HOMILY: All Saints of Russia

Holiness is a Choice

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; God is One! Amen

Wherever the Church is, there dwells also the Holy Spirit, and without the Holy Spirit, there is no Church, no hospital for our souls nor a pillar and foundation of Truth. Without the Holy Spirit there are no sacraments, there are no Holy Mysteries,and there is no salvation. All the sacrificial acts of Jesus Christ – the incarnation, his death on the cross, both his resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven – were all accomplished to prepare the way for us all to receive the Holy Spirit.

All of His salvific acts were done to prepare the path for our own struggle. He fulfilled the law and all righteousness that we may follow Him on our own journey through this life so that we may become like Him, imitate Him, and follow Him and His commandments that we may one day be deemed worthy to receive the promises of Christ and be received into his Kingdom.

The Orthodox Christian faith is one of struggle. In Russian it is often called Podvig, a word largely untranslatable into English, but understood as an achievement through selfless action, or a result achieved through difficult circumstances. In the case of our Christian context, to become more Christ-like. It is in that self same struggle that we acquire the Holy Spirit. We must struggle within ourselves, against ourselves and against the world to fan the spark of the Holy Spirit within us into a great conflagration of God’s love. It takes great effort and struggle to pray, fast, give alms, repent, love one another, to forgive those who offend us, to maintain purity in our hearts, and to make our lives and our bodies worthy dwelling places for the Holy Spirit.

The more the Holy Spirit grows within us the more sanctified we become. In this we become little Christs. We become true Saints. We become holy. Recently we celebrated the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, wherein the Church was established upon Christ’s honorable blood, so today it is only fitting that we celebrate the natural and logical outcome of that event, which is that through struggle, with God’s help, Christians become sanctified and become holy, or Saints.

Today we remember All the Russian Saints of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Today is in essence the name day of all Russia, where we remember the Saints who through both sorrows and great love, labored to build the Church of Russia we hold fast to this day. Kievan Rus was baptized in 988 after Prince Vladimir sent ambassadors from Kiev in search of true faith, recognizing the failings of their pagan gods. They found the Muslims of the Bulgarian lands to be without joy, and rejected the abolition of alcohol and pork, for what joy can be found in a life without Vodka and bacon? Also, Vladimir found the Jewish faith to be weak, for they had lost Jerusalem, and as a result saw them as having been abandoned by God. They found the services of the Romans to be relentlessly bleak and without beauty. Yet, when the ambassadors came to the Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, they indeed found what they had been searching for, and reported back to their lord:

“And we went into the Greek lands, and we were led into a place where they serve their God, and we did not know where we were, on heaven or on earth; and do not know how to tell about this. All we know is that God lives there with people and their service is better than in any other country. We cannot forget that beauty since each person, if he eats something sweet, will not take something bitter afterwards; so we cannot remain any more in paganism.”

So, the Russian people joined Prince Vladimir through baptism into the Orthodox faith. The old pagan gods were rejected, and many churches were built in those places they once held. The Orthodox faith united disparate tribes across the land, giving them new meaning and new life. The Orthodox faith regenerated Russian princes and rulers, so that in time Russia would rise from the shadows of this world to become a beacon of Orthodoxy to all men. From the Russian Church, many luminaries of Truth and virtue arose to lead her into the ages to come. From the Russian Church many Saints, endowed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, shine brightly into the world wherein their memories echo amongst us.

We remember the likes of Saint Sergius, who founded the largest Orthodox Monastery in all of Russia, today known as the Trinity Lavra of Saint Sergius. It is from him that the cultural ideals of Holy Rus emerged. We remember Vasily the blessed, a fool for Christ who was known all across Moscow in the 15th century, now buried in the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Red Square. We remember the holy hierarch Saint Germogen, who gave strength to the Russian peoples amidst the time of troubles; who in both faith and confession, “spiritually and morally regenerated the Russian nation, [wherein] it again started on the path of seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, the righteousness of subordinating the earthly life of the state to spiritual principles.” We remember Saint Seraphim of Sarov, that great light of Orthodox Spirituality, who exhorts us to acquire a spirit of peace, that thousands around us might be saved. We remember the likes of Saint John of Kronstadt; a model for all Orthodox priests; the great pastor of Russia who breathed into the Russian people on the eve of its great peril a lasting reserve of spirituality, a reserve that would allow it to survive and endure the coming years of atheist Soviet Russia. We remember great Saints such as these, and many more like them, who struggled against themselves, against the world and acquired the Holy Spirit, as evidenced by the lasting memory of holiness they left behind.

We stand with saints like these, each of us together, united in one Orthodox faith, one teaching, one mind, and one Love for both God and one another. Love is the common denominator. Love is the unending and enduring fire of God’s grace on earth, burning through the hearts of men, and bringing light to where there is none. It is within the light and light of God’s love that the faithful persevere against the evils of this world. It is this love the Church carries into the world, and it is by this love that the Church has prevailed, prevails today, and will continue to prevail in the ages to come. For, the world is a cold and dark spiritual desert within which we are all tested. It is only by the unquenchable fire of God’s love aflame within us that we can survive and prevail, that we are guided and find our way, and are given the light life when all the world has to offer is the shadow of death. The Saints have shown this to be True. The Russian Orthodox Church has shown this to be true, having endured perhaps the greatest darkness the Church has ever known, and one of the greatest evils the world has ever known. So, as we look forward toward the days to come, let us not be disturbed by tumults and turmoil; let us not be troubled by social unrest, revolts, and upheavals; let us not be perplexed by political unrest and rhetoric; let us not stumble by the fraying of the moral fabric of the very Republic in which we live. Instead, as Father Seraphim Rose exhorts us to do, “let all true Orthodox Christians strengthen themselves for the battle ahead, never forgetting that in Christ the victory is already ours.”

