executions to which they were subjected, by which God granted them to seal their confession of Christ and enter into the closest union with Christ. No such praise and thanksgiving to God has sounded forth from magnificent halls, from the midst of luxurious banquets, as resounded from the poor monastic cells, from the midst of their privations and sorrows, as resounded at the table of the fasters, tasting their meager bread to sustain the body in service to the soul, guarding themselves from satiety that enslaves the soul to the body. God is forgotten by men, His benefits are forgotten, the great work of redemption is concealed, as if by a thick veil, by carnal reasoning and carnal life; it is revealed to those “who have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24). From the cross we are able to confess and praise God; in earthly prosperity we are able to reject Him.

Brethren! Let us cultivate the invisible struggle of thanksgiving to God. This struggle will remind us of the God we have forgotten; this struggle will reveal to us the greatness of God, hidden from us, will reveal His unspeakable and innumerable benefits to mankind in general and to each person in particular; this struggle will plant in us living faith in God; this struggle will give us God, whom we do not possess, whom our coldness toward Him, our inattentiveness have taken from us. Evil thoughts pollute and destroy man (Mt 15:19); holy thoughts sanctify and give him life. “Perverse thoughts separate from God” (Wis 1:3); holy thoughts lead to Him. From them are born words and deeds pleasing to God. By holy thoughts the prudent leper was brought before the face of the Saviour, offered Him praise and thanksgiving, heard from Him the announcement of his salvation: “Your faith has made you well” (Lk 17:19). And we by God-pleasing thoughts, among which thanksgiving and praise of God hold an honorable place, are able to draw near to God, are able to please Him by the holy words and holy deeds He has commanded, through them acquire living faith in God, by living faith obtain salvation. Amen.

St. Isaac the Syrian. Homily 85

St. Isaac the Syrian. Homily 2

Venerable Barsanuphius the Great. Replies 2nd, 6th and others

This manner of looking at oneself as a Christian is indeed distinguished by a complete distinction from so-called “optimism” or the doctrine that “everything in the world progresses toward the better”. In contradiction to this teaching, Sacred Scripture affirms that all that is good gradually weakens