Word 41. On Keeping Feasts, and Communing Worthily. St. Symeon the New Theologian.
As we approach the greatest of the feasts, all of us look to prepare a festival, whether a small festive meal for ourselves, or a large banquet for many guests. We bring out the most festive of garments, prepare the finest food we can, and for many, receive Holy Communion at the Paschal liturgy, or at one of the preceding liturgies. But St. Symeon looks to remind us that the real feast for a Christian is the spiritual one. Then, with the same contrast, he speaks about two kinds of Holy Communion. Given the temptation to engage in excess, especially during Pascha, this should be a required pre-festal read. The words about Communion are grave, yet this is not a gloomy homily, but one spurring us on to moderation and spiritual joy.
Forthcoming are several patristic homilies for Holy Week. Included will be homilies for Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday, Great Thursday, Great Friday, Holy Saturday, and Pascha. The fathers will be Origen, Ss. Hesychios, Photios of Constantinople, Theodor the Studite, John Chrysostom (these are certainly available in English, though), and Kirill of Turov. I will also post the homilies of Metropolitan Korniliy, but these will not go out in emails, but will end up in Notes and on the website for those who desire the softer food of contemporary preaching. They are also all excellent.
1. Those who truly understand and comprehend that they were created from nothing and entered this world naked will also recognize their Creator, fearing and loving Him alone and serving Him wholeheartedly, preferring Him over all visible things. From self-knowledge, one realizes that he is a stranger to all earthly things, or rather, to all heavenly things as well, devoting all the zeal of his soul to the service of his Creator and God. For if one is a stranger to earthly elements, from which he was created and among which he lives and spends his life, then all the more he is a stranger to the heavenly, both in the nature of his earthly existence and in his way of life. Those who are thus convinced by self-knowledge that they are strangers on earth will keep in mind that just as they entered this world naked, so too they will leave it, facing nothing but weeping and mourning not only for themselves but for all humanity.
2. Likewise, who that loves and fears God alone, tell me, would he agree to flaunt anything carnal and material? Or if he were to celebrate a festival, would he do so in the usual way of all people, senselessly and vainly? Or how could he think or do anything knowing it displeases God? Similarly, convinced of his transient and impoverished state, how could he boast of his wealth? Or pride himself on what he does during his festivals? Boasting about the number of candles lit or the abundance of lamps, or because of the spirits and fragrances, or due to the large gathering of people and lavish meals? Or would he boast about the nobility of his friends and the presence of distinguished guests? No, he will not think highly of himself because of this, for he knows all these things are transient: here today and gone tomorrow.
3. Therefore, beloved, do not count the years, months, and cycles of festivals for me, and do not say: behold, I have celebrated the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany, the Meeting, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and Pentecost. Do not say this, my brother, do not count the festivals you have celebrated, and do not think that this is sufficient for the salvation of your soul. Nor think that if there are bright garments and decorations, feasting and drinking, valuable fragrances, candles, and lamps, and a crowd of people, that this is the whole festival. That is not what makes a festival bright, and the festivity is not entirely in that; it is only the outward appearance of celebration. What benefit do I derive if I light not just many candles and lamps in the church but so many lights that they give off as much light as the sun in the sky, or if I replace the lamps with stars in the church vault, thus creating a second heaven down on earth, marveling at the light from all this and becoming an object of wonder and praise for those who come to the church? What benefit is there for me from this when shortly after all this will go out, and I will be left in darkness? Or what benefit is it to me if now I anoint myself and all celebrants with various perfumes, but tomorrow again I am filled with the stench of the flesh?
4. No such festivals does the Lord love. "Who requires this from your hands?" He asks (Isaiah 1:12). Christ did not decree that we celebrate our festivals in this way. But how then? Listen carefully, though I will say in advance what some argue in defense of this. What then, according to you? Should we not light any lamps or candles? Should we not burn incense or any fragrances? Should we not gather people for the festivals and not invite singers, friends, acquaintances, or distinguished individuals? Is this what you are saying? Is this what you are commanding? No, I do not say this. Let it not be. On the contrary, I advise you to do all this, even more so. I completely agree with you on this. But I wish you to know how Christians ought to celebrate their festivals in all these respects. And now I will explain to you the mystery of the Christian festival.