The gift of holiness, the gift of the Holy Spirit, is open to all of us to receive. Yet, if Christ is the great physician, and the Church is the hospital for our souls, it is up to us to follow those prescriptions – by Christ and the Church – to take the gifts of healing freely given to us for the benefit of both soul and body. Faith and holiness is a choice. Let us heed the words of Saint Herman of Alaska: “For our good, for our happiness, at least let us give a vow to ourselves, that from this day, from this hour, from this minute, we shall strive above all else to love God and to do His Holy Will!”

Oh Lord Jesus Christ our God, by the prayers of thy most pure mother, the holy and God bearing fathers, all the saints and the martyrs and the angels have mercy on us and save us. Amen!

Sunday of Orthodoxy

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In the life of the Church, icons are not mere decorations, but they are a part of the spiritual realm, allowing us to experience the glory of God and His saints. They are not objects of worship, but they are venerated as a means of encountering the divine. For as scriptures are written expressions of that Truth the Church upholds, likewise are the icons that adorn her walls like living stones depicting the same. For these Saints are not dead, but alive in Christ, and their lives which we remember, serve as shining examples for us to follow as living images of Christ.

The Triumph of Orthodoxy

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.

The Church, while being the Pillar and Foundation of Truth, has struggled and defended against controversies, heresies, and all manner of difficulties throughout her storied life across the span of two millennia. The Apostles first defended against the heresy of Judaizing, a belief that one first had to be or become a Jew before becoming Christian, of which Paul vehemently defended against throughout his many epistles. The Church endured many years of persecution from outside her walls by the Romans, trying dutifully to destroy that which lay within. The Church defended against the Arian heresy – a heresy that nearly tore the Church apart from within – first at the council of Nicea, and again later at the Council of Constantinople. This heresy taught that God the Son was a creature, a creation of God the Father, and likewise not co-eternal with the Father. Chalcedonian Christianity was established at the council of Chalcedon, defending against those who would argue God has but a single nature, diminishing the Human nature assumed by God the Son, that is, Jesus Christ. This heresy was resolved at the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, creating the schism that exists to this day between the Orthodox Church, and the Oriental Orthodox Church. Many more heresies have littered her hallowed halls throughout the ages, each resolved by subsequent ecumenical councils. The final ecumenical council, the second council of Nicea, settled the heresy of iconoclasm in October of 787, finally defeating those who would seek to destroy the faces of Truth as found within her iconography.

There has always been a struggle between the Church and her occasionally heretical and apostate emperors. Emperor Leo III banned the use of icons of Christ, the Theotokos and the Saints and commanded the destruction of these images in 730. This began the Iconoclasm Controversy and was fueled by the refusal of many Christian residents outside the Byzantine Empire to accept the emperor’s theological arguments. Iconoclastic Christians were spurred along by external influences to accept the emperor’s arguments, especially those living under the umbrella and Gnostic influences of the Islamic Caliphate, and others swayed by Jewish affluence and opinion against the Church and her practices.

There were two iconoclastic periods of note. The first one between 730 and 787, was ended by Empress Irene when she initiated the Second Council of Nicea, at which the veneration of icons was affirmed. While the worship of icons was expressly forbidden, the acceptance and veneration of icons was rooted in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God the Son. Because He took on flesh, having a physical appearance, it is now possible to use physical matter to depict God the Son and to depict the saints.

The second period of Iconoclasm occurred between 813 and 843 and was ended by empress Theodora, who after her ascension to the throne, soon mobilized the iconodules and proclaimed the restoration of icons in 843. Since that time the first Sunday of Lent is celebrated as the feast of the “Triumph of Orthodoxy.”

That is the Sunday we celebrate today.

As Saint John of Damascus, one of the most prominent defenders of icons, has rightly stated, “I do not venerate matter, but I venerate the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake, and deigned to live in matter and bring about my salvation through matter. I will not cease from venerating the matter through which my salvation was achieved.” So, because God the Son was incarnated in human flesh, we hope to incarnate Christ within our own flesh, the faith of which is depicted on these walls around us.

The use of holy icons in our worship is an important aspect of our Orthodox faith. The icons offer us a glimpse into the mysteries of salvation, the life and passion of Christ, theological Truths, and help us connect with the saints who have gone before us. They remind us that the Incarnation is not just a theological concept, but a reality that occurred in history, through the incarnation of the Truth found only in Christ as the Law of the Spirit of life, a law meant to be lived, manifested, and incarnated into the world.

Saint John Chrysostom, one of the most revered fathers of our Church, often spoke about the importance of icons in the life of the faithful. He recognized the value of the visual representation of the divine, stating that “we see the invisible through the visible.” He also emphasized the role of icons in our spiritual development, encouraging us to contemplate on them and let them lead us to a deeper understanding of our faith.

Saint Theodore the Studite, another defender of holy images, was a monk who lived during the height of the iconoclastic controversy. He was a prolific writer who composed many hymns and prayers in defense of the use of holy icons. Saint Theodore argued that the use of holy icons was necessary for the Church’s spiritual well-being. He believed that the images of Christ and the saints served as tangible reminders of the spiritual reality that we cannot see with our physical eyes. The images help us to focus our minds on God and to connect with the spiritual realm.

On this day of Orthodoxy, we reaffirm our commitment to the use of holy icons in our worship of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We honor the memory of those who fought to preserve this sacred tradition and we renew our dedication to the Truth, of which our Orthodox Faith expresses, of which the Church embodies, and of which the faithful within uphold. We are to become living icons of Truth, living icons of Christ, as living stones of the body of Christ.

May the use of holy icons continue to be a source of strength and inspiration for us as we journey through this life, and may the light of Christ shine through them to guide us on our way. Let us follow the example of Saint John Chrysostom, who encouraged us to contemplate on the holy icons and let them lead us to a deeper understanding of our faith.

Also, let us remember the saints who steadfastly defended the use of holy icons against the heresy of iconoclasm with their powerful prose and passionate preaching. Let us honor their memory and follow in their footsteps, boldly proclaiming the truth of the Orthodox faith and upholding the use of holy icons as an integral part of our worship. May their intercessions before the throne of God guide us in our own journey of faith and inspire us to remain faithful to Truth, and constant in the safeguarding of her Holy Mysteries through a genuine life of faith.

Oh Lord Jesus Christ our God, by the prayers of thy most pure mother, the holy and God bearing angels, all the saints, and the martyrs, and the angels have mercy on us and save us.

Amen.

HOMILY: The presentation of the Theotokos

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Today, she who would become the Holy of Holies, her womb destined to bear the fullness of the living God, enters the Holy of Holies. She who is more honorable then the cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim, makes more holy the holy of Holies by her very presence.

Homily: The presentation of the Theotokos

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, One God! Amen.

Our Father in heaven is the God of promise. Our Patriarch Abraham grew old, and his wife was barren. When he was one hundred years old, and his wife Sarah was 90, God promised him a child, and it was made so. They conceived, and their son Isaac was born. Later, the son Isaac, because he also was childless, prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant and gave birth to twins, Jacob and Esau. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the great patriarchs of our faith. God first made his promise with Abraham: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing,” and later he would say “’Look up at the sky and count the stars — if indeed you can count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.” Isaac was the son of the covenant made with Abraham, and therefore a stepping stone or bridge to the fulfillment of that promise. He represented a continuation of that promise by God. Then, Jacob would follow after to become the beginning of the fulfillment of that promise, his twelve sons becoming the twelve tribes of Israel. From one of these twelve tribes the messiah would arise as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Abraham prefigures the Father’s love for his son, and offers a foreshadowing by nearly sacrificing his son Isaac, and on the same mountain Christ would be crucified. Isaac, who was nearly sacrificed by his father, is a prefiguration of Christ. Jacob, who wrestled with an angel for a night, portrays the greatest struggle of anyone’s faith: “recognizing God and figuring out what to do with that knowledge, wrestling and embracing God’s will.” Yet, what of the once barren wives of these great patriarchs? The Fathers of the Church are in agreement that the opening of the barren womb of these high esteemed and virtuous women are all a prefiguration of the Virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we circle back to Jacob and his miraculous vision, where he dreamed “and beheld a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.” Jacob’s ladder, as it has become known, has been identified in Eastern Orthodox theology and iconography with the incarnation of Christ through Mary.

So, we come to the parents of the Virgin Mary, who, like so many before them, were old and without child. While the entirety of the old testament points forward to Christ, they are not mentioned here. Neither are they mentioned in the annals of the new testament. Their lives, conception, and the presentation of the Theotokos to the temple, which we commemorate, all flows from the living Tradition and memory of the Church.

According to the Tradition of the Church, Joachim and Anna had been married for fifty years, and during that time remained barren and without a child. Despite this and their longing for a child, they lived quiet and devout lives. They only lived on one third of their income, giving the other two thirds to the poor and to the temple. For their faith, they had been well provided for. Yet, despite their faith, and because of their barrenness, they were chided and ridiculed by the other Jews. Even the high priest had scolded him by saying, “You are not worthy to offer sacrifice with those childless hands.” They were treated and deemed as unworthy. So, the holy and righteous Joachim and Anna gave themselves to prayer that God would work in them the same wonder he worked in Abraham and Sarah, and bless them with a child that they may be assuaged in their old age. God sent the archangel Gabriel to each of them and announced to them “a daughter most blessed, by whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed, and through whom will come the salvation of the world.” At this new promise of God, the holy and righteous Joachim and Anna in turn promised to raise their child in the Temple as a holy vessel of God.

At the age of three, Joachim and Anna took their daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the temple to be dedicated to the service of God. They processed from Nazareth to Jerusalem, a three day journey. The procession was led by virgins holding lighted tapers, with the Blessed Virgin Mary flanked and accompanied by her parents. Following them were kinsman, family, and friends all bearing lighted tapers. Fifteen steps ascended to the temple in Jerusalem, and when the procession arrived at their destination, the holy and righteous Joachim and Anna lifted the Blessed Virgin Mary onto the first step, then she quickly ascended the remaining steps on her own. At the top of the steps she was greeted by the High Priest Zacharias, who was destined to be the father of Saint John the Forerunner. He took her by the hand and led her into the temple, and then into the Holy of Holies, a place into which only the High Priest ventured, and that but once a year.

