And Cain said, "I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth;
and it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay
me." And the Lord said unto him, "Not so. Thy everyone's slaying
shall be the discharge of vengeance seven times. And the Lord God
set a mark upon Cain that no one might slay him." [Hebrew rendering]
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN
My dearly beloved Orthodox Christians, we have before us a most
fearsome scene, probably one of the most fearsome scenes in the
history of mankind. A 'mark,' [the Hebrew word signifies 'a marking
out'] was set [the Hebrew word entails a 'proclaiming'] upon Cain
that an easy death would not come as gain for Cain, but that his
life should be prolonged that the punishments inflicted on him might
be commensurate with his crimes.
"The shew of their countenance doth witness against them," said the
prophet. Indeed there is a 'proclaiming' sign upon each one of us
manifesting an inner state. The son of Sirach is most wise: "A man
may be known by his look and by his countenance. A man’s excessive
laughter and gait shew what he is."
"And the Lord God set a mark upon Cain." St Basil explains: "This is
the seventh punishment, that the punishment may not be hid, but that
by a plain sign proclamation may be made to all that this is the
first doer of unholy deeds."
The first doer of unholy deeds? If Cain initiated the first of
unholy deeds, how many unholy deeds have followed since? And how
many doers of unholy deeds have succeeded in concealing their unholy
deeds? None. For before the punishment, appears the 'proclaiming'
sign that is written on each one of our faces. The show of our
countenace, our look, our excessive laughter, and our gait acts as
a forerunner of the way that people will relate to us and how God
Himself does and will relate to us.
"To all who reason rightly the heaviest of punishments is shame,"
observed St Basil commenting on the mark that was placed upon the
forehead of Cain, a 'mark of shame.'"There is nothing hidden that
shall not be revealed," said the Master, "and that which is done in
secret shall be shouted from the rooftops," the Judge of all mankind
concluded.
No one shall escape. The shouting from the rooftops already begins
with the show of our countenances and the end of that proclamation
of our secret sins will indeed, (for the Master will not be
gainsayed), be announced by neighbors, friends, and enemies upon
the rooftops of newspapers Internet sites and history books.
I expect my beloved Orthodox Christians that soon, very soon, before
the not so merry month of May 2006, the enemies of the Russian
Church Abroad, whose faces now have affixed to it 'the mark of
Cain,' will soon be made known before all. And I know exactly who
they will be.
Through the mercies of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who with the Father
and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.
Nathaniel
"Stories My Rabbi Taught Me"
The Eleventh Hour
October 19/November 1
The Commemoration of the Holy New Martyrs of Russia