Today’s Scripture (at OCA)

Today’s Saints (at OCA)

Orthodox Word Podcast

Homeland 

Imagine a world, Christ-bearers, where instead of the sun the Most High God himself shines, warms, gives life, and constantly rejuvenates! This is your world, toward which you are journeying. This is your homeland, to which you are returning: an imperishable homeland, where you will also be imperishable. This is the fatherland of the sons of the heavenly Father, of all those who have been adopted as sons of God through the Lord Jesus. And you shall be numbered among them, if you are victorious. Furthermore, this kingdom is called “the kingdom of the saints of the Most High.” Just as the clairvoyant prophet foresaw through the veils of time when he stated: “And the kingdom and the dominion and the majesty of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; His kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom” (Dan. 7:27). in this kingdom no foreigners rule, only the Father. Nor are the subjects of that kingdom slaves, but rather sons.

A slave does not dare to look a foreign king in the face. But the holy sons of the holy King will look the Most High King in the face freely and joyfully. Everything will be just as it was foretold and told: “And they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads” (Rev. 22:4). Oh delights of delights, Oh treasures of treasures, Oh beauties of beauties-to see the face of the One, Living, and True God!

This is the Paradise for which you have longed. Paradise-this is the name, one of the sweetest names, of that kingdom. Paradise-your homeland, to which you, tired wayfarers, are returning from distant earth, from the field of thorns.

What is the price for all this blessedness, you ask? How does one answer you, inquisitive brothers? If the sun, the moon, and the stars belonged to one of you, and if you gave all this in exchange for that blessedness you will have given nothing. How does one buy eternity with dust? With what perishable treasure does one buy what is imperishable?

Yet there is a hidden, imperishable treasure which every heir of that blessedness carries within himself. He carries it wrapped in perishable fabric. it is a tiny, flickering flame of love for the Lord God. This little flame of love does not die out with the death of physical fabric, but lives and glows. Heroic souls heroically protect it, lest shifting winds extinguish it in the course of the journey. With this flame of love righteous souls are deemed worthy to come out before the face of the living God, clothed in a resurrected heavenly body. This is the price. For this tiny gift to God, lovers of God will receive as gifts in return the kingdom, sonship, and eternal life. In a word-Paradise.

This is the faith of the enlightened and persevering. This is not the faith of the darkened and the cowardly, who have hidden themselves from the divine light, or who hear about it with cowardice. Those enlightened by God’s Spirit joyfully receive the rays of divine light emanating from that world of reality. They receive them like letters from their homeland, like holy letters from their father. And they answer those letters with heartfelt greetings in reply. From these holy, fatherly letters which are collectively called-the Holy Scrip­tures-they come to know about the beginning, the middle, and the end of the created world. And they come to know about the origin and destiny of human life. And they come to know about their royal lineage, their present nothingness, and their future glory. This knowledge they confirm with the Tradition of the holy and enlightened fathers, the Tradition which is pre­served in the Orthodox Church.

Possessing this knowledge they perseveringly pre­pare themselves for their entry into the eternal home­land and for their joyful meeting with their heavenly Father. And they help their brothers, their fellow wayfarers, to prepare themselves also. For the heavenly Father is not awaiting the return of one child from a distant land, but many, many millions of children. Who can say how many they number? Their number is like the number of stars in heaven, like the sand on the seashore, like the dust on the earth. This is the population of the heavenly nation, the kingdom of God, which no nation has ever equalled or ever can equal.

Yes, and this is only one part of the population of the immortal nation of God. The other part consists of the innumerable hosts of bodiless angels.

This is your faith, O Christ-bearers, and the faith of your enlightened and persevering forefathers. Let it also be the faith of your children, from generation to generation, all the way to the blessed end. This is the salvation-bearing Orthodox Faith, which has never been put to shame. Truly, this is the faith of the chosen people, of those who bear the image of God within themselves. On the Day of Judgment, when Christ will judge with justice, they shall be taken into the heavenly kingdom and shall be called blessed.

~ St. Nikolai, Faith of a Chosen People, “… and the life of the age to come.“