Today, she who is to become the ark of the new covenant, one day giving birth to the living law of the spirit of life, is presented to the ark of the old covenant. The law which brings death will soon give way to the law which brings life life.

Today, the Blessed Virgin Mary enters the Temple as a golden censer, destined to contain within her Christ the coal of fire, whom Holy Isaiah foresaw. Her prayers will one day rise like incense before all the saints, and for all the saints.

Today is the preview of the good will of God, of the preaching of the salvation of mankind. The Virgin appears in the temple of God, in anticipation proclaiming Christ to all. Let us rejoice and sing to her: Rejoice, O Divine Fulfillment of the Creator’s dispensation. (Troparion)

[Today] The most pure Temple of the Savior; The precious Chamber and Virgin; The sacred Treasure of the glory of God, Is presented today to the house of the Lord. She brings with her the grace of the Spirit, Therefore, the angels of God praise her: “Truly this woman is the abode of heaven.” (Kontakion)

Today we celebrate the end of the physical temple in Jerusalem as the all holy dwelling place of God. The presentation of the Theotokos – she who would bear the fullness of God within her – offers a prelude and preview to the good will of God. We celebrate Christ’s mother that we too are worthy to be an abode for, and living tabernacles of the Lord.

Today we venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary as a prefiguration of Christian life. Just as Abraham was the first to have faith in God, The Blessed Virgin Mary was the first to have faith in Christ, He who took flesh from her flesh, and from her womb the Son of God became the Son of Man. She epitomizes obedience, when at the annunciation of Christ she proclaimed “Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to the word.” This is in spite of her desire to remain a virgin until her death, but her virginity would remain intact, and her faith remembered, rewarded, and exalted. She was a person of prayer. Raised in the Temple, she was rooted in a life of unceasing prayer. Without this kind prayer upon her heart she would not have been equipped to deal with the level of communion and contact with God that only she was especially prepared to experience and comprehend. She is a person who embodies forgiveness, who as a mother chose to forgive rather than hate when she witnessed the unjust persecution and execution of her son upon the cross. She is the great example, the prelude to Christian life.

May the following weeks of this great fast of the Nativity season be a prelude and preparation for us to receive Christ as we step into the joyous occasion of His Nativity. As we remember the Blessed Virgin Mary’s entrance into the Temple, may we prepare ourselves that Christ may enter into us as living temples of the living God; living tabernacles of the Holy Spirit. My prayer for us all is that we will use this time wisely, seeking out that which is most needful in our lives, while avoiding the anger and anxiety of our society, and not becoming poisoned and polluted by the spirit of our age. There is surely nothing more important that we could do for the salvation of the world, for the benefit and healing of our souls, and in preparation for the joy of Christmas.

By the prayers of thy most puer mother, the Holy and God bearing Father, all the saints, the martyrs, and the angels, have mercy on us and save us.

Amen.

HOMILY: Becoming Truth.

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HOMILY: Becoming Truth – October 20th, 2019.

Readings: Matthew 9:1-9

I would like to begin with the story of Sergios and Bakkhos, two martyrs of the Church whom we remember today.

The Holy Martyrs Sergios and Bakkhos were appointed to high positions in the army by the emperor Maximian (who ruled from the years 284-305), who did not know that they were Christians. Malevolent persons denounced them both to Maximian, that his two military-commanders did not honour the pagan gods, and this was considered a crime against the state.

The emperor, wanting to convince himself of the veracity of the denunciation, ordered Sergios and Bakkhos to offer sacrifice to the idols, but they answered, that they honored but the One God and Him only did they worship.

Maximian commanded that the martyrs be stripped of the insignia of military rank, and then having dressed them in feminine clothing to lead them through the city with an iron chain on the neck, for the mockery by the people. Then he again summoned Sergios and Bakkhos to him and in a friendly approach advised them not to be swayed by Christian fables and instead return to the Roman gods. But the saints remained steadfast. Then the emperor commanded that they be dispatched to the governor of the eastern part of Syria, Antiochus, a fierce hater of Christians. Antiochus had received his position with the help of Sergios and Bakkhos. “My fathers and benefactors! – he addressed the saints, – have pity not only upon yourself, but also on me: I do not want to condemn you to martyrdom”. The holy martyrs replied, that for them life – is Christ, and death for Him – its acquisition. In a rage Antiochus ordered Bakkhos to be mercilessly beaten, and the holy martyr expired to the Lord. They put iron shoes on Sergios feet inset with nails and sent him off to another city, where he was beheaded with the sword. All this transpired in the year 300 A.D.

So, why do we remember such as these in the life of the Church?

We are the Church of remembering. We remember those who have gone before us, for they point us towards Christ; they show us what it means to be our faith; they show us how we should respond to the world around us. We remember those who walk beside us. We remember what lies ahead of us as we walk together in Christ towards the eschaton. The Church takes great care to maintain the hagiography of our saints, the stories of those who have passed into memory, for they represent the living witness of our faith. They represent the very essence in both word and in deed in what it means to be Christian. They have gone before us, but they march ever ahead of us, for they have paved the road we now walk on. It is yet another paradox of the Christian faith, like the first shall be last and the last shall be first, when I am weak, I am strong; or the meek shall inherit the earth. Those who have come before us, walk ahead of us, living icons of Christ, lamps unto our feet.

