{"id":2524,"date":"2020-01-17T08:28:33","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T15:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/?p=2524"},"modified":"2020-01-17T08:35:32","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T15:35:32","slug":"strive-towards-the-one-who-is-the-way-the-truth-and-the-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/?p=2524","title":{"rendered":"Strive towards the One Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Celebrating holy Theophany, we are transported in thought to the very place of this event, and we shall intelligently attend to what is happening there! There it is\u2014Bethabara! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can see St. John standing on the shore, in clothes made of camel\u2019s hair, with a girdle of a skin about his loins (Mk. 1:6). He is surrounded by a countless multitude of people from Jerusalem, Judea, and all the lands around the Jordan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Baptism of the Lord has just finished, and all eyes are fixed upon Him just emerged from the waters. They see nothing else. But sharpen by faith the eye of your mind, and following after John, passing over what is seen by all, turn an attentive gaze upon what is not seen by all \u2014 on the opened heavens, the dove descending, and the voice saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased<\/em> (Mk. 1:11). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fix your gaze, and do not tear your attention away from this wondrous vision! O! Who will give power to our words, that they might worthily sing praises to God in three Hypostases, revealed at the Jordan! <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Along with\nlost paradise, the heavens were shut closed by God\u2019s righteous judgment. But as\na strong gate cannot hold back a powerful surge of water, so did the fortress\nof righteous judgment finally melt from the fire of Divine love\u2014and now the\nheavens are opened. Brethren, let us also open the forces of our nature, let us\ninsatiably receive the revealed God, and delight in Him. Let us soak all our\nsenses with Him, all our thoughts and desires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are sunk\nin darkness; but here is abundant light. We are immersed in dismal\nseparation\u2014from heaven and from ourselves\u2014but here is an all-enlivening peace.\nWe are exhausted by our powerlessness, but here is the inexhaustible source of\nall strength! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as after\nthe darkness of night all creatures long for the light and strive with desire\nto receive the first rays of the rising sun, so do we turn the illuminated eye\nof our mind toward the Theophany, desiring to receive the comforting rays of\nthe Divine economy of our salvation, redeemed by the merciful Word of God the\nFather\u2014and delight in them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a\ncreature constricted by the cold of winter greedily meets the spring, which\nlooses the bonds of cold, and again finds harmonious vivification, so do we,\nvivified by the hope of salvation, with our hearts receive peace shining forth\nfrom the baptized Lord\u2014and we delight in Him! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As during\nthe summer heat the thirsting soil drinks in with a thousand lips the rain\nfalling from the sky, so do we with every desire of our souls receive all the\nstrength that is ready to pour upon us from the Spirit descending in the form\nof a dove\u2014and we delight in it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why should\nwe even invite ourselves to this? For, aren\u2019t we all led into the economy of\nsalvation? Shouldn\u2019t we all therefore be enlightened, and conciliated, and\nenlivened? But O! When has it been so? Once the Lord, recalling John the\nBaptist, said reproachfully to the Jews, He was a burning and a shining\nlight: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light<\/em> (Jn. 5:35).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year\nin our Holy Church the\nLord brings also to us the light of His Theophany before John in the Jordan.\nDoesn\u2019t He say to us through this, \u201cHere is the burning and shining light!\u201d\nMake sure that that you be willing to rejoice only in his light while it is\nshining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be careful,\nbrethren, for you walk in danger! (Eph. 5:15). Doesn\u2019t the deceptive call of\nthe enemy of our salvation at times seductively strike our ears? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

False wisdom\nsays: \u201cCome to me, I have the light.\u201d But it does not have the light, only a\nphantom light, and those who listen to it call light darkness and darkness\nlight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world\nsays: \u201cCome to me, and I will give you peace!\u201d But it has no peace, only a\nphantom peace, and those who are lured by it and discover the lie only too late\nreproachfully condemn it saying, \u201cPeace! Peace! And where is peace?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prince\nof the world promises wide berth and life, and power and pleasure. But he has\nneither power, nor freedom, nor pleasure\u2014only a phantom of these, and those who\nare seduced by them can only call themselves alive, free, and satisfied, while\nin fact they are wearied slaves, tormented by deprivation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hasten,\nbrethren, to acquire the skill of discerning all of this in the light of the\nTheophany and do not be lured by what is only called light, and peace, and\npower but is not. Strive instead ever harder towards the One Who is the way,\nthe truth, and the life, also righteousness, and illumination, and deliverance.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, we\nhave almost gotten to judgment and self-condemnation. What is there to be done?\nThat is how the Lord wants it to be. He has ordered that the Church brightly\ncelebrate His Theophany, and wills that each of us enter into the joy of the\nfeast only through the judgment of conscience. Whoever has tasted the gifts\nthat are the cause of the Church\u2019s present celebration will rejoice; but\nwhoever has not tasted them\u2014first taste them, and then you will rejoice. Amen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From: Homilies by His Eminence Bishop Theophan to the flock in Vladimir.<\/em> (Vladimir: Provincial Administration Press, 1869), 167-170 [Russian].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Theophan the Recluse<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celebrating holy Theophany, we are transported in thought to the very place of this event, and we shall intelligently attend to what is happening there! There it is\u2014Bethabara! You can see St. John standing on the shore, in clothes made of camel\u2019s hair, with a girdle of a skin about his loins (Mk. 1:6). He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holy-fathers-wisdom","category-sermons"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2524"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2530,"href":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524\/revisions\/2530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}