Word on the Week of Orthodoxy and on the day of the accession of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich to the throne

“A sermon on the week of Orthodoxy and on the day of the accession of the Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich to the throne” was delivered by St. Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov) in 1860. In his sermon, the saint combines biblical images (the entry of Jews into the Promised Land) with the historical development of Christianity and the role of the Orthodox Church as the spiritual and national pillar of Russia. St. Filaret emphasizes the relationship between church and state celebrations, pointing out that the tsar-autocrat is the patron of the faith, and Orthodoxy is the foundation of social order and cultural enlightenment. He recalls the great deeds of his ancestors (St. Cyril of Moravia, St. Princess Olga and St. Prince Vladimir), notes the saving influence of the Orthodox Church in the education of the people and in maintaining peace, contrasting it with the Western Church. The speech ends with an appeal to believers to remember the “eternal days” and preserve Orthodoxy as the basis of national identity. “Remember the days of eternity, remember the years of generations.” (Deut. 32:7) When the people of God, finishing their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, were ready to enter into the inheritance of the Promised Land; Then his legislator and leader, the prophet Moses, commanded him, upon entering the land of Canaan, to build an altar on it, write the words of the law on the stones, and in the council of all the tribes of Israel, placing the ark of the covenant in the middle, make a sacrifice of peace, read the words of the law, and for one half of the people to pronounce a blessing on all the faithful doers of the law, and the other to pronounce a curse on its violators. The Levites were to proclaim these blessings and curses; and the people exclaim: wake up! – The Orthodox Church now does something similar to this, through its shepherds, according to the commandment of its fathers. In a solemn meeting of the faithful, before the altar of the Lord, during the performance of a bloodless sacrifice, among hymns and spiritual songs, she proclaims the sacred dogmas of her faith, and then pronounces a blessing on all her faithful sons, who most contributed to their rightful confession, and a terrible condemnation on all opponents of her Orthodoxy, who maliciously and stubbornly rebelled against it, and after all her admonitions, those who remained in opposition. This ancient, thousand-year-old triumph of the Church is now joined by a new, joyful celebration for the fatherland - the remembrance of the accession of our Most Pious Sovereign. The triumph of the Church and the triumph of the state easily merge into one: for both the Autocrat of Russia is the sovereign patron of Orthodoxy, and Orthodoxy has enormous influence on the destinies of Russia. The triumph of Orthodoxy is a victory bought at the cost of great and centuries-long efforts. It is based on the unanimous confession of the churches of the whole world, who were asked seven times about their faith and hope. Through the mouths of God-wise shepherds, after mature reflection, with a firmness worthy of faithful witnesses of the truth, the dogmas of piety, or Orthodoxy, were uttered, the statutes of church life were defined: under the influence of sacred dogmas and institutions, the spirit of the Orthodox Church, distinguished by its special character, was brought up. We were born in these dogmas and institutions, we were raised in them; they owe their rise among nations. With them we can only expect further development and success in the affairs of civil society. Remember the eternal days, remember the years of the generation of generations! Earthly kingdoms are created, rise and fall to serve the one eternal Kingdom of God. It is not of the world, but reigns over the world. The ancient prophet saw: behold, the Son of man came upon the clouds of heaven, and came even to the Ancient One, and was brought before Him: and to Him was given power, and honor, and a kingdom, and all people, tribes, and nations would serve Him (Daniel 7, 13, 14). The Son of Man Himself, after completing His work on earth, declared: to me is given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). Thus, the fate of the whole world, until the end of centuries, is inextricably linked with the fate of His eternal and eternal Kingdom. The kingdom and power and majesty of kings under all heaven is given to the saints of the Most High. Otherwise: the Kingdom of Christ is the Kingdom of His saints, or the Church. And voluntarily, or involuntarily, with their actions, their destinies and changes, the kingdoms of the earth serve for the creation of the Church of Christ Remember the eternal days! – When ancient Rome fell, the rude Germanic tribes, settling in its regions, themselves borrowed from it the light of faith: and thus, on the ruins of the ancient world, a new, Christian life blossomed; and in the renewed world, from the confusion of peoples, new powers arose, entrusted to the spiritual leadership of fallen Rome. Then the numerous Slavic tribes were not subordinate to the rod of the Roman shepherds: they waited for their time and their lot. Adjacent to the eastern half of the Christian empire, from time to time, with their incursions into it, they reminded its rulers that they also needed to take care of their calling to the Kingdom of Christ. But the Providence of God, which set all peoples their times and the limits of their villages, restrained the impatient impulses of the young tribes for a time. The stormy unrest of heresies in the Greek power had not yet ended, one after another, intensifying to prevail over Orthodoxy. And so, when the Church emerged victoriously from the struggle against all false teachings and had already managed to celebrate the glorious triumph of Orthodoxy; when the forces of the Greek state, attacked from different sides, became impoverished in order to maintain its independence and protect the restored Orthodoxy; Meanwhile, in the west, a new storm arose against faith and the Church: the curiosity and vanity of the Roman high priests attempted to dissolve the universal union of Christian society, and at the same time, the Roman dominance hastened to conquer the Slavic tribes that were still standing outside the fence of Christ: at this time, the heavenly Worker, appearing again in the marketplace of the world, extended His voice to those awaiting their calling: why are you worth idle? Go you too to my vineyard, my vineyard, and not him who calls himself my governor; and if it is righteous, you will receive it. Then, for the first time, the calling voice of grace reached you, blessed fatherland. The storm, confusion and abuse, among which this voice was heard, did not drown out its gentle sounds. And the same archpastor of Constantinople, who with his lessons raised the evangelist of the Slavic tribes, St. Cyril, - who, for the purity of dogmas and for the rights of his throne, rebelled against the high priest of Rome and called him to the court of the ecumenical council; the same high priest of the East, in the hearing of the whole world, testified that the warlike Russian people, having converted pagan superstition to pure and unblemished faith, received a bishop and behaved