So what is the lesson we can learn from the story of Sergios and Bakkhos, those knights and martyrs of the Orthodox faith? Always speak truth to power. We must not be like the world who seeks to change the very definitions of truth within the world around us. Who changes truth simply to be acceptable to others. We must not be like the world who seeks to confuse and disorient, shifting like sand so no foundation can be laid for one to stand on, till one is left standing like Pilate before Christ and muttering those words of searching: what is truth? We know what truth is. Truth is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. Truth is found in the Church, for the Church is the Body of Christ, who IS Truth. The Church is the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim 3:15), which was established upon the apostles and prophets as her foundation (Eph 2:20). We must never be afraid to speak Christ into the world, into the face of opposition, nor persecution. We must always stand to speak Truth in the face of lies, Truth against heresies, or Truth to those in power. Truth is the last great rebellion in a world imbued with falsity and fantasy. The world may threaten our lives, but we have life eternal. The world may take away our wealth, but it was never ours to begin with, and we have even greater treasures in the kingdom of God. The world might not kill us, but it will wound us. We will be wounded time and time again in both heart, mind, soul, and God forbid in body.

Lucky for us Christ is the Great Physician. The Church, as the body of Christ, who is the great physician, is the great hospital for our very souls. To the world we may seem like an asylum of sorts, and some very well may treat us as such. Remember the words of Saint Anthony the Great when he said “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, “You are mad; you are not like us.” One could reasonably say such a time is upon us. Yet, also remember the words of scripture that tells us that truth, Christ, and the message of the Cross seems like insanity to the world, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God. To those of us who are being saved, it is the word of life. To those of use who are being saved, no other word matters.

Can we expect a blind man to know the sky is blue? Can we expect the deaf man to hear the words of truth? Can we expect one dying of cancer to know that he is dying, or what it is that afflicts him, unless a doctor tells him? We must be the truth to those who need it, in our words and in our lives. We become truth and take Christ into the world. We reveal their illness, talk about their wounds, and reveal the scars of our own wounds to give them hope. We seek out those in need of healing, and bring them to the great physician to be healed. The Church is the great hospital for our souls, and all are bidden. Yet, not all may come. Some cannot come on their own. Some may need the helping hands of another.

In our Gospel reading today we heard the tale of Jesus healing the paralytic. As soon as he had left his boat, and arrived into his own town, two men carried a parlyzed man to him, lying on a mat. This was a man that depended on others to be brought before Christ. When Christ set his eyes upon them, he saw not the faith of the paralyzed man, but the faith of those who brought him. It was by their faith that Jesus Christ healed the paralytic. And so he arose, healed of his infirmities of both body and soul, and carried himself back to his home.

The Church is our home. We who have been healed are the two men carrying the paralytic. Some of us, at one time, used to be the paralytic. Maybe some of us still are. Yet, we should be carrying others back to the Church in the fullness of our own faith, so that the other may be healed; that the other may find their own faith, and walk home to the Church on their own. One day, they too shall carry another back to the great Physician, for the healing of soul and body. For we are the Church, and we stand together. We are one body, brought together in one cup, one loaf, and one and the same belief and teaching. We fall alone.

Christ tells us that where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with them. Sergios and Bakkhos stood together against the world, and Christ was with them both. Those two men stood with the paralytic, for the paralytic, and Christ was with them also. May we stand with one another always, to face the world in all that it shall bring. So, may we now stand together in one faith and one accord, for Christ is in our midst; he is and ever shall be.

Amen

Image result for Sergios and Bakkhos — Saints Sergios and Bakkhos.

She was faithful: Mary Magdalene

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Homily – She was faithful: Mary Magdalene

“Those who are forgiven much, loves much.” This is a lesson heard in the latter part of our Gospel reading for today (Luke 7:36-50), and it is fitting that we should receive them on this day. In my humble opinion, few in the scriptures exemplifies these words, than that of Mary Magdalene, whose feast day we celebrate today. She is a woman who bears many titles or cognomens within the Church. She is one of the eight Myrrh Bearing Women whom the Church also celebrates. She is the first to see the risen Christ, going to the tomb to anoint His body in a final act of love and devotion, only to find that He was not there. She is the first to preach the risen Christ, preached first to the Apostles, and is likely the first person ever to utter those glorious words we say so joyously each year: He is risen! She proclaimed to the Apostles, “I have seen the Lord,” and so she is the Apostle to the Apostles because she preached to them the risen Christ. She is equal to the Apostles for her ministry and aid to not only to the apostles, but to the other women in the temple, the women in a society where women are often overlooked.

Who is this woman? Who is Mary Magdalene? She was born of the town Magdala, along the shore of Lake Gennesaret, of the tribe of Issachar. Tradition informs us that she was young and pretty, but led a sinful life wherein she was tormented by seven evil spirits – from which she was healed and released from their torment, and made whole by our Lord Jesus Christ. From this point forward she followed Christ in His ministry, and as the following chapter attests, she ministers to Christ (and the apostles) out of her own resources, leading us to believe that Mary was a woman of wealth. We know little else about her, yet she is mentioned twelve times in the Gospels, which turns out to be more occasions than most of the apostles are mentioned. It also tells us that she was likely vital to the ministry of Christ, and that she was important in the eyes of the evangelists.

