Homily 1—On the Kingdom of Heaven

For what was man created? For what do we live in the world? This is an important question we must put to ourselves as often as possible! Do we live in the world merely to be born, to live for a while, and then to die, like the other animals? Were we created only to toil, bustle, seek, suffer, and endure our whole lives—and then to disappear? No! We were created for blessedness. To seek blessedness is an indelible and inextinguishable feeling in man; and therefore we see that every man—the wise and the foolish, the savage and the enlightened, the old and the young—all and each desire good for themselves, wish to live better, seek well-being. And although not all seek it in the same way, and not all count the same thing as their supreme good, there is no man in the world who would not wish to be well-off at least as he himself understands it. The savage wishes to be fed and contented. The poor man wishes to be rich; the rich man wishes to have honor and glory; the man of rank wishes to be famous—and so on. In a word, all want to be happy and blessed in their own understanding—this is natural and as it should be. But in what does our well-being consist? Riches? Honor? Pleasures? No—all these are empty, all shadow. Nothing worldly can constitute our true well-being. True, some worldly thing brings us joy and gladness—but for how long? For a moment, no longer. Ask the rich, even those who rose from poverty to wealth—are they happy, are they blessed? But why ask today’s rich? They are all beggars before Solomon. Let us look at this King and hear what he says of himself. Solomon was so rich that all his palace vessels were pure gold; so wise and learned that no man could match him; so mighty that whatever he desired was fulfilled. He enjoyed health, peace, the love of his subjects, the respect of his neighbors; a foreign queen envied even those who served him. Yet was Solomon satisfied with all he had? Was he truly happy? He confessed in his old age: all in the world is vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. — And so, if Solomon could not find well-being in this world, when and where shall we find it? But there is happiness and blessedness for us—eternal happiness, true and unchanging blessedness—the Kingdom of Heaven. This is our true and eternal good! Only in the Kingdom of Heaven will man be perfectly satisfied, eternally happy, always at peace. Apart from the Kingdom of Heaven no one will ever find blessedness. Therefore, brethren! Let all our desires, thoughts, prayers, and efforts be directed to this one end—that we might attain the Kingdom of Heaven. Ah, how happy are those who have attained it!

Let us now consider: what is the Kingdom of Heaven, who may attain it, and how it may be attained.

What is the Kingdom of Heaven, or what does it signify?

1) We know that the Kingdom of Heaven is not an earthly paradise, but a heavenly one; it is a place in the heavens where God Himself dwells, with all the angels and all the holy people. That is, the Kingdom of Heaven is life with God. To be in the Kingdom of Heaven means to abide with God—it means to be in the Kingdom of Heaven. And therefore, every baptized person, every Christian who was Orthodox at the moment of his death, will be in the Kingdom of Heaven.

2) Who can attain the Kingdom of Heaven? We see how often it happens that poor men labor and bustle and try to seek riches for themselves—yet with all their labors and efforts remain poor. And what are all their labors? Vain, useless, and fruitless; and very often the poor man lives and dies in poverty, never having achieved what he sought. Such a man is greatly to be pitied. But far more to be pitied is that Christian who labors all his life yet fails to attain the Kingdom of Heaven.

So which is better: to labor and receive nothing? Or to labor and receive the Kingdom of Heaven? It seems the choice is not difficult.

But—strange thing! — man, for all his reason, all his enlightenment, and all his experience, very often seeks the temporal and leaves the eternal; labors for the empty and neglects the true and real; cares for the acquisition of earthly things and does not think of heavenly ones. How often it happens that for some petty earthly thing we are ready to give much—to endure much hardship, humiliation, and privation; but for our immortal soul and for the Kingdom of Heaven we begrudge even the smallest efforts.

And why this strangeness? Because we desire one thing and not the other; we think incessantly about one and never recall the other—and this is because we love our corruptible body very much while we have not the least love or care for our immortal soul. For example: why did all the saints become saints? Because they thought, morning and night, not about their bodies but about their souls, not about earthly goods but about the Kingdom of Heaven.

To attain earthly goods—riches and honor—one man lacks intelligence, another lacks opportunity, another is hindered by various circumstances, and so on. But anyone can attain the Kingdom of Heaven: rich and poor, noble and simple, those with positions and those without, old and young, a person of great importance and the most ordinary person—all can equally attain the Kingdom of Heaven, if they only will.

