Light in the Darkness

A Word for the Sunday after Theophany

The people sitting in darkness saw a great light, and for those sitting in the land and the shadow of death, a light has dawned (Mt 4:16; Is 9:2)

Thus once proclaimed the prophet Isaiah, foreseeing by the Spirit of God the coming into the world of the never-setting Light—Christ. Seven hundred years after this prophetic vision, the people sitting in darkness did indeed see a great light, and for those sitting in the land and the shadow, or shade, of death a great light shone forth in very fact. But what is this darkness, and what is this light, of which the prophet speaks here? — The darkness mentioned in this prophecy is a spiritual darkness, far worse than ordinary darkness: the darkness of ignorance of the true God, the deep gloom of superstition and idolatry. Such spiritual darkness enveloped all idolaters, and once even our own ancestors, the Russians—all people except the people of God, the chosen people, the Jewish people—until the appearance on earth of the light-bearing Sun of Righteousness. It was these very people sitting in darkness who, with the coming into the world of the Son of God, saw that great light which shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it[1], and they saw that life-giving source of all light, which is Christ the Lord, who by His coming to earth dispersed everywhere the deep gloom of ignorance of the true God and called people out of darkness into the wondrous light of the true knowledge of God. And what dreadful consequences for the human race, my brethren, came from this gloomy night of ignorance, which so long covered the ancient world! Running our minds over the time before the birth of the Savior, we encounter there people guided in life and faith by their own darkened mind and corrupted heart, by their own passions, immersed in ungodliness and depravity. At the same time, in the words of the prophet, they joined themselves to senseless beasts and became like them, among them there was none doing good, there was not even one[2]. Faith in the one true God—an all-holy Being—had no place, apart from the Hebrew people, among the people of those times. The glory of the incorruptible God was changed into the likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed creatures and reptiles[3]. People did not know their Creator, and gave the honor that was due Him to various creatures, which themselves ought to serve their Maker. Instead of worshiping and serving with fear and trembling the Master and Judge of the world, man bowed down to the creature; he said to the tree: you are my father, and to the stone: you gave me birth[4].

Having strayed so grossly in their faith in God, people erred no less concerning themselves as well, setting the goal of their life in enjoyment—as many do even now—in corruptible and swiftly passing goods alone, not knowing for what they were called to live in the world, and unaware of the dignity and high destiny of their own soul. And so they had an ungodly and depraved life, like that of the senseless beasts. The devil, that primordial enemy of man’s salvation, exhausted all his hellish cunning, all his malicious efforts, in order to pave the way from his dark realm for every vice into the poor race of mankind, which loved darkness more than light[5]. By the word of the apostle, people at that time walked in impurities, in lusts, in drunkenness, in wanton singing, in greed and in idolatries abominable to God[6]. And this ungodliness, this depravity made them sons of perdition, the prey of hell. There was no deliverer; He had not yet appeared. The best people of that time, it is true, at times rose considerably above their contemporaries through a certain purity of their thoughts and feelings, through a certain knowledge of the true God, of the purpose and destiny of the human soul, and therefore even strove according to their powers to please Him. But even they were not strangers to delusions and vices of another kind, inseparable from the universal darkness of idolatry. And above all, they could never attain by their own efforts to a proper knowledge of the true God; they did not have faith in the coming Redeemer of men, which alone justified a man before the judgment of God’s righteousness; there was not that light which enlightens every man who comes into the world[7], and therefore there was no possibility of salvation for them either.

Such, my brothers, are the truly terrible and lamentable consequences of that dreadful night of ignorance! But now the appointed end of the age draws near. The corruption of mankind has reached its uttermost extreme. Man himself feels his complete powerlessness and exhaustion in the struggle with sin, and deeply desires and awaits help from above—and the merciful God sends His only-begotten Son to the earth to give almighty aid to a humanity utterly exhausted and in need, to scatter the thick darkness that covered mankind and to enlighten those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death with the light of His divine understanding. Here He comes, coming to undo the condemnation of first-created Adam, whose transgression cast down into this darkness all his descendants; and He Himself, as God, having no need of cleansing, cleanses fallen man in the Jordan, in which, having slain the enmity that divided man from God by an impassable abyss, He grants to men the peace that surpasses every understanding. They are enlightened by holy Baptism and begin already to taste that spiritual, paradisal rest which the Savior promises to all who labor and are burdened in this world. People cease to be led by their own passions in their life, and, like straying sheep that have received again a good Shepherd, they follow His voice and walk after Him. In place of the former likeness to senseless cattle there now appears in them the lost likeness of God in all its purity and power; in place of the disfigured image of God there appears an image renewed in all its majesty, so that people are made a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of renewal[8] — and become capable of manifesting the virtues in their own life.

