Confessing Christ

St. Matthew 10:32-33, 37-38; 19:27-30 (6/22) Gospel for the Sunday of All Saints: 1st APE Confessing Christ: St. Matthew 10:32-33,37-38; 19:27-30, especially vs. 32: "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father Who is in heaven." At the time of the trial of St. Maximos the Confessor in Constantinople (654-655 AD), numerous political pressures were applied to gain the Saint's "cooperation" in obeying the imperial order of silence imposed upon all parties engaged in the Monothelite controversy. Many dignitaries testified that they tried to convince St. Maximos to cease his speaking and writing in support of the teaching that Christ has two complete wills, human and Divine. One of these witnesses recalled making an official visit to the great monk in jail in an effort to gain St. Maximos' support in reestablishing Communion between Rome and Constantinople over the issue. However, the great Confessor said plainly, "This, I think, is an impossible thing; for the Romans will not consent that the illuminating statements of the holy Fathers be annulled together with the voices of impure heretics, or that the truth be extinguished with falsehood, or that the light disappear along with the darkness....Silence according to the divine Scripture is denial as well." After his refusal to keep silence voluntarily, St. Maximos died in exile of wounds and his tongue cut out to silence him (AD 662). However, the true doctrine of Christ's two wills finally prevailed at the Sixth Ecumenical Council in 681 AD, upholding Maximos' Orthodox truth. This collection of sayings from the Lord Jesus have a common message: we are to confess Him truly and fully before men. The word, "confess," in the original Greek (homologizi) means literally, "to say the same thing" - to speak from the same assumptions with the same outlook, upholding the same truth. The case of St. Maximos reveals how much harder it is to confess the Lord than merely to claim that one is a Christian. All parties "said" they were Christians, but the truth could reside only with one side or the other, not with both. Brethren, there are many forces being applied to Orthodoxy today to encourage us to compromise our confession. Family, business, and friendship ties are used to apply their pressure. Financial and social obligations and loyalties are often employed to pull at us. There is fear, spoken or unspoken, of consequences that are sure to come should one speak the full truth of Christ. While it is easy to rationalize, how does one truly make a God-pleasing confession? At times we are asked to "tone down" our remarks or simply not to "speak out." Family or friends remind us "to be nice, cooperate, just let it ride" so there "can be peace," so that "everyone can have a good time." On other occasions we are reminded of the pain we will inflict on someone, or that will come down on us, if we persist in defending the truth. Beloved of the Lord, there are occasions when silence extinguishes the truth just as does falsehood. It is not necessary always to speak in the language of Faith. Christ's Name does not always need to be used in order to "confess or to deny Him before men." Our duty before God is to say the same thing that Christ would say, and to be as careful of silence as we are of speaking. The Lord does not say that we must always leave "...houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands..." for His sake (Mt. 19:29), yet He does say clearly that our "eternal life" depends on our acting, speaking, and living "for [His] name's sake" (vs. 29). How can we respond faithfully amidst all the voices that claim our loyalty and attention? The Lord directs us to "be with Him" through the Holy Spirit, so that when the times come, we may confess and "bear witness," like the Saints, in word and deed despite the world's pressures (Jn. 15:26, 27). O Master, overshadow my acts with the spirit of Thy fear; and by Thy Sovereign Spirit strengthen mine unstable mind, that I may do Thy commandments unto that which is profitable.