Great Friday – Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
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The God-Man Christ Himself allows His human nature to suffer: to experience pain, sorrow, thirst, hunger, fatigue and all the other sinless passions that are inherent in human nature. Which is to say, the God-Man Christ does not endure suffering forcefully (involuntarily), but voluntarily, despite the complete and inseparable unity of His human and divine nature in His Divine Hypostasis (Persona), He as God can afford not to experience suffering.
Christ voluntarily participates in suffering, solely to give us strength – to us who are in Him, when we also suffer for His sake and for the fulfilment of His commandments, so that we can endure the same.
After His incarnation and the fulfilment of the entire Dispensation of our salvation, all of us, in the Church – in the Body of Christ, have become partakers of His deified human nature and we have acquired the power of His grace.
Thus, after all the suffering that Christ has endured to give us the strength to be able to go through the same – we have no excuses like: whether we can, or we cannot do something commanded by Him, but the question is whether we want to or not!
We do not have much choice: either we will live the Mystery of the Cross of Christ, i.e. we will thank and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, fulfilling His commandments of love in full strength, or we will blaspheme with our loveless: “I cannot”, but in fact – “I do not want to”.
Let us take a heed, at the beginning some of God’s gifts are usually not immediately recognized as a gift – in all its dimensions, because they are given to us first as a cross. The cross, on the other hand, must be first ascetically accepted as a gift, for afterwards – when we accept it gracefully and personally as a gift, we can see all its dimensions – what its width and length is, and what its depth and height is; and thus to know the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge (see: Eph. 3: 14–19).
The cross does not always have to mean only personal suffering, but also the suffering of a loved one, which is actually an even more horrific cross.
The cross is all our voluntary and involuntary suffering that we encounter on the narrow evangelical path of fulfilling God’s commandments. Our God-given cross is also a way for Him to build a personal relationship with us.
The historical event described in the Holy Gospel, the crucifixion of Christ on the Cross between the two robbers, also crucified on the other two crosses, is perhaps one of the truest representations in which the condition of all people can be recognised, both in relation to God and in relation to themselves.
We can all see and recognise ourselves in one of the two robbers. We all bear our cross, only some among us thank God for their cross and bear it with patience and humility, aware of their sinfulness and imperfection; and others blaspheme God because of their cross.
To those who thank God, the cross helps them to purify their own hearts of passions, to enlighten their own minds, and to deify themselves. To those who blaspheme God, the cross remains only as an unbearable burden and as an incomprehensible and unbearable punishment – both psychological and physical.
Certainly, keep in mind that I’m talking about the general line, not the occasional oscillations. Also, the self-knowledge regarding God and the gratitude for the cross that God has given us are inseparable.
The one who thanks God for his sufferings and who has realised in himself that they are truly suitable for his healing can bear his cross with patience and humility; he who accepts his cross. The more suffering we experience and the more sincerely and wholeheartedly we thank God for it, the more we attract God’s grace to ourselves and the faster we heal.
It is the grace of God, again, that gives us the strength to endure sufferings, it is the grace of God that comforts us in suffering, and it is the grace of God that even makes us forget about the suffering. In other words, it is God’s grace that purifies, enlightens, and perfects us, depending on the stage of the spiritual development we found ourselves to be, by carrying our cross.
A truly beautiful evangelical example of the proper carrying of our own cross is the thief crucified with Christ, to whom, at the moment when he confesses his sinfulness, humbly and without blasphemy endures suffering – “We indeed have been judged justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” His eyes are opened to see and recognise the crucified God-Man:” Then he said to Jesus, ‘Remember me, O Lord, when You come into Your kingdom!’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” (Luke 23: 41-44).
It is obvious that not only have the thief’s eyes been opened to recognise Christ – that is, he does not only receive the gift of enlightenment – but to him is also revealed the mystery of the whole Dispensation of Salvation, the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Unlike the thief, who as the starting point for receiving this gift from God has only the knowledge of his sinfulness and the correct confession with gratitude, we today, as the criterion and foundation of our Christian existence and action, have the word and deed of Christ, the perfect love of God the Father (see Matthew 5: 44–48) and the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have the unity of faith and the catholic communion of the Holy Spirit both among ourselves and with our Fathers, who with their eternally living example constantly illuminate our life and existence in the Church. That is why we should not allow ourselves to discover the Kingdom of Heaven within us only at the end of our lives, enduring with gratitude various illnesses and sufferings, but in our youth offering our whole life to the God-Man Christ, through voluntary struggle.
It is one thing to suffer for cleansing from sins and passions, and another to suffer as a partaker of the Cross of Christ for the salvation of the world. And suffering because of disobedience should be avoided – it lasts as long as disobedience lasts.
So, we all have our own cross to bear – the question is: Do we want to carry a cross with meaning, comfort and hope or do we want to struggle with a meaningless cross? I think the choice is not difficult. Therefore, we should not waste time and we should start to truly respect the Cross of Christ, drawing from it the power of transfiguration and resurrection.
True reverence or worshipping the Cross of Christ means living truly according to It. Living according to the Cross of Christ comes down to the love that always gives and demands nothing in return; a love that forgives everything.
Let us not suffer in vain with suffering, with a cross without Resurrection; with a cross that at the same time does not carry in itself the strength, the consolation, and the uncreated light of the Resurrection!
Most-Holy Theotokos, Who still stands under the Cross of Christ, save us!
Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
(21.04.2022 19:54)
