In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, greetings for the autumn feast of the Kazan Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, when we commemorate the deliverance of Moscow from the Polish occupation of 1612, during which our Holy Patriarch, St Germogen, met a martyric death by starvation, but not before he had given instruction to the faithful to fast and pray, and for the Wonderworking Icon to be brought from Kazan to Moscow by the army, headed by Prince Dimitriy Pozharsky.
Muscovy had been laid to waste by the Poles, who mocked the Orthodox Christian Faith, burning towns and villages and despoiling and desecrating churches and monasteries, just as the Tatars had done centuries before.
The Time of Troubles saw confusion, anarchy and fear in every aspect of national life, which was undermined and eroded, even spiritually.
This is why the most needful thing for the people to acquire in order to overcome occupation, enslavement and such great sorrows was the repentance to which the Hieromartyr, Patriarch Germogen, called them.
It would be in spiritual renewal and newness of life, re-centred on living in the power of the Holy Trinity, according to the Gospel and the Law of God, in spiritual union with the Most Holy Mother of God, and the saints, that liberation and freedom would be found.
In our own Time of Troubles, fraught with political, educational, ideological, financial and technological tyranny and attacks on our spiritual life, on the Holy Church and the people of God, our hope, answer and liberation lies in behaving exactly as in 1612: in prayer, fasting, assiduous and active spiritual labour and spiritual life.
The true Christian life is one of resistance and swimming against the tide, refusing to bow down and give in to the spiritual tyranny of sin.
This God-centred life will bring down God’s blessing and Divine Grace, and in this obedience to the Will of God, the Mother of God (as the perfect and primary example of spiritual obedience) will come to our aid, as our Champion Leader and Invincible Protectress, to whom has been given power by her Son, according to the will and counsel of the Holy Trinity.
Let us not despair in the sea of the fallen world’s madness, but have great hope, joy and resolution to resist sin, temptation and godlessness, as children of the Resurrection, walking in the Light of Christ!
Let us repent, with faith and compunctionate hearts, heeding the words of St. Dimitriy of Rostov about the events of this feast:
“The Mother of God delivered from misfortune and woe not only the righteous, but also sinners, but which sinners? Those who turn themselves to the Heavenly Father like the Prodigal Son, make lamentation beating their bosom, like the Publican, they weep at the feet of Christ, like the Sinful Woman washing His feet with her tears, and they offer forth confession of Him, like the Thief upon the Cross. It is such sinners whom the All-Pure Mother of God heeds and hastens to aid, delivering them from great misfortunes and woe.”
Let us turn to the Father with resolution, determination and the heartfelt desire to correct all that is wrong and dysfunctional in our lives, knowing that not only is the Heavenly Father joyfully awaiting us, but that the Mother of God will be with us and go before us, step by step, protecting and interceding for us on that wonderful, salvific journey of spiritual-return!
Let us be comforted by her maternal protection, but not as some sort of vague, warm, rosey-tinted, sentimental idea… but understanding that her protection is powerful, mighty and invincible, and let us ensure that we turn to her, as children worthy of her protection and help, emulating her humility and obedience, living as the Lord wishes us to live, and knowing that the He will exult the humble and meek, and will give them spiritual victory over their adversaries.
Amen!