The First HomilyThe Word of the Great Righteous and Wonderworker Fr. John of Kronstadt, on the Departure of Certain Persons from the Bosom of the Orthodox Church

Are those who have been by birth, baptism, and upbringing in the Orthodox Church and are leaving, or departing, to Catholicism or any other non-Orthodox faith, or to Shtunda, Pashkovism, and Tolstoyism, are they aware of all that they are abandoning and what they accept, and to what extremity and to what deprivation they are reaching? Is it possible that the Church and the Orthodox faith are only a name without historical significance and without the full force of truth and vitality, or is it the firm and unshakable edifice of the Heavenly, Eternal, All-Wise and Almighty Architect-God, like a great and wondrous mountain, on which and in which the Lord and Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, Himself, lives and works unceasingly for the salvation of all the faithful? Without real Orthodoxy and without the greatest, indescribable power, invincible by any forces of hell? Is it not inherent in her unceasing triumph over all the intrigues of visible and invisible enemies and over human subterfuges and absurd fables? Does not the All-True and Almighty, All-Saving Head of the Church, Christ, Who fills it with glory and salvation and His invincible power, constantly stand for us? Is not the Most Holy Lady Theotokos always with us, exuding unceasing miracles of mercy to the Orthodox faithful and those who pray fervently? Are not all the Apostles and Prophets for us and with us, with their divinely inspired writings, the pure meaning of which we have not violated one iota? Are not all the Martyrs with us and for us, who have preserved the good faith and completed their podvig, and have been crowned with crowns of glory and incorruptibility by the Founder of the podvig of Christ? Are not the great universal teachers and hierarchs – Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory the Wonderworker, Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom – for us and with us? Are not the Venerable Fathers with us and for us – the adamantines of Orthodoxy: Anthony the Great, Athanasius of Athos, Paul of Thebes, Isaac of Dalmatia, the golden stream of Orthodox writings and honey-singing, John of Damascus, and our Russian venerable fathers: Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves, Sergei of Radonezh, Zosima and Sabbatius of Solovki, Barlaam of Khutyn and all our other wondrous venerable fathers? Do those who renounce Orthodoxy, and those of our intellectuals who consider any faith, even Mohammedan and Buddhist, indifferent, know what the pillars of Orthodoxy were, all our right-believing holy princes: Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir, who chose the Orthodox faith from all Christian faiths, and especially St. Alexander Nevsky, the denunciator of Latinism, Daniel and Roman of Galicia, St. Michael of Chernigov and Michael, the right-believing prince of Tver? Is the recent glorification of the newly-appeared hierarch and wonderworker of Chernigov Theodosius an empty spectacle? Are not the saints of all Russia, who have reposed incorruptibly, glorious to this day with God and with people: Peter, Alexis, Jonah and Philip, the wonderworkers of Moscow, and all the multitude of Russian hierarchs and saints glorified by God: Nicetas, John, Moses and Euthymius of Novgorod, Demetrius of Rostov, Mitrophan and Tikhon of Voronezh and others? And St. Seraphim of Sarov, glorified by God during his lifetime by the apparitions of the Lord and the Mother of God, standing in line for open glorification – is he not a witness to the truth and salvific nature of our faith and church? Finally, I say: is not the entire history of the Church for us from the beginning to the present? What other faith can boast of so many witnesses of the truth? But whoever renounces Orthodoxy renounces communion with all the saints, who, by the way, are called saints precisely because they have preserved the holy dogmas of the faith and have shown it in practice; he who renounces the Orthodox faith, for this very reason, renounces communion with the Head of the Church Himself, Christ. I also ask each and every one who wavers in the holy Orthodox faith: have we been abandoned by the miraculous and salvific power of God? Do we not constantly be saved in our holy faith and Church? And who among us, the Orthodox, reasonable and enlightened, who have experienced the salvific nature of our faith and its satisfaction for our whole being, will leave our Orthodoxy and go over to some other faith? There is only one true and all-saving faith in the world – the Orthodox faith: it is such in history, in its truth, in its very essence, full of light and vitality – which cannot be said of other faiths, for in them the truth is mixed with false human philosophies, regulations and rules, which are contrary to Revelation and greatly hinder the salvation of souls. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away," says the Lord. Meanwhile, in non-Orthodox confessions, many words of the Lord are distorted (about the Holy Spirit, about both types of communion, about the primacy of the Church). Only the Orthodox Church is the pillar and foundation of truth, for in her rests eternally the spirit of truth, bearing witness unceasingly and loudly to the whole world of its truth.

The second word. John of Kronstadt on the Lutheran and Anglican Faith

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Even the Word of God the devil tries by all means to corrupt through the false wisdom of men, and through this to deprive people of the light, the truth of God and the salvation of the soul, as he did and continues to do through various heresies of the first centuries and the following – concerning the person of Jesus Christ and the union in Him of the two natures – divine and human, and concerning the relationship of the persons of the Most Holy Trinity; regarding the veneration of holy icons, relics, and other things. In this way he corrupts and distorts the Word of God and human souls with the false wisdom of Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans. Lutherans and Anglicans do not fully believe the Gospel, although they are called Evangelicals, not believing in the transfiguration of bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist."

