Thirteenth Discourse. On the Day of Holy Memory of the Venerable Father John of Rila

Such an extraordinary calling of the Savior of two Hebrew fishermen, Peter and Andrew, to the lofty apostolic work, for which He Himself came down from heaven to earth!

“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mt 4:19). Like calls to like: from fishing for fish to fishing for men. And why does the Lord call the preaching of the Gospel of repentance and of the kingdom of heaven and of the Messiah—the Savior—fishing? In these allegorical words of the Lord, as in all His parables, lies divine wisdom, righteousness and goodness.

To the divine gaze of Christ was revealed clearly the sorrowful spectacle of the world, namely—how the disembodied fisher—the devil—with his countless host of evil spirits fishes for the human race throughout all the earth, or more correctly—has already caught it in his ruinous nets and covered it with the shadow of death; to His all-seeing eye was clear all humanity, plunged in the ruin of idolatry, all its corruption by countless vices; He saw His rational creatures, perishing from the mindful wolf, diving in the depths of destruction, and came to seek them out, to extract them from the snares of the enemy, as precious catch, to bring them to His heavenly Father—enlightened, cleansed, reborn by the baptism of baptism and repentance, sanctified and honored with the gift of deification and eternal life.

For this greatest work the Lord, the Knower of hearts, chose simple, unlearned fishermen, not sophistical, good-hearted and wholly devoted to Him, men whom He Himself taught to accomplish this great work of fishing. He Himself made them wise to accomplish this great work. He Himself was reborn, making them from old wineskins new wineskins and from old garments—new ones, as He Himself spoke in the parable: Mt 9:16; Mk 2:21; Lk 5:36-38. He gave them the gift of speech and reason and made them capable of carrying the Gospel of the kingdom of heaven to all corners of the world, so that such a great work—as the salvation of mankind—would not be attributed to human art or power, but, as it is in truth—to the power of God, and that no flesh should boast before God (1Cor 1:29). Now the words of heavenly wisdom become clear: Follow Me—and I will make you fishers of men, that is, be as I am, passionless toward the world, worldly-detached, leave, for My sake, house, family, earthly livelihood, as I left for the salvation of men—heaven and the throne of My heavenly Father and came to you on earth, full of the stench of sin, into this vale of tears, to the mankind estranged from Me by sin, for I came to My own, to My people, created and brought up by Me, and My own did not receive Me (the Jews) (Jn 1:11). Follow Me, be strangers and pilgrims on earth, as I became, for your sake, a Stranger, seek heaven, this ancient homeland lost by sin, and draw all to it, fish men out of the depths of destruction into the land of the eternally living.

To a Christian well-versed in Holy Scripture and Church history, it is well known with what wonderful success the Lord blessed apostolic preaching, drawing men—from idolatry to the knowledge of God—how they changed the morals of men and brought to Christ God a great catch of the saved, turning them from the domain of Satan to God.

On this occasion the following thought came to mind as a kind of perplexity. Why does the beginningless, almighty God, infinitely wise and righteous, who could in one instant condemn to eternal torment the proud, most cunning and most evil apostate Satan, deprive him of all power to harm men, and in this way save mankind from his ruinous nets, does He still permit him to tempt and seduce men, destroy them, and produce in the world countless ills with the universal death of mankind, and sometimes even disturb nature itself?

And what is most remarkable is that this beginningless and almighty Creator, instead of punishing the evildoer completely, was pleased for the salvation of man from the snares of the enemy to abase Himself extremely, to take the form of a slave and to be man, remaining God, to suffer and die the most shameful and torturous death according to human nature, so that by His sufferings for us He might ransom us from sin, from the devil, from curse and death! What incomparable price the ransom! And so why does the Lord permit the enemy to have freedom—to tempt and destroy men; why is he not bound completely and continues to do harm in mankind, and toward the end of the world will receive such power and strength that almost all the earth will serve Satan in the person of the antichrist, so that when Christ comes, will He find faith on earth? (Lk 18:8). In the permission of the enemy to act deceptively in the world until the second coming of Christ lies the wisdom, longsuffering—righteousness and mercy of God. Satan and his kingdom are not bound but act in the world to a certain extent in order that men, believers and faithful, struggling with sin and with enemies and being in the furnace of temptations and calamities, might through this be purified and strengthened in faith, patience, hope and love and in complete devotion to God and be worthy of His holiness and obtain thereby greater blessedness in the future life the more here they were tempted and suffered and strengthened in love of God; it is known that a man not tested in the furnace of calamities and misfortunes is weak in faith and love, not reliable and inconstant, but one who has passed through this furnace is as firm as an anvil. On the other hand, evil spirits are permitted to tempt unbelieving, proud, greedy, lustful, lazy men and to lead them into various vices, so that these men might receive righteous retribution for their craftiness, unbelief, for their pride, attachment to vanity, greed and laziness, and for neglect of their soul and for disregard of God’s concern for their salvation. “Let the unjust still do injustice, and let the filthy still be filthy. But let the righteous still do righteousness and let the holy still be holy. Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work.” (Apok 22:11-12), says the Lord.

To this must be added that our Lord Jesus Christ, through His incarnation, teaching, miracles, suffering and death for mankind, reconciling us with our heavenly Father, and removing the curse that weighed upon us, has obtained for us blessing and given human nature all gracious powers for life and piety, and has made it capable, through faith and zeal, of every virtue and Christian perfection and of complete victory over the devil and his shaming, and therefore expects from all of us corresponding fruits of virtue and perfection of life, that He might reward us with the greatest blessedness, and that we might know by experience how good it is to cling to God and live by His commandments. And therefore let Christians always know and remember that the devil is permitted to tempt us either for our good, that we might not sleep but keep awake and labor for our salvation, or for our punishment for laziness and neglect of our salvation and for our worldly attachments: while the devil himself all his wickedness will serve to an unspeakable increase of his eternal torments.

It is known that now Christian morals have become exceedingly weakened and corrupted, so that for many there is nothing holy. To such a state of morals our intelligentsia have been brought, and in part the common people, by an unbridled press, especially a clandestine one. Long it has sought complete freedom, and finally succeeded in obtaining it. Before it was often dissolute, but now more so, and how quickly it spreads and in what multitudes! It displaces God’s word and takes possession of minds and hearts, inciting the Russian people to all manner of dissolution. Where in us is the Spirit of Christ, the spirit of apostles, the spirit of obedience to authorities? Where are Christian virtues? Where is the striving toward the heavenly homeland? “The Lord looks down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. All have gone aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, not even one.” (Ps 13:2-3).

On the Far East the sharp sickle of God is reaping countless rational ears of grain, that is, our dear brother soldiers. Thus or thus this sickle will reap us too. And then where will this harvest go?—The righteous Judge has determined to deal with us according to truth and mercy before the foundation of the world. The fearful Judgment awaits mankind: “He shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment to the people in uprightness.” (Ps 97:9).

Amen.