A HOMILY FOR THE SUNDAY AFTER THE EXALTATION OF THE CROSS OF THE LORD
About the Elevation of the Cross, and About Repentance and the Forgiveness of Sins
Brothers and sisters!
Today we are still celebrating the Great Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, and the cross which was triumphantly carried out of the altar on Friday morning remains in the middle of the church. The procession is followed by the Rite of Exaltation, when the instrument of our salvation is lifted high and used to bless the faithful in all four directions of the compass; meaning, throughout the world. For this reason the present feast is called the Universal Exaltation of the Cross. When he bestows the blessing in all four directions, that is, when he blesses all the ends of the earth, the presiding hierarch or presbyter represents the compassionate God Who by the Cross bestows the blessing upon all creation, and upon the Church Catholic in particular; which is to say, it represents the Lord bestowing His blessing upon all His people who are being saved.
This occurs once a year, but know, dear brothers and sisters, that another exaltation of the holy cross takes place at every Divine Liturgy. The serving priest brings out the cross and elevates it at the conclusion of the service, at the dismissal, for you to see it and revere it. He blesses all of you, who, constituting the local parish church, represent the entirety of the universal Church. For every local Orthodox parish, regardless of its size or the number of the faithful that belong to it, is the Church Catholic, even considered independently of the other parishes. This is so because the local Orthodox Church, in and of itself, lacks nothing whatsoever of the grace and gifts of God. All the local churches of the whole world, taken together, contain nothing more in respect to divine grace, than does the smallest parish with her few members. This is so because the small parish, that small church, has its presbyter and its bishop; it has the Holy Mysteries; it has the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. In it, any worthy soul can taste of the fullness of Christ’s presence and experience the working of the divine Spirit. In it, the fullness of grace and truth are present. With her bishop representing Christ, the local parish represents the whole flock of the Good Shepherd. In that one small parish, any pure heart can enter the Kingdom of God, and be betrothed to the eternal Spirit. In it, anyone who is truly repentant can find the peace that passeth all understanding. [1] In it, anyone can receive forgiveness of sins and be saved.
Again, when he elevates the holy cross thus and blesses the faithful of his parish church with it, the presbyter portrays exactly the same thing as he or the Bishop does during the Rite of Exaltation on the Great Feast of the Cross. Lifting up the hand cross, the presbyter shows how God Almighty elevates the Cross over the whole world and blesses the entire Church. The presbyter thus reminds us of Christ’s famous words which we heard in last Sunday’s Gospel: God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.[2] When the cross is elevated over this little parish and blesses it, God blesses the whole race of Orthodox Christians with the blessing of His Son, Who was raised upon the Cross and died for our sins. Remember this, dear Christians, every time the priest brings forth the holy cross, for this is the real meaning of the simple ritual of blessing at the dismissal!
God is our father, but there has never been another father such as He, and there never will be. This father, our God, willingly sacrificed His infinitely beloved Son for us sinners. Beholding the holy cross raised on high, beloved Christians, we should also remember the Lord’s boundless love for us. Seeing it, we should repent fervently and not hesitate to ask God’s forgiveness of our innumerable sins.
But what actually happens with us? While we are making our plans to do something reprehensible or are about to commit a sin, we fear nothing. We do not want to think about God; in fact, we try to forget Him. If the thought of Him intrudes upon our mind, we calm ourselves with the remembrance of His mercy, with the remembrance that there is no sin that He does not forgive. Only after we commit the sin do we begin to worry. We torment ourselves, become despondent, and perhaps even fall into despair. Unfortunately, the one thing we may very well fail to do is to beg God’s forgiveness from our heart. Instead, we become afraid to face Him with our sin, to bring it before Him. We imagine that He will not forgive us; that He will never set us aright. Secretly, we even nurture the thought that bringing the sin before Him will somehow attract His punishment, which we can avoid by hiding, like Adam in the garden after he tasted the forbidden fruit. We want to forget about our transgression and about God. We want to continue to sin, yet all the time this desire is warring with our despondency, even as the pain of despondency furthers our desire to find consolation in the pleasure of sin. Finally, we resolve the whole disastrous business – if it goes far enough – by justifying our sin, silencing our conscience, and thus attaining, not the peace of Christ I mentioned earlier, but the false peace of the devil and the world.
This is not the way we should act, we who are Christians, even if sinners. Instead, we must be watchful and try to reject the initial suggestion of the devil urging us to do wrong. We must not deceive ourselves about the sin we are considering committing; we must not make excuse with excuses in sin.[3] Rather, we must beg God’s help; we must beg Him to guard us from the sin. But if we do fall, then we must never succumb to despondency. We must humble ourselves. Despondency is one of the evilest fruits of pride. Humble yourself before God, turn to Him in repentance, admit to Him your fault, accept His forgiveness, and resolve to avoid the sin next time, with His help. God is eager to set you aright, if only you truly desire it. It was for this purpose that God allowed His Son to be elevated on the Cross – so that you and every repentant sinner throughout the world and in every generation might receive forgiveness. Thus, you need only repent sincerely to avoid perishing in your sins.
And so, brothers and sisters, as we continue to celebrate this sacred feast of the Exaltation of the honored and life-giving Wood of the Cross, and as we come forth to kiss the holy cross today and at the end of every Divine Liturgy, let us bear in mind how much God loves us. Let us fear to sin, but let us not at all fear to ask forgiveness. For how could God fail to forgive us, when He has so loved the world that He delivered His only-begotten Son to death for the sake of man’s forgiveness?
Remember, O man, that he who is truly repentant is near to the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does not repent is very far from it. Therefore, beg the Lord to grant you the grace of repentance, so that by the power of the life-giving Cross, you may be numbered among the saved. Amen.
[1] Phil. 4:7
[2] John 3:16
[3] Ps. 140:4
