Do You Know the Impact You Can Have?

Our holy father, the martyr Paramon, was not a Christian; but he was a well-respected man in the region where he lived.  He encountered one day a group of 370 Christians whom the governor of the region has arrested, bound, and brought to the temple of Poseidon.  There they were threatened with death unless they offered sacrifice to the idol – something that none of them would do.  When Paramon learned what was taking place, he denounced the wickedness of the governor and continued on his way.  The governor sent his men after Paramon.  He was arrested; tortured by being stripped and beaten, by having a thorn jabbed through his tongue, and then by being stabbed all over.   Paramon endured it all with prayer, and gave his soul to God, being baptized in his own blood.  The 370 Christians were then beheaded, giving their souls to God as martyrs in the year of our Lord 250.

Most of us will never be arrested because of our faith.  Most of us will never be tortured in an effort to make us renounce our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Most of us will never become martyrs, as did our holy father Paramon and the 370 faithful we hear of today.  But there are some things we should note in the life of these saints, by which we also may be instructed, if we will hear the teaching and follow it each day.

The first thing to note is that Paramon was not a Christian at the time he suffered – at least, not in a way that we would recognize.  This should serve as a warning to us not to judge others, nor to condemn others simply because they have not been baptized, and do not openly proclaim the Lord Jesus as their own Savior and Lord.  God knows His own; and He will provide for them the necessary faith when time and circumstance require.  We should give thanks for those who seek to do good to others, whose lives are Christian, even if their faith is not known to us.  Of course, if we have the opportunity to do so, we should tell them of our Lord, and invite them to become Orthodox Christians.

This leads to the second point.  What was it that brought about Paramon’s martyrdom?  Was it not the example of the 370 who were willing to die rather than turn away from their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and offer a sacrifice to an idol?  This tells us that the quality of our lives can be a powerful testimony to others.  Does the way in which you live tell others that you are a faithful follower of the Lord, and that you will not turn aside from that path?  Or do our lives say that we are indistinguishable from those of the world around us – that we pay tribute to worldly concerns and fleshly desires, just as the nonbelievers do.  If you won’t even say a prayer in silence and cross yourself in public, as we do at mealtimes, what message does that send?  If we abuse others in word or in deed; if we gossip; if we consider ourselves to be better and more deserving of others, what message do we send?  And if we do not live as Christians, where will those who today stand in the role our holy father Paramon once held see the power of faith, and so be inspired to do as he did?

May God grant us grace and strength to walk in His ways without turning aside, so that we may also bear witness to Him.  Holy father Paramon, pray to God for us.  Amen.

What Are You Afraid Of?

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What are you afraid of?

In the reading today from the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, we hear the story of our Lord walking on the water in the midst of a storm, coming to His disciples in a boat being tossed by the wind and the waves.  They don’t recognize Him until He speaks to them; and then Peter, still not quite sure, says, “Lord, if it is you, command me to walk on the water.”  Then he does something amazing.  He gets out of the boat, and walks on the water – as long as his eyes are on the Lord.  Once he is distracted by the storm around him, he begins to sink, and must be saved by the Lord.

We know what the disciples were afraid of in that story.  They were afraid of the storm; and remember, there were experienced fishermen in the boat, who had been in storms before.  They were afraid they had seen a ghost – is that really the Lord?  Finally, except for Peter, they were afraid to get out of the boat because they were afraid of dying.  So: what are you afraid of?

Most of us are afraid of death.  We hear about the martyrs, and wonder if we could do what they did, doubting that we can do so.  We hear about those who are given a sentence of death, and who are able to meet it peacefully, and wonder if we could do what they did, doubting that we can do so.  Really, we fear death because, like the disciples, our faith is weak and imperfect.  We sing, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death”; but like the disciples in the boat, we ask, “Is it really the Lord?”  We don’t believe; and so we sink.  As long as his eyes remained on the Lord, Peter walked on the water.  When we allow ourselves to be distracted by the winds and the waves of the cares of this life, and when we focus on them, and not the Lord, we sink, and are perishing.  If we truly believed, we would not fear death.  If we truly believed, we would walk confidently by faith.  If we truly believed, we could walk on water, if need be.

