Today, I have an unpleasant conversation, primarily with my fellow priests, but also with all concerned church members and those who call themselves Christians. Here is what I want to talk about.
Recently, the excessive focus on apples during the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord has turned a pious folk tradition into a separate worldview, creating a new faith that exists within the Church but does not aid in salvation, instead parasitizing it like a foreign body. Just as sausages and Easter cakes have replaced the event of Christ’s Resurrection, so too have apples now overshadowed the entire Mount Tabor!
It is evident that Christianity is not an empty theory, not just a teaching, not dead dogmas and canons. Living Christianity is the principles of building our lives, our key values, and priorities. It doesn’t matter whether you call yourself a Christian or not. What matters is how you behave. And from your behavior, one can and should read your inner convictions. At least, for oneself, this is always very useful.
The incredible queues to churches on the day of fruit blessing, and most importantly, these same sanctuaries being half-empty on weekdays or even Sundays, undoubtedly indicate that people come to churches specifically to honor apples. Neither Christ, nor prayer, nor conversation and blessing from the priest, nor the Holy Sacraments of Confession and Communion interest these people. It is important to get into the wave of “Savior’s hype.” Of course, the commercialization of all these “holiday accessories” – special honey, special poppy seeds, special wreaths, etc. – also contributes to this. Pre-holiday markets and sales seem to shout to people: buy us, become like everyone else, be a supporter of our faith, bless the herbs and sleep peacefully – you are now a Christian.
In reality, the center of our religious life is the Holy Eucharist – the Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord, for which we always prepare with holy Confession. And in general, the entire liturgical year, the entire system of church holidays, and the daily cycle of services, culminating in the Divine Liturgy, prepare us for Communion. This is the base, the foundation, the cornerstone of our life. If this is absent, everything else is meaningless. The most expensive car will not run if its tank is not filled with fuel.
Holy Orthodoxy teaches us about the deification of nature, its ontological transfiguration, as the goal of our life. And it is precisely to this that the great feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord is dedicated. For the disciples to be able to see the Transfiguration of Christ on Tabor, by His great grace and love, the Savior first transfigured the apostles themselves. This is a dogma of our faith. We believe that it was the transfiguration of the Apostles that enabled them to see the Transfiguration of the Savior and to taste the Kingdom of God while still alive. The story of the Tabor miracle is a story about the qualitative change in the nature of the Apostles to the extent that was available to them at the moment before the Crucifixion of the Savior, His Resurrection, Ascension, and especially Pentecost. They perceived the uncreated Tabor light and the manifestation of Christ’s Divinity to the extent that corresponded to their personal qualities. Most likely, each of the Apostles – Peter, James, and John – saw different things, although they looked at the same event.
In any case, here we are talking about the fact that Christianity is not a religion of image (Eng. image – picture), not a faith of external theatrical performances lasting a lifetime. Christianity, specifically the Orthodox faith, is the faith of our personal inner transformation. And today’s feast is an answer to everyone who does not know why people go to church. We go to church to transform ourselves with God’s help and the prayers of the saints and to become holy.
Perhaps you never thought about it, but only holy people can enter paradise. (And this includes not only those canonized by the Church but thousands, millions of pious righteous people of all times and nations). Unrepentant and untransformed by grace sinners will not be in the Kingdom of God: this contradicts both the desires of sinners and the nature of God’s Kingdom. And these repentance and transformation are possible only within the Church. You can have “God in your soul” and pray anywhere, even in your kitchen, combining the Jesus Prayer with chopping onions and defrosting chicken. But to deify oneself, to fundamentally change one’s nature, a person can only by constantly living the Eucharistic Life. And the matter here is not in external piety, much less in purely theatrical, ostentatious piety, the picture you skillfully show to people, but in the objective state of your nature – body, soul, and spirit. And unfortunately, apples, even a lot of apples, will not help here. You cannot deceive God.
What is the popularity of paganism and religions based on it? In their simplicity, their elementary nature. To have contact with a deity, it is enough to perform certain external rituals. At the same time, internal change and transformation are not necessary at all. No labor, no asceticism, no breaking of oneself. The “right” prayer in the “prayed” place, and even better – by the “right person” (elder, spiritual father, guru) – this is the secret of the success of pagans. For the Orthodox worldview, rituals and traditions are important only to the extent that they help a person implement the main Gospel values in life and worship. If for someone the blessing of fruits is a wonderful encouragement during the Dormition Fast, which in no way replaces Confession, Communion, fasting, or participation in church life – this is wonderful and even important, and this tradition should not be abandoned. At its core lies the wonderful idea of gratitude to God for the fruits of the new harvest, and not only for them. But!
True gratitude and openness to God are fully revealed only in the Eucharist, which means “thanksgiving.” If we do not thank the Creator and Savior in the main thing, the secondary loses its meaning. When a person falls ill with a dangerous, deadly disease, they stop worrying about everything else that has lost its significance for them. They are no longer interested in the results of football matches of teams from distant countries, the weather, elections, exchange rates, and other “fashionable trends.” This is characteristic of a mentally healthy person. If not, then even having cancer, they will think more about their manicure and new dress. Just like people who build their spiritual life on apples and flowers. This is complete madness!
The teaching of Christ and the life of the people of the Church in the language of theologians is Eucharistocentric. If a person consciously places apples, candles, honey, water, or anything else in place of the Eucharist, this is no longer the faith of the Church but a new human invention. It is important to note that the responsibility for this lies not only with the faithful but also with the priests.
Every priest must constantly remind people of priorities and norms. For various reasons, including the desire to please people, priests often avoid talking about “bad things” so as not to upset or offend them. Such pastors eventually become subordinate to their parishioners, and it is no longer they who set the tone in the parish, but the people dictate the conditions to the priest: what and how he can say, and what he cannot. This is a great misfortune for both the priest and the parishioners because such a parish becomes spiritually dead, ceasing to transform people. It is dead, even if it grows numerically. People there believe that they are already wonderful, without flaws and mistakes, and do not need to change. This needs to be known and talked about more often. A priest is a doctor who often gives bitter medicine. You can go to another place where they will flatter you and sing “Many Years,” where they will dance with you and cancel fasts for your benefit. But let’s ask ourselves: what is important to us? Only now or also what will happen tomorrow? If tomorrow is also important, then we should prepare for it as soon as possible.
The new religion of the “Apple Savior” is a verdict on us, lazy and indifferent priests. It is a diagnosis for hundreds and thousands of people who need a blessed apple but have not needed Confession or Communion for years. Initially, they do not need God and the Savior. Once, the devil already joked with people using an apple, and it cost us dearly. As a priest and a Christian, I cannot and am not ready to equate my faith with the faith of these people. And what about you? Do you need the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord without the blessing of fruits? (Especially if you did not grow these fruits yourself but bought them at the market). Let’s think about it.
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