A Word On St. Mary of Egypt:
> > THIS is the pdf link (sorry, but at present I cannot open/copy/paste the texts of pdfs, for easier viewing).
HOMILY FOR PALM SUNDAY by St. John of Kronstadt
“Much
people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was
coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet
Him, and cried: Hosanna! blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in
the name of the Lord! And Jesus, when He had found a young ass, sat
thereon, as it is written: fear not, daughter of Sion! behold, thy King
cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt” (John 12:12-15).
Palm Sunday
We
celebrate, dear brethren, the triumphant entry of the Lord Jesus Christ
into Jerusalem. His procession was quite extraordinary: He entered on a
young ass who had never worn a yoke, attended by a great multitude of
people, who walked in front and behind and cried: Hosanna! blessed is
the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord! The people
greeted the Lord triumphantly and joyously for His having resurrected
His friend Lazarus – already a decomposing dead man – from the dead with
solely His word. This great and fearful miracle was performed by the
Lord as an example and portent of the universal resurrection of the dead
that is to take place in its own time, also by the mighty word of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is for this reason that He came to Jerusalem, in
order to suffer and die, and – as Life-giver and God – to vanquish by
His death and overcome the universal death of mankind, to arise from the
dead by His own power, and to grant universal resurrection. Thus,
remember that Jesus Christ entered into Jerusalem in order to suffer for
the sins of all mankind, including mine and yours, in order to vanquish
our death, and turn it into a mirage, and resurrect all humanity from
the dead, and after the universal judgment grant all believers and all
genuinely repenting sinners an eternal life of rapture.
Do
not forget at what terrible and immensely great cost did the Lord gain
victory over this horror of mankind – death, and with what suffering was
lifted from us God’s just condemnation for man’s damning, incongruous,
and pernicious sin, and was granted blissful immortality and a rapturous
life in the celestial dwelling, in the incorruptible homeland. This
victory was gained through the Son of God’s unimaginable anguish,
terrible suffering, and tormenting death on the cross in His human
nature.
Many
of those who do not believe in this righteous, wise, and loving design
of God for salvation express the following query: why and for what
reason was needed such a terrible sacrifice of His Son on the part of
God the Father? Why this voluntary, horrific passion of the Son of God,
His humbleness, descent, humiliation, His surrender into the hands of
His enemies, and the allowance of such horrible accountability on the
part of His disciple Judas and all Jesus’ enemies: the high priests, the
Jewish elders, the people, the scribes and the Pharisees, Pilate, the
Roman soldiers, and all the participants in the Son of God’s unjust
condemnation and suffering? One must be quite nearsighted and dim-witted
to ask such questions and not see the connection between mankind’s
infinite guilt before God because of its innumerable and heavy sins, its
boundless accountability and liability for punishment on the part of
God’s truth, and sinful mankind’s inaccessibility to the wrathful God
without the intercession of the Mediator between God and men, Who,
solely out of love and compassion for perishing souls, took upon
Himself, as the sole and greatest Righteous One, this endlessly great
responsibility before God’s judgment, and through His absolute truth,
His suffering for the sake of atonement, and His death redeemed guilty
mankind from righteous wrath, damnation, and eternal condemnation for
its sins.
God,
being all-just, could not absolve sinful mankind without the offering
of a sacrifice of truth for it, otherwise He would not have been God,
for what communion is there between truth and iniquity? What commonality
between light and darkness? (2 Cor.6:14). It was impossible not to
justly punish the sins of mankind in the person of the greatest
Righteous One, Jesus Christ, Who voluntarily took upon Himself the sins
of the entire world, so that He could justly acquire power from the
Father to forgive the sins of all those who believe in Him, have been
illuminated by His light of grace, have become cognizant of their sins
and repent of them; He had to taste our death, combat it, and vanquish
it, in order to deliver all of us from our many centuries’ of
enslavement to it and, finally, to conclude His glorious work of
atonement by His resurrection from the dead, in order to have the power
to resurrect all mankind, for whose sins He had offered His Father full
ransom with His own self; for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6:23).
This
is the reason why the Son of God’s sufferings and His death for mankind
were necessary. Without them humanity would have perished forever,
completely, irreversibly, as have perished all the demons.
As
regards the terrible accountability that exists for Judas’ betrayal,
for the demonic schemes against the Saviour on the part of the high
priests and Jewish elders, the scribes and the Pharisees, – they sinned
against the promised Messiah of their own free will, through their
willful blindness, through their avarice and envy; and seeing the
Saviour’s charity and miracles, and His righteous life, – it was as
though they did not see; and hearing His holy words, – it was as though
they did not hear; and finally, they could have repented and could have
been pardoned, to which they were invited by the Apostles, – but they
did not repent. For this reason they will answer for all their evil
deeds at the Last Judgment: they shall look upon Him Whom they have
pierced (Zach. 12:10).
In
conclusion I would like to say to both you and myself: let us make an
all-out effort to guard ourselves from sin, which had engendered
mankind’s disaffection from God and His life, from His holiness and
truth, which brought upon us a just condemnation, which prepared for us
the fiery, insatiable abyss of hell and all its fathomless depths. Only
by means of a sincere belief in Christ and His redemptive suffering,
death, and resurrection, and through constant repentance and a virtuous
life may we be delivered from hell. God forbid that any of us be thrown
into it amid the general bundle of tares mentioned by the Saviour to His
angels: gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to
burn them, but gather the wheat into My barn (Matt. 13:30). Whosoever
has ears to hear, may he hear. Amen.
Saint John of Kronstadt
I do not believe St. John (of Kronstadt gave this sermon. It does not sound like him at all.
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