So:  What do we do?  We should live in the way we should even if we do not yet have faith sufficient for us to get out of the boat.  We may never walk on water; but trust in the love of God, and in His mercy, remembering that with a word He calmed the wind and the waves, and brought His disciples out of the storm.  Live as a disciple: praying and fasting, giving, and forgiving; seeking humility, and honoring Christ in everyone you meet – do these things, and we will know that the One walking with us in the midst of the storms of life is truly the Lord; and He will bring us safely to harbor in His kingdom, where death has been conquered, and live does not end.

What are you afraid of?  Live as a disciple; trust in God’s love; and there is no reason for us to fear death.

Preparation for Martyrdom

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The holy martyr Julian of Tarsus was a young man when he suffered and died for the Christian faith.  Born into a family of wealth and influence, from his youth, he was taught the Faith; and so, when the time of his suffering came, he was ready, and despite being taken from town to town and being out to torture in each one, he would not deny that Jesus Christ is Lord.  After a year of enduring torments, he was sewn into a sack filled with sand, snakes, and scorpions, and thrown into the sea.  He was eighteen years old when he departed this life.

Our holy father John of Shanghai and San Francisco, whose feast we celebrated yesterday, was also born into a noble family; and he also, from his youth, learned the Christian faith, embracing the Orthodox way of life, inspired by the asceticism of the monks he saw living near to his village.  His family fled from his homeland during the Russian Civil War for Serbia. He left Serbia for Shanghai when he became a Bishop. Forced to flee from Shanghai once again ahead of the Communists, he led his flock to the Philippines, from where they were resettled, some in Australia, some in South America, and some in the United States.  He knew of his impending repose some four days before it happened, and foretold as well the place where he would die.  He was seventy years old when he departed this life.

Both of the holy fathers whom we celebrate this weekend experienced what our Lord spoke of in the reading today from the holy Gospel according to St. Luke. Both experienced persecution; both knew that a martyr’s death was a very real possibility, and one achieved a martyr’s crown.

What about us?  Although none of us has been born to a family of power and influence, we live in a time and place with riches and conveniences that we take for granted, which not even emperors had of old – and they could have almost anything they wanted.  In addition to the prosperity we enjoy, we also live in a time of relative peace, and in a place where we are not suffering for our faith – at least, not yet.  But the words our Lord spoke to warn and to encourage His disciples remain as true today as when He first uttered them.  The apostles saw the armies of Rome arrayed against Jerusalem, and their defeat of that city.  The faithful were persecuted again and again across time and space – and there are places around the world today where Christians suffer for the Faith, and martyrs are killed all the time.  We don’t see it happening on the evening news; we don’t see it happening in our neighborhoods – but it is taking place all the same, and we are naïve if we think that it will never happen here. 

What, then should we do?  We must be instructed by what our Lord tells His disciples – and we are His disciples if we follow His teachings, and His example.  By enduring, we will win our lives.  Not in this world, to be sure – but this world, this age, this life will not endure.  Only that which is established in heaven will endure. If we will embrace and live the life of our Lord Jesus Christ given to us in baptism, fed in us by His Body and Blood, taught to us by the holy Fathers and Mothers, shown to us in the lives of the saints, then our lives, too, will be established in heaven.  Above all, it is by so pursuing the life of Christ being expressed in our own that we can endure even betrayal by friends or family, to say with our Lord, “Father, forgive them,” even as we are being put to death.

Brothers and sisters, let us ask God for the grace and mercy He gives to us from His love for us, that we may not love our lives in this world, but rather desire the life to come, so that we will not fail in the time of trial, but may also come, with our holy father Julian and our holy father John, to a blessed repose, and a place in His kingdom that shall never end.

No Guarantees

Luke 4:22-30

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Last week, with the account of the healing of the centurion’s servant, we hear how the people of the covenant with Moses, the people whom God had prepared with the revelation of Himself and His promise to send a Redeemer, had not, for the most part, recognized His Son when He came into their midst. Instead, it was someone who was not a member of the community of faith, someone who was not allowed to worship in the temple, who knew that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, with the power to heal even from a distance. That theme is present as well in the reading today from the holy Gospel according to St. Luke. Our Lord is speaking to the people of God in the synagogue when he tells them how the prophet of God Elijah was sent to dwell in the house of a widow and her son during a time of great famine. The woman had just enough flour and oil to bake one last portion of bread for herself and her son, and then they were resigned to starving to death. But while the prophet was there – having asked her to give him their last meal, which she did – the container of flour was never empty, and the pitcher of oil never ran out. So it was that they survived the famine – but the widow and her son were not from among the people of god. Our Lord also tells them of the prophet Elisha, who healed Naaman the Syrian of his leprosy. His statements anger those who heard what He said, so much that they even tried to kill Him by throwing Him from the top of a cliff. The words He said that angered them should be words of warning for all of us – for remember, we are now the people of God; we are the people of the New Covenant; and we are the ones at risk of missing the blessings that God desires to give to all who call upon His name with faith.

