A Sermon for the New Year 1899

«If anyone is in Christ, he has become a new creation.» (2Cor 5:17).

Today a new year begins, granted to us by the mercy of the Creator without beginning. The past year is as though it never was—it swept by like a dream. But it was no dream: it was reality, and all our thoughts, desires, intentions, words, deeds, virtues, and sins are recorded in heaven—and we will have to give an account of all of it before the righteous, all-knowing Judge.

From us, as rational beings, a rational life is required; from us, created for good works, a virtuous life is required, and a turning away from wicked deeds, thoughts, and desires; from us, who have corrupted ourselves with sin, a renewed life is required, by the renewing power of God’s grace. Let us live that life, then, and bring the fruits of righteousness and renewal to our common Creator, who made us for righteousness and incorruption.

But where is the new life in us, as we enter the new year? Do I have it? Do you? Is it not, once again, the same old sinful life for everyone? The same sluggishness, the same idleness, the same spiritual laziness, the same standing still on the path of spiritual progress?

Alas! We are all old sinners, men and women alike: for however much we have prayed, however much we have repented, however often we have partaken of the life-giving Body and Blood of Christ our God, we still feel in ourselves the same sins, the same passions.

And yet there is something good in us too, by the grace of God: we have grown more cautious, more watchful against sin; we have come to recognize better its cunning, the swiftness of its attack, its violence, its tyranny, its ruin, its shame, its madness. Faith has grown in us; we have acquired more of a taste for prayer, come to value it more, to live by it; we have learned better the worth, the beauty, and the vitality of virtue. We have turned more often to God as Savior, Comforter, Helper, All-powerful Physician, Intercessor, and Refuge of souls oppressed and pursued by the enemies of salvation.

The grace of God is undoubtedly doing its work in us: it contends against sin, overcomes it, and brings us peace and freedom and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

We have known within ourselves the fierce and stubborn war of sin—but we have also felt the victory of grace over every kind of sin that wars against us, and we rejoice in spirit in Christ our Lord, the all-powerful Victor and Destroyer of sin within us.

So it is that every day, though we fall, we are also renewed in spirit, overcoming the sins that corrupt the soul and putting on the new man, created in righteousness and true holiness.

This spiritual renewal is accomplished only in the Church and through her participation; without the Church, without her mediation and help, no one can be renewed. To her alone has God given the grace that renews and saves.

Heretics, schismatics, and sectarians can never attain the grace of renewal, and they will perish unless they turn back in repentance to the Church. Glory and thanksgiving to the Lord, who renews us through the holy Church every day and every hour.

So then, brothers and sisters, take note of yourselves: are you being renewed every day by faith, prayer, repentance, self-judgment, and self-correction? Are you becoming gentle, free of malice, kindly disposed toward everyone? Are you obedient to the Lord in all things? Do you labor, in spirit and in body, for the glory of God and for the good of yourselves and your neighbors?

If we are doing this, then we may sincerely congratulate ourselves on the New Year, because we meet the coming year with the pledge of fruitful repentance and Christian virtue.

But if we go on being self-loving, lazy, intemperate, malicious, cunning, envious, greedy for money, stingy, given to fornication, foul-mouthed, abusive, hard-hearted, thieving, and deceitful, then there is no reason to deceive ourselves and congratulate ourselves on the New Year: it is, and will go on being, nothing but the old year, so long as we remain on the old leaven of sin and every kind of vice.

So then: is it a new year for us? Do we have a new heart? A new spirit—that is, a spirit of meekness, humility, self-restraint, righteousness, and holiness? Do we set our minds on the things above (Col 3:2)? Do we lay down our souls for one another, and help carry one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2)? Are we merciful, as our Father in heaven is merciful (Lk 6:36)? If so—then truly I congratulate both myself and you on the New Year.

But if not, then in any case I congratulate both myself and all of you on the new civil, astronomical year, and I wish that we may spend it well, to the glory of God and for our salvation, with good success in our life, our households, and our common life together. Amen.

St. Righteous John of Kronstadt