THE THIRD SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT
Mark 8:34-9:1

Τμήμα από τό βιβλίο του πατρός Αυγουστίνου «ΣΤΑΓΟΝΕΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΥΔΩ ΤΟ ΖΩΝ».  Κήρυγμα του π. Αυγουστίνου για την Γ΄ Κυριακή των Νηστείων την Κυριακή της Σταυροπροσκυνήσεως, μεταφρασμένο στα Αγγλικά.  Η μετάφραση στά Αγγλλικά έγινε από τόν ακούραστο εργάτη καί αγωνιστή της Ορθοδοξίας, πνευματικόν τέκνον του π.Αυγουστίνου, πατέρα Αστέριο Γεροστέργιο.  Προσφέρεται ταπεινά καί μέ τήν έν Χριστώ αγάπη είς ψυχικήν ωφέλειαν Ορθοδόξων Χριστιανών απνανταχού τής γής καί επισκεπτών της ιστοσελίδας τού σεβαστού Γέροντος Αυγουστίνου
πρός δόξαν του Τριαδικού μας Θεού.

THERE IS A SOUL!

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world,
and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Holy Scripture, my dear Christians, is like the sky.  Just as in the natural sky there are stars, in the same way in the spiritual sky, Holy Writ, there are stars.  The sayings in all the books of Holy Scripture, from Genesis, the first book, to the Revelations of John, the last, are the stars that shine and enlighten.  All the sayings have their place and value.  Just as in the physical sky some stars shine brighter than others, in the same way in the spiritual sky, the Holy Writ, some sayings radiate with exceptional brightness and make an exceptional impression on people.

One of these exceptional statements is undoubtedly one that we heard in today’s Gospel of the Third Sunday in Great Lent: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

There was, my beloved, a time on our planet when a man did not exist.  As Holy Writ assures us, of all that was created he appeared last.  His creation was the crown of divine creation.
But how did the first man appear?  Was he an accidental creation that sprouted like a mushroom out of the earth?  If we examine him, we will be convinced that he was not an accidental creation.  He is not something that grew spontaneously, instead – like the excellent work that he is – he presupposes the artist, his creator.
Let us give an example.  You see an automobile.  Can you say that the car created itself?  The car consists of many parts that are arranged in an orderly way next to one another.  Now, suppose that someone disconnects all the parts of a car, great and small, down to the screws, which are in the thousands.  If we were to put all of them in a large, empty ball and then with electricity, spin the ball, what would be the result?  Is there any hope that at some time the parts would come together and arrange themselves so that a new car would come out?  Mathematicians say that that kind of possibility does not exist.  The hand of some mechanic must assemble the different parts to make the automobile.  But if we know the automobile was made by someone, even more so must we accept the idea that man was created by supreme power, by God.
It is not only the composition and function of the various organs of man’s body that amazes us.  In examining man, one is amazed at something else – something that exists only in man – the soul.  But here an objection is raised: The body we see, but the soul we don’t.
We answer with a question: Because we don’t see something, doest that mean that it doesn’t exist?  Who has seen the air?  No one doubts that the air exists, because air existence is proven by its various functions.
The soul is invisible, but by its different workings and expressions, it has proved that it exists.  All of the phenomena that man presents are not functions of his physical existence.  They are something else.  In man there are energies that reveal a spiritual origin.
One such energy is thought.  Oh thought!  What an astonishing phenomenon!  A man can stand at one place on the planet, and with thought, he flies, passing over mountains, seas, and oceans, and in a fraction of moment reaches the most distant parts of our globe where there is someone dear to him.  The body may be in Florina, Greece, and mind in Sydney, Australia, or Toronto Canada.  Using thought, man examines all of the physical phenomena, solves the most difficult problems, and like another Archimedes cries out “Eureka, eureka!”.  With thought, man continuously discovers new things, and finds that within the tiniest portion of matter, the atom, there is enormous power.  With thought, man constructs rockets and space craft and travels in space.  Thought is something astonishing!  Indeed, a certain philosopher once said, physically, man is like a reed that easily breaks but a reed that thinks.

Thought, as it functions, proves that there is a soul.  The soul is the source of thought.  But thought isn’t the only spiritual function that proves the existence of the soul.  There is something else, greater than thought, and that is the heart, or the feelings.  Man has great and noble feelings.  A mother loves her child, a child loves its mother; a friend, a friend, the doctor, the sick person; the scientist, his science; the patriot, his country; the pious, God.  Because of this love which burns in his bosom, man dares and does wondrous things and becomes a martyr and hero.  If man were only a body, as is the case with animals, he would not have thought about anything greater and would not have sacrificed his body for the sake of his faithful execution of duty.
The soul thinks, imagines, and envisions, and man becomes a poet, philosopher, scientist, hero, martyr.  But the soul, due to its freedom – another amazing spiritual energy of man – is what pushes man toward evil and corruption, making him commit horrible crimes.  Man becomes an angel or a demon.  When man leaves the heights of virtue and falls into the depths of evil and corruption, he hears inside his soul a terrible voice – one voice, which is itself one of the greatest proofs that the soul exists.  It is the voice of conscience which at every wrongdoing cries, “Man, you are guilty!”
The soul exists.  The mind, feelings, and will shout it; the conscience shouts it.  Ancient and recent philosophers shout it.  But the greatest proof is the cross that the faithful venerate today in all the Orthodox Churches.  Throw a glance, my fellow sinful people, on the day of Veneration of the Holy Cross, on He Who is crucified and ask why the sinless Christ suffered so much?  Why did He shed His holy Blood?  The answer is that He shed it for man – to save souls of sinners from eternal death which sin brought.
Oh the soul!  The soul of the most sinful person washes itself and cleanses itself in the blood of the God-Man, and gets new strength to live the holy and spiritual life.  Because of the cross, the soul ascended to a heavenly height.  This the thief proved when he repented and cried out: “Remember me, Lord, in your Kingdom”.
My beloved!  Just as you don’t doubt you have a body, you shouldn’t doubt that you have a soul.  The body being matter is mortal, the soul immaterial is immortal.  Every time we look after the body, we must look thousands of times after the soul for its salvation, about which Christ ascended the Cross and shed
His Blood.

Translated in English from its original in Greek by
+Reverend Father Asterios Gerostergios
Saints Constantine and Helen
Greek Orthodox Church
Cambridge, Massachusetts – U.S.A.

This chapter was taken from the book “DROPS FROM THE LIVING WATER” by Bishop Augoustinos N. Kantiotes.

The author of this volume, Augoustinos Kantiontes, Bishop of Florina, Greece, is a distinguished master of the written and spoken work of God.  The special talents of this great servant of the Church are such that he understands the problems and needs of the people and is able to touch the heart of contemporary man.  He has shaped his preaching to correspond to the psychological, spiritual, and intellectual needs of today’s Christians.  The preaching of the bishop serves well those holy, liturgical and sacred purposes of the service of the word of God in the Church.

Bishop Augoustinos’ preaching is presented to the people of God with simplicity and sincerity, and feeds the spiritually hungry of our times in an Orthodox way.  It attracts and transports, teaches and inspires the listeners and readers in the life of Christ, in the life of Church.  The homilies draw on the spiritual “granary” of the Holy Writ are stamped in the hearts of people in order that they might yield, in due time, a hundredfold.  They are Biblical and Christocentric, always having Christ at their center, and offering Him as the only “Way, Truth and Life”.  The English translation and publication of these homilies of Bishop Augoustinos, based on the Sunday Gospel Readings of the year, is an act of love to the Orthodox clergy, the Sunday School teachers, and to all Orthodox Christians interested in pure, unadulterated Orthodox spiritual food.

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