Here’s what our Lord was saying in the synagogue that day that made those listening so upset. It wasn’t, He was saying, that there were no widows in Israel who were starving – indeed, there were. Likewise, it wasn’t that there was no one afflicted with a skin disease, called leprosy (although what we call leprosy today is not what was referred to there) in Israel – indeed, there were. In both instances, our Lord was pointing out to those who thought that they were holding on to a “guarantee” of being the favored people of God that God would not hesitate to reach out to those who truly believe, as the widow trusted God in feeding His prophet, and as Naaman trusted by following the prophet’s instructions for his healing. Just because we know how to cross ourselves, this does not make us the people of God. Just because we know how to fast, just because we know how to pray, just because we venerate the holy icons – these things, all good for us to do, these things do not make us the people of God. Do we have the love of God in our hearts; and do we show that love to everyone we meet? Do we have a love that is patient, gentle, humble, generous, forgiving, and kind? Do we trust that God will provide for our needs, and live, not for this world, but for the world to come? It is living in that way – living a life in which Christ can be seen, humble, righteous, patient, and loving so well that He accepted death on the Cross on our behalf – it is living that way which makes us to be the people of God.

Brothers and sisters, may God give us grace and strength, wisdom and patience, and the peace that passes all understanding, that we may show the life and love of Christ to all, to the glory of His name, and the salvation of our souls.

Destroying the Image of God

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Why does the demon possessing the boy in the account read today from the Gospel according to St. Mark treat the boy as he does, throwing him onto the fire, and into the water? The answer is simple: he is trying to destroy the image of God in that young man.

One of the things that makes us different from the angels is that, unlike them, we are created in the image and after the likeness of God; and while we are created but a little lower than the angels, when the kingdom of God is established, we shall be closer to God than are they. Our Lord Jesus Christ never took on the form of an angel; but He did become incarnate, He did take on our form. As St, Athanasios the Great said, “He became like us in order that we might become like Him.” It is believed that this is why Lucifer, the Light-bearer, the greatest of the angelic order, rebelled against God, and led others to do the same: his pride would not allow him to accept that he one day would be subject to us. This is why the demons hate us; this is why they try to destroy us.

What was true for the boy in the Gospel account is true for every one of us: there are demons who would love to throw us into fire and into water to destroy us. They cannot overthrow God; so they seek to destroy His image in us; and if they cannot destroy us in this world, they seek to make us their victims in the world to come, to cause us to suffer the torments they, too, will suffer when the Kingdom comes in its fullness. If we do not want to share their fate, we need to do something: we need to remove ourselves from being influenced by them. We should take note, then, of what our Lord says when His disciples ask why they were unable to heal the boy. “This kind,” He says, “come out only by prayer and fasting.”

Each one of us has sins that we have learned to love; sins that we repeat, and against which we seem to be powerless. Like the father in the Gospel account, each of us, looking at our lives, can say, Lord, I believe; help me in my unbelief!” What is our help? Prayer and fasting. Every time we find ourselves repeating a sin, we should recognize the need to pray and to fast. Every time we find ourselves tempted to sin, we should pray and fast. Now that we are past the halfway point in Great Lent, with the celebration of Pascha coming ever nearer, we should pray and fast.

Brothers and sisters, let us give thanks to God Who has made us but a little lower than the angels. Let us give thanks to God that He has made us in His image and after His likeness. Let us give thanks to God for the love that led Him to become one with us, and that led Him to the Cross for our salvation, and has given us a way to climb on high with Him. Let us fast and pray and give thanks, to the glory of God and the salvation of our souls.

"I Am the Door"

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In the reading today from the holy Gospel according to St. John the Theologian, our Lord says of Himself that He is “the door.” What does He mean when He says this? One place we can go for insight is the reading from the holy Gospel according to St. Mark: a memorable scene, in which a paralyzed man, carried by four friends to our Lord to be healed, is actually brought into His presence by being lowered through a hole they made in the roof. What does the Lord tell this man to heal him? “Your sins are forgiven.”