She performed no great works. No miracles are attributed to her in the Gospels. She was a woman of seemingly low stature in the bigger picture of the ministry of Christ. Even at the foot of the cross, when the Evangelists detail those that were standing there, listing the myriad women followers of Christ, all of them mention her first. This indicates that she stood out from the other women who followed Christ. Some would attest she stood out because of her beauty. I agree with this in part, but not because of any worldly beauty, for indeed she carried a true beauty, a beauty which is only found in holiness. She stood out from the rest because of her great faith in Christ our God.

Faith. Hebrews Chapter 11 tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Put in another way, our faith is the underlying reality of our lives, those things we do serving to prove that which we believe by incarnating Christ into the world. The two words commonly translated as faith in the scriptures are Πίστις and πιστεύω. One is a noun, and the other is a verb. One lends the idea that one becomes their faith, they become the living embodiment of that which they believe. The other presents faith as that which we do, that our faith is made evident by word and deed in our day to day lives. Perhaps a “better” translation would be “faithing.” For ours is not a faith of mind or mental ascent alone, but ours is a faith of action. We are to incarnate Christ into this world. The Church is to incarnate Christ into this world.

So, Mary Magdalene had faith not because she believed in her mind, or believed because she saw Christ in his ministry, but it is said she had faith because she became what she believed. She had faith, for when the lord was praised, lauded, and celebrated by the people, she was with him. It is easy to have faith in such times. She had faith, for when the teachings became difficult, or the way became too hard, she stayed by His side when others left him. She had faith, for when Christ was accused and the Apostles scattered, she stayed near him, she did not abandon Him. She had faith when Christ was accused to die, and marched with Him among the weeping women on the way to his crucifixion. She had faith, and she was there when Christ died, standing with His All-Pure and most holy mother. She had faith, and she was still there when Christ was laid in the tomb. She had faith, that even in His death, she went to attend to Him one last time, even though by doing so she would gain nothing in this world, but in doing so she gained Christ. In gaining Christ, she gained the whole world.

Her faith is a shining example for us all. She was not called to magnificent works, but simply to be faithful to him in in our day to day lives whatever circumstances she faced. We all have reason to love Christ, for we have all been healed of infirmities we ourselves have inflicted upon our very Souls. Mary knew that her life was not her own, owing her entire life to the One who healed her, and supporting Christ and the apostles in their ministry. It was her day to day devotion and her seemingly small acts of faith and love – staying with Christ regardless of the temperament of the times – that made her worthy to be the first to proclaim the resurrected Christ. She was faithful in even the smallest things, and for her faith she was given all things. It is by her example of humility that we should not set aside or dismiss the great importance of even those small opportunities in our own lives for serving Christ, making manifest His love into the world. For, our lives are not a series of grand moments and encounters, or great adventures and fairy tale endings, but more often than not our lives are a pattern of laborious responsibilities and repititious routines we carry out from day to day. So, while grand gestures and opportunities of faith are of benefit in the right context, if we are not faithful to Christ with even the smallest occasions in our lives to do so, if we are not willing to be faithful to him in even the most unremarkable of ways, then we cannot say that we truly offer up our lives to Christ. For, let us not forget the words of Christ in Luke chapter 16: “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a little thing is unrighteous also in much.”

Mary Magdalene was faithful in all things, she was faithful in the smallest things, and she was faithful in the most unremarkable things. While she accomplished no remarkable deeds in scripture, she is remarkable and great because of the faith she had in Christ our God. When Christ ascended to sit at the right hand of God the Father, she continued in that faith.

Holy Tradition testifies that Mary departed from Jerusalem with the Apostles to preach to the ends of the earth. Mary went to preach in Rome. She proclaimed the Christ and uplifted and exhorted the people with the teachings of Christ. There were of course many who did not accept her words about the risen Christ, but she repeated those words she preached to the Apostles: “I have seen the Lord!” This is the message she carried across the land of Italy.

Tradition also reveals to us that Mary Magdalene visited the Roman Emperor Tiberius, proclaiming to him the resurrection of Christ. With this she brought a red egg as a symbol of the resurrection, giving it to him with these words: “Christ is Risen!” She then told the Emperor of the man unjustly condemned in his province of Judea, the Galilean named Jesus; who was a holy man and a miracle worker; who was powerful before God and all mankind; who was executed at the instigation of the Jewish authorities, and confirmed by his appointed procurator Pontius Pilate. She repeated to him the words of the Apostles, stating how our life is not found in the things of this world, but in the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. She audaciously spoke truth to power, and so should we do likewise.

It is from this encounter that we receive our tradition of giving one another those red paschal eggs on the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, it is of interest to note, that in a particular ancient Greek manuscript, written on parchment, kept in the monastery library of Saint Athanasius near Thessalonica, is a prayer read on the day of Holy Pascha for the blessing of eggs and cheese. In it is indicated that the igumen (ἡγούμενος, head of the monastery) in passing out the blessed eggs says to the brethren: “Thus have we received from the holy Fathers, who preserved this custom from the very time of the holy Apostles, therefore the holy Equal of the Apostles Mary Magdalene first showed believers the example of this joyful offering.” It is a practice we still honor and maintain in the Church today.

After her laboring in Rome had been completed, and already bent with old age, she moved to Ephesus where Saint John the Theologian was continuing his work, and she joined him in the preaching of the Holy Gospel to the world. It is here that she reposed in her earthly life and was buried.

