Main news for 28 February 2026

The Savior's words, "whoever wants to follow Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me," give us astonishingly concrete instructions. The meaning of His words only seems hard for us to understand. The reason is that it is hard to want to fulfill them.

The experience of life among people, which every person has, gives us an inner knowledge of what it means to deny oneself. It means living not for the sake of your own interests, or any other exalted interests, and not giving others your time and strength as though you were doing them a great favor. It means that another person's need for you, for your help, for your attention, is more important than your needs for anything else. It means that people not only give you an opportunity for humility, but imperiously and harshly demand it, extending their claims to rule right to the very center of your personality.

To accept this for Christ's sake is what it means to take up your cross. The human heart knows all this. At times we even have to act according to this commandment, because there is no other way to build healthy relationships with people. But this happiness turns out to be so painful that it is very hard to agree to it for the sake of the Crucified One.

"If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." What does it mean to deny oneself? After all, it would seem that our selfhood, our personhood, is the only thing that belongs to us directly, the thing we deal with every minute; to part with it is something unthinkable. We receive an answer to this question in the Letter to the Galatians (Gal 2:16-20). At some point the awareness comes that "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." But it comes only after the long ascetic labor of renouncing one's own will, nourished by a burning desire to become like Christ in everything. And the chief way we can become like Him is to ascend the cross, our own cross.

Yet it would be wrong to think that our personhood is indifferent to the Lord, or that He could want to level out our selfhood. When it is said that God will be all in all, it means that this "all," in which God will be "all," remains in its own identity; otherwise one could simply say that God will be all. But while remaining unique, it will have no place within itself for anything opposed to God or fighting against God. Everything will be directed toward God, not away from Him.

And the beginning of this is laid down already now. We must clearly understand what an "adulterous generation" is and consciously separate ourselves from it. Most of all, we must bear witness to our faith before it. At times it feels better to keep silent somewhere so as not to start arguments... but that is always betrayal.

"Take up your cross and follow Me..." A childhood, or more precisely half-childhood, story comes to mind. A man found himself in the most desperate situation, whether because of family tragedies and troubles or because of money, which was not enough even for the most basic necessities. So he cried out to God with reproach, saying, in effect, that his cross was too heavy. And the Lord said to him: Very well, have it your way. I will invite you to Heaven, and you yourself will choose the cross that will be within your strength. And so He did. The man walks along, and around him stand various crosses, as in our cemeteries: there are small wooden ones, there are metal ones, and there are huge stone ones, taller than a person. He walks and walks, and he sees a cross that pleases him: this one, he says, I choose. And the Lord, smiling, says to him: but that is your cross.

In fact, something simple is being said here, simple but important. We often complain about our life, but just try making us drag someone else's cross, and we will cry out. Because we are weak and frail. Only the Lord was able to make all our little crosses merge into His one Cross by the power of His all-good might. Therefore: "and I keep repeating: if things go badly for me, they were worse for my God and more painful for the Mother of God" (N.S. Gumilev)

But why should it hurt at all? Why should we have to drag these cursed crosses at all? Why could it not have been done without this? This question has no answer, but is it not joy to be with the Lord, is it not joy to do something so that it may become even a little easier for Him? It is, is it not? If so, we need only see this, realize that by carrying our cross we share in God's suffering and lighten it. How can we see this? Simply pray, and then you will see. Pray, presenting yourself to God not in some particular form, but in all simplicity. Thanking Him for this highest joy in the world: to be needed by someone.