Archpriest Andrew Lemeshonok, the spiritual
father of St. Elisabeth Convent, answers various questions of the parishioners.
Why did Jesus have to die in order to save
man?
The
hardest, most painful and responsible phenomenon in our life is death. The
world wasn’t created for dying and for people to bury their dead (Cf. Matthew
8: 22), but for people and other living creatures to live and rejoice. When sin
entered this world and the man became mortal, only God was able to correct that
mistake and defeat death. The man could not do it because his nature was
corrupted by sin. That was why God became incarnated as a man and died for all
of us.
In fact,
God cannot die. The person who obeys God and fulfils his will by enduring
suffering till the end, will overcome death. That’s why the mystery of our
salvation is fulfilled on the Cross. The Cross was the most terrible and deadly
tool used for execution of criminals. So Jesus bore our transgressions and
liberated us from the curse of sin. This is why we say, I shall not die, but
live, and declare the works of the LORD. (Ps. 118: 17).
What do you mean by saying that Jesus took
our sins upon himself?
The
Lord’s human nature was without sin. He died for us on the Cross. He knew that
He had to offer a sacrifice. The prototypes of the sacrifice at the Calvary in
the Old Testament Church were lambs and doves, killed on the altar. The Lord
took the guilt of the entire humankind because He could do so as our Creator,
and He had the right to do so. He nailed the sins of the entire world to the
Cross.
Things
like these sometimes happen in our everyday lives, too: if someone is guilty
and the other person takes his guilt upon himself, then the guilty person is
released and the other person is punished instead. We know that Nun Maria
(Skobtsova) went to a gas chamber during the war instead of a woman who had
children. She died for the woman and her kids to remain alive. We know such
cases from history. However, only Jesus Christ—only God—could redeem everyone
and allow to choose between life and death. That’s what He did by dying on the
Cross.
How can a person who is unable to fully
appreciate church worship and joy during his earthly life be able to appreciate
it after he dies?
St Justin
Martyr quoted God as saying, “In whatsoever things I shall take you, in these I
shall judge you.” (Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 47, cf. Matthew 24: 42). Right
now, we see things as if through a dim glass. We can’t experience the depth and
fullness of the spiritual realm but the small pieces that we can grasp really
change our lives. Although we lose God’s grace time and time again, some grace
is left inside our souls. It makes us hope that our souls, which have already
tasted the grace and seen the love of God, will be able to contain everything
the Lord has to reveal to them when they enter the eternal bliss.
There is
a battle going on right now. Sin desensitises us and separates us from the most
essential things. We keep losing that battle. We don’t know, we don’t see, we
don’t hear… Notwithstanding this fact, if our souls move forward and do not
want to stay in the darkness of sin; if we yearn for God, come to church and
participate in worship; if we partake of the Blood and the Body of Christ —
that’s when we may hope that we will ultimately be able to taste the delight of
love, which the Lord has prepared for those who love him (See 1 Cor. 2: 9).
April 4, 2018
St.
Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION