NOTES for Luk 16:10-15

"So if you have not been faithful in unrighteous wealth, who will entrust you with the true?" Why be faithful in unrighteous wealth? It sounds strange. The point is that today the Church has appointed the reading for us in a somewhat special way, offering only the last lines from the parable about unrighteous wealth, which must be distributed. Thus, as we read it today, we turn out to be somewhat separated from this meaning, although of course we are free to return to it. But if we do not return to it, we may recall a very "original" interpretation, in the words of Archimandrite Zacharias, of "unrighteous wealth" by Elder Sophrony Sakharov, disciple of Elder Silouan the Athonite:

"Our ontological union with the God of Love presupposes the merging of two wills: God's and man's. The union itself is accomplished in a state of love. God, the Personal Spirit, and man, the person (persona), are united into one in the eternal Act of Divine Life. Thus God is known by us. To acquire this Love is the final goal of the Christian struggle. The attainment of this goal is connected with a long and difficult path. But it is possible to experience God's visitation in great power as a gift from Above at certain moments, when the soul, in a surge of repentance for sins, becomes receptive to the Light descending upon it from God. Yet these first visitations are not yet the state of the saved acquired forever. They are only still 'unrighteous wealth,' which can still be taken away because of unfaithfulness. But to preserve this grace, to remain faithful to everything it has taught us, is impossible without deep mourning for years" (Archim. Sophrony Sakharov, To See God as He Is, chapter "On Spiritual Mourning").

Thus every sensation of grace we have is still unrighteous wealth, in which we must be faithful only to the Lord and not to ourselves, even though this state can be so intoxicating. And if we remain faithful to God in this, then one day we will receive the true wealth.