Saint Mary Magdalene is a precious example of faith in action; a compelling example of faith in life in all things both big and small. She shows us that we do not have to be miracle workers; we not have to be great theologians; we do not have to be great intellectuals; and we do not have to be bishops, priests and deacons to make a tremendous impact in the life of the Church, or in the world in which she lives. We must only be faithful with what we have been given. We must be faithful with our whole being and in all things remarkable and unremarkable, and in so doing we will be the brightest of lights shining into the darkness of this world. We make known our faith by what we do in all things, and we show our love of Christ in our obedience to his word and will, doing so when the times are good, or in the face of death. Truth is unchanging. Truth is unwavering. Truth is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. May we never waver and turn away from the Truth, and remain by his side just as Mary the Magdalene did, and still is.

Homily: Nativity of John the Baptist.

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Homily: Nativity of John the Baptist – July 7th, 2019

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”

We hear these words, a few among many read to us every Sunday, found in the final Gospel reading of the Divine Liturgy, taken from John chapter 1. Indeed he was sent from God and today we celebrate his being sent. Today we celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Holy, Glorious, Forerunner and Baptist John. He is the first joy sent to the human race by God. He is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, just as the prophet Isaiah foretold, a voice crying “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God …And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Regarding the Nativity of Saint John, Saint Ephraim the Syrian had this to say:

“He who was to baptize with water would proclaim him who would baptize with fire and with the Holy Spirit. The light, which was not obscure, would proclaim the Sun of Justice. The one filled with the Spirit would proclaim concerning him who gives the Spirit. The priest calling with the trumpet would proclaim concerning the one who is to come at the sound of the trumpet at the end. The voice would proclaim concerning the Word, and the one who saw the dove would proclaim concerning him upon whom the dove rested, like the lightning before the thunder.”

Saint John was the first prophet since the time of Malachi, with no prophetic word of God having been uttered for hundreds of years since then. God was silent. Now, the priest of the temple was also silent, having no voice to speak with, silenced by an Angel of the Lord.. Also, the King who ruled all of Judea was not even Jewish, and sat as a false and illegitimate king. These three offices, later fulfilled in Christ, were currently vacant (the prophets), silent (the priest), or without validity (the king). So, it was time to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, and so he sent his prophet John, uttering those words we hear throughout the whole of the Old Testament: Repent!

The entirety of the Old Testament points forward to the coming of Christ. Saint John is the final voice of proclamation before His coming. John would baptize for the remission of sins, but Christ would come to remove them. Saint John would point to the Law, he was a finger pointing at God who exhorted all who would hear him to repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Then, the Kingdom of Heaven would arrive, and Christ would come to assume the mantle of the Law, becoming the Law of the Spirit of Life. John would orient us towards God, who would then come as the Son of God incarnate in the flesh, and we would be expected to follow. We would follow Christ because He is the Son of the living God, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The timing of the Forerunner’s birth, exactly half a year before the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, depicts his mission and ministry of preparation, to prepare the way for the Lord. During this time of year, our days grow shorter after the Solstice of the summer Season. Looking forward to the birth of Christ, the days then begin to grow longer. We see embodied the living psalter of God, written across the colors and creatures of all creation, those words later spoken by John at the inception of Christ’s ministry: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

The birth of Saint John is closely intertwined with the birth of our Lord. The aged Elizabeth gave birth to John, who would live to become the last of the prophets. The Virgin Mary was a young girl, who would give birth to He who is the word of God, the author of Creation, the breather of stars. Elizabeth, the daughter of Aaron, would give birth to the voice crying in the wilderness. Mary, the daughter of David, would give birth to the very voice and word of God. Elizabeth gave birth to he who would strive to reconcile men through repentance, but the Mother of God bore He who purify all of creation, an act completed by both John and Jesus through baptism – John through the baptism of Men, and Christ through His own baptism, sanctifying all the waters of creation. One would baptize with the waters of creation, and the other would baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit through which creation would be perfected and cleansed.

“Today the formerly barren woman gives birth to Christ¹s Forerunner, who is the fulfillment of every prophecy; for in the Jordan, when he laid his hand on the One foretold by the prophets, he was revealed as Prophet, Herald, and Forerunner of God the Word.”

~ Kontakion of the feast

Saint John is a prophet, but Christ has said that he is greater than a prophet. Saint John is but a man, but Christ has said “among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” For, as Saint John Chrysostom has said , indeed “he lived as though he were already in heaven, and having got above the necessities of nature, he travelled as it were a new way, spending all his time in hymns and prayers, and holding intercourse with none among men, but with God alone continually.” Saint John was the Forerunner of God both in life, and in death. He preceded the Son of God in life in this world, so would he also precede the Song of God in death at his beheading by Herod, another day the Church will remember later this year. Though I could find no writings saying as much, I believe that Saint John continued even in death his proclamation of repentance even in Hades. I envision him making straight the way of the Lord from this life into the next, preaching Christ to those who had not yet heard the good news, so that when the good news finally arrived, they were ready to accept it.

We who are the body of Christ are called like the forerunner to proclaim the miraculous and wonderful works of God, the good news of salvation, the healing of soul and body, and life eternal in Jesus Christ our Lord. We are called to follow Christ and incarnate the Love of God into the world created by Him, because the world knows Him not. We heed the words of the Forerunner, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” for repentance begins our walk of faith as we turn Godward away from the things of this world. Our walk of faith brings forth the Kingdom of Heaven on earth as the Church serves to incarnate Christ into the world.

