Who is Great Before the Lord?
10th Sunday after Pentecost
1 Corinthians 4:9-16; Matthew 17:14-23
Many people during the regimes of Hitler, Stalin, during the leadership of F. Roosevelt, thought that they were the principal personages of the world, that the future of the world, the future of peoples depended on their words and deeds, that their actions would have a great impact on the fate of many peoples. But decades pass and it is already beginning to become clear that the fate of the world, of mankind, the formation of their ideological views, and therefore the development of future generations, will be greatly influenced not by those who disposed of million-man armies, which led to the destruction of many millions of people of different nations, who festered millions in slavery in concentration camps, prisons, the works of which were published in millions of copies, the statues and portraits of which were everywhere; and those which were unknown during the reign of those tyrants, existed and lived bound by many prison numbers, those which could leave the world masterpieces of the Spirit of Truth -- those have the greatest influence on the minds, consciousness and actions of many people of different nations.
And this is not only in recent history: let us remember who Taras Shevchenko was during the predominant feudal system of serfdom, during the reign of the Russian Tsar Nicholas I. In studying history, people only come away with the conviction that just this or that Russian tsar were the only causes of evil, the suffering of the peoples, but the serf, their prisoner Taras Shevchenko, expressed through his thoughts, ideas of truth and goodness, and continues to reign in the second century after his bodily death, continues to excite millions of people to love their people, to fight for freedom for their people. And there is every indication, sign, that the incendiary words of Taras Shevchenko, his ideas and ideals, will live in all future generations of his people and among the peoples who are fighting for their liberation.
And those facts from life, from the history of mankind in general and of our people in particular, are not accidents, but predictable, according to the apostolic teaching from God. The Apostle Paul in The Epistle to the Corinthians says that they, the apostles, wandered about like homeless people – hungry, thirsty, exploited. That they were despised, slandered, persecuted, reviled, that they became “as the filth of the world”, like some kind of “offscouring”... (1 Corinthians 4:10-13)
Thus, the apostles were in such a difficult and disenfranchised circumstance during their life on earth. All the rulers of that time, the rich, the powerful, were proud of their position and despised the apostles, preachers of the faith of Christ. Yet, in looking now at the past centuries - who knows and remembers what about those powerful people of the world at that time, about their deeds? — No one knows or remembers anything about them, except what researchers and historians might say concerning the rulers who existed in apostolic times.
And from the apostolic teaching, from the epistles of the very same Apostle Paul, the entire Church of Christ, its various confessions, is instructed daily. And that has been going on for hundreds of years, and it will continue in the future.
Such is the fate of human and God's glory, wisdom, and truth. When people struggle, preach, and reflect God's truth and wisdom in their actions, then they will forever be glorified among people. But when humankind is proud only of the wisdom of this world, when people seek to gain privilege, power, and rule by any unrighteousness means, then their works will perish. Ap. Paul testifies:
“For the wisdom this world is foolishness with God.” (1 Cor. 3:19)
The Lord Jesus Christ foretold that,
“whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12).
In our day and age, let us not be deceived by headlines with capital letters that advertise the names of politicians, great wealthy speculators, because from those big headlines, from the glorification of the names of seemingly powerful people, all that will remain for future generations is only the gray dust of the earth – nothing at all.
And let us not be deceived by the rambling of emigre politicians, for in our history will be glorified not those who speculate on human suffering, but those who themselves suffer, fighting for the freedom of their people, those who cherish in their hearts the pains and hopes of the people, who will pour out in their works the thoughts and hopes of their people—those people will be glorified by God and they will be remembered by their nation.
In our times, speculators in patriotism have multiplied en masse, who, in truth, care more about personal estates. But for the history of our people and our Church, those who will be important will not be those who speculate on patriotism or estates, not those who bury them in expensive coffins, not those who build long mausoleums in cemeteries for themselves while they are still alive--but sincere workers who in various branches of our culture built and enriched our people, who sowed and cultivated in our people, in his Church, brotherly love.
For those imperishable spiritual deeds there will also be imperishable monuments.
God will make them incorruptible.
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.
