Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, as well as with the day of the martyric repose of Tsar Nicholas and his family!

At each Divine Liturgy we hear the following words: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” These words are much simpler and easier to understand than the previous beatitude which we discussed last week. Be that as it may, today let’s say a few words about those who hunger for righteousness.

The soul, like the body, has a need for nourishment. Of course, it is a need not of physical food, but of spiritual. As we all know, there is nutritious, healthy food which gives a person strength and maintains his health, but there is also harmful food, which can ruin one’s health. The same is true in the spiritual life. To support and strengthen our spiritual well-being, we need to feed our soul with wholesome food, i. e. with righteousness.

Today it can be hard to recognize where to find righteousness. The secular world has a righteousness that often differs from true righteousness and it therefore behooves us to nourish ourselves carefully. It sometimes happens that something seems delicious, sweet, and healthy, but in reality it only upsets our spiritual health. Therefore, let’s try to hunger and thirst not for the righteousness of this world, but for God’s righteousness. St. Gregory of Nyssa teaches that righteousness here means all good deeds, be they chastity, prayer, courage, etc. St. John Chrysostom says that righteousness is uncovetousness, a lack of love for money. Of course, these opinions do not contradict each other. An uncovetous, unselfish person places his interests below those of others, be they God’s or those of his neighbours, and, in such a way, becomes capable of performing any good deeds.

An uncovetous person performing good deeds becomes able to fulfill the following beatitude, which says: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” To be merciful means to not simply donate or give away money, but to be merciful in all our actions, to have love towards those who suffer, to suffer with them in spirit, to have a kind heart towards them. Thus, any person can be merciful, not only the wealthy. What is most amazing about this beatitude is the difference between how we show mercy to our neighbours and how God does this towards man. As we have already said, what is expected from us is a kind, loving heart towards our neighbour, and our help to lessen suffering. It’s understandable that more often than not we are unable to quench the sorrows of the suffering, to correct a tragedy, to change a difficult situation. God’s mercy is completely different. Where we are unable to do anything, He is able. We sinned and therefore ruined the original beauty of our human nature. Through sin we settled ourselves in this awful and broken world where war, illness, suffering, and death reign. Notwithstanding this, the Lord is ready to pardon us, return us to paradise, in the most rudimentary way change our condition, asking only that we have a kind heart and help and support the suffering, as much as this is possible.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, a hundred years ago certain people usurped authority in Russia. They fanatically forced their own ‘righteousness’ upon the whole country, and then many other countries, saying that this is necessary for the sake of mercy towards the downtrodden workers and peasants. They stopped at nothing to advance their ideology, their ‘righteousness’. The holy Tsar Martyr Nicholas and his family became victims of this. Under the
surface of the imperial family (their wealth, power, luxury, etc.) which seems to eliminate the possibility of God’s righteousness, mercy, and all the other spiritual qualities of which the beatitudes speak, was preserved a spiritual pearl. In truth this family manifested in themselves all of the Beatitudes. Today the whole world is filled with new ideas, a new ‘righteousness.’ In the West there is a new moral ‘righteousness.’ It is so radical, so distant from the Gospel righteousness of God that it is hard to even comprehend that it can exist, that it can be taught in schools. In the former lands of the empire of the Holy Tsar Martyr Nicholas a war is raging for some kind of ‘righteousness’ between Russians and Ukrainians, in no way less awful than what is happening in the West. Today, let’s fervently pray to our Tsar Nicholas, the Empress Alexandra and their holy children, that they in turn pray before the throne of the True Heavenly King that the world comes to its senses, that it strive to live according to God’s righteousness and not some personal so called ‘righteousness,’ and that the Lord pardon all of us.

priest Alexis