Of course, this stirs up the Pharisees, who sought at all times to live according to the 613 laws of Moses, because they thought that this was the pathway to salvation. Having dealt with the man’s problem, our Lord then dispels their objections by healing the man physically as well as spiritually, linking the two. This is important for us to understand; so let’s look at the objections raised by the dissenters.

“Who but God can forgive sins?” they ask. Our Lord thus shows all who would raise this objection that He is, indeed, God, by restoring the paralyzed man to physical health, so that he could stand, pick up his bed, and return without help to his home. So it is that we begin to understand how we should grasp that our Lord says of Himself, “I am the door.”

Remember that when Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise, cut off from dwelling in the immediate and intimate presence of God, the gate – a form of a door – was guarded by cherubim with a flaming sword, to prevent Adam and Eve from seeking to return to the presence of God in that way. Now here is our Lord telling us that He, God, is the way for us to return to Paradise, to return to dwelling with God close by us – indeed, within us, something that Adam and Eve did not possess. He is the door to the abundant life He came to bring.

How do we access that door? We access it by becoming like Him: by drawing near to Him with faith, in love, through prayer and fasting and giving and forgiving; and by living at peace, with the love of God, with all those around us. And, to the extent we fail to do these things in love, we confess our sins, asking forgiveness, and starting again – even if we must break through our own ceiling, our earthly desires and attachments, in order to be lowered into His presence to be healed by the forgiveness of our sins.

Brothers and sisters, let us keep this in our hearts and on our minds as we journey through the forty days of fasting before Holy Week and Pascha. Let us remember that our Lord is the door by which we enter into eternal life; and let us, through the way of life of the Orthodox faith and church, strive to let the light and life of Christ be seen in and through us, so that we may enter through the Door, and bring others with us as well.

Which Path Will You Choose?

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In the hymns during the Vigil for this joint celebration of the Casting Out of Adam and the Meeting of the Lord, we are presented with two pictures that give us an interesting contrast. One the one hand, the hymns from the Triodion show us, again and again, Adam outside the gates of Paradise, from which he had been expelled because of his sin, forced to leave his dwelling place in the intimate presence of God because of his unrighteousness. On the other hand, we see the righteous Symeon waiting in the Temple, the place where God promised to meet His people, receiving in his arms the One for whom he had been waiting; the One who would open once more the gates of Paradise for us to enter once more into the intimate presence of God. Adam is lamenting for his loss; Symeon is rejoicing that the promise God made to him has been fulfilled by the coming of the One God had promised to Adam.

The world into which Adam was exiled is the same world in which we live today. It is the same world in which Symeon lived; it is the same world which our Lord Jesus Christ entered upon His incarnation. So we can see from Adam that it is possible to live in this world and feel cut off from God; but we can also see that God has entered into the world into which we were exiled in order to bring us back to where we belong; and we see in Symeon that it is possible for us to rejoice at what God is doing in this world, and to turn away from sin and all unrighteousness and live, as Symeon did, in a way pleasing to God.

We are about to depart on the spiritual journey that takes us through Great Lent, coming to the city of Jerusalem as our Lord makes His entrance on Palm Sunday, watching and waiting with Him as He is arrested and mistreated, led to Golgotha, and His death on the Cross – and to the empty tomb on the morning of Pascha, as He rises from the dead, setting us free. Will we go through this season lamenting, like Adam, the loss of the things that we traditionally deny ourselves during this time? Or will we instead rejoice like Symeon that God has come into the world to save us, and we receive Him in our hearts as the righteous elder received Him in his arms? Brothers and sisters, the choice is ours. Which will you choose: Adam’s way? Or Symeon’s?

The Last Judgment

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If I could convince you to memorize – or even just remember – only one portion of the Bible, it would have to be the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew. It tells us, of course, about the Last Judgment. The hymns from the Triodion at the Vigil last night return constantly to the remembrance of death, and the need to prepare ourselves in this life to be ready for the day when our secrets will be revealed, and we will received what we are owed – and to remember that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today is also the day we commemorate the holy New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian land, who did not surrender themselves to those who wished to erase from the landscape of Russia the churches and monasteries and seminaries that covered the land – and to turn the hearts and minds of the people away from God and the preparation for a life in the kingdom of God, to obeying the secular rulers and building, as if such a thing were possible, the kingdom of heaven on earth. They resisted these efforts to destroy the Church and the Orthodox Faith, and suffered, some being killed and so becoming martyrs, while others endured imprisonment and tortures, becoming confessors. If, as Tertullian said, the blood of the martyrs – and the confessors, who also shed their blood, just not unto death – is the seed of the Church, then the Russian land was renewed by their blood. Just look at Russia today: the Bolsheviks no longer rule; their movement is shattered; and the Church is once more alive and growing.

