Sunday of the Blind Man—a sermon

Beloved of God, in the Paschal cycle of the services of the Church on this Sunday we are commemorating the healing of the blind man which we read of in the Gospel of St. John.  In the kontakion of this Sunday, which is read during the hours, and is sung both during the Matins and after the small entrance at Liturgy we heard the prayer: “Blinded in the eyes of my soul, I come to Thee, O Christ, like the man blind from birth and cry out to Thee with repentance: Thou art the all- radiant light of those in darkness.”¹ 

Why does the Church instruct us to say, “Blinded in the eyes of my soul”.  And a few weeks ago on the Sunday of the paralytic we speak of being paralyzed in soul through sin.  But we have come to belief in Christ as the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world.  We are attempting to live a Christian life so why does the Church tell us to say we are blinded in soul or paralyzed in soul? 

Well, let’s consider a question which can give us an answer. The question I have in mind is, “What is salvation?”  Is it that our Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins on the Cross so now we are saved from eternal condemnation? “For the Orthodox Church, salvation is more than pardon of transgressions. It is more than being justified or acquitted for offenses committed against God. According to Orthodox teaching, salvation certainly includes forgiveness and justification, but is by no means limited to them.  For the Fathers of the Church salvation is the acquisition of the grace of the Holy Spirit.  To be saved is to be sanctified and to participate in the life of God—indeed to become a partaker of divine nature.”²

So we do not say we are saved as something which is completed but we are in the process of salvation: a growth in the likeness of God, a participation in divine life, in the life of God, in the uncreated energy of God.  To the degree of purification we reach, divine life is manifested within us.          

In the book of Genesis we read: God said, Let Us make man in our image, after Our likeness…So God created man in His Own image, in the image of God He created him.  “For Orthodox anthropology, the term ‘image’ has a different meaning from the term ‘likeness’.  ‘Image’ may be seen as the potential inherent in man for sanctification, while ‘likeness’ refers to its perfection.  Or in other words, one could say ‘image’ implies ‘potentiality’, whereas ‘likeness’ implies ‘actuality’.

“Man was not originally created in a state of completed perfection.  He was, however, endowed with the unique freedom to choose either to live in pursuit of achieving his full potential, or else to digress toward the desecration and defacement of his true dignity as man.  Only through proper use of God-given freedom can man cooperate with divine grace in restoring the image of God within him and attain to the likeness with God for which he was created.”³

This is the path we should all tread upon if we are active members of the Church.  We can all, each one of us ascend more into the likeness of God so we are all in a certain sense blind because there is something more for each of us to see, that is, to learn, to experience to know, something more to be revealed.  There is a hymn in the service for St. Anthony the Great which speaks of this process or struggle—this hymn is actually a general hymn used for monastic saints. It is as follows: “Preserving intact the image of God within thee, and establishing thy mind as ruler over the destructive passions through asceticism, thou didst attain to the likeness of God, as far as is possible; for in manfully compelling nature, thou wast diligent to subject the worst to the better, and to subjugate the flesh to the spirit. Hence, thou didst prove to be the summit of monastics.”⁴

And one of the fathers in the Philokalia—Diadochos of Photiki—speaks of attaining the likeness of God in a different way, he writes of this in a really awesome fashion. He affirms that the being in image of God is an immediate gift in creation and it is renewed in baptism. However, concerning the likeness to God he writes:     

“Our likeness to God requires our cooperation.  When the intellect begins to perceive the Holy Spirit with full consciousness, we should realize that grace is beginning to paint the divine likeness over the divine image in us.  Artist first draw the outline of a man in monochrome, and then add one color after another, until little by little they capture the likeness of the subject down to the smallest details.  In the same way the grace of God starts by remaking the divine image in man into what it was when he was first created. But when it sees us longing with all our heart for the beauty of the divine likeness and humbly standing naked in its atelier, then by making one virtue after another come into flower and exalting the beauty of the soul ‘from glory to glory’ (IICor. 3:18) it depicts the divine likeness in the soul.”⁵ 

This state is very exalted, and advanced, and beyond our experience.  However, although it is above us, it helps us to be humble.  And so, now I believe we can understand why the Church tells us to pray: “Blinded in the eyes of my soul, I come to Thee, O Christ, like the man blind from birth and cry out to Thee with repentance: Thou art the all-radiant light of those in darkness.”  Amen.

 

1 Pentecostarion of the Orthodox Church, The St. John of Kronstadt Press, Trans. Isaac E. Lambertsen, p. 202

2 Orthodox Spiritual Life according to Saint Silouan the Athonite, St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, Harry Boosalis, p. 18

3 Ibid., pp. 29-30

4 The January Menaion. Trans. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, p. 154

5 The Philokalia Volume One, trans. G.E. H. Palmer, Phillip Sherrard, Kallistos Ware p. 288  

Life of Igumen Nazarius of Valaam (conclusion)

When a pot is boiling over fire, no insect can get into the hot water; yet, as soon as it cools down, flies and every kind of bug will fall in. So is our heart: when it burns with a desire for God, it is clear of passion and thoughts.

