THEOSISPhilaret of Moscow (Drosdow)
In the location that the Lord your God will select from among your tribes to establish His name, there you shall gather and seek Him (Deuteronomy 12:5). I have visited your city numerous times, dear friends, yet each visit has left me longing for more, as I have only been able to offer you a brief prayer in your venerable temple before being called away by my various pastoral duties. Hence, our mutual yearning for deeper fellowship and combined prayer during the sacred act of dedicating the temple you have built resonates strongly with me. If it remains unattainable for now, shall I echo the Apostle when I say: ‘I long to come to you, but I have been hindered’ (Rom. 1:13)? Let us not be troubled by the unfulfillment of our modest desires, especially since even apostolic longings are not always realized according to God's divine will. As the Psalmist states: ‘Is not God my soul in submission to God’ (Psalm 61:2)? The work of sanctification is entirely God’s undertaking. Grace operates through various instruments according to the divine order He has set. I am eager to engage with you, whether face-to-face or through another's voice.
With comfort, I see in your newly constructed and dedicated temple the result of your devout commitment; this achievement is significant for your small city. Thus, it may not be inappropriate to affirm, much like St. Paul did about the Macedonians, that you, too, are demonstrating ‘in strength, and even beyond strength, goodness’ (2 Cor.). I believe with confidence that the sacrifices made for the construction of the Lord’s house are pleasing to Him. This is evident as He has favored your efforts with divine fulfillment, accepting your dedication and imparting His sanctification. With hope, I embrace the blessing conveyed by the prophet: ‘O God of strength, return and look down from heaven, and observe and tend this vine, and perfect it; plant it with Your right hand’ (Psalm 79:15-16)! Truly, O Lord God of Hosts, this community of believers is Your spiritual vine, planted by Your mighty hand. Please turn towards them now and in the future with Your grace, as they turn to You in faith and prayer. Look over them with Your providence, seeing both their evident and hidden needs, and visit them with Your generosity. Establish them in the truth, protect them from intruders who may breach or undermine Your sacred boundaries, and from heresies and temptations. Help them to flourish in the knowledge of Your truth, fostering them with abundant good works in accordance with Your holy commandments, and perfecting them in every virtue for their salvation.
Returning to the encouraging aspect of our celebration, I feel it is important to share some reflections on the blessings we receive from acquiring the consecrated temple of God. Prayer can happen anywhere, as the holy Apostle instructs. ‘I desire,’ he proclaims, ‘that men pray everywhere, lifting holy hands without anger or conflict’ (1 Tim. 2:8). This means they should approach prayer free of resentment toward others and not distracted by doubts concerning the efficacy of their prayer. Our Lord Jesus Himself encourages us to pray in our temples, albeit in a quiet and private space: ‘When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen’ (Matt. 6:6). Stay loyal to the Lord’s command; pray in solitude. Uphold the apostolic teaching: pray in every location. Particularly upon waking each morning, consider that God grants you this new day, which you could not provide for yourself. Dedicate the first hour, or at least the first fifteen minutes, of your day in sacrificial prayer of gratitude and supplication to God. The more carefully you engage in this, the more you will sanctify your day and shield yourself from the daily trials that arise. Likewise, when preparing for rest each night, remember that God offers you respite from your efforts. Dedicate the beginning of your time of rest to God through sincere and humble prayer, as its fragrant essence will invite the Angel to guard your slumber.
Engaging in these forms of personal and private prayer is both essential and beneficial for our souls; however, it is not all that is required of us, nor all that God expects. The Book of Acts recounts how ‘Peter and John went up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour’ (Acts 3:1). What does this signify? Though the apostles followed the Lord's directive to pray in private temples, they did not find this sufficient. Why did they choose to pray in the temple of Jerusalem, even as its sanctity was soon to transition to the temples of Christendom? The answer lies in the necessity of public worship, ecclesiastical prayer, within a specially consecrated place—the sanctuary, as ordained by God. This command, found in the book of Moses, states that public invocation of His name must occur only ‘in the place which the Lord your God selects from among your tribes, where He will designate His name’ (Deut. 12:5). God's desire is that the public worship of His name, or church service, is conducted not in any ordinary location but only in the site He chooses and blesses for this purpose; it is to this divinely appointed place that all should assemble to call upon His name.
King David acted upon this divine mandate, and King Solomon fulfilled it by erecting the temple in Jerusalem, the location chosen by God and revealed by an angel. The high priests consecrated the temple by bringing in the sacred tabernacle containing the commandments inscribed by God's finger. The glory of God descended upon it, and He assured them of His promise: ‘My eyes shall be there, and My heart shall be there forever’ (1 Kings 9:3). Following this, God often expressed His displeasure through the prophets towards those who offered sacrifices to the true God outside of His holy temple, instead opting for high places driven by personal choice.