But even as the cathedrals and churches and monasteries and seminaries in the Russian land are rebuilt and renewed, all of this means nothing if we do not understand and apply what we are told in this parable from St. Matthew today. Beautiful churches are nothing more than gaudy tombs if the people inside them care more about the building than they do for the hungry and the sick and the homeless and the lonely. Reading your morning and evening prayers is a waste of time if you get angry at people in traffic, or judge another, or harbor evil thoughts against another in your heart. Fasting does nothing if we abstain from meat but take advantage of those around us for our own pleasure or our own gain. How terrible will it be for us to have received the Body and Blood of Christ, Who, because of His great love for us when we were unlovely and unlovable, became one with us and died for us, only to have us not love everyone who is made in His image more than we love ourselves?

Brothers and sisters, the fathers tell us that we must be ever mindful that one day we will die, and then it will be too late to achieve the transformation of our souls. The New Martyrs and Confessors tell us that death can come suddenly, and unexpectedly, and so we must not waste a day, an hour, a minute – but must resolve today to live as Christians should, in the hope that, on that great and terrible day of Judgment, we shall be set on the right hand, with those who will enter into the rejoicing of the kingdom of heaven, and not sent to condemnation and torment because we loved ourselves more than we loved others. Let us love one another, as Christ loves us and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God. May we put this love in action by reaching to others who are in need in body, mind and spirit, giving of ourselves and from what God has given to us, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the lonely, and to love and care for each other as icons of Christ.

The Beginning of the End

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The most powerful nation on the face of the earth has ordered that a census be taken, so that everyone who a subject of that nation could be taxed.  Little did they know that at that very moment in time something was taking place that was going to transform the world; and they were powerless to stop it.  Truth was, they never saw it coming; and once it was underway, there was nothing they could do about it, although they certainly tried their best to eliminate it.  In the end, they were defeated; their empire crumbled into nothing; but what started then continues today, and the world remains powerless against it.

This is the scene for us in the reading of the birth of our Lord as described in the Gospel according to St. Luke, and today, from the Gospel according to St. Matthew.  The nation, of course, was Rome; and St. Luke tells us that Augustus had ordered the taking of a census as a prelude to the story of our Lord’s birth.  There is that stark contrast between the two stories.  On the one hand, the might and power of Rome, symbolized in their Emperor; on the other, a newborn baby, of humble parents, for whom there was no room at the inn, and so he was born in a cave that was being used as a stable.  One the one hand, a military power that had conquered much of the world, against whom few other nations dared to stand; on the other, one helpless child who possesses all the power in heaven and on earth.

In one part of that world, a province of that Empire, someone did recognize that something was happening, and he did his best to destroy it.  Herod, made king by the Romans, did all he could to destroy this new power coming into the world.  But his efforts failed, though the battle was costly: the innocent young boys slain in his attempt to retain his title, the King of the Jews.  These were but the first of the hundreds, and then thousands, and then millions who would be killed for their allegiance to this child, rather than to the princes and powers of the world. 

Now we live in what is arguably the most powerful nation on the face of the earth, one against whom few dare stand.  That nation, in ways far more subtle than those of Herod, does not seek to destroy those who today proclaim their loyalty to the King born in a stable by killing them outright.  Rather, it seduces, it teases, it promises, and it misleads – and any of the flowers of this newborn King must battle their own passions, lest these be turned against them and lead them to degradation and destruction.  Yet the world remains powerless to those who embrace the life of this King, for He has defeated the last enemy – death – something no power in the world can achieve.  He promises the victory to those who will stand with Him in faith, even at the passing away of the world.

Brothers and sisters, with the birth of the Son of God wrapped in our humanity as He was wrapped in his body with swaddling clothes, our victory is assured; but the battle must be fought, and the battleground is within us, in our hearts and minds and souls and bodies.  To succeed, we need only follow what the victors who have gone before us have done:  pray; fast; give from the wealth God has entrusted to us; love; forgive, being patient and humble, and seeking heavenly things rather than earthly gains.  The time of our liberation is at hand; and if we will live as Orthodox Christians, the world is powerless to stop us.

Christ is born!

