Holy Resurrection
YouTube
How Can We Be Called Christians If We Have Nothing of Christ Within Us?
7:40
What the video says
This video is a penitential homily lamenting the moral corruption of Christians who, despite receiving God's grace, live in negligence and vice. The speaker cites Old Testament prophets—Jeremiah, Moses, Micah, and the Psalmists—as well as the Apostle Paul, showing that their laments and prophecies about wicked generations are fulfilled in us today.
He argues that by living according to the flesh rather than the Spirit, we have forfeited the name of sons of God and become temples of evil instead of temples of God, warning that faith without works is dead and that true Christians are known by the fruits of the Spirit.
Key moments
- The homily opens with Jeremiah's lament—'who will give water to my head and a fountain of tears'—over those deemed worthy of grace yet remaining negligent.
- Moses' words about Jacob growing fat and forsaking God, and Micah's mourning that 'the godly man has perished from the earth,' are applied to us.
- The Psalmist and the Apostle Paul's words—'there is none who does good,' throats like open tombs, feet swift to shed blood—are cited as descriptions of our state.
- Paul's prophecy to Timothy about the last days—lovers of self and money, boasters, blasphemers, unthankful, unholy—is said to be fulfilled in us.
- A long series of rhetorical questions asks whether we are not all gluttons, wrathful, envious, hypocrites, and negligent of the Savior's commandments, having become temples of idols instead of temples of God.
- Like the Jews who claimed God as father but were told 'you are of your father the devil,' we who transgress the commandments risk hearing the same rebuke.
- True sons of God are led by the Spirit and bear its fruits—love, joy, peace, longsuffering—but we possess everything contrary, making us children of the adversary rather than of God.
- Faith alone is insufficient—'even the demons believe and tremble' and 'faith without works is dead'; true believers in whom Christ lives bless those who revile them, while we, acting against all His commandments, have become a den of thieves instead of a house of prayer.
This post presents a penitential homily drawn from St. Maximus the Confessor's 'Discourse on the Ascetic Life' (chapters 31–34), as found in the Russian edition of his Selected Works translated by A. I. Sidorov.
The homily is a sober examination of conscience: it laments that Christians who have received God's grace often live in negligence and vice, and asks pointedly how we can bear the name of Christ while having nothing of Christ within us. The speaker weaves together the voices of Scripture—Jeremiah's fountain of tears, Moses' warning that Jacob grew fat and forsook God, Micah's mourning that the godly man has perished from the earth, the Psalmist's 'there is none who does good,' and the Apostle Paul's prophecy to Timothy about lovers of self and money in the last days—showing that these ancient laments are fulfilled in us today.
The heart of the message is that by living according to the flesh rather than the Spirit, we forfeit the name of sons of God and become temples of evil instead of temples of God. Like the Jews who claimed God as their father but were told 'you are of your father the devil,' we risk the same rebuke if we transgress the commandments.
True children of God are led by the Spirit and bear its fruits—love, joy, peace, longsuffering—while faith without works is dead, for 'even the demons believe and tremble.' Those in whom Christ truly lives bless those who revile them; those who act against His commandments make of themselves a den of thieves instead of a house of prayer.
The post also includes appeals to support the building of a parish church and links to the channel's other resources.
Main points
- St. Maximus the Confessor's homily asks how we can bear Christ's name while lacking anything of Christ within us.
- Old Testament laments—Jeremiah, Moses, Micah, the Psalms—and Paul's prophecy of the last days are shown to be fulfilled in negligent Christians today.
- Living by the flesh rather than the Spirit makes us temples of evil instead of temples of God and forfeits the name of sons of God.
- Faith without works is dead: true believers bear the fruits of the Spirit and bless those who revile them.
- The post closes with an appeal to help build a parish church and links to the channel's other resources.