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| St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco. |
The feast of All Saints of Russia is not a feast of just righteous ones, but of saints. God is filled with holiness; "Holy is the Lord our God." But man is created in the "image and likeness" of God, and the Lord at creation breathed into him the power to partake of the Divine essence, and thereby come closer to God. And the closer a man is to God, the holier he is. Saints are those who have partaken of the Divine essence and made it their own; to God, they become "His own." The saints enjoy blessedness, for God is blessed. From them there is light for men. Through them the power of God is revealed.
Saints retain all that is characteristic of the human
condition; they know everything that is ours. They are
near to God, but they are also near to us; they walked and
dwelt among us. The people of Holy Russia venerated them,
kissed their icons and holy relics, wanted to be as close
as possible to the saints, touched holiness, and the
Russian land was filled with it. Holy Prince Vladimir
demonstrated the regenerating power of the Divine essence
upon himself. Previously wild and passionate, he was
completely reborn, so that he became a new person,
radiating light and joy, and was called "beautiful
sun."
Do not think that contact with holiness is the fate of
only the Russian nation. No! All peoples can live in the
spirit that Holy Russia lived and lives in, and then they
are close and comprehensible to each other. St. Anthony of
the Kiev Caves and St. Anthony the Roman were men of
different countries, but together they built the Russian
Church, and they are equally near and dear to her. Until
recent times we did not have martyrs, but there was a
multitude of saints. They influenced the direction that
the Russian people took; the people loved them and tried
to follow them, and this determined the way of life. All
of life was illuminated, until spiritual apostasy began,
which led to a fall. But Holy Russia is alive. When the
persecution began, strugglers were revealed, confessors,
and now we have martyrs.
The spirit of Holy Russia lives. Holy Russia is part of
the Ecumenical (i.e., the entire) Church. Celebrating the
saints, we desire to be together with them and to acquire
the power of God through their holiness. They know us, our
nature, our characteristics and spirits, and they know our
souls, too--what is necessary for us. We are close to them
as children are close to their parents. The Apostle Peter
prayed for his disciples. St. Demetrios of Thessalonica
rushes to help the Greeks because this is his own nation.
Sts. Boris and Gleb help their relatives (e.g., Alexander
Nevsky), and their own Russian people.
07 / 07 / 201
Commentary:
Dear
Editor, Thank you for your wonderful website and for the sermons by St
John of Shanghai. However, in the current article I fear there has been a
mistranslation which could cause considerable confusion, not to say
error, and which does not convey St John's meaning.
I refer in particular to the phrase "divine ESSENCE", which is used more than once in the translation. The word in the Greek and Slavonic text for 2 Peter 1:4 (which is surely in St John's mind) is more correctly rendered as "NATURE".
As St Gregory Palamas clarified, we do NOT participate in God's ESSENCE but in His ENERGIES.
I do not know the source of the translation which you have posted on the website but perhaps it is worth checking and possibly correcting.
Yours in Christ,
The sinful servant of God, Michael
I refer in particular to the phrase "divine ESSENCE", which is used more than once in the translation. The word in the Greek and Slavonic text for 2 Peter 1:4 (which is surely in St John's mind) is more correctly rendered as "NATURE".
As St Gregory Palamas clarified, we do NOT participate in God's ESSENCE but in His ENERGIES.
I do not know the source of the translation which you have posted on the website but perhaps it is worth checking and possibly correcting.
Yours in Christ,
The sinful servant of God, Michael
17:11Michael Donley: