Source: pravmir.com
Archpriest Andrei Efanov
Jul 12th, 2013
From the very beginning of Christ’s proclamation of the glad tidings,
the Apostle Peter was right next to the God-Man. He saw the multitude
of healings and raisings from the dead that the Lord performed; he was
present both on Tabor and in Gethsemane; he received Communion at the
Mystical Supper; and he was the first to confess Christ as God.
But except the Lord build the house, in vain do they labour that build it
(Psalm 126:1). Simon did not become Peter until the Lord renewed him.
His threefold denial of Christ demonstrates that human weakness can be
very great.
But this betrayal did not extinguish Peter’s love for His Teacher. His words to Christ – Thou knowest that I love Thee – were not empty, because Christ replied to them with words full of confidence: Feed my sheep (John 21).
Renewed by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Peter became a zealous
preacher of the Gospel who was no longer afraid of suffering and death,
but ascended the cross in the steps of His Divine Teacher.
The Apostle Paul first appears to us as a persecutor of Christianity,
taking part in the first Christian persecution in church history: the
execution of the Apostle Stephen. To him, a “Pharisee of Pharisees,”
Christianity seemed like a dangerous heresy.
But love for God saved him. The Lord revealed the truth to Paul, who
went from being a persecutor to one of the most fertile plants in
Christ’s field. His entire life became a living witness to how God’s
grace can transform the soul, wholly filling it with the aspiration to
serve the Supreme Truth without reservation.
Nowadays it is often said that the Apostles’ Fast arose as a sign of
solidarity with those who were unable to fast during Great Lent and who
thus used this time to make up for their omission. But this fast has
another, equally important meaning. The Lord said that His disciples
would fast when the Bridegroom shall be taken away (cf. Mark 2:18-20).
Our spiritual condition is often that of losing Christ, to one degree
or another. In order to acquire strength of faith (inasmuch as lack of
faith is driven out by prayer and fasting), we impose abstinence and
increased prayer on ourselves. We can await the gift of God: His
renewing and strengthening grace.
But why do we not become new Peters and Pauls by the day of their
feast? What prevents us from acquiring such zeal? The main obstacle, it
seams, is our own indolence. Because of it, we cannot sincerely repeat
after the Apostles: Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee (Mark 10:28).
Something always gets in the way: earthly inclinations, attachments,
and habits that might not be especially sinful, but that are dangerous
in that they become fine but impenetrable barriers between freedom in
Christ and the narrow confines of our customary existence. On many farms
in Australia, in place of a gate they place a frame hung with strips of
rustling material. There is free passage, but animals still cannot pass
through.
It is the same with our spiritual lives: it seems that there is not
the slightest obstacle to the life in Christ, but a shadowy veil of
worldly habits, which makes life in Christian freedom seem difficult,
prevents us from fully opening up to God, from standing before God and
following Christ.
The Lord commanded us faithful to “take up our cross and follow Me” (Matthew 10:38). But this call should not frighten us, For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light (Matthew 11:30). Each of us can gauge the burden of sin based on his own experience of life.
The world of sin is limited. C. S. Lewis says that the entirely of
hell would not contain even a single apple from the threshold of
Paradise. The fast is the best time to leave behind the limitations of
sin and to surrender to God’s wide expanses. This is not first and
foremost about food: what is most important is one’s own spiritual
disposition. The special prayers and the recognition that many other
faithful Christians are fasting with you make the soul more amenable to
accepting God in one’s heart.
Frequent Communion renews one entirely: not only the soul, but even
the body is made to participate in God. Even if we often lose this
divine gift quickly, this encounter with eternity does not pass by
unnoticed.
Day by day, Communion by Communion, a Christian is gradually pulled
out from the state of sinful affliction, being renewed from flesh to
spirit.
Sometimes a fall comes after a time of spiritual ascent. We are weak,
and modern man is not just doubly weak, but weak many times over. But
not every fall should serve as an occasion for despondency. On the
contrary, seeing the example of the chief Apostles, we can and should
rise from the sleep of sin and put on the full armor of Christ.
If Peter, who denied Christ three times, could regain his apostolic
dignity by his love; and if Paul, the passionate persecutor of
Christianity, could become a wondrous preacher of the glad tidings, then
nothing prevents our own spiritual perfection.
It is important not to rely on ourselves, recognizing that we are only God’s fellow workers in our salvation, that without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5), and doing everything within our power.
Everything else is done by the Lord Himself, Who is “everywhere
present and fillest all things.” In this shared labor, we await results
of which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man (1
Corinthians 2:9). Namely, we can become not just righteous, but sons of
the Kingdom. This is not only a gift of God, but the Lord’s plan for
every person.
So let us follow Christ along with Peter and Paul, not in splendid
isolation, but with our brothers and sisters in Christ – with those who,
like us, have heard the Holy Spirit’s call in their hearts and not
remained indifferent!