Sts Peter and Fevronia – Family Life

Today is a special day of commemoration and celebration in the Russian Orthodox Church. On this third Sunday of September we remember and honor Holy Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia of Murom. Saints Peter and Fevronia of Murom are the patrons of marriage and family and are held before us as examples of love and fidelity.

Let me share with you briefly about these great saints…

Peter and Fevronia were benevolent rulers and always helped their people with alms and prayers. They treated all as if they were their own children. They loved everyone equally, and disliked only those who were proud or who exploited the people. Peter and Fevronia laid up their treasures, not on earth, but in heaven. They were real pastors of their city. They always ruled with truth and humility, and never with anger. They gave shelter to pilgrims, fed the hungry, and clothed the naked. And they helped the poor in their misfortune.

When death was nearing, Peter and Fevronia prayed to God that they both might die in the same hour. And they requested that they be buried in the same tomb and in a common coffin in which their bodies would be separated only by a partition. Before their deaths they took monastic vows, Prince Peter becoming Brother David, and Princess Fevronia, Sister Euphrosinia.

After their deaths, some of the people decided that Prince Peter should be buried in the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin, which was within the walls of the city of Murom, and that Princess Fevronia should be buried in the Church of the Elevation of the Holy Cross, which was outside the walls of the city. The body of Prince Peter was put in a casket and was placed in the cathedral, where it was left overnight. The body of Princess Fevronia was put in another casket and placed in the church outside the city walls. A tomb, which had earlier been carved from a huge rock as a resting-place for Peter and Fevronia, remained empty in the yard of the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin.

The next morning the people went to the caskets of Peter and Fevronia and found them empty. The bodies of the holy prince and princess were found together in the tomb of stone, which they had ordered prepared for them. The people, not understanding the meaning of this event, once more placed the bodies in separate caskets. On the following day the bodies of Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia were once again found together in the tomb of stone. Since that time no man has dared to disturb their holy bodies, but left them in their common tomb in the yard of the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin, which is located in the city of Murom. To this day, those who approach the holy relics of Peter and Fevronia with prayer, always receive comfort and healing.

In honor of these beloved saints, the Russian Orthodox Church marks the Sunday before their feast as a special day of blessing and honor for Orthodox families.

And so, let us take a moment this morning to speak about the importance of family life and its role in the shaping of our Christian life.

We all experience family life – either as husbands, wives, parents, children, brothers, sisters, and even if one is living alone, we may include in this those close relationships which make up our life – our neighbors, our associates at work, and certainly our parish community.

The point is that in such relationships we experience both the consolations and the challenges of living in close proximity to one another. The consolations of family are warm and wonderful indeed – and I pray that each of you may be blessed with many precious moments like these. And yet, family life can be a real challenge as well.

It is very easy to romanticize our Christian life… to read the Gospels or the lives of saints – to be inspired by them and to have our hearts and minds elevated to the heights. But how ironic is the scene of someone imagining himself ascending the heights of Christian virtue while seething with irritation at the noise and demands put upon him by his wife or children or aging parents. Christ calls us to be fully present where we are… While we may be fantasizing about holy we would be if we could just be standing in silence before a lampada and icon; the reality of the path to salvation which Christ sets before us may very well be in selflessly attending to those in need right before us.

I recall an instructive story from the life of Metropolitan Anthony of Sorouzh: He was listening to the complaints of a parishioner who was very upset about the distractions and noise of the children in the church. They were so disruptive that this parishioner found it impossible to pray. Metropolitan Anthony’s answer was this… ‘My dear, if you were truly praying, you would not even notice the noise of the children.’ Maybe the reality is that the distraction is ruining your prayer… so what can you do? You can practice the virtues of patience, kindness, and generosity… and in this way you remain close to Christ.

Our Christian faith must never descend to the realm of idealism. The world is full of ideologies and, as I’m sure we have all experienced, those wound up in ideologies tend to be very brittle and threatened when confronted with other ideas or with realities that fall short of or interrupt their utopian dreams.

Christianity, while ascending to heights not even imaginable by worldly ideologies, must also be deeply practical and personal. For most of us, that arena wherein we are called to practical and personal virtue is the family. The family offers us endless opportunities to practice patience, kindness, generosity, and self-control. These are not distractions, they are the very real struggles that build our Christian soul.

May God bless us and be with us and our families on this day on which we commemorate the holy Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia. It is a day of blessing and celebration of marriage, the family, and fidelity to God and one another. May God bless our marriages, our families, and our parish community… and may God bless every sacrifice we make toward faithfulness, kindness toward one another, and self-giving love.