By Father Andrew Lemeshonok
Master, it is
good for us to be here (Luke 9:33) – this is what we can say now to our God,
Who came to this world to save humanity. Today we are here because it is
the very place, where God’s love dwells. The love, which heals any fatal wound, which corrects any mistake and makes up for any loss. There is only one way
for an Orthodox Christian – the way to Christ. All the other ways will bring us
to a dead end sooner or later. The dead end where we will find nothing but our own
“self”, our personal madness and loneliness.
We thank God
for allowing us to attend His Feast on this paschal night. People who have
partaken of the Holy Communion today will head into the city and carry The Resurrected
Christ in themselves. What a wonderful light it will be! Just look how many churches there are in the
city, and in each of them people are accepting God.
Sometimes it
seems to us that there is so much evil in the world that a person loses the
ability to think about what is good and choose good over evil. But this is not true! Christ is the
victor! There is nothing to be afraid of, if we choose to be with God. There
were some periods in our history, when the government itself intended to
destroy the Holy Church, to destroy people’s faith in Christ. But Christ was victorious. And today Christ is a victor as well! There are many other
temptations in the world – modern civilization, information, various conveniences
and comfort, without which our life seems to be impossible. In fact, it is only
impossible to live without God, while with Him you can live anywhere, even in
prison. Father Nikolai (Guryanov) once told me: “You know, in prison it is
good to live as well. People are working there…”
It is good to
live in any place, if you live with God. At the same time, you will feel bad
anywhere, if there is no Christ in your heart. I congratulate you all on
partaking of the Sacraments of Christ and the Resurrection of Christ! Let this
joy of the Resurrection stay in us throughout the entire church year. Let us
always keep in mind the example of the life of St. Seraphim of Sarov. His life
was difficult and sometimes even unbearable. Despite the fact that he faced
many challenges on his way, he always met other people with these words: “My
dear, Christ is risen!” We should also learn to live in such a way. We should
keep the Resurrected Christ in our hearts despite all our sorrows and pains. We
should learn to see God in any person. This is what the read victory over death
is. Pray God that we manage to become the part of this Victory, to live through it and get enough strength to see The Kingdom of Heaven, which any faithful person strives to reach and not just our grave ahead.
Christ is
risen!
April 16, 2017
St. Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION