Archimandrite Tavrion (Batozsky) of Riga (+1978)
The Lord came down from heaven
for our salvation and was crucified on the Cross for our salvation. To believe
means to confess that, for the sake of our salvation, Christ died on the Cross.
“And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate.” Now then, do you feel this? Do
you have awareness of this? Is there a corresponding response in your soul? The
Lord came down from heaven to earth in order to seek and save you. And in
saving you, knowing that you are a heavy and great sinner, He went to the Cross
and died on the Cross. Ask yourself, in spirit and with your whole being: how
do you relate to this? What corresponding feelings do you have? How do you
respond to this? This is what confession consists in.
For the sake of our salvation,
the Lord came down from heaven and used every means in order to find and save
us. And did He save us? How could He not have saved us? Did He not go to the
Cross? Was it not for your sake that He went to the Cross? And He was crucified
for you, and in Himself accomplished your salvation.
Do we have this faith? What does
this faith produce in us? Does it renew us, does it awaken our consciousness?
Under what great care do we stand? What care does God show for us? And at what
a great price we received our salvation! So, present this in confession. For
your sake the Lord came to earth, He did everything for your
salvation—absolutely everything! He took upon Himself all your sins in all
their horror and went to the Cross, and on the Cross, in dreadful sufferings,
Christ, rejected, shed His blood. This is what you are saved by!
Ask your soul whether there is
faith in it. If you believe, you must change in the depths of your heart—in
feelings, in abilities, in will. The Lord came to earth for the sake of each
one of us. For your sake He died on the Cross. This is the truth. And you must
feel how deeply the Lord loves you, how precious a person is to Him—His image.
Do not be guided in life by your fear, but be guided by the love of God. The
Apostle Paul spoke of his faith in this way: “I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Brothers and sisters, these
truths must awaken our consciousness. We must realize that for our sake the
Lord came to earth and for our sake He died on the Cross. These two truths must
renew us. They call us to a new life and establish a new life. And we must
respond in return to the love of God with our own love. May the Lord help us!
If we do not have, in our hearts,
the awareness that the Lord came down to earth for our sake and died on the
Cross for our sake, then everything is emptiness: we have no faith, no piety.
And yet we are saved by the grace of God. Think for yourselves: so lovingly, so
carefully, so accessibly the Lord arranges everything for our salvation—He came
down from heaven and gives us His Divine Chalice, saying: “Drink of it, all of
you, for this is My Blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins.” Now then, communicants, is not the Blood of Christ able to
wash away your sins? After all, you partake! The essence of Communion is that
the Lord washes away your sins with His Blood. Each one of us must deeply,
firmly, inwardly realize this. “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat
of this bread and drink of this cup,” reminds us the holy Apostle Paul.
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