5. What then is this mystery? It is what symbolically represents what you do during festivals. The lamps you light represent the intellectual light, to remind you that as the church is all in light from the multitude of lamps, so too the house of your soul, which is also God's and more honorable than the handcrafted temple, must be entirely in spiritual light, with all spiritual virtues ignited by the divine fire of grace, illuminating all of you so that there is not a single unlit spot in your soul. The multitude of lit candles signifies the bright thoughts that should shine in you like candles, so that there is not a single dark thought in the house of your soul, but all are fiery and shine with the light of the Holy Spirit, and you lack none of the light-bearing thoughts of reasoning. The fragrant ointments spreading sweet scents indicate to you the spiritual chrism, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, and by being composed of various spices, teach that this spiritual chrism should be acquired by you in such a way that it is varied, that is, composed of various gifts of the Holy Spirit. This spiritual chrism, prefigured by the prophet, he calls in the psalms sometimes the dew descending on the mountains of Zion, sometimes the oil descending on Aaron's beard and the collar of his robes (Psalm 133:2-3). Such is the Holy Spirit, which descends from the Father of lights onto worthy spiritual men, and from them is passed to others, refreshing everyone like dew. The incense, which when burned emits fragrant smoke, indicates to you the same grace of the Holy Spirit, but in that respect as it rises within or as it bursts forth from the one who has received the action of the Holy Spirit, like a spring of water flowing into eternal life. Here it both illuminates radiantly and at the same time fragrances the senses with spiritual fragrance: illuminates as light visible to those who are pure in heart; fragrances like the tree of life, which, by mortifying carnal desires, spreads everywhere the fragrance of spiritual aspirations and feelings and joyously delights the hearts of all the faithful. - And not only this signifies what happens during festivals, but it also gives rise to many other spiritual thoughts. So, if God has thus adorned and glorified this inanimate chrism with fragrance, will He not adorn you, whom He created in His image and likeness (of course, if you wish), with various kinds of virtues and will He not glorify you with the fragrance of the Holy Spirit? These ointments, made by human hands and delighting your senses with their fragrance, wisely represent the creation of you yourself, for as these ointments, composed of various spices, are prepared by the hands of chrism-makers, making a single fragrant substance from various spices, so also were you created by the hands of God and wisely harmonized with the spiritual kinds of the spiritual world, that is, with the gifts of the Life-giving Spirit. And you should cense with the scent of understanding and wisdom so that those who hear your words of teaching are fragranced in the senses of their souls and rejoice with spiritual joy. - And the crowds of people gathering for the festival and loudly singing praise to God represent the heavenly ranks and countless hosts of Angels, who sing and glorify the heavenly Master for the great salvation arranged for your sake. The praise and song sung by the people represent that mysterious singing, continuously performed by the Angels, to teach you to become an earthly angel and to sing mysteriously and silently with the immaterial lips of the heart to God, who created you. - Friends and acquaintances, and the nobility, gathered for the festival, teach you by their presence that you should also strive to be counted and to become a co-dweller with the apostles, prophets, martyrs, and all the saints through the performance of all the commandments and through the wealth of virtues. If you celebrate your festivals in this way, beloved, and if you are such as my word has shown, then you truly celebrate a spiritual festival and you celebrate with the Angels. But if you do not celebrate in this way and have not made yourself as we have said, then what benefit is there for you from your festivals? I fear that you too may hear from God, as the ancient Israelites did: I will turn your festivals into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation (Amos 8:10). You may ask me: so, according to you, if we are not as your word has shown, should we not celebrate festivals, even if bodily and sensually? - No, brother, I do not tell you this. Celebrate diligently and do all that pertains to the worship of God and the honor of His Angels, as you can. Invite to the festival, if you can, everyone - kings, nobles, archbishops, priests, deacons, laity, so that through you God may be glorified by all, and this glory, sent up to God by them, may be credited to you, as its cause, and you may appear pleasing to God. But do not think that this is all you should do to glorify God and honor His Angels, and especially do not think that by this you add anything to the glory of the Most High or the saints. For, as the Apostle says, what is already glorious does not set its glory by the surpassing glory (2 Corinthians 3:10). And the saints do not need human earthly glory. Celebrate, then, that you may find grace from God through the prayers of His saints, but even then do not think that the visible and sensual things that you do for the festival are the real festival, but that it is only a shadow and an image of the festival. For tell me, please, this visible, soulless, and insensible thing in itself, what communion does it have with the invisible, divine, spiritual, - living and life-giving? - Therefore, if you want to celebrate festivals sensibly and piously, let not the light of lamps, which soon go out, be your festival, but rather the pure lamp of your soul, that is, the knowledge of heavenly and divine things, which is given by the Holy Spirit to him who is an Israelite, - a man of high and contemplative mind. Let it shine in you all the days of your life more than the rays of the sun. Let it shine in all Christians with the pure light of the word so that by the grace of the Holy Spirit the commandment may be fulfilled in them: let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Instead of many lamps, let there be in you light-bearing thoughts, from which is woven the fabric for the adornment of virtues and through which for those who have true intellectual vision all the beauty of the spiritual temple of your soul becomes apparent. Instead of fragrant incense, let the ineffable fragrance of the Holy Spirit fragrance you. Instead of a crowd of people, let there be with you hosts of holy Angels, who would glorify God for your good deeds and rejoice in the salvation and prosperity of your soul. Instead of friends, nobles, and kings, let the saints celebrate you as your spiritual friends, more honorable than nobles and kings. Let these saints be your beloved, preferably before all others, that they may receive you into their eternal abodes after your death, as Abraham received Lazarus into his bosom.