King David says, “O Lord, my heart is not exalted, nor are mine eyes become lofty. Nor have I walked in things too great or too marvelous for me, or in things too high for me. If I were not humble-minded as one weaned from his mother: but exalted my soul, so wouldest Thou requite my soul.” (Psa. 130). Think, what do these words mean? I can’t picture it for you! He says, “I was a great prophet, and I was a wonderful King; but I did not become haughty, and my mind and heart did not become preoccupied with that. Grant me, O Lord to be attached to Thee like a child to his mother, not resentful when punished, and not proud when rewarded.”

For God’s sake, learn and try hard, my desert doves! What does the desert mean?  A clean conscience; a mind cleansed by prayer, keeping the fast; fasting with prayer is not a wasteful labor. Blessed is he, who plants a garden in his soul!

How good and delightful it is for the brothers to live together! I do not know about you, but I feel like I am indebted to everyone and I am to blame for everything. Is it possible to be offended by anyone after this? If we love three or four very much – what a small thing that is! A trifle! It is better to love everyone in the world; I have an amiable simplicity, the gates of the heart are open to everyone; and even if someone is not happy to see me, I, however, am glad to see him.

A monk means a person living a solitary life; a monk means a different dress, a different disposition, a different custom, and a different way of life. A monastic wears black attire, which symbolizes mourning for the soul, day and night he must weep.

I did not know affliction for three years and became so accustomed to fasting, to the unspeakable oppression of the flesh, that I thought that all the virtue was in that. It is when three sisters visited me – despondency, boredom, and sadness—there it occurred to me that I did not know how to deal with them. I tried and became exhausted, but later I learned, saying, “Dear guests of mine, welcome in, please, I will treat you; let me light up a candle, we’ll pray, we’ll lament, we’ll sing together”, and I would cry out, “God be merciful to me, a sinner! You have created me, Lord, have mercy on me, who have sinned without measure, Lord, forgive me! How can I appeal to Thy mercy? Where will I start confession from? Most holy Mother of God, remember thy servant!” Then did my guests run!

And when you need to go to the Abbess, pray: “Lord, bless me to go to my spiritual mother, teach me so that she will listen to me as a sinner”, and say, “Mother, this is what I would like to do, but do not do according to my will, but according to yours.” If you need to talk to your sister, lift up your mind to the Lord, say, “Bless me, my Savior, to talk to my sister, and teach me, so that she may receive the words from me, a sinner.” You, however, keep doing everything according to your own will.

When I was on my way to you, I almost drowned; but when I began to drown, I gathered my mind and heart together: “Oh, Sweetest, oh, Dearest, most loving Lord! If Thou desirest to do so, save me, and if not, then I’ll go to the bottom, but I will not be separated from Thee!” Later on, I fell into a gully, and fortunately, as I was falling, I managed to say on the way: “Oh, my Lord!” Once, however, you mention such a Name, what can happen? I fell not on a hard surface, but it was as if I fell on a soft bed.

If melancholy comes, as if God has forsaken us, then read this Psalm: He that dwelleth in the help of the Most High” [Psa. 90]. Once you come to these words “I am with him in affliction, and I will rescue him and glorify him” [verse 15], believe that the Lord will not forsake you! If it is for sins – weep like a slave; and if not be grateful, as a son. The Lord requires from the sick only a prayer with humility, patience, and thanksgiving.

When the Sweetest Savior leads you to the heavenly Jerusalem in the unfading light of the Heavenly Father and says, “Heavenly Father! These are the fruits of My suffering.” There will be joy for us! It is impossible to say what an honor it will be for us.

Imprint all my words in your heart, where they will not be erased. Seek what is lofty, where Christ is, reflect on the heavenly and not the earthly; do it all day long, and the darkness will not overtake you. A God-loving person needs nothing but God; once he finds God, he seeks nothing else. One saint was always crying: “My peace, heavenly peace! Where can I find you? Only in the cross, and in Christ!”

Having lived a venerable life and having completely exhausted his bodily powers, the Blessed Igumen Nazarius passed away by the will of God to eternal rest on February 23, 1809, at the age of 72. His body is buried by the altar of the heated church. A monument with the following inscription is erected over it:

Nazari’s earthly frame lies here, his soul finds a home in heaven;

His memory stays bright in grateful hearts,

In which he has infused the holy talents,

All earthly treasures fade before those precious gifts.

Find restful peace here, Father, far from grief and sorrow,

Until the day will come of justful recompense.

Alas! The lips of Igumen Nazarius, from which the honey-like humble and wise streams of words used to flow, from which we received the sweetest myrrh of teaching, have closed; no longer do they move.