To many people who consider themselves bearers of enlightenment, the light of the mind, the words of Christ are addressed: "Behold, the light that is in you, is not darkness" (Luke 11:35)? The Lord calls a person to see if there is the light of Christ in his heart.

After Jesus Christ had illuminated the people of the land of Zebulun and Neuphalim with His Divine light, He immediately began to call upon them: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2). And we need to remember that we will shine with our hearts only when we are freed from the darkness of sin, for light and darkness are incompatible. Let everyone take to himself the Lord's call for repentance! The time is approaching, which the Holy Church has ordained for special repentance – the time of Great Lent.

Unfortunately, an extremely grave sin has become very widespread, the significance of which many of you are not sufficiently aware of – the sin of renouncing Christ, renouncing faith in God. You know how great were the multitude of faint-hearted people who, in the past years of atheism, during the general census of the population, quite easily wrote that they were non-believers in the column on their attitude to religion. And yet this is a completely obvious, undoubted renunciation of Christ. This refers to Christ's stern warning: "Whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 10:33). And this should be horrified.

In the first centuries of Christianity, there were severe persecutions of believers; it is known from the history of the Church how many martyrs shed their blood for the name of Christ, for confessing Him. But along with this host of holy martyrs there were many faint-hearted people who renounced Christ out of fear of torture. When the persecutions ended, many returned to the Church with tearful repentance, but the Ecumenical and Local Councils condemned all apostates from the faith extremely severely; there was a time when they were not accepted into the Church at all. Later, they began to receive them, but after a long repentance, they were excommunicated from communion for decades!

Those of you who have denied Christ in our times, who are no match for the persecution of the first Christians, are like these apostates. None of you were killed, not tortured, there was no direct persecution, and, nevertheless, there were many faint-hearted people for whom even the mere fear of suffering for the faith was enough to declare themselves unbelievers. I do not know what ecclesiastical punishment we will impose on these new apostates from the faith. This is a very complex issue that is subject to discussion by the Council.

It is necessary that each of you should examine your own conscience, and he who has renounced Christ would not dare to approach the Holy Chalice, for the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils concerning apostates have not been revoked.

May the Lord God preserve you all from fear where there is none, for many have exaggerated this fear. May this terrible calamity not be with any of you. May the light of Christ always shine in your hearts. Amen.

January 21, 1945

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew,

Ch. 5, verse 4

The second commandment of the Beatitudes, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5:4), speaks of tears.

From time immemorial, the whole earth has been flooded with tears of sorrow and grief. And to this day there is grief everywhere, suffering, sorrow, anguish and tears everywhere. If it were possible to collect all the tears that mankind has shed over the many thousands of years of its existence, and pour them out on the earth, then there would be a second global flood. And how many tears have been shed by all peoples in this terrible diabolical war!