6. Instead of a table laden with various dishes, let there be for you the one bread of life, which to the senses appears as bread but is spiritually the Body of Christ. This is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, from which the one who partakes not only feeds but is also vivified and raised as if from the dead. Let this bread be for you both food and delight, insatiable and inexhaustible. And the wine, which in this mystery is truly the Blood of God, let it be for you an inexpressible light, unspeakable sweetness, eternal joy. If you drink of this wine worthily, you will not thirst forever, only drink with the feeling of the soul and with a peaceful disposition of the soul's powers. - And ponder well the meaning of what is said. If you partake of the heavenly bread and wine, that is, the Body and Blood of Christ, with the feeling and awareness of what they are, know that you partake of them worthily; but if you do not partake in this way, you eat and drink unworthily. Partaking with a pure heart and faith, you prove yourself worthy of the mysterious table, but if you are not worthy of it, you have no communion with Christ.
7. Those who partake of the Divine Mysteries unworthily should not think that through them they simply commune with God, for this does not happen with them and can never happen as long as they are such. Only those who, through partaking of the Lord's Divine Flesh, are granted to see with the mind's eye, to touch with the mind's touch, to taste with the mind's lips the invisible, intangible, and untastable Divinity, - only these know that the Lord is good. They do not only taste sensual bread and drink sensual wine sensually, but at the same time they taste and drink God mentally, with dual sensations - of soul and body: they taste the flesh sensually, but God mentally, and thus they unite both bodily and spiritually with Christ, Who is dual in natures, as God and man, and they become consubstantial with Him and partakers of His glory and Divinity. In this way do those who partake worthily unite with God, - partaking of the bread and drinking of the cup, with the knowledge and contemplation of the power of the mystery, and with the feeling of the soul. But those who partake unworthily are empty of the grace of the Holy Spirit, and they nourish only their body, not their soul.
8. But, beloved, do not be disturbed against me, hearing the truth proclaimed by me, for this is the truth. For if you believe and confess that the Body of Christ is the bread of life and grants eternal life to those who partake of it, and that His Blood for those who drink it becomes a source of water flowing into eternal life, then tell me, please, why, partaking of these Divine Mysteries, you do not receive into your soul anything special compared to what you had before partaking. But if you feel a small joy when you partake, then after a short time you become the same as you were before, and you do not feel in yourself any influx of life or any influx of light, then this bread for those who have not risen above the sensual is plain bread, although mystically it is an immense and inaccessible light, - just as the wine mystically is light, life, fire, living water. So, when you partake of this divine bread and drink this wine of joy, and yet do not feel that you have received immortality, received the luminous and fiery power, as the prophet Isaiah received the burning coal in his mouth, and that you have drunk the Lord's Blood as living and joyful water, if, I say, you do not feel in yourself that you have received something of what I have just said, then how do you think that you have partaken of eternal life, approached the inaccessible light of Divinity, become a partaker of the unceasing light? No, my brother, no; nothing of the kind has happened to you, as you do not feel anything of what was said. But that light shines on you, and you are blind and are not illuminated; and that fire emits heat to you, and you remain cold; and that life has entered you, and you do not feel it and remain dead; and living water has flowed through your soul, like a gutter, but has not remained in you, because it has not found in you a worthy vessel to dwell within you. Therefore, if you partake of the Most Pure Mysteries in this way, without feeling any grace in your soul, then you partake only outwardly, and you receive nothing into yourself. For those who worthily approach these mysteries and properly prepare themselves for the reception of the Son of God - this bread of life, descending from heaven, He touches sensibly and unites with them inseparably, sensibly allowing them to experience His gracious presence.
9. Thus, if you will celebrate festivals as I have depicted to you, and will partake of the Divine Mysteries as I have directed you, then your whole life will be one continuous festival, one unceasing Pascha, - a passage from the visible to the invisible, where all images, shadows, and symbols of festivals occurring in this life will cease, and where the pure will forever delight purely in the purest sacrifice, Christ the Lord, in God the Father and the consubstantial Spirit, always contemplating Him and being visible to Him, coexisting and reigning with Him, - above and more blissful than anything in His kingdom. To Him befits all glory, honor, and worship now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.