Met. Serafim Joanta: No One is Saved Alone
We don’t go to Paradise on our own, without being concerned for others, but each person is saved to the degree that he saves those around him.
We cannot separate ourselves from the humanity in which we live. You see, there is a unity of humanity that we all bear in our souls, as I said, and even if we reach the point of being above sin, by God’s mercy, as an exclusive gift of God–and who reaches this state?–this doesn’t mean that such a person no longer suffers or has to bear a cross, but on the contrary! That person now suffers not for his own sins, but for other’s sins–from his family, nation, all humanity. Because we are in solidarity; no one is saved alone, as the Fathers say, we are all saved together. We don’t go to Paradise on our own, without being concerned for others, but we are saved, each person is saved to the degree that he saves those around him. Many times people say, “Oh, sin doesn’t interest me, I’m just concerned with my life.” It’s not true. If you speak like this, it means you don’t feel this spiritual, mystical connection with all those around you.
All that concerns your neighbor concerns you too, as Dostoevsky said, we all are responsible for all and everything, that is, all the evil in this world, all the sins of this world concern us all, and we all are responsible, each in part, for all the evil in this world. Because I can’t say that this disaster in Romania, in another country, all the misery, sin, and evil of humanity doesn’t concern me, and I shut myself within myself and pray. It’s very good that I do this, that I pray first of all, but each of us bears all the sins of the world in our soul, and we have to feel this pain for all that is wrong in the world. When you hear that a catastrophe occurred somewhere, closer or further away, your soul should hurt. If you don’t feel pain in your soul, it means your soul is cold, your heart is cold, you are indifferent. And even if you say, “I feel bad, may God forgive them, may God help them,” and so on it’s not sufficient. We must reach the point of feeling, of co-suffering with all those around us, with all humanity, and to have compassion for all people.
To have compassion, to have pity for all humanity is the greatest thing. Saint Isaac the Syrian from the 7th century, in his prayer and asceticism, attained this heart that encompasses all people, including demons, and Saint Isaac the Syrian would pray for demons as well, because demons are created by God, creatures of God, and God wants even the demons to be saved. And he prayed for demons and for enemies of the truth–as we say today, heretics. And Saint Isaac the Syrian prayed for all people. And so too we must include all people, absolutely all people and all of God’s creation in our prayer, and we must feel compassion for all people, for all animals, for this creation that we destroy. We cut down forests, not just in Latin America, but also here. The other day I read in one of the largest German newspapers how virgin forests in Romania are cut down, and when they are cut down, they can’t be restored.
People are like vandals, thieves, and robbers, living only for wealth, profit, and corruption. And what do these people accomplish, who gather and gather money in the hundreds, thousands, and millions? What do they do with this money? It’s a temptation, insanity, because all sin, all greed, fornication, drunkenness, all the sins in this world are insanity at the root. Sin is irrational–that is what Fr. Staniloae says. And we realize, if we are a little bit attentive to ourselves, we realize that all the sins we commit–small and large–are irrational, they return to us. They return to us! It’s fantastic how we pay for our own sins.
Mother Siluana says, don’t you dare speak about God’s punishment, because this is a sacrilege, blasphemy, to say that God punishes someone. God doesn’t punish anyone. We punish ourselves by our own sins. God allows, and He allows it in a pedagogical way, for the consequences of our sins to come upon us so that through this, through suffering, we may wake up and return to God. We repent, you understand? Because if I didn’t suffer for my sins, if I sinned to the end of the ages and didn’t feel anything, then no one would return to God, if there was no suffering for our sins. And these are such mystical yet real things, and in a superficial world, a super superficial world like our world, no one pays attention to these things.
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