Speech Given to Students of the Newly Opened Free of Charge Sunday School
By St. John of Kronstadt
By St. John of Kronstadt
My friends! A Sunday School has been opened for you today, with God's blessing, for free: and the books in it are ready for you and everything you need for studying. It is called a Sunday School because you will come to it on Sundays, and on other feasts of the Lord, and of the Mother of God.
Do not think that it is a sin to go to school on feast days. No, it is not sinful, but soul-saving. Rather than sitting at home, or doing something idle, or wandering the streets, it is better, without a doubt, to occupy yourself with study for an hour or two. Learning is light, which means that it is a good deed, and when is the time for a good deed, if not on a feast day? On a feast day you do not work, according to the fourth commandment of the Lord; according to that commandment, one must work six days a week, if there is no feast day, and on the seventh, that is, on Sunday, one must go to church – to pray to the Lord, our Creator, to venerate His most pure Body and Blood at the Liturgy, to listen to the word of God, to remember God's mercy to us, and to think about eternal life. For all of us, brethren, will be resurrected in due time for another, never-ending life in heaven. This is a very important matter, and that is why, among other things, the no work day of Sunday is given to us, that is why we must certainly go to church on Sundays, so that, having venerated Christ's resurrection, we may remember our own resurrection from the dead, in order to prepare our souls for a joyful, and not a sorrowful resurrection.
Thus, on Sundays and other feast days you do not work, and therefore it is very convenient for you to take up literacy at this time. Come to us, to school, on Sundays and other feasts after the divine service. There are so many of us here, your teachers, and we are all ready to teach you with love. I, as a priest, will teach you God's Christian law, and above all how to pray to God with understanding, with reason, how to stand in church; how to approach Confession and Holy Communion; I will tell you how God commands you to live in this world, so that your life will be pleasing to Him, our Lord, so that you, as good children of the Heavenly Father, will rest forever in His heavenly abodes, that is, be worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven; and I will tell you many other things that you need to know without fail. Others will teach you how to read, how to write, how to count. If you always attend and are not lazy, you will soon all become literate, you will be able to read all kinds of books, you will be able to write any letter, you will count on an abacus or on paper, or simply - in your mind, and you will be businesslike, quick-witted people, capable of any decent business; and people will value you; everyone will be glad to take you to their aid, as literate people. And most importantly: you will know God better, you will love God more, you will learn how to please Him better, because a literate person can know God from Divine Scripture and from the writings of the Holy Fathers, shepherds and teachers of the Church incomparably more than an illiterate one. You have heard the proverb: "Learning is light, ignorance is darkness." That is how it is. He who has learned books always walks with light in his head, he sees every matter more clearly and better, but the illiterate walks like a blind man, groping - he must ask others about everything, he must be shown everything, what and how - and therefore anyone can lead him by the nose, as the proverb says.
I recall our Russian schismatics. Ah! I pity these sometimes simple and very kind people! These unfortunates wander outside God's Church, like sheep without a shepherd; - and all from what? From ignorance, from lack of education - and the instigators, and their teachers, have free rein with such blind students, and they lead them, poor things, by the nose. The blind lead the blind - and they will all fall into a deep, deep, bottomless pit - to the bottom of the underworld of hell. If only all our common people were properly enlightened by the light of Scripture, then we would not have schismatics; there would be no blasphemy against the Orthodox Church, the pure and glorious Bride of Christ; there would be far fewer perishing.
So come to us with God, do not be lazy: you are given such a good thing for free, which is priceless, we have never had free Sunday Schools before. Only now have good people deigned to do such a favor - to open free schools on days off work. And not only here in Kronstadt, but all over Russia such schools are opening. I am not talking about other lands: they have been there for a long time. Take advantage of this favor. Have patience, and be very attentive to what they will say. You will say thank you to us all later. And now give a heartfelt bow to all the gentlemen you see here: they have come to pray for your success to the Lord, who gives everyone the light of reason, and to rejoice with Christian love at the good beginning of your education. Moreover, loving you not only in words but in deeds, they have also donated money for things necessary for your education. Thank them, and pray to God for them, your benefactors.
Upon you, most honorable leaders of this city, who contributed with your orders and donations to the opening of the school, and upon you, unpaid workers in this new nursery of the Risen One, may God's blessing be upon you all the days of your life. Your good deed speaks for itself. Your reward is the inward voice of your conscience approving of you. And the voice of conscience is the voice of God.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.