By
Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos
SUNDAY of
All Saints
On this
day, the Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the Feast of All Saints who shone
forth throughout the inhabited earth, in Asia, Libya, and Europe, North and
South, East and West.
Verses
All the friends of my Lord do I hymn.If any would, let him make mention of them all.
On this
Sunday, which follows immediately after Holy Pentecost, the Divine Fathers
ordained that we should celebrate the memory of all the Saints who have existed
throughout the world. Initially, the most ancient Fathers made this a Feast
solely of the Martyrs who suffered throughout the world, as attested by the
encomium of St. John Chrysostomos, in which he praises only the Martyrs. The
later Fathers, however, made this Feast more general, calling it the “Sunday of
All Saints,” including in it Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs,
Hierarchs, Ascetics, and all the Righteous together, of every age and race.
The reason
for the present Feast is, as our Lord Jesus Christ said, before His Suffering,
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me” (St. John
12:32)—which was the whole purpose of His descending to earth, taking flesh,
and becoming perfect Man, while Himself remaining perfect God, namely, to save
human nature and exalt it to Heavenly blessedness.
The nature,
therefore, that He assumed in His Divine Hypostasis He raised up to the Heavens
through His Divine Ascension and made it sit at the right hand of God the
Father. But even so, the promise that He gave when He said, “I will draw all
men unto Me,” was not fulfilled. For this reason, He sent the All-Holy Spirit
to His Holy Apostles, so that they might go and preach the one Godhead to all
the nations through His power, and gather the elect into the Kingdom of Heaven,
which His good and faithful servants did with all zeal, with all their soul and
heart, and unto the shedding of their blood. In this way, the world above, from
which the apostate angels had fallen, was replenished. This is what we celebrate
today, that is, the fruit of the Apostolic preaching.
It is said
that there is another reason for this common Feast: that many, very many, and
almost innumerable persons have become sanctified in different places and
regions, whom, on account of their multitude and anonymity, it was not possible
for us to honor individually. Therefore, in order to honor them appropriately
and to gain their help and succor, our Mother, the Church, decreed that we
should observe a common Feast of all the Saints in general, and that at the
same time this Feast should be celebrated also for those who would hereafter
either suffer martyrdom or in general be sanctified. It is also said that Leo
VI, that most devout emperor (886-912), who is surnamed “the Wise,” wished to
honor his first wife, Theophanó, as a Saint, but that the Church did not assent
to his desire; hence, he built a very beautiful Church of All Saints and said:
“If Theophano is a Saint, let her be numbered with All the Saints.”
The most
important reason for this Feast, as for any Saint that we celebrate, is the
exhortation of ourselves, the living, to emulate those being celebrated. That
is, we should compel ourselves to attain to the praiseworthy life of those
blessed and renowned servants of our true God. The Prophet-King David says,
with reference to this: “Thy friends, O God, are exceedingly honored by me”
(Psalm 138:17, LXX). The Divine Apostle, enumerating the exploits of the
Saints, and putting forward their memory to us as an example of turning aside
from earthly affairs and sin, and of imitating their patience and courage in
the contests of virtue, says: “Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is
set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).
Guided by
the teaching of the Divine Scriptures and the Apostolic Tradition, we, the
Faithful, honor all the friends of God, the Saints, as keepers of God’s
commandments, as shining examples of virtue, and as benefactors of the human
race. We honor each of the known Saints specially on one particular day of the
year, as is evident from the Menologion; but since many are unknown, as we said
previously, and since their number has multiplied from time to time, is still
multiplying, and will not cease increasing until the end of the world, for this
reason our Mother, the Church, has ordained that we should hold, once a year, a
general commemoration of all the Saints, which is the present Feast.
It should
be known that we celebrate today all whom the Holy Spirit has munificently
sanctified: that is, the most sublime and sanctifying Intelligences— namely,
the Nine Orders of Angels—, the Forefathers and Patriarchs, the Prophets and
the Holy Apostles; the Martyrs and the Hierarchs; the Hieromartyrs and monastic
martyrs, the Ascetics and the Righteous, and all the choirs of holy women, and
all of the other anonymous Saints, including those to come. Above all and in
all and with all, we celebrate the Saint of Saints, her who is Most Holy and
beyond compare superior to the Angelic Orders, our Sovereign Lady the
Theotokos, Mary the Ever-Virgin.
By the
intercessions of Thine Immaculate Mother, O Christ God, and of all Thy Saints
from all ages, have mercy on us and save us, as Thou alone art good and lovest
mankind. Amen.
Kontakion
in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
As the
first-fruits of our nature to the Planter of created things, the world
presenteth the God-bearing martyred Saints in off'ring unto Thee, O Lord.
Through their earnest entreaties, keep Thy Church in deep peace and divine
tranquillity, through the pure Theotokos, O Thou Who art greatly merciful.