The third word. John of Kronstadt on the Lutheran and Anglican Faith

"Lutherans and Anglicans have no church: for they do not venerate saints and do not pray for the dead, who are also members of the church. Nor do they have the Head of the Church, Christ, for He is the Head of the whole body, and not of the dissected body, as with the Lutherans and Anglicans. Nor do they have a Helmsman at the ship, the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit cannot dwell where the body of the Church is arbitrarily and boldly dismembered and deprived of life. In the Scriptures, in St. Paul, in the Epistle to Philip 2, chapters 10 and 11, it is said: "To Him (the Son of God) every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue shall declare as the Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father. Where are the Lutherans and Anglicans to have the tribe of heaven and hell, as well as the tribe of the earth? For even the tribe of the earth – the Lutherans and Anglicans living on earth – does not have a lawful priesthood and lawful, sanctifying, affirming, idolizing the Sacraments – Repentance, Communion, Chrismation, Priesthood, Marriage and Anointing. And where is the veneration of angels among the Lutherans and Anglicans? And they are members of the Church: for by Christ God the one Church of Angels and Men is formed and headed by Him."

The fourth word. John of Kronstadt on the Orthodox Priesthood

The priesthood of the Orthodox Church, according to the commandment of the Lord, does a work of infinite importance, immeasurable goodness, a work of supernatural power, God's: it enlightens, purifies and renews people through the celebration of the Sacraments and spiritual guidance. Only God alone can renew a person corrupted by sin, or those of people to whom God Himself gives grace and authority, and His power to be renewed and enlightened, and to be strengthened in a new life, and to renew, sanctify, and guide others with the power of God, with spiritual power. A fallen and corrupt person can arise and be renewed in no other way than by deep repentance and absolution of sins by spiritual power and communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, and certainly of the Blood – under a special kind of wine, as the Lord has established and not without Blood – must receive absolution of sins from an Orthodox priest who has lawful ordination and God-given authority – the Body and Blood from a lawful Orthodox priest. and not from a pappister or a Lutheran, who do not give the Blood of Christ! Oh, human superstition! Oh, the cunning, the cunning of lies! The Pappists deprived the laity of the Blood of Christ, shed for the cleansing of sins. Oh, the headlessness that acts contrary to the true head, Christ God! O Lutherans, who have lost the grace and truth of the sacraments! How can you give grace to others without having the spirit of Christ, the truth and righteousness of Christ? Protestants and formers, pastors and archpastors, tell me, how can you renew the people and lead them to a holy life, when you yourselves do not have the grace and authority of power and strength from the Holy Spirit, which you cannot receive anywhere except in the holy Orthodox Church? Tell me, how can you accomplish the work of the renewal of humanity, which can be done by God alone and by the one to whom He has given His grace and authority through episcopal ordination? You do not have the priesthood; How dare you undertake such a task that is beyond your strength? You yourselves are not renewed, and you do not renew the people, you do not sanctify, and you do not purify.

The fifth word. John of Kronstadt on the Sacrament of Holy Communion and on Himself

Thy Name has glorified me everywhere, O Lord: at the throne of kings, and at all the important and powerful of this world, and among the rich and the poor, the educated and the common: everywhere it has brought and continues to bring joy, peace, deliverance, salvation, healing, health, consolation, relief, victory over the wiles of the enemy. So wonderful is Thy Name, O Lord! How wonderful, sovereign, authoritative, and powerfully draws everyone to me, the wretched, Thy grace, which lives and abides in me through frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries. Mysteries of Thy most pure Body and Blood.O Lord! Thank You for the miracles of St. John. The mysteries that take place in me and in the Russian people every day; Thou drawest me and him to Thee by a wondrous, omnipotent, invincible power; all Orthodox Russia is drawn to Thee! Draw, draw, draw. The Word of God, our Creator. O our Deliverer, our Saviour, draw to Thee all and all!

Sixth WordThe earthly kingdoms are wavering and falling because of unbelief and iniquity

On May 6, 1907, Russia and the Church solemnly celebrate today the birth of the God-crowned Tsar to the throne of All Russia, and pray to the Tsar of Tsars for a prosperous state, victory, i.e. long life, peace, health, salvation for Him, our earthly Tsar, and for the Lord to hasten and help Him in everything and to subdue under His feet every enemy and adversary. I appeal to all of you, as a member of the human family, with the question of what these two words mean: the word and commandment of the Creator to the first men, and the false, tempting word of the murderer – the devil. What are they in essence? One word is lively, informative, cheerful; the other is flattering, dreamy, darkening, deadening. What was and still is the consequence of people's obedience to the word of the enemy, or of the man-sinner following all the suggestions of enemies, bodiless and all kinds of passions? Are there not all kinds of confusion in the world?