“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1-2)
St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite in writing an eloquent Encomium as a tribute to St. Symeon the New Theologian addressed the Church on earth and the Church triumphant and asked them to consider the achievements of St. Symeon. He listed six ranks or levels of people who are being saved, maintaining that the “New Theologian” had passed through all six orders. If I may be pardoned an attempt to put this classic description in more modern terms, I’ve given them stars, which are now used in ranking hotels. If it were a single hotel, they would spend eternity on various floors.
Lower level. Basic apartment without outside view. These are persons who lived in fear of both God and hell. They always wanted to know the minimal charges for membership. They abided by God’s commandments, but reluctantly and not without grumbling. They served the Lord more like slaves than free and willing Christians. They knew the cost of salvation but not the value. You learn never to ask this type for anything to benefit God or church.
Rooms on the first floor are reserved for those who did some good for God and Church in their years on earth, but they never enjoyed it. It was always an obligation. They never discovered any joy in their offerings of themselves. They looked for praise and rewards for observing the commandments of the Lord.
The third level is where those were taken who would observe the teachings of the Lord only because they counted on the love of the Holy Trinity to save them on the other side. They accepted the Lord’s love gift but rarely repaid it.
Here are the rooms with a view set aside for the ones who had done more with their lives. They are truly sons and daughters of the heavenly Father who learned the ways to utilize and to share the grace that comes to those who had been able to rise beyond service and who took advantage of the opportunity given to all God’s children baptized and chrismated in Christ. They have an inheritance in heaven explained by the apostle Paul: “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out ‘Abba’ Father! So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir” (Galatians 4:6-7).
Higher up are suites near the top set aside for the ones who are worthy of becoming brothers and sisters of Christ, as in the same apostle’s words: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory” (Romans 8:16).
However, the penthouse, the bridal suite, is reserved for those who are mothers of Christ, near to matching the holy Theotokos Mary, who comprehended what Jesus said: “‘Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?’ Pointing to His disciples, He said, ‘Here are My mother and My brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:49-50).