like an obedient son of the church. – There is no doubt that this was still a weak germ of faith; the Equal-to-the-Apostles exploits of St. were still needed. Olga and Vladimir and the pious zeal of many shepherds, evangelists and teachers to complete your Christian education. Nevertheless, it is clear that your calling, Russian people, to be a people of Orthodoxy has been decided. – In accordance with this appointment, you are given a decisive advantage over all peoples of the same tribe and the same faith, so that you can, in turn, be an independent defender and custodian of Orthodoxy. Your limits are expanding to immense dimensions... . Constantinople stands until then, until the period of your political and church education has ended... . And your whole history goes on separately from the peoples of the West, so that you do not prematurely merge with their paths, so as not to lose the treasure entrusted to you at the crossroads of the European world... . So, your elevation above the peoples, your power and strength, your significance in history, your destiny, you owe to your destiny to be the support of Orthodoxy. God-seer Moses, having led his people to the borders of the promised land, said to him: when the Lord destroys the nations living in the land of Canaan before you, do not say in your heart: for the sake of my righteousness, the Lord will lead me to inherit this good land. It is not for the sake of your righteousness, but for the sake of your reverence, for the sake of your heart, that you enter to inherit their land (Deut. 9:4). May it not be difficult to apply this word to us. It was not our special merits, not our fidelity that we deserved the high privilege of being members of St. Orthodox Church, its guardians and defenders. The grace of God showed us our calling even before we turned to Christ, and even then it arranged our destiny so that it corresponded to our destiny. But we owe Orthodoxy not only our external position among nations. Through him we received our spiritual education. For a long time it was the only conduit of enlightenment to us. Let's compare ourselves with other nations. We see the Greeks and Romans, even before accepting the Christian faith, mentally developed. Other European peoples settled on the ruins of kingdoms that were once famous for their education, and took possession of the sources and means of their education. We came into the world as a new people, without preliminary preparation and development, and on soil that was not yet cultivated. The light of mental education came to us only with the light of the Gospel. And the books of the word of God, the writings of men enlightened by God, for several centuries, were for us the only source of enlightenment. Their content limited and determined our mental horizon; in them we drew light and life. And the longer the people were under the influence of such church instruction, the more reliable its development should have been for its high purpose. Orthodoxy not only did not hesitate to use these means of spiritual development, but also promoted it. Whereas in the West, the Church did not allow the layman to use the word of God, did not allow him to read the book of life in a language understandable to him; and also left the entire divine service incomprehensible to him, forbidding it to be performed in his native language: the Orthodox Church opened up the opportunity for everyone to learn the words of God, announced to everyone with its spiritual chants and prayers, in an intelligible language; accompanying a person with her prayerful blessing on all paths of life, coming to his aid, with advice, with reproof, with consolation, in all cases and circumstances of life, and always introducing him into the mind of the offered prayers, she easily penetrated his soul, often revealed to him the composition of Christian truths, and instructed him to look correctly at his present and future. And while Western science was confused in its wisdom: in our country, the simple and uncomplicated way of life of the people and society corresponded to a simple word about piety, on everything useful, improving our temporary and eternal life. The favorable attitude of Orthodoxy towards society was not limited to its influence on its education. – The church hierarchy, in the consciousness of its spiritual purpose, has always behaved strictly in relation to the affairs of secular power. That is why the history of our fatherland is free from those bloody feuds that the high priests of Rome waged with the sovereigns of Western Europe, due to their power-hungry claims. Instead, our hierarchs are gentle advisers to their sovereigns in public affairs, reconcilers of warring parties and mourners for the unfortunate. Not with the instructions of legislators, but with ideas of good intentions and experience, they entered the councils of princes and kings; during civil strife they were the first promoters of peace; during the unfortunate enslavement of the Russian land by the only intercessors for it before the infidel kings. With their assistance, the destructive plurality of power was gradually destroyed, the power of the one was exalted, and the Russian land came into power. The names of the Russian high priests: Peter, Alexy, Jonah, Philip will always shine not only as the names of men who pleased God with deeds of piety, but also as the names of friends and benefactors of the fatherland. But are we saying all this so that, dwelling on the merits of the previous time, we will not see our shortcomings and not worry about correcting them; not feel new needs and not try to satisfy them? God save us from this! – In modern times, the spirit of Orthodoxy often encounters new enemies. They cannot shake its foundations, which are established on the truth of God: but they can shake, captivate, seduce from the path the weak among us, who are not quite familiar with either the firmness of its evidence, or the vastness of its aspirations, or its ability to expand in accordance with the new, legitimate demands of life. Not stagnation on the paths of the former life, but always regenerating renewal in the spirit of faith and piety of our fathers: this is what constitutes the true character of Orthodoxy. Remember the days of old. What happened to those Jews who, in view of new dangers, not caring about self-correction, relying only on the external institutions of their Church, repeated one thing: the church of the Lord! church of the Lord! – the church was betrayed to the enemies, and they themselves were taken into captivity. “But in this church lay the law, forgotten by them, left in disdain, barely found by the high priest. And this law saved the people in enslavement: it did not allow them to mix with pagan peoples, it supported the migrants’ desire for the fatherland, brought them back to the holy land, and contributed to the restoration of all sacred institutions here; and a new temple appeared to them, the glory of which was greater than the glory of the first! – This is how the true foundation of Orthodoxy has always been and will always be. You just need to go deeper into his spirit; to study its beginnings and its various manifestations in the history of the Church, in the history of our fatherland; be imbued with its life-giving power; surrender to him not only with your mind, but also with your heart, and be faithful to him to the end. Amen. You might be interested in: