Homily: 17th Sunday After Pentecost

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We are one. We find our unity in our love; not the pseudo facsimile of love that the world can only offer, but the love of God, the love of one another, and a peace which the world cannot give. We are one in Christ: One God, One Truth, one cup, one loaf, one teaching, one faith, and one Church. With the Love of which the Gospel speaks, and which Paul demands of us, there is nothing that can divide us, and nothing that can move us. The Church is still here. We are still here.

United in Love

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

The world would have you believe that truth is relative. That there is no absolute truth. The world would have you believe that truth is an individual thing: his truth, her truth, their truth. Lacking absolute truth they seek for those things outside themselves with which they mostly identify, things outside themselves which have little to do with their personhood as found in their humanity created in the image and likeness of their creator: their gender identity, their sexual identity, their social status, their wealth, and everything that lies between. Each broken person is a patchwork quilt of disparate and unrelated ideologies under which they try to find comfort. It is in this individuality with which they have fashioned for themselves their own image away from the image and likeness of their Creator, and it is in this false image of humanity with which they try to find or create community. They are all individual pieces of an unknown puzzle. The picture is a stranger to everyone, even those holding the pieces. They throw themselves together within the same puzzle box, thinking that coexistence somehow replaces that of communion and community. They somehow believe that proximity results in relationships and yet they have nothing of themselves to share with one another other than those things external to themselves instead of anything that’s actually of themselves or even theirs to give. They are “bonded” by the shifting vagaries of the world which will change at the next oncoming social tide. This is a sad and broken existence. The world is insane; for, they continue to do the same things over and over again while expecting a different result; yet, they continue to be broken, continue to be lost, continue in a hopeless misery of life because they lack the absolute truth revealed in the fullness of God. They keep seeking for more because the world has nothing more to give. Their houses are built on foundations of sand, and this is why with time, they nearly always collapse. However, Truth is eternal. Truth is unchanging. Truth is the firm foundation on which we all stand.

We are unconfused about our humanity and who we are. We are certain of ourselves because we are certain of God. We know ourselves because we know Christ. Our purpose is absolute because Truth is absolute. While we recognize the brokenness of man, we understand the frailty and futility of our human condition amidst the vagaries of an often harsh and unforgiving world. We may be broken, but our Hospital, the Church, is here to heal us. We may be bruised, shaken down and trampled underfoot, but we are certainly not divided, and will never be destroyed. We are one just as God is one, and we are united in the love of God. If we are each living stones of the body of Christ, then we are bound together by God’s love as a spiritual mortar, for this love is no common love, as Saint John Chrysostom says, but that which cements us together, and makes us cleave inseparably to one another, and effects as great and as perfect a union as though it were between limb and limb. For this is that love which produces great and glorious fruits.

This is the kind of love we hear about in our Gospel reading for today: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” We give ourselves to God, but we also give ourselves to one another. We give to God ourselves, our whole thoughts, our whole understanding, and our whole life, leaving no part of ourselves no part of our lives that may be justly unfilled by Him. This type of love is absent of self and pride, for we love God first, and then all others, before we even come into our own picture. What’s more, Christ himself has said that “those who love me will keep and obey my commandments.” So, you see, love is not about how we feel, love is not about our emotions, love is not a statement, but it is an action. We love God, we love others, and manifest that love by that which we do in obedience to Him who gave us all things. That being said, what do we do that requires the most time and attention? Is it God? Is it our neighbor? Or is it some paltry thing, or something external to us? Keep this in mind: We become what we love, and who or what we love shapes what we become. If we love God, we become more like God. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, then we become nothing.

Look at those sitting next to you. Look at those around you. You are bound together in an eternal felicity found only in the knowledge and love of Christ. You are each bonded together by the blood of Christ. You share in your lives and salvation by the body and blood of Christ as an eternal food and remedy. We love each other because we love Christ, and it is in Christ by which we are all united. So we must think of this when we fail, not only Christ, not only ourselves, but all those to whom we share this eternal bond. Love is a choice, but Sin is also a choice, and it only seeks to rend that which God has brought together.

Sin is the antithesis to unity, and we see the results of this within the world around us. So when we face down our passions and the temptations of the flesh, when we get angry or choose to do something that would harm ourselves or another, would we do this to them, to any of these sitting around us? Remember this, because we are so united by the Love of God, anything we do apart from that affects not only us but the Church, and all those to whom we are bound by love. This is why confession is so important, because it not only heals our own wounds, but brings us back together with those we have willfully separated ourselves away from, even if we do not yet know it. Confession heals not only our own wounds, but those wounds we have inflicted upon the Church, those wounds we have inflicted upon one another, to those sitting around us, by way of our own negligence

Closing with the words of our blessed Father among the saints, Saint John Chrysostom, I leave you with this: “ Indeed, love is a strong wall, impregnable not only to men, but also to the devil. He who is surrounded by a multitude of those who love him cannot fall into danger; he has no reason to be angry, but always feels peace of heart, joy and gladness; there is no reason to be jealous; there are no occasions for vindictiveness. Look how easily he carries out both his spiritual and worldly affairs. Who can compare to him? He is like a city completely shielded by walls; and he [who has no love] is like a city without any protection.”

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 the Paralytic

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“Like the paralytic, we are also expected to go into the world, and sin no more. We have been given a far greater deposit of faith, of Tradition, found in the Church; of Love, found in obedience to the commandments of Christ, once given, and always echoing in our ears, in the scriptures, in our liturgies and services: Go, and sin no more, for anyone who loves Christ will keep his commandments, in faith, and in simple obedience to His word. For, obedience is the natural fruit of faith, and is born of humility, the mother of all virtue.”

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

In today’s Gospel reading we hear the story of The Paralytic, a man who had been afflicted for thirty eight years with paralysis, waiting by the sheep’s gate of the pool called Bethesda for the stirring of the waters by the Angel of the Lord. We do not know how old this man was, nor do we know the cause of his affliction, but whatever the cause of his condition, some fathers have considered it to be the result of some sin he had committed in his life. This is further affirmed by the command that Christ had given him when he later found him in the temple after he healed him of his infirmity.:

“See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

Christ gave one other person a similar command, the women taken in adultery and condemned to stoning, wherein he told her likewise, after no one was left to condemn her, “go, and sin no more.”

It is a simple command that should be heeded by all of us, but not so simple to carry out, as I am sure many of us have learned with great difficulty, and an often unexpected humility, during the Lenten season that is now behind us. Yet, sin is an illness, a spiritual illness, afflicting us all till the end of life, and we can no more fault one another for our own affliction than we could a cancer patient dying of their disease. The difference comes in how we respond to it. What manner of life do we choose to live? How do we present ourselves to the world and before God? For the command has been given, and it only requires a simple obedience. Consider that the paralytic man likely did not know who Christ was, did not know that He was the son of God, or even able to perform such a miracle; but, by his obedience to the simple command of Christ, quickly found that he could walk once again. By his faith in what he was told to be true, he found he was healed of his infirmity and made whole once again.

Like the paralytic, we are also expected to go into the world, and sin no more. We have been given a far greater deposit of faith, of Tradition, found in the Church; of Love, found in obedience to the commandments of Christ, once given, and always echoing in our ears, in the scriptures, in our liturgies and services: Go, and sin no more, for anyone who loves Christ will keep his commandments, in faith, and in simple obedience to His word. For, obedience is the natural fruit of faith, and is born of humility, the mother of all virtue.

In the words of Thomas Hopko of blessed memory:

In the Orthodox spiritual tradition, obedience is a basic virtue: obedience to the Lord, to the Gospel, to the Church, to the leaders of the Church to one’s parents and elders, to “every ordinance of man”, “to one another out of reverence for Christ.” There is no spiritual life without obedience, no freedom or liberation from sinful passions and lusts. To submit to God’s discipline in all of its human forms, is the only way to obtain “the glorious liberty of the children of God,” disciplines us as His children out of His great love for us. “He disciplines us for our good, that we might share His holiness.”. Our obedience to God’s commandments and discipline is the exclusive sign of our love for Him and His Son.

It is within the Church that is found the fullness of this deposit of faith: The Gospels; her liturgies and prayers; her praxis of faith and liturgical rhythm of life; an Orthodox prescription of life found in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; and the Holy Sacraments from which we are given and provided the means or our healing from the clutches of this illness, of which the symptom is sin. For, the Church is after all a hospital for our souls, but more than that, it is the pillar and foundation of Truth, established upon the foundation of the teachings of the Prophets and the apostles, with Christ as the cornerstone, of which we are all living stones. It is within the Church that we find our eternal remedy and food in the body of blood of Christ, the prescriptions of life for our own eternal life and edification, but so many of us find ourselves in the same condition as the paralytic, unable to move because of our own spiritual infirmity; unable to act upon what we know is right because of the weight of our own sin. Yet, Christ bids us all, get up and sin no more.

Life is a choice. Death is a choice. We are not punished so much as we are recipients of the fruits of our decisions. Whoever sincerely desires their own salvation does everything for the sake of their salvation. Whoever truly desires their salvation will distance themselves from everything that hinders them in the work of their salvation. For while our salvation is a gift freely given to us, a clenched fist, or a hand grasping something else receives nothing. For if we are not obedient in all things to the best of our ability, then we are at risk of receiving nothing, and losing all things.

In the words of Saint Anthony the Great:

The truly intelligent man pursues one sole objective: to obey and conform to the God of all. With this single aim in view, he disciplines his soul, and whatever he may encounter in the course of his life, he gives thanks to God for the compass and depth of His providential ordering of all things.

For it is absurd to be grateful to doctors who give us bitter and unpleasant medicines to cure our bodies, and yet to be ungrateful to God for what appears to us to be harsh, not grasping that all we encounter is for our benefit and in accordance with His providence. For knowledge of God and faith in Him is the salvation and perfection of the soul.”

Do you want to be healed? It is the question Christ asked of the paralytic. But, it is a question that should be asked of all of us. Do we really want to be healed? Through the Church we have been given the tools, the means, and the prescriptions of an authentic spiritual practice to find such a thing. The Church awakens in us those spiritual gifts God has given to all of us through its sacraments, prayers, liturgies, and Tradition. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, has come to set us free from the illness of sin, but it is our choice alone to follow the prescriptions we have been given. It is of our own free will that we receive that gift we have been given.

Do we partake of all that has been given us? Do we foster within us a genuine desire to become better men and women then what we are by nature? Do we try to observe and maintain our purity of life not only in our own conscience, but in the eyes of God? Do we live vigorously to fight against the passions of the flesh, but also against the vices of this world without concessions to the vagaries of this world? Do we turn to God for help and assistance when trouble finds us, and do we use those means we have been given for our own salvation rightly and as prescribed? Are we zealous about reading the word of God with introspection, to see and identify those things we need to correct when we examine ourselves in the mirror of Truth? Do we confess ourselves before God that we might be absolved of our many transgressions? Do we imitate those Saints that have gone before us, and have we developed a relationship with the one who’s name we bear? Do we help our fellow men, and rejoice when we find the opportunity to do s

We must strive so that our earthly life resembles that heavenly life we all strive towards. We must compare all things earthly to those things heavenly, and not the other way around as so many are wont to do. We must see that which is invisible and eternal in favor over that which is visible and temporal. Be ready to give up anything and consider everything as dung so that no earthly thing may stand between us and Christ. Our thoughts should be given to eternity. Our desires should be the perfection of virtue. Our greatest pleasures should be our reflection, consideration and conversations about the blessedness of those who have gone before us, and our greatest sorrow should be when we feel no spiritual draw nor attraction to heavenly things. We are not troubled by this life, but only the next, and the concerns of not only our own salvation, but those of our brothers and sisters around us. Our life should be a visible expression, image, and preparation for that better life in the age to come. Our prayer life, and our life within this world, should be equal and parallel expressions of the same faith we seek to live day by day.

So, as we move forward in this Paschal season with the joyous exclamation, Christ is Risen! Let us also rise with Him. Let us rise from our sins. Let us rise with the strength He has given us to overcome them. Let us rise, no more shackled by fear of this world, or fear for the sake of our failures, but move forward, day by day, into the eternal Joy of the Kingdom of God. So let us all take up our own beds, and sin no more, that me we might walk together in the joy of eternal life.

He is Risen! He is Risen! He is Risen!

By the prayers of thy most pure mother, the Holy and God bearing Fathers, all the saints, 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.