by Fr. Jonathan H. Cholcher
“If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of His honor, will accept the last even as the first; He giveth rest unto him who cometh at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who hath wrought from the first hour…Wherefore, enter ye all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously.” (from the Catechetical Sermon of St. John Chrysostom, read during Matins of the Paschal service before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy)
Needless to say, many hear this annually appointed sermon as an unquestioning justification both for attending Divine Liturgy to receive Holy Communion at least once a year at Pascha, and for excusing the persons who maintain such a once-a-year practice as a minimal definition of what it means to be Orthodox. Can a person truly be right with God who purposely ignores or neglects all the disciplines of the Faith except attendance at a service for two and a half or three hours a year? Is this what St. John Chrysostom, hence, the Orthodox Church, means?
The language of the “eleventh hour” is from our Lord’s parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matt. 20:1-16 ): “And about the eleventh hour [the landowner] went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive’…And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius” (vv.6-7, 9-10).
St. John Chrysostom comments elsewhere: “What then is the meaning of the parable? For it is necessary to make this first clear, and then we shall clear up that other point. By a vineyard [Christ] means the injunctions of God and His commandments; by the time of laboring, the present life; by laborers, them that in different ways are called to the fulfillment of the injunctions; by early in the morning, and about the third and ninth and eleventh hours, them who at different ages have drawn near to God, and approved themselves.
“What then may we say? There is no one who is thus justifying himself, or blaming others in the kingdom of Heaven; away with the thought! For that place is pure from envy and jealousy. For if when they are here the saints give their very lives for sinners, much more when they see them there is the enjoyment of these things, do they rejoice and account these to be blessings of their own.
“From everything then it is manifest to us, that the parable is spoken with reference to them who from earliest youth, and those who in old age and more tardily, lay hold on virtue; to the former, that they may not be proud, neither reproach those called at the eleventh hour; to the latter, that they may learn that it is possible even in a short time to recover all.” (Homily 64.3, 4 on The Gospel of Saint Matthew)
Precisely to those “latter” called to be Christians is the Catechetical Sermon of St. John Chrysostom addressed. Catechetical means of catechesis, final instructions to the catechumens, that is, those persons who have been instructed in preparation for their Baptism, Chrismation, and reception into the Church and Holy Communion. In St. John Chrysostom’s day, the common practice of the Church was to receive the catechumens into the Church during the service of the Paschal Vigil, the service during which this Catechetical Sermon is appointed to be read.
“The observance of the proper season does have some connection with the mystery of initiation (i.e., Baptism, Chrismation, and Holy Communion)…Therefore, our fathers ordained the celebration of this season (i.e., Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha) first in order to remind you of the Master by the season of His victory, and then that there might be, in the triumphal celebration, some who are wearing shining robes (i.e., white baptismal garments) and who are about to receive a reward from the King. This was not their only reason. Our fathers also ordained this celebration in order that you might also be the Master’s partner throughout the season.” (St. John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instruction 10.5, 7)
Rather than excusing negligent Christian behavior, the Catechetical Sermon is intended to have the opposite effect. St. John Chrysostom is saying to those about to finally enter the Church (at the Paschal feast): “You’ve made it this far, some more attentively, some less, but you’re about to enter the Feast. So keep the Feast without reservation, if that’s what you intend to do by God’s grace!” And to the rest who are already in the Church, and who have been in the Church since their Baptism, however long that has been, “Continue to keep the Feast because that is the very definition of the Church, the ever-effective Cross and Resurrection given in Baptism and Chrismation, and manifested every day and week in the Church when gathered for Divine Liturgy and Holy Communion.”
St. John Chrysostom comments on the significance of Pascha: “The mystery of Pascha (the yearly commemoration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ in the spring of the year) is not of more efficacy than that which is now celebrated (at each Divine Liturgy). It is one and the same. There is the same grace of the Spirit; it is always Pascha. You who are initiated (i.e., the baptized and chrismated faithful) know this…No time is limited for the performance of this Sacrifice (of Holy Communion), why then is it called the Paschal feast? Because Christ suffered for us then. Let not the time, therefore, make any difference in your approach. There is at all times the same power, the same dignity, the same grace, one and the same body; nor is one celebration of it more or less holy than another.” (Homily 5 on First Timothy; italics mine)
Rather than an excuse for negligence, the exhortation to celebrate the Paschal Feast at the eleventh hour is a call to keep the Feast with diligence and true understanding of its significance at all times, especially if one has only lately become a Christian. St. John Chrysostom continues his explanation of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard: “Wherefore I entreat you let us use much diligence both to stand in the right faith, and to show forth an excellent life. For unless we add also a life suitable to our faith, we shall suffer the extremist punishment” (Homily 64.4 on The Gospel of Saint Matthew).
St. John points out examples of persons who partook of spiritual gifts from God, and yet they were not saved because their subsequent works did not demonstrate virtues (fruits) of a true faith. For instance, most of the Israelites who were baptized and ate and drank the same spiritual food and drink “were scattered in the wilderness” (1 Cor. 10:3-5; see Heb. 3:12-4:2). Christ speaks of those who prophesy and cast out demons, but they do not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 7:21-23). There are the parables of the virgins (Matt. 25:1-13), the net (Matt. 13:47-49), the thorns (Matt. 13:22), and the unfruitful tree (Lk. 13:6-9). “For concerning doctrines [Christ] discourses seldom, for neither doth the subject need labor, but of life often or rather everywhere, for the war about this is continual, wherefore also so is the labor” (Homily 64.4).
Our Paschal celebration is to be evidence of the pursuit of a Paschal life, a rescue from the idleness of ignorance, sin, and death to the living way of devotion to God in Jesus Christ. Because of the Resurrection of Christ, we are to be “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58). “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble” (2 Pet. 1:10).
Even if it’s at the eleventh hour, Baptism into Christ is the embarkation on a whole new and endless journey to the eternal Kingdom of God. Our Paschal joy bears witness to this whole new life we are gifted to practice; it is not merely some momentary excitement never intended to relate to anything else we do with our time. Pascha, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ for our forgiveness and salvation, defines the Christian experience, and that experience of Christ is the one constant in the Church we seek to realize in ever-increasing depth and power until our Lord returns in glory.
