Saturday, January 31, 2004
The Holy Unmercenaries Cyros and John
Kellia: Deuteronomy 10:14-21 Epistle: 2 Timothy 2:11-19 Gospel: St. Luke 18:2-8
Deuteronomy 10:14-21, especially vs. 21, "He is your praise; He is your God,
Who has done for you these great and terrible things which your eyes have seen." We Orthodox
are above all a People of praise and worship: "Let our mouths be filled with Thy praise, O Lord,
that we may sing of Thy glory.... Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia." Especially we are indebted to the
Three Holy Hierarchs, Basil, Gregory, and John, for the rich and wondrous words they have
given us to fill our mouths with the praise of God.
The most frequent Liturgy of the Church, which resounds in our hearts and issues forth so easily
in song on our lips, comes from the hand of St. John Chrysostom. The Liturgy of St. Basil the
Great sustains us in the struggle with our wounds and sins through days of Great Lent, reviving
us again and again with his challenge, "And who is sufficient to speak of Thy mighty acts, to
make all Thy praises to be heard, or to tell of all Thy wonders at every season?"
And let all remember, as we delight in the Paschal Glory, that these words are drawn from the
two Resurrection orations of St. Gregory Nazianzus: "It is the day of Resurrection, be illumined
for the Feast, and embrace one another. Let us speak brothers, even unto those who hate us, and
forgive all for the sake of the Resurrection, and so together let us cry out: Christ is risen from the
dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs, bestowing life."
Today's reading consists of two exhortations pronounced to the Church in the gleaming light of
the august God to Whom belongs the heavens and "the earth with all that is in it" (vs. 14). The
entire passage is marked by contrasts: at the beginning Moses proclaims the majesty of God, after
which he urges us to "serve Him and cleave to Him," and swear by His Name (vs. 20)
First, the Prophet orders us: "Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of
heavens, the earth with all that is in it" (vs.14). Who can meditate upon the immensity, delicacy,
and complexity of the universe which modern science has illumined for us and not be moved to
adoration? We observe a cosmos that reaches out in light years and downward to mesons and
particles and joins our lives with all other living creatures. This is from Thy hand, O Lord of the
heavens and of the heaven of heavens! Truly, O Lord, "there are no bounds to the majesty of Thy
holiness, and just art Thou in all Thy works!"
Then, Moses heightens the contrast: "yet the Lord set His heart in love upon your fathers and
chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as at this day" (vs. 15). His words
foreshadow the condescension of God the Word: "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 Jn. 4:10). The indescribably
infinite God loves us with a love ineffable and beyond imagination.
Hence, says Moses, "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn"
(Dt. 10:16). Submit yourselves to God; open your hearts to Him! And thus, having brought us to
our knees before the Lord, the Prophet once again lifts our eyes to the supreme majesty of God,
"the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, Who is not partial and takes no bribe" (vs. 17). He
proclaims Him as the God Who "executes justice for the widow, and loves the sojourner" (vs.
18). The great Prophet uses this proclamation to exhort us to justice and love for our fellow men
who are dependent and needy: "Love the sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt"
(vs. 19).
Beloved of the Lord, the fear of God is a holy fear that lifts us to His presence and reveals Him as
our true praise (vss. 20-21).
Blessed be the Name of the Lord, henceforth and for ever more!