A Tale of Two Kingdoms

The Reading today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew describes how King Herod responded to the news that a King of the Jews had been born.  He was, of course, unpleasantly surprised, inasmuch as he had been made king of the Jews by the Romans, on who behalf he ruled Judea.  Although not read today, we have the advantage of knowing the next part of the story:  how he sends his troops to Bethlehem with orders to kill all the male children in the region aged two years or less, according to the time when the magi told him the star they had followed to find him had appeared.

This is an instance of how the world responded to the news that God was setting in motion the completion of the promise He had made to Adam and Eve even as they were forced to leave Paradise, no longer able to dwell in the intimate presence of God.  He said that there would be enmity between the seed of the woman (that is, all her offspring, including us) and the serpent, that is, Satan, the deceiver, who led Eve astray, and through her, Adam.  By their action, Adam and Eve delivered the world, which had been given to them, into the hands of Satan, the power of the prince of the air, the ruler of this world.  But the prophecy was that one of the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent; and now that child has come into the world.

That power and that promise are still active in the world today.  That the world does not understand what is taking place can be seen in the efforts, sometimes laughable, of many scientists who try to find a way to make a celestial object – a star – behave so as to be able to lead people across hundreds or thousands of miles, not only to a specific country, not only to a specific city, but to a specific location in a specific city – to the cave where the newborn child lay in a manger.  All they need to do is read the fathers, and find that the wise men were led their by an angel, shining with the light of the glory of God.  That angel and that light remain in the world today, through our guardian angels, and the Angel of Great Counsel, who is Christ Himself.  When we embrace the life of Christ born within us when we are baptized, the world will try, as Herod tried, as Satan tried, to destroy us; but if we embrace that life and light, the world may come against us, but it cannot overcome us. 

Brothers and sisters, let us embrace that light, let us allow the life of Christ to be seen in us, in what we do, in what we say, in who we are, so that others may be drawn to the light, and join chorus with us in praising the God of our salvation.

Our King and Savior is drawing near.  Come, let us adore Him!

Preparing for the Coming of Christ

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Today is the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is also the Sunday before the Nativity of our Lord; so this season of preparation for the celebration of His coming in the flesh is drawing to an end.  Has everyone finished their shopping? 

Unfortunately, that seems to be the highlight of this holiday – actually, we should say, “holy day,” which is the origin of the word, “holiday”:  feasting, parties, decorations, presents – and let me say that there is nothing wrong with any of these things.  But it is easy for us to lose sight of what we are celebrating, and lose our connection to the holy with our focus on the earthly side of the holiday.  We need to remember first that Christmas – again, more properly called, the Nativity of our Lord – is not the culmination of the Christian life, or faith, or message.  You wouldn’t know that if you look at how the various holidays are celebrated here in this land, in this culture.  But the Nativity, as important as it is, pales in comparison to the celebration of Pascha.  Now, it’s true:  No Nativity, no Pascha.  But Pascha is the pinnacle, the completion; and the Nativity isn’t even really the beginning of what is finished at Pascha.  The beginning of the work of bringing about our salvation is the feast of the Theophany, which we’ll celebrate in a few weeks, some twelve days after the Nativity.  Until that time, there was no public ministry on our Lord’s part.  After that time, He begins to proclaim that the kingdom of God is near, gathering followers and disciples, working miracles, healing the sick, and starting down the road that will lead to Gethsemane, death, and resurrection.  If that is the story from beginning to the end, the Nativity is the prologue, the introduction, letting us see how the story itself is set in motion.

The setting in which the Nativity is the highlight, the completion, is the feast celebrated today, the Holy Fathers of the Lord.  From Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs whose trust in God led them to a new land, the Holy Land, to Moses the Lawgiver, and Joshua and the judges who ruled Israel guided by God, to David the King and the other rulers, to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, and the prophets, God is at work fulfilling His promise to Adam and Eve and all their descendents.  God made things ready for His people to receive One Who would be prophet, priest, and king:  His Son, whose birth in a cave we celebrate this week.  We see in the Holy Fathers Faith, the Law, and the Prophets, all needed for us to understand Who Christ is, and to receive Him as Lord and Savior, as we should.  We should not lose sight of this, either, even as we make our plans and carry out our celebrations.

