Dear brothers and sisters!

Today, the Holy Orthodox Church commemorates All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Russian Land. And when commemorating them, we refer not only to the past. This day tells us about the fullness of life to which each of us is called.

And the matter concerns neither the map nor frontiers. It concerns the spiritual space which was born from the font of the Baptism of Rus' and is held together by the common faith, prayer, and holiness of our fathers to this day.

The saints commemorated by us now lived in different centuries and in different lands, and their paths to salvation were not similar. There were princes and simple monks, holy hierarchs and confessors, martyrs and quiet, unknown to anybody ascetics of piety among them. But there is one thing that unites them all: they were Christ's.

This feast reminds us again and again that the earthly Church and the Heavenly Church is one, and that there are no 'our' and 'foreign' saints in Heaven. Our saints, who have shone forth like countless stars, are not at war with each other. Is it possible to imagine the Venerable Anthony of the Kiev Caves at enmity with the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh? Or to imagine the Right-Believing Prince Alexander of Novgorod, Vladimir, and Kiev, who was named Nevsky, raise his sword against his kinsmen, the Holy Passion-Bearers Boris and Gleb? No. They are all together at the Throne of God — the Equal-of-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, the Holy Hierarch Philaret of Moscow, and the Holy Hierarch Luke of Crimea. The Saviour's prayer offered up to the Father on the night before Golgotha, 'That they all may be one', is fulfilled in this innumerable host.

And we are those who are at war. We are those who are killing one another. We are those who have allowed to pit the Orthodox against each other to the death for the amusement of the enemy of the human race. And saints at the Throne of God can only cry for us, miserable, who are unable to stop this insane bloodshed, this fratricide, for a fifth year now.

Yes, we live in a difficult time. Our pain is real, our wounds — both old and present — are real, and our tears are real. The Church knows the value of this pain and calls us to compassion. But a Christian may not let his pain turn into hatred, nor let enmity become a law of his heart.

Sin always divides — grace brings together. The spirit of this world teaches to see an enemy in one's brother and divide even saints according to tribe, state, convictions. But the Apostle Paul says clearly, 'There is neither Jew nor Greek . . . for you are all one in Christ Jesus.' Holiness belongs to no one's banners. Saints belong to God — and God alone.

And the most horrible thing is when the spirit of division penetrates the very church fence or our hearts. For if we profess one faith, repent before one Lord, receive Communion from one Cup of the Body and Blood of Christ, how can we put human malice higher than the love of Christ? The unity of the Church is not an empty slogan but the very life in Christ, which is entrusted to us as both a gift and a responsibility.

Saints are already with God in the unity which we are only heading towards here — slowly, stumbling from time to time, yet heading. And if we truly want to be near them one day, we should preserve the spirit of Christ in ourselves: not to play along with divisions, nor let fear, offence, or pride kill fraternal love.

Let us pray especially ardently today that the Lord, through the prayers of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Russian Land, will heal our hearts, fortify His Church, and prevent us from forgetting the main thing: the path of a Christian is a path of faithfulness to Christ and unity.

Happy feast, dear brothers and sisters!