Archbishop Nikephoros (Theotokis) of Astrakhan and Stavropol (+1800)
Have you heard, my beloved
brethren, what is narrated in the Apostolic reading that was read today? It
says that the High Priest and those rulers who were with him were filled with
envy—that is, with zeal (Acts 5:17). But what does “zeal” mean, and what kind
of zeal did those wicked men have? Zeal, as its very name indicates, means
fervor and ardor: and when our heart burns with love for God, then with great
fervency we strive for truth, for righteousness, for the law of God, and for
God Himself: “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts,” said Elias
the Tishbite (3 Kings 19:10 [1 Kings 19:10 in Western Bibles]). But when our
heart is filled with corrupt passions, then with fervor we defend falsehood,
injustice, the works of the devil, and even Satan himself. Of such zeal, the
brother of the Lord, James, said the following: “For where envy and zeal are,
there is disorder and every evil deed” (James 3:16). Thus, from fragrant woods,
when they are set on fire, a pleasant aroma comes forth, but from foul-smelling
ones, a stench offensive to the senses arises. Likewise, when our heart burns
with Divine love, our deeds are virtuous; but when it is inflamed with
passions, then our deeds are sinful. Thus, there are two kinds of zeal: one
Divine, and the other demonic. The first dwells in the heart of virtuous
people; the second, in the soul of the corrupt.
The Jewish High Priest of that
time was angry and corrupt, and the leaders of the Jewish assembly were for the
most part heretics, deceitful men, and among the most wicked. Therefore, their
hearts were filled with demonic zeal. They were filled with envy and zeal.
And what were the works of such zeal? They laid their lawless hands and cast
into prison those preachers of the truth, those luminaries of the universe,
those vessels of the Most Holy Spirit, those thunder-voiced trumpets of
salvation, those benefactors of mankind—whom God, as being above all men on
earth both in faith and in holiness of life, chose from the world. And even
after this, when the Almighty God delivered these divine teachers from prison
by His Angel, they—being enflamed with demonic zeal—drag them before their
lawless tribunals, brazenly revile them, cruelly beat them, and finally forbid
them with threats to preach the most holy name of Jesus Christ, that thus the
entire human race might be deprived of salvation.
In the history of the
all-glorious Prophet Elias, one can observe the workings of both kinds of zeal.
There, one may discern how divine and demonic zeal contend with one another: a
blind attachment to her own delusion stirred up in the heart of Jezebel a
demonic zeal for idolatry, while the holy deeds of virtue kindled in the soul
of the Prophet Elias a divine zeal for piety. Jezebel corrupts Ahab, her
husband and king, uproots from his heart the reverence for the true God, and in
its place plants raging idolatry, making him a tool of her wicked desires. But
Elias reproves Ahab: “Thou art the troubler,” he tells him, “of Israel, and thy
father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the Lord your God and followed Baal”
(3 Kings 18:18). And he prophetically threatens Jezebel as well: “The dogs,” he
says, “shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, and her corpse shall be as dung upon the
face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say: This
is Jezebel” (4 Kings 9:36–37). Jezebel’s demonic zeal raises up an idol to Baal
and idolatrous altars in the grove; she establishes four hundred and fifty
prophets of Baal, and four hundred of the grove (3 Kings 18:22), and prepares
for them a daily lavish banquet. She persecutes and slays the prophets of the
true God, torments and corrupts the pious, to such an extent that she nearly
turns all away from true worship: for from the many thousands upon thousands of
that people, only seven thousand remained who had not bowed the knee to Baal,
nor worshipped him as God (3 Kings 19:18). But against all this rises up the
divine zeal of Elias. Elias goes without fear to Ahab to announce to him the
punishment of God for the ungodliness of the people. Elias, man of God! Art
thou going to Ahab? “He made a grove and added to provoke the Lord God of
Israel to anger, and destroyed his own soul; he did more evil than all the
kings of Israel that were before him” (3 Kings 16:33). And thou goest to him to
speak in the name of the God of Israel? How fearest thou not? How art thou not
terrified by the wrath of Jezebel, who seeks thy life? Divine zeal is the
daughter of perfect love: “Perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18).
