St Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
161 N. Murphy Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086
15th Sunday After Pentecost - Afterfeast of Cross

Afterfeast of the Exaltation of the Cross

Today is the Sunday following the Exaltation of the Cross… we heard in today’s Gospel reading the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.’

This is the fundamental paradox of the Gospel… it is in denying our self that we might be fulfilled, it is in taking up our cross that we might find true joy, and it is in following and surrendering to Christ that we might find true freedom.

The Epistle reading for the feast of the Cross reminded us that ‘the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’

The world tells us that happiness can only come from seeking our selfish pleasures. Suffering and sorrow are to be avoided at all costs… they are obstacles and interruptions in the way of our happiness and ultimately, they are seen as failures in some way.

We go to great lengths to avoid and mask our pain and the sufferings of this life. We anesthetize ourselves with distractions and amusements, with chemicals, with denial… But the reality of the presence of suffering in this life will not go away. Into every life there is presented the cross.

Our Patriarch Kyril provided a very moving sermon this past week on the feast of the Elevation of the Cross. He was serving at a church on the outskirts of Moscow which ministered especially to those suffering from various handicaps, including the deaf and the blind… a congregation much acquainted with suffering and hardship. He said the following:

We do not know why God chose suffering as the means of salvation. He did not choose human intellect, human education, smiles, fun, or joy as the means of salvation. Instead, He chose grief, suffering and sorrow for achieving salvation and none of us knows whether any alternative way of salvation was possible or not. Only God knows why it happened this way, but we are able partly to comprehend this fearful, tragic and great history of the salvation of the human race.

His Holiness pointed out that sorrow and suffering help people on the path to perfection. Nobody can be happy without overcoming sorrows and suffering.

Obviously salvation and happiness cannot be obtained without suffering and sorrow. We are truly happy only when we have experienced sorrows. If there is no experience of sorrow and suffering in the life of a person, then he will never know what happiness is like. He will ruin his happiness; he will get used to it as one gets used to good cars, comfortable houses, and beautiful clothes. We begin to notice our happiness only when we have another reference point. And our suffering is caused not only by illness. Sometimes our colleagues or even brothers in Christ are very unjust to us. Similar things often take place in the world of politics, industry, culture and art. Sometimes we think: ‘What is my fault? Why? Why do I have poor hearing and my neighbor can hear perfectly?’ And we repeat the question that people address to God: ‘Why did You choose the cross in order to save mankind?’ This is the will of God, and if we realize that sorrows and suffering are an integral part of our human life, that they will never disappear and will be present in our lives until the end of the world’s, then we will come to understand that this is God’s plan for the world and man.

At the end of the speech the patriarch concluded:

It is always hard for someone who is suffering. He needs to find some power to support him, and the greatest is the power of Christ’s Cross. All of you whose health is ruined, whose rights are violated, who have problems with employment—take the Lord’s Cross into your hands and realize that the Son of God became the Son of Man and suffered for mankind according to God’s will. But there is something else which is capable of strengthening us in our sorrows. If Christ endured suffering Himself, if He went through the worst torments which resulted in His death, then all who bear suffering and sorrows are related to Him. They are united with Him through these torments. In his suffering a person establishes a special relation with God and most people know it. When sorrows come, we feel the need to pray, we go to church and implore the Lord, and when everything is alright, we forget Him. It is remarkable that the Lord Who accepted ferocious torments Himself is always close to those who suffer, who grieve, and He especially hearkens to prayers which stem from pain-stricken hearts.

Suffering, as difficult as it is, draws God close to us and draws us closer to God. Suffering then, can be redemptive – but only if we endure the suffering in a spirit of love. Only if that suffering draws us out of the prison of our selfishness and opens up to us the reality of the nearness of God… a God Who has gone before us in suffering the worst tragedies imaginable and having endured them, having suffered through them in His innocence, having traversed the darkness in His Light.

When we look upon the cross we acknowledge the reality that in this world we shall have tribulation, but let us remember that we can be of good cheer, for Christ has overcome the world. When we look upon the cross let us remember the One Who has gone before us in all sorrows and sufferings… we are never alone in our times of sorrow. When we look upon the cross let us perceive that intersection where all the mysteries of life come together. When we look upon the cross let us who are being saved see in it the power of God.

And what is this power of God that could be represented by the sign of the Cross? The Cross, a symbol of torture, of defeat?... A sign of foolishness to those who are perishing! What power of God do we see in this sign of the Cross?

It is the power of love. A love so magnificent that the Creator would lay down His life for His creation. A love so significant that God would endure humiliation and suffering and death and would overcome them by His Unceasing Life-creating power.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us not be afraid of the crosses and sufferings that might come into our life. For if it is true, (and it IS true), that in suffering we may draw closer to God – then we have nothing to fear. Let us instead be aware of the danger of forgetfulness of God in our times of comfort and ease. If we can cling close to Christ in gratitude when times are good and if we can cling close to Christ in suffering when times are bad, then Paradise is close at hand. 

Share This:



< PreviousNext >
Social