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WORD TO THE YOUTH ON THE PRODIGAL SON by Archbishop John (Maximovitch)

And the younger son said to his father, Father, give me the portion of the goods that falleth to me.  The parable of the Prodigal Son is a most instructive lesson for young people.

We see in the Prodigal son the true character of carefree youth: light-mindedness, thoughtlessness, a passion for independence, in short, everything that usually characterizes the greater part of one's youth. The younger son grew up in his parents' house and having reached adolescence he imagined that life at home was too restrictive. He thought that living under his father's rule and his mother's eye was unpleasant. He wanted to imitate his companions, who gave themselves up to the noisy pleasures of the world. He decided, "I am the heir of a rich estate, Would it not be better if I received my inheritance now? I could handle my wealth differently than my father does." Thus the light-minded youth was taken in by the deceitful glitter of the world's pleasures and decided to cast off the yoke of obedience and depart from his parent's home.

Today many are inspired by similar impulses, and if they do not leave their parents' house, do they not depart from the house of their Heavenly Father, from obedience to the Holy Church?

The yoke of Christ and his commandments seems difficult for immature minds. They imagine that it is not entirely necessary to follow what God and His Holy Church commands. It seems to them that they can serve both God and the world at the same time. They say, "We are already strong enough to withstand destructive temptations and attractions. We can, by ourselves, hold on to the truth and correct teachings. Allow us to improve our minds by many kinds of knowledge. Let us strengthen our wills amid temptations and pitfalls. Through experience our senses will be convinced of the foulness of vice!"  Such desires are not better than the ill-considered request of the younger son to his father, Father give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.

Today we have light-minded youths who cease to heed the commandments and suggestions of the Holy Church. They stop studying the Word of God and the teachings of the holy fathers, and turn their attention to the 'wisdom' of false teachers, thus ruining the better part of their lives. They go to Church less frequently or attend without attention, distracted. There is no time to be pious and practice virtues since they are too busy attending movies, going to parties, etc. In short, they give themselves up to the world more and more each day, and  finally, depart into a far country.

What is the result of such removal from the Holy Church? It is the same as the result of the prodigal son's removal from his parents' house. Light-minded youths very quickly waste their excellent energies and their talents of soul and body, ruining for this life and eternity all the good they have done. Meanwhile there appears a mighty famine in that land...emptiness and dissatisfaction—a necessary result of wild pleasures. A thirst for satisfaction appears, which is even more intensified by the gratification of base passions and, finally becomes insatiable. It frequently turns out that the unfortunate lover of the world in order to gratify his passions, resorts to the pursuit of that which is base and shameful, and is still not brought to his senses like the prodigal son and does not return to the path of salvation, but completes his ruin, both temporal and eternal!

Taken from a pamphlet published by Archbishop John in Shanghai, Feb. 4,1946.

What Thou are saying, O Lord: he, who wants, you say, to follow Thee, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Thee ? Everyone of us would like to be there, where Thou are, but not everyone wants to walk the path that Thou have walked, that is, the path which is narrow, sorrowful and full of sufferings; it is especially rare, oh so rare, that someone would resolve, for Thy sake, to deny himself, his sinful, corrupt will, his multi-passioned heart, or passions and lusts, even though we are fed up with them, even though they are pernicious to us, and still as though they are dear to us, still to part with them is difficult and painful. No: it is not after Thee that the sinner desires to come, but after his heart, after his pernicious attractions and after the world, which lies in evil.

Today we heard the Gospel about the burial by Joseph of Arimathaea of the dead and life-bearing body of Christ, about the myrrh-bearing women’s coming to the body with perfumes for anointment of the body of Christ and of joyous annunciation to them by an Angel, sitting on the tomb of Christ, of the resurrection of Christ.

Today we celebrate in the honor of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit – one God in three Persons: the Father, who has sent His Holy Spirit in the form of fire tongues on the holy disciples and apostles, the Son, who has supplicated the Father to give to the apostles, and to all believers another Comforter, consubstantial to Himself and – the Holy Spirit, Who has descended onto the disciples of Christ.