Therefore Elias the zealot is not fainthearted and fears nothing, but boldly
goes to Ahab, and standing before him, fearlessly says: Hear, O king! I declare
to thee in the presence of the Lord God of Hosts, the living God of Israel,
whom I serve, that for three years there shall be neither dew nor rain upon
this land, until at last my mouth shall call upon the true God concerning this:
“As the Lord God of Hosts liveth, the God of Israel, before whom I stand, there
shall not be in these years dew nor rain, except according to the word of my
mouth” (3 Kings 17:1, 5, 10). After this, the holy Prophet withdrew to the
brook of Cherith, and from there, when the brook dried up, to Zarephath of
Sidon, and there awaited both the end of the three years and the correction of
the people under punishment.
When the three years were
fulfilled, and Ahab with his people—though punished by the drought—had not
turned to God, but remained in impiety and continued to worship Baal, then
Elias returned to Samaria and proposed to Ahab to gather all the shameful prophets
whom Jezebel fed. And when they had assembled and come before Elias, he
reproved them and said to the people: Give us two oxen, and let your prophets
choose one of them and prepare their sacrifice, only let them not set fire to
it; afterward, I too shall do the same with the other ox. Call then, he said to
the false prophets, upon your gods, and I shall call upon the name of the Lord
my God—and the God who shall hear and send fire from heaven upon the sacrifice,
He shall be the true God. This proposal pleased everyone: “And all the people
answered and said: the word is good which he hath spoken” (3 Kings 18:24). So,
the shameful priests prepared their sacrifice and began to call upon Baal. They
called upon him from morning till noon, cut themselves with knives, and beat
themselves with scourges until blood flowed—but there was no voice, no answer,
nor any that heard (3 Kings 18:26). Then Elias said to them: Give me space,
that I also may offer my whole-burnt offering. And having prepared the altar,
he laid the ox upon the wood; but so that there might be no room for doubt, and
that the spectators might be all the more convinced of the truth of the
miracle, he commanded those standing by to pour water upon the sacrifice and
the wood three times. And as soon as the water overflowed around the entire
altar, then he began to cry out and pray to God with great reverence, that He
would send fire from heaven upon the sacrifice, so that the people, realizing
that He is the true God, might turn to Him (3 Kings 18:36). And as soon as he
finished his prayer—O most glorious wonder!—immediately “fire fell from the
Lord out of heaven, and consumed the whole-burnt offering, and the wood, and
the water that was in the trench, and the stones, and the dust the fire licked
up” (3 Kings 18:38). Then all the people, seeing this great miracle, fell face
down upon the ground and cried out with a loud voice: “Truly the Lord, He is
God! He is God!” (3 Kings 18:39). Then all turned from impiety to piety, and
soon thereafter the great rain fell and watered the earth throughout that land.
Thus did Divine zeal overcome and destroy the works of demonic zeal.
Many are truly and most wondrous
the deeds of zeal; but since there are various types of it, great discernment
is required to know which zeal is pleasing to God and which is opposed to Him.
Besides divine zeal, which proceeds from love for God, and demonic zeal, which
is enkindled by destructive passions, there is yet another kind of
zeal—so-called not according to knowledge. This kind of zeal, like the
demonic one, is the cause of many and great iniquities. Such was the zeal of
the Jews, as Paul testifies: “For I bear them record that they have a zeal for
God, but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:2). They were unable to
understand that the Law of Moses bears witness to Jesus Christ and is a noble
tutor leading all to faith in Christ. Therefore, they did not believe in Him,
but persecuted Him, and in the end crucified Him; they even mocked His
resurrection from the dead. “For had they known it,” says the same Apostle,
“they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8). Nevertheless,
if senseless zeal arises not from some passion but from mere ignorance, it is
worthy of some excuse. This was confirmed by the very Savior of the world, when
He justified His crucifiers before His Father and prayed for them: “Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
This senseless zeal once
possessed the heart of the Apostle Paul. Believing it to be a virtue to defend
the traditions of his fathers, he excessively persecuted the Church of Christ
and in every way afflicted it. Here is his own confession: “Ye have heard,” he
says, “of my manner of life in times past in Judaism, how that beyond measure I
persecuted the Church of God and wasted it; and profited in the Jews’ religion
above many of my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of
the traditions of my fathers” (Galatians 1:13–14). Senseless zeal inflames his
heart and darkens his mind: he does all manner of harm to the Church. He takes
part in the stoning of the Protomartyr Stephen; breathing threats like a savage
lion against the faithful, he bursts into their houses, cruelly drags men and
women into custody, and casts them into prison. The flame of this senseless
zeal fills him with a spirit of menace and murder, and he seeks permission from
the Jewish High Priest to go to Damascus, that he might bind and bring to
Jerusalem all whom he should find there who worship Jesus Christ: “And Saul,
yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,
went unto the High Priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the
synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women,
he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1–2). Nevertheless, this
blasphemer and persecutor of the Church was shown mercy: “But I obtained
mercy,” he says, “because I did it ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Timothy 1:13).