The Jerusalem temple, serving as the Old Testament's symbolic temple, was ultimately rendered obsolete with the revelation of the truth in Christ the Saviour and the establishment of the New Covenant. From Christ, the Apostles inherited and passed on the authority to build Christian temples in every town and village. However, the divine principle—that the temple must always be a place chosen and consecrated through divinely established order—has been maintained within the Christian Church. Therefore, the regulations set forth by the Ecumenical Councils do not permit the consecration of a temple without the blessing of a bishop, who inherits this authority from the Apostles, and mandate that consecration occur through sacred anointing and the placement of holy relics. Through this divinely ordained consecration, the Christian Church partakes fully in the ancient promise of God's special presence: ‘My eyes shall be there, and My heart shall be there forever.’ Additionally, it encompasses the promise of Christ: ‘Where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in their midst’ (Matthew 18:20).
When we compare the Christian temple with the Old Testament temple, it becomes evident that both the initial consecration and ongoing sanctity belong more distinctly to the Christian temple. The great sanctuary of the Old Testament temple contained the commandments inscribed by God's finger; we, however, have an even more divine and bounteous sanctuary in the Gospel, which embodies the Word of God expressed through the Evangelists under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The table of showbread symbolizes animal bread that descended from heaven; in contrast, we possess the true Bread of Life, as Christ declares: ‘The bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh’ (John 6:51). The sacrifices of the Old Testament were blood offerings, mere foreshadowings of the ultimate Sacrifice, the all-saving suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ; here, we celebrate the bloodless offering—a verbal service that perpetually renews the living Sacrifice of our Christ in the mystery of His body and blood.
Although angels protected the Old Testament temple—and when Jerusalem’s temple faced destruction, the voice of the Divine Powers echoed, saying: ‘Let us depart from here’—the angels continue to serve us in our sacred worship. An instance of this is recounted concerning Abba Leontius, who, upon arriving at the church to receive the Holy Mysteries, saw an angel beside the throne. When the elder, frightened, turned to retreat, the angel reassured him: ‘Since this throne has been consecrated, I have been entrusted to remain here’ (Alphabet. Paterik. zn. L. Ch. 4).
I hope what has been shared thus far emphasizes to you, dear brothers, that alongside personal and solitary prayer, the eternal truth of God and our salvation call for us to engage in the prayer of the Church within the divinely sanctioned temple. They hold numerous benefits for us, including the gracious presence of God, the divine illumination and redemptive power of the Gospel, a sincere union with Christ through the sacramental sharing of His body and blood, the heavenly assistance of angels, the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, and the abiding sanctuary that sanctifies those who enter with reverence and faith.
Let us glorify the Lord, who generously bestows His blessings! Let us ‘love the beauty of the Lord’s house’ and honor ‘the place of His glory’ (Psalm 25:8)! Approaching the house of God with joy and affection, let us come like children to their father’s abode! With simplicity and humility, may we set aside worldly distractions and surrender ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit, who inspires our divine service! Let us not overlook the importance of purifying and sanctifying ourselves through the sacraments! We must be vigilant not to tarnish this sacred place of sanctity with signs of unholy living! It is with regret that we think of those who, through negligence, either long neglect the holy temple or entirely detach from it, driven by errant beliefs, choosing to pray in places not divinely ordained and unacknowledged by consecration. What benefits they forgo! And what accountability will they bear before God? Those separated from the sanctuary are oft labeled as ‘holy’ by their separate groups. It is surprising how easily individuals can distort the truth if they hold too dearly to their convictions. Where do they find the ancient faith devoid of priesthood and sanctified churches? This 'faith' is quite new, less than two centuries old. I am reminded of a historical shift away from the holy temple and the ordained priesthood under the guise of an ancient faith; however, this likely does not satisfy those who profess to uphold the old faith. The Samaritans, for instance, refused to visit the Jerusalem temple and submit to its priests, constructing their own version of a temple that lacked its sanctity on Mount Gerizim, where some renegade priests fled. They attempted to gather support for their unholy practices by claiming alignment with the old faith, asserting the acceptance of only the five books of Moses while rejecting other prophetic texts as non-ancient. Lacking an authentic church, they boasted an old well from which Jacob drank. Their deceptive claims of antiquity and the mention of the revered patriarch Jacob attracted many followers. The most discerning Samaritan woman, for example, although sensing the frailty of this doctrine, questioned whether it was preferable to pray on Samaria’s mountain than at Jerusalem's temple. But to guard against such misleading temptations, Christ the Saviour answered to her: ‘You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews’ (John 4:22). This conveys that your worship on the mountain, conducted without knowledge of the true God, diverges from the worship in Jerusalem that is anchored in the promise of salvation.