In the Gospel that was read today, Saint John the Theologian tells us about the conversation of our Lord Jesus Christ and a woman, who belonged to the Samaritan schism. On the account of her coming to the well for water, which normally quenches bodily thirst, – the Lord teaches her about spiritual water, or the grace of God, which quenches the thirst of the immortal human soul, putting in it, through sincere repentance, the heat of the passions and cooling and assuaging its conscience; – and then, as the Samaritan woman started to talk about the place, where the Samaritans prayed to God, and the Jews were forbidding them to pray there, insisting that it is only in Jerusalem that one can pray to God, – the  Lord instructs her, and us through her, in spiritual prayer, – in every place, for God is spirit and looks at the heart of the one who prays, and not at the place where he prays, where he is present bodily, in church, or at home, or in any other place, for one can stand in church with his body, but with his soul and his heart be God knows where; however, the church is the preferred, sanctified by God himself, place of prayer and of holy mysteries.

 And so, the Feast of Feasts has passed by us: and the Royal Gates in the Lord's temples are shut; and the service is no longer as triumphant as it was during Bright Week. What, then, brethren, has this feast left in our souls? Christian holidays, you see, do not pass before us, one after another, just to leave our souls idle, but in order to discharge us from the cares and affairs of life's concerns; to put it another way: the Lord provides us with holidays in order that we might temporarily put aside thinking about, concerning ourselves with, rejoicing at, grieving over, that which is worldly, earthly, quick to pass; but, instead, that we might meditate upon, concern ourselves with, rejoice at, that which is heavenly and eternal. It was precisely for this reason, as well, that the holiday just past was given us.

Hear, my brethren, the word on today’s reading from the Acts of Apostles. This reading tells us about a healing of a paralyzed man, named Æneas, in the city of Lydda, performed by Apostle Peter in the name of Jesus Christ, and of a resurrection from the dead, by the same Apostle Peter, of a certain righteous Christian woman, named Tabitha, by means of prayer and commandment to arise. What is worthy of note here? It’s the strong faith of the Apostle Peter in Christ the Savior and the divine, life-giving power of Christ. Peter sees before himself a paralyzed man, incapacitated for eight long years, and right away heals him with the name of Jesus Christ. Æneas! says he to the sick, Jesus Christ heals you. Arise, and make your bed. And he arose immediately. The deed immediately followed the word. What a strong faith in Christ God! What a strength there is in Christ’s name! In an instant, it rejuvenated the moribund members, gave them the strength of youth! But what a close union of Peter with Christ!

Our holy mother Mary was born in Egypt. She had left her parents at the age of twelve to go to Alexandria, where she spent the next seventeen years in debauchery and the greatest profligacy. Living on charity and linen-weaving, she nevertheless offered her body to any man, not being forced to it by dire necessity as were so many poor women, but as though she were consumed by the fire of a desire that nothing was able to appease.

All the Divine services of the Orthodox Church are filled with the cry: "Kirie eleison- Lord, have mercy!"

This is a very ancient human prayer. Ancient tradition relates that our forefathers who were expelled from paradise, sitting near paradise, began their appeal to God, precisely with this repentful cry of the soul: "Lord, have mercy!" "Merciful one, have mercy on me, a fallen one!"

The "Way of the Ascetics" by Tito Collianderis is an introduction to the narrow way that leads to life. It is a simple yet profound exposition of the spiritual life taught by the Orthodox Church for two thousand years. It is a portal to the vast spiritual experience of the desert fathers, and an insight into the spiritual lives of the saints. Reminiscent of the Ladder of St. John Climacus, "Way of the Ascetics" compells us to again begin the struggle to climb away from the world to the Kingdom of Heaven. In our era of new-age spirituality and homemade religion, the simple patristic style of this work is consoling. In our age of spiritual naivet