Sunday All-Night Vigil

"As they were speaking of these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, Peace be unto you. They, confused and frightened, thought that they were seeing a spirit. But He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do such thoughts enter into your hearts? Look at My hands and My feet; it is I Myself; touch Me and see; for the spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And having said this, he showed them his hands and feet."

Every person who embarks on the path of piety has to experience such embarrassments. The Lord comes to us in order to give peace to our souls – true peace, peace that is from the grace of the Holy Spirit. But often thoughts of doubt enter our heads: is this the same God? Is this the same Christ? Are we on the right track? And the loving Lord gave spiritual medicine to His disciples – He showed them His wounds and said: "Touch Me." These words of the Savior are addressed to us as well. When we have thoughts of doubt, we must remember the Cross of Christ, His crucifixion, His wounds – and then the devil will run away, and we ourselves will be ashamed of those thoughts that have troubled our souls. But the thought does not always recede immediately, even when we remember what the Lord suffered for us.

And then it is said: "When they did not believe for joy and were amazed (that is, they did not immediately believe)... He said to them, This is what I have told you while I was with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written about me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms. Then He opened their minds to the understanding of the Scriptures." Turning to the word of God always drives away doubts from us. If thoughts overwhelm our soul, we need to take the word of God, read the Gospel or the Psalter, any place in the Bible. And communion with the grace-filled word of God will drive away temptation, because all Holy Scripture is permeated by the Spirit of Christ and bears witness to Christ.

If the Holy Scriptures do not convince us, if the doubts are so deep that the reading of the Holy Scriptures does not strengthen our souls, then we need to remember history. The Lord said that "repentance and forgiveness of sins must be preached in His name in all nations." Looking at the history of mankind, we see both repentance and the forgiveness of sins. We see the acceptance of the word of God by the nations and the rejection of it. The true light of Christ was preached in all nations. We live far from Jerusalem, but it has illumined us too. The Word of God is true and endures forever; what God said long ago is often fulfilled before our eyes. This word cannot be bound by anything, by any distances, by any boundaries, by any prejudices. If a person wants to accept it, then there are no obstacles to this.

Let us recall the recent history of our fatherland. Many of us were spectators of these events, and even their participants. After the torture of the people by the civil war, famine, collective farms, godless five-year plans, the destruction of churches and the clergy, one could expect at least some light, but the Lord allowed the outbreak of a world war. And these terrible trials caused many to repent, to turn to God. Fear for their fate forced the authorities not only to open thousands of churches in the midst of the war, but also to return the clergy who miraculously survived from the concentration camps.

Is it possible that during the war there are no other worries than the opening of churches? It turns out that if a desire to turn to God arises in the hearts of people, then the Lord is able to immediately reward this desire, often in a completely miraculous way. And nothing—no war, no earthquake, no calamity—can prevent it. Thus, during the onslaught of doubts, which are quite comparable to other storms of life, we need to seek support in everything that can strengthen our faith: in the remembrance of the podvig of Christ the Savior, and in turning to the Holy Scriptures and to the history of mankind, in which the good providence of God is at work.

But why are there thoughts that trouble our soul? Why are we not firm in the faith, why do we have doubts? The ancient Fathers said that any confusion is from the devil, and therefore, using any suitable spiritual medicine, we must strive to overcome him.

Over the course of two thousand years, the Holy Church has collected for us such a spiritual heritage that only very capable people can master any significant part of it during their lifetime. But this does not mean that we should bury the spiritual treasure in the ground. On the contrary, what is available to us, we must constantly use to add to our own "spiritual capital".

Let us turn to the book of a certain spirit-bearing man, who writes thus: "Firm faith is the mother of renunciation of the world." That is, a person can have firm faith if he renounces all worldly things. And the world is human passions. It is they who bind us to the worldly, it is with their help that the devil rules over people. So the renunciation of this gives firm faith.

"Unshakable hope is the door of impartiality." Truly, if we want to have firm hope in God, we must have no addiction to anything: neither to food, nor to clothing, nor to ourselves, nor to our household, nor to any other things except God.

"Love of God is the cause of withdrawal from the world." When a person loves God, he easily withdraws from all worldly things, and the absence of this love in the heart of man gives birth to idols. God is love, but man is created in the image of God and therefore cannot live without love. And if he does not love the Truth – Christ, then he begins to cling to something else: to money, food. He can delight even in terrible things, sins: envy – and live with envy, feed on it; or live with anger, hatred, revenge. A person can be attached to power, to anything. Any addiction becomes an idol in the soul. If he truly loves God, then there is a reason for withdrawing from the world of passions. Nothing can attract a person: neither money, nor power, nor any other sinful passions – nothing. And then he will have both firm faith and hope in God.

"Obedience is born of self-contemplation and from the desire for spiritual health." If we want to learn something, any craft, any science, any art, anything, then we must come to someone who knows this craft, and give ourselves over to obedience to him. This is the only way we can achieve something, otherwise we will not succeed. It is the same in spiritual science. Without obedience to the Church, it is impossible to achieve mental health.