Protopriest Leonid Kolchev

Sermon
on the 3rd Week of Great Lent
The Gospel reading from Mark, pericope 37 (8:34-38, 9:1)

We know that man was created for blessedness and placed in the Garden of Eden. But we always seem to value that which we do not possess. New, unseen vistas opened before mankind then, but on the path to obtaining them, he did not stand firm in goodness and he fell. His heart froze, he saw his error, butЙ it was too late. "What we have, we do not keep, and losing it, we weep."
 

Now in exile, the path of mankind was filled with sorrows, sufferings, disease and all sorts of deprivations-these are the unavoidable companions of life on earth. The further it went, the worse it became. Many hundreds of years passed. Finally, man was in such a quagmire that he could no longer extract himself of his own powers. This became clear. And then, Christ, the Son of God, came to earth, illuminating the universe with His undying light and igniting the flame of the eternal lighthouse-the Church of God, crowned with the holy cross. Now, no matter the depth to which man falls, he can see this heavenly fire wherever he may be, and he can embark upon the road back. In the Gospel reading today we heard the Lord say: "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
 

"Whosoever will..." O Lord, who in their right mind does not wish to?!
 

"Deny himself..." That is, you must refuse your self-love, selflessly battle your passions and, so to speak, begin to despise the path of the wicked.
 

"Take up his cross..." That is, humbly and patiently endure those sorrows and sufferings that fall your way. The path of the Christian is not littered with flowers--no, this is a second Golgotha of sorts. Remember how the wounded, humiliated and mocked Christ, under the weight of His cross, often fell Himself. The same awaits you, for "no servant is greater than his lord" (John 13:16). In the world, "ye shall be sorrowful" (John 16:20). "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). That is why the apostles said that through many tribulations we shall enter the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).
 

Follow Him... that is, try to deny your own evil will and submit to the will of God. "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt" ( . 26, 39), said Christ, and even more should you say this.  The servant can do nothing without the will of his lord, and so you, as the slave of sin, are in its power completely. Free yourself from sin and then you can follow Christ.
 

Brothers and sisters, beloved in the Lord, we have been thrown overboard from the ship of Russia, we know from experience what it is to be exiled. Having lost everything, finding ourselves in strange lands, often occupied with work that we are unaccustomed to, faltering in our struggle for survival, we still patiently, yet also with sorrow, endure all this in the hopes of sooner or later returning to our homeland. Truly "having no continuing city, but we seek one to come (Heb. 13:14), for we are "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Heb. 11:13).