3) How can one attain the Kingdom of Heaven? Many think and say that living in the world one cannot attain the Kingdom of Heaven—that one must withdraw from the world into the desert or a monastery. True, it is true that almost all the great saints were anchorites—Abraham, Moses, John the Forerunner, and many others. True, this is true, that the life of a hermit is the very best way to the Kingdom of Heaven; but yet we shall see that one can attain the Kingdom of Heaven while living in the world. For example: look at all those who among us are honored and venerated as saints and called holy—there are among them both monks and those who were not monks; there were among the saints kings and warriors, shepherds and artisans, married people and the celibate, and even robbers—and all of them are in the Kingdom of Heaven.

4) There are people who think that the Kingdom of Heaven can be attained by almsgiving and charity alone—and this is quite true, for Jesus Christ Himself at His second coming will call into the Kingdom of Heaven only those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, and visited the sick. But does this mean that he who gives alms will necessarily be in the Kingdom of Heaven? No—for almsgiving is only one of the conditions for attaining the Kingdom of Heaven, but not the only one.

5) There are also people who say: fulfill the law of God, and you will be in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is true—for the Saviour Himself said that those who fulfill the will of the Heavenly Father will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But who among men fulfills the will of God perfectly? Who does not sin and does not transgress the law of God? Absolutely everyone sins—there is no person without sin.

6) Finally, some think that the Kingdom of Heaven can be attained by fasting and prayer. True, all the saints fasted; Jesus Christ Himself fasted forty days and forty nights. True, by prayer one can accomplish all things—one can even raise the dead. But what kind of prayer? Perfect prayer—the kind the saints prayed. And how many of us pray as the saints prayed?

From this you see that to attain the Kingdom of Heaven, it is not enough to withdraw from the world, to give alms, to fulfill the Ten Commandments, to fast and to pray—all this is not sufficient. Just as to become a painter it is not enough merely to know how to prepare paints and how to draw—one must have a special talent or gift—so too to attain the Kingdom of Heaven and become an heir of it, one must become a saint.

To be a saint! Is this possible for man? Yes, it is true that many say that it is impossible for us, weak men, to be saints. We are born in sins and cannot live without sinning. True, we are weak and sinful. But were those whom we count as saints not weak and sinful? Surely they too were human beings like us, born in sin, with a body subject to lusts and passions. Yet they became saints and received the Kingdom of Heaven.

Yes, say many—granted that it is possible for man to be a saint, but it is difficult. True, my brethren, truly it is difficult to become a saint—difficult, and let us say frankly, very difficult. But tell me, what comes to us without effort? What can we obtain lying idle? Under a lying stone, water does not flow. Everything valuable, everything good, is obtained with effort. A man of means differs from a beggar in this: the man of means is willing to labor to have what he needs, while the beggar is not willing to labor and therefore has nothing.

It is difficult to become a saint! True—but what is difficult for man and what is not difficult? For man, everything seems difficult and hard that he himself does not desire and that is imposed upon him—even if it is in reality quite easy. On the contrary, everything seems easy and not difficult to him that he himself earnestly desires—even if it is in reality quite hard. So it is with the Kingdom of Heaven and becoming a saint: to him who does not desire it, it seems difficult and impossible; but to him who desires it earnestly, it is not at all difficult.

And so, attaining the Kingdom of Heaven seems impossible and difficult only to one who does not yet have an earnest desire to attain it; but to one who earnestly desires it, who cares about the Kingdom of Heaven day and night, it is not at all difficult or burdensome. And it is even so easy and sweet to his heart that no promises, no enticements can divert him from his path—as every saint shows by example.

Many think that if we think and care only about the Kingdom of Heaven, all our worldly affairs and duties will stop and collapse. Ah! How unjust this is—how even offensive to God to think this way! Jesus Christ does not command us to abandon and completely forsake all the duties of this life. He commanded us to seek the Kingdom of Heaven, but added at once: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. So you see that He does not order us to leave the world—only to love it less.

Therefore, brethren! If we wish to be happy and blessed, let us seek the Kingdom of Heaven with earnestness, let us strive to receive the Holy Spirit and to become holy.

But how to receive the Holy Spirit—of this we shall speak another time.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, brethren! Amen.