“O Prophet and Forerunner of the coming of Christ, we who venerate thee with love, are in perplexity how worthily to praise thee; for the barrenness of her who bore thee and the dumbness of thy father are loosed by thy glorious and precious nativity, and the incarnation of the Son of God is preached to the world.”

~Troparion of the feast

Oh glorious John the Baptist and Forerunner, may we deem to follow you on those paths you have lain straight in preparation for our Lord Jesus Christ, that we too should follow you into death, and unto life eternal.

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Tribute: We all have our heroes.

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Tribute: We all have our heroes – June 29th, 2019

Heroes can be warriors and visionaries, statesmen and soldiers, artists and authors, the men and women of our age, or some soul from the distant past. Our heroes can be men of vision, men of courage, men and women of relentless resolve, and also of endless faith. These are those to whom we look up to, look after, and hope to emulate in some way in our own lives, whether by word or deed, accomplishment, virtue, or any number of qualities we admire about our hero. So it is with my hero. My hero wears a cape, but he was not Superman, but he was a great man.

Father Thomas Hopko of blessed memory had this to say about my hero, that he “was a man of numerous gifts and talents. He is remembered as a great theologian, a bulwark against heresies, a pastor, a teacher, a philanthropist, a rhetorician, an ascetic, and generally one of the greatest saints to ever grace the Body of Christ.” Father Thomas is speaking of none other than Saint Basil the Great; the ArchBishop of Caesarea; one of the three great Cappadocian Fathers; one of the three great hierarchs of the Christian faith standing alongside Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Gregory the Theologian. Saint Basil is the man for whom I was named in honor of upon my own ordination, and is a name I carry with great humility and honor.

He was an academic of the first order.

Saint Basil Received his higher education in Athens, the center of classical enlightenment. After five years or so, he had mastered every available discipline within his grasp. “He studied everything thoroughly, more than others are wont to study a single subject. He studied each science in its very totality, as though he would study nothing else.” Philosophy, philology, oration and rhetoric, law, nature, astronomy, mathematics, as well as medicine. As one man said, “he was a ship fully laden with learning, to the extent permitted by human nature.”

His contributions to the theological thought and mind of the Church are tremendous. His book “On the Holy Spirit” formed the very foundation of our trinitarian Theology in the east, which Saint Ambrose later used to form the same in the West. He wrote another famous work called the Hexameron on the six days of creation. Nearly 400 letters are attributed to him, from which many elements of Canon law were developed. He also composed a liturgy, still in use to this day, and now named after him: The Liturgy of Saint Basil.

He was a matchless philanthropist.

Almost immediately after being enthroned as the Bishop of Caesarea, he commissioned a colossal hospital, which was once considered a wonder of the world. He also started hospice care for the sick, a homeless shelter, and began to run what was effectively a hunger and relief center, often working at feeding the poor himself. He put into action words he often preached from the ambo of the Church:

The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat hanging in your closet belongs to the man who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belongs to the man who has no shoes; the money which you put into the bank belongs to the poor. You do wrong to everyone you could help but fail to help. (Saint Basil)

“How can I make you realize the misery of the poor? How can I make you understand that your wealth comes from their weeping?” (Saint Basil)

He was, most of all, a staunch teacher and defender of the Christian faith.

He lived in between the period of the first Ecumenical Council of 325 and the second in 381. He fought voraciously against the Arian heresy that was condemned in both councils. It was a dogmatic dispute that inspired much of his writing, but it was a heresy that had seeped into government circles. Thus, he was threatened with exile by the Emperor, and Saint Basil’s response has survived the ages:

“If you take away my possessions, you will not enrich yourself, nor will you make me a pauper. You have no need of my old worn-out clothing, nor of my few books, of which the entirety of my wealth is comprised. Exile means nothing to me, since I am bound to no particular place. This place in which I now dwell is not mine, and any place you send me shall be mine. Better to say: every place is God’s. Where would I be neither a stranger and sojourner (Ps. 38/39:13)? Who can torture me? I am so weak, that the very first blow would render me insensible. Death would be a kindness to me, for it will bring me all the sooner to God, for Whom I live and labor, and to Whom I hasten.”

The official was stunned by his answer. “No one has ever spoken so audaciously to me,” he said.

“Perhaps,” the saint Basil remarked, “ that is because you’ve never spoken to a bishop before. In all else we are meek, the most humble of all. But when it concerns God, and people rise up against Him, then we, counting everything else as naught, look to Him alone. Then fire, sword, wild beasts and iron rods that rend the body, serve to fill us with joy, rather than fear.”

Basil the Great again showed firmness before the emperor and his retinue and made such a strong impression on Valens that the emperor dared not give in to the Arians demanding Basil’s exile.

Saint Basil was a bulwark of the Christian faith. He existed as a very pillar of the Church. He spoke truth to power. He uplifted the poor, meeting their many needs. He healed the sick, both of body and soul. He edified and educated many on the Christian faith. He is a man of great legacy. Much of his work still exists today, and still echoes through the very sacramental life of the Christian faith.

He is my hero. He is my inspiration. He was truly one of the greatest living icons of Jesus Christ our Lord, and I follow in his footsteps, marching ever Godward, hoping that I should bring honor to his name. I look forward to the day I should hear those beautiful words, well done my good and faithful servant, that Saint Basil will be nearby, and that I might embrace the man whose name I now bear.