Faith in the one, true God is being established in cities, in whole kingdoms, throughout the whole world. Already the apostle to the Gentiles gives thanks to the Lord God that the faith of the Roman Christians is proclaimed throughout the whole world[9]; already the other apostles greet their numerous churches with joy for their knowledge of the light of truth. All peoples strive to worship the one, incorruptible, invisible God worthily, and having come to know His boundless majesty and holiness, they no longer change His glory into the likeness of the image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things[3]. People now know even themselves well, their soul, its heavenly origin and its lofty destiny in the age to come; they know that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son[10]; that there have been granted to us great and precious promises, so that we through them might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that prevails in the world through lust[11]. The world that lies in evil, with the coming to earth of the Source of all good, begins gradually to emerge from the depths of evil. The darkness is passing away, and the true light already shines[12]; people hasten with joy to be illumined by it and seek to partake of its saving fruits. The works of the devil have been destroyed; the times of his dark dominion over the world have passed away; heaven has been reconciled with earth; the kingdom of God has drawn near to mankind; instead of children of wrath, men have been named sons of God. To man there have been granted all the divine powers, everything pertaining to life and piety[13], and it depended, and still depends, solely upon his own will whether he would be a member of the heavenly kingdom or the prey of hell. Such are indeed the most saving and consoling effects of this supracelestial Light, which shone upon those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death!

My brothers! At the very moment of our entry into the world we were illumined by holy baptism; from our very birth we bear upon us the sacred name of Christians and are called children of light. It seems that not one of us wants to count himself among those poor souls who once sat in darkness, and among whom some are still sitting there even to this day; no one thinks of himself that he, despite his lofty title of Christian, remains in darkness—least of all the so-called enlightened people, with the modern polish of their education. But, brothers, the word of God points out such people even among us: people who, even while they are Christians, nevertheless remain in darkness. And who are these unfortunates? They are those of us who hate their brother! Yes, brothers, it is a truly bitter truth, and it seems hard to believe that we, amid the light of the knowledge of God, could remain in darkness. Nevertheless, all the same, this is an unquestionable truth. Leaving aside the question of whether we receive with our mind and heart and with all our soul all the dogmas of our holy faith, whether we strive to increase by our good deeds the grace given us in the Mysteries of the Church, or criminally abuse these Mysteries and thereby doom ourselves to remaining in darkness, because we do not do the works of faith—leaving all this aside, let us hear what John, the beloved companion of Christ’s bosom, says this time, and whom does he place in darkness? He who says that he is in the light, says the apostle of God, and hates his brother, is in darkness even to this day[14]. We are all brothers to one another in Christ. And who would not agree that the sin of hatred for one’s neighbor is almost the most common of all, the one that recurs among us very often, far more often than the other sins? And how many different forms this sin takes! Envy, reviling, slander, murder, and many others—do they not all proceed from one main root, hatred? Yes, these sins reign above all in the human race. If to this we add that love for one’s neighbor is closely bound up with love for God, so that whoever, according to the apostle, does not love his brother cannot love God either, then we will agree that all those who hate their neighbors remain in darkness to this day. A dreadful truth! What, then, are we to do, brothers, so that we may rightfully belong to the flock of Christ, to the people who walk in the light? What remedy shall we choose for this? Diseases of the soul, just like diseases of the body, are for the most part cured by remedies directly opposite to them. Therefore the present sickness—hatred—can and must be treated in the same way. If hatred for one’s neighbor is the cause of our remaining in darkness, then love—the virtue directly opposite to hatred—is what can set us in the light. Love is the beginning and the soul of all the virtues, and therefore whoever has it will do everything necessary to abide in the light and will fulfill the whole law, because love, as the apostle Paul says, is what fulfills the law[15]. And whoever fulfills the law of Christ is a grateful son of God, and consequently a son of the grace-filled Light.

O Christ the King, O Holy Light, You who turn out of dark ignorance those who sing hymns to You in faith! Enlighten us with Your commandments and with the light of Your countenance, and grant us Your peace—we who cry out to You out of the darkness of sin. Amen.