This senseless zeal often takes
dominion over the hearts of many. One man is zealous, yet at the same time
ignorant of the dogmas of the faith and the laws of God. And since he has zeal
but lacks discernment, he boldly teaches others concerning matters of faith and
morals, but instead of doing good, he causes harm: for instead of right dogmas,
he preaches strange doctrines, and instead of the laws of God, he sows empty
superstitions. Another man has zeal, but not according to knowledge, for he
undertakes the work of correction without any discernment—that is, either with
excessive severity, or without consideration of circumstances, or without the
requisite skill. Therefore, instead of correction, he often stirs up hatred
among relatives and friends, scandal between parents and their children, and
discord between spouses. Every Christian, according to the apostolic
commandment, ought to remain within the bounds of his station and calling: “Let
every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called” (1 Corinthians
7:20). But senseless zeal, having taken hold of a man, draws him out of the
bounds of his station and calling. Thus, the subordinate rises up against his
superior, the people do not listen to the priest, the son does not honor the
father, the servant disobeys the master, and the subject sets himself against his
ruler. And from such disobedience, who can number how many disorders,
rebellions, and crimes arise? Senseless zeal has often been the cause of wars
and murders, the cause of the upheaval of cities, and of countless other
misfortunes.
The zeal that was once in the
Apostle Paul was, in truth, without understanding, yet it was a simple zeal,
free from all passion. Therefore, God—Knower of hearts—dispersed the darkness
of his soul and illumined his mind with His divine light, and transformed his
unreasoning zeal into a discerning, wise, and Divine zeal. Being inspired by
this zeal, he accomplished glorious deeds of virtue surpassing human strength. But
our zeal is not only without understanding—it is also rooted entirely in the
passions. Its source, from which it flows, is either pride, or envy, or
vainglory. It only appears to be zeal, but in reality, it is some
shameful and destructive passion. We are zealous—but often for the sake of
being glorified before men. Dispassionate zeal, even if not according to
knowledge, is worthy of excuse; but passionate zeal is inexcusable.
But how can one know which zeal
is Divine and which is demonic, which is discerning and which is without
discernment? This is not easy to determine—for the passions darken our mind,
self-love deceives us, and Satan, transforming himself into an angel of light,
presents vice to our mind in the guise of virtue, and virtue in the guise of
vice (2 Corinthians 11:14). For this reason, the God-inspired Paul commands us
to examine every matter with attention, and when we perceive that what we
undertake is truly good, only then should we choose and do it: “Prove all
things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The general rule
for such testing—that is, for discerning matters—has been given to us by the
very Lord of all: “For the tree,” He said, “is known by its fruit” (Matthew
12:33). Examine, therefore, your zeal by investigating its fruits: and if you
see that its fruits are love, righteousness, obedience, good order, the
fulfillment of Divine laws, and the correction of the soul, then your zeal is
Divine zeal, zeal according to knowledge. But if, on the contrary, you see that
its fruits are discord, injustice, disobedience, disorder, the transgression of
Divine laws, and the ruin of the soul, then your zeal is demonic, undiscerning,
and passionate.
Beloved brethren! Zeal according
to God is the fruit of perfect love for God; no one possesses it except he who
loves God with all his soul, with all his heart, with all his strength, and
with all his mind. Therefore, it is a great virtue and the cause of many other
great virtues. All the apostolic labors, all the sufferings of the martyrs, all
the virtues of the holy teachers, all the toils of the venerable fathers—these
are the fruits brought forth by Divine zeal. Blessed is he, then, who has
acquired the great treasure of this zeal. But demonic zeal, as well as zeal
without discernment, is the source of many and great iniquities. From it have
proceeded such persecutions against Christianity, such torments from tyrants,
murders by heretics, assaults, treacheries, and scandals. Wretched and
miserable is the man who is possessed by zeal that is either demonic or not
according to knowledge. Take heed, therefore, brethren, and with all diligence
test your zeal, lest you do sin in place of virtue, and bring upon your soul
eternal torment instead of salvation: “Prove all things; hold fast that which
is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Russian source: Толкование Воскресных Апостолов с
нравоучительными беседами, by His Grace Nikephoros, former Archbishop of
Astrakhan and Stavropol, Moscow: Synodal Printing House, 1854, Vol. 1.
Online:
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