Archimandrite Zacharias of Essex speaks to us
During His earthly life, the Lord concealed His divine glory through humility and through His mysterious manifestation in the flesh, so as not to frighten weak human nature. Only rarely did He clearly reveal the glory of His Divinity. One such event was the Transfiguration, when the disciples saw His face transformed into uncreated Light: “And as He prayed, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothing became dazzling white,” and the voice of the Father bore witness to His divine origin. Likewise, the Lord's appearances after the Resurrection revealed Him “in another form,” in the blessedness of His eternal glory, so that often His disciples did not recognize Him.
As long as He lived among men, the Lord preached, through His otherworldly character, the good news to the people He met “at all times and in all places.” Every manifestation of His during His time on earth was a unique event that spoke to the hearts of those around Him. Thus, attracted by the authenticity of His ethos, the multitudes followed Him everywhere and sought to touch Him, sensing that an unusual power flowed from Him. Even those who crucified Him were amazed by His ethos when they heard Him praying for His murderers. Everywhere and at all times, the wonderful atmosphere of His Person and the Grace flowing from His Being bore witness to His divine origin, touching hearts and opening the eyes of men.
When the women who followed Him on the road to Golgotha wept for Him, beating their breasts, the Lord turned to them, saying: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” As Saint Sophrony shows, the fact that the Lord did not think of Himself even at the moment when He was heading to the place of crucifixion and confronting the ruler of this world reveals the breadth of His heart, which is the desire for all people to be saved.
Another astonishing event that shows that the Lord preached to people through His divine nobility is when the sinful woman anointed His feet with myrrh and wiped them with the hair of her head. Venerable Sophrony interprets that, at that moment, the Lord endangered the faith and trust of His disciples. Nevertheless, He approved the woman's deed, wishing to honor her, so that He might save her soul.
As the Lord approached Jerusalem, the flame of His divine Spirit intensified more and more, transforming all those He met. Tax collectors became merciful, harlots began to lead an angelic life, sinners repented. The fervent desire for the salvation of all Adam consumed the Lord's innermost being. On Good Friday, the following verse from the psalms is read: “My heart has become like wax, melting within my inmost being.” Christ's heart was gripped by the desire to receive the “baptism of death” and to draw us to Him. The Lord became the comfort of all those whose innermost beings are consumed by repentance and burning desire, whose hearts are gripped by the expectation of the great salvation that the Lord accomplished on earth.
“As I have done for you, you also should do”
Shortly before His Holy Passion, Christ left us an example of humility when He washed the feet of His disciples, saying: “For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you.” The events that took place during the days of the Lord's Holy Passion offer us an inexhaustible treasure of knowledge of His divine ethos. Even the angelic powers received new knowledge of “God's multifaceted wisdom” and learned a new lesson: that of Christ's profound humility and His love to the very end.
The word spoken by the Lord at the Last Supper: „Righteous Father, the world has not known You” reveals His ethos to us: on the one hand, His deep sorrow for a world that does not know the Father of Lights, and on the other hand, His desire to be „baptized” in His own Blood, so as to impart to all the knowledge of the Father. Contemplating the passion of the Lord of Glory, man comes to know the Father's love, Who „sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might have life through Him” and, overwhelmed by a feeling of esteem and gratitude, desires to surrender himself entirely to Christ and walk in His way.
God's unworldliness is revealed to man through representations, patterns, and words. Being created in the image of God, man bears within his nature the seed of the divine ethos as an innate quality, which comes to life when the flame of the Spirit touches his heart. Then he too becomes „altogether different,” unworldly. By the term „unworldly,” we understand that which is holy, distinct, set apart, chosen, separated from all. Unworldliness is the Mystery of Pentecost which lives in the saints; it is the gift by which the people of God become like a breath of wind and are free to go wherever the Spirit guides them. They are like drunken people, yet not intoxicated by the fierce drunkenness of wine, but by the sobering and life-giving drunkenness of the Spirit.
Love for God and love for neighbor
Every time the imperishable Light of the divine ethos illuminates his inner eye, man connects with something related to him, which bears witness to his eternal origin. This feeling attracts him, but at the same time it also arouses fear, because it reveals to him what Saint Sophrony calls „a twofold vision”: „The vision of the infinite holiness of the humble God, on the one hand, and the sense of hellish darkness living within us, on the other hand, lead man into such a state that his entire being is drawn into an uncontrollable, painful yearning for the holy God.”
Seeing the beauty of God's blameless Lamb ‒ Who, according to the word of Scripture, is „adorned with beauty more than the sons of men” ‒, as well as the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, man is filled with piety and wonder, and cries out like the Apostle Peter: „Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man!” However, as soon as he is strengthened by Grace, man can no longer turn back; his heart is captivated, and he confesses: „Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
The touch of God's eternity reshapes man, until he is transformed and inundated by divine Grace. He receives the anointing of the Holy Spirit and clothes himself in the garment of holiness. This is the gift of holiness, through which man is transformed; he becomes „altogether different,” extraordinary, distinct in his thoughts, in his feelings, in his prayer, but above all, in his love for God and for his neighbor.
The sign that man has become a bearer of God's unworldly character is the keeping of the two great commandments: love for God, which makes man as though out of his mind, and love for neighbor, which also inspires in him such a „madness” that he is ready to sacrificially give his life for others. Saint Sophrony said that, through the commandments, God reveals the manner in which He Himself dwells in eternity. The keeping of the commandments makes man a bearer of God's unworldly character, for the Giver of the commandments Himself is hidden within them. The love that the Lord asks of us is the same love that He Himself has for man, a love „to the end.” Therefore, our love for God should go even to self-hatred. And the love with which He commands us to love our fellow human beings is the love He had for the world when He gave His Only-Begotten Son for the salvation of all. This love is what compels man to give his life, so that others may live.
From 'The Unworldliness of Love' by Archim. Zacharias
Saint John the Baptist Monastery, Essex, England
Translated by Nuns Thecla and Porphyria
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