Finally, as we celebrate Christ’s coming into the world, for which celebration we have been preparing ourselves in this season, we should always keep in mind that He has promised to return.  We should always be preparing at least as much for His second coming as we do to celebrate His first coming – for unlike the time when He was born in that cave, and laid in a manger, He will return in glory, with His angels; and while this time after His birth is a time of mercy, a time for repentance, a time for the transformation of our lives, then, when He comes again, He comes to judge the living and the dead.  Does anyone want to come to that great and terrible day of Judgment without making some preparations?  I think not; but can we truthfully say that our preparations for that day are even close to being equal to the time and energy and attention we put into the celebration of the Nativity?

Brothers and sisters, it’s later than we think; the time is drawing closer, even if we do not know the day and hour of His return.  As we give thanks to God for the gift of love He has given us by giving us His Son, let us also ask for the grace we need to be ready to rejoice in His presence when He comes again to judge the world.

A Dinner Invitation: What's Your Excuse?

Today we celebrate the holy forefathers of our Lord Jesus Christ, the patriarchs and the prophets and the other holy men and women from Adam and Eve to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to Moses and Joshua, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel up to John the Baptizer, the last of the Old Testament prophets.  When we read the Old Testament, we should do so to learn not only of the history of God’s involvement with us, but also to learn the many ways in which we were being prepared for the coming of Christ.  Yes, we know that the prophets told us of His coming, from the “Suffering Servant” mentioned in the prophecies of Isaiah, and of His miraculous birth, also found in the book of the prophet Isaiah, who foretold that the Virgin would conceive and would bear a child, whose name would be called, “Immanuel” – that is, “God with us.”  But if we read and learn, we may also recognize in Abel a prefiguring of Christ the Good Shepherd, who was the first to offer sacrifice pleasing to God, for which he became the first martyr.  We might learn of the faith of Abraham that led him to depart from his homeland to the place where God would lead him, to give him a home, even as we are called to leave this world behind to follow where God leads, to our true dwelling-place with Him in His kingdom.  We would see the sacrifice of our Lord in the offering of Isaac, we would see the faith of Ruth and Rahab the prostitute, and many, many others, all of whom can teach us about who we are and who we are meant to be as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose coming fulfilled the promise God made to Adam and Eve even as they were being forced to leave Paradise because of their sin, that a Deliverer would come to set us free from sin and death.  As we draw near to the celebration of the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord, we do well to prepare ourselves, to learn, and to live as we should.

In the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we hear of the man who prepares a great feast, and sends his servants to gather those who had been invited to take part.  But they respond by making excuses as to why they cannot attend; and so the host sends his servants out again and again, to gather the uninvited as guests, even using force to compel them to enter, until the hall has been filled; but, in his anger, he declares that those who had been invited would now be refused entrance to the feast.

What shall we make of this?  Do you realize that a feast has been prepared for you this very day, and that all who desire to take part and have prepared themselves will be fed with the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ?  What excuses have kept you from accepting the invitation today?  It is true, no one will compel you to come today – no one will be forced to come to the feast today, nor next Sunday, nor on the Feast of the Nativity itself – but why do you not come?  Why do you refuse the hospitality of our God, Who desires that we share in His rejoicing in His Son, our Savior?  Brothers and sisters, a day is coming when we will make excuses to not attend His feast, and find that we are no longer welcome.  Let us not harden our hearts, and so risk being denied a place at the great banquet of the kingdom.  Let us prepare ourselves with fasting, confession, repentance and prayer; and let us come to the Mystical Supper, especially on the day we celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ into our midst, remembering also that He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.  Let us strive by the grace of God given to us in our baptism and in the Lord’s Supper to be ready for the day of His return, that we may celebrate and rejoice to behold Him.

Our King and Savior is drawing near!  Come, let us adore Him.

"Where are the Other Nine?"

Our holy father Ambrose of Milan was born to a Christian mother and a pagan father, who was the Roman governor of the province in which Milan was the principal city. When his father died, the emperor appointed Ambrose in his place. It was in his capacity as governor that he went to the church in Milan, where the bishop had died, causing a division in the congregation between the Orthodox Christians and those who were followers of the heresy taught by Arius. Although Ambrose had gone to keep the peace, a child at its mother’s breast cried out, “Ambrose for bishop!” – a cry taken up by others as well, who considered it to be the voice of God. Ambrose was baptized, consecrated reader, and ordained a subdeacon, deacon, and priest all within one week, at the end of which he was consecrated as the Bishop of Milan. He slept very little, worked tirelessly, prayed without ceasing and fasted every day except Saturday and Sunday. Because of this, he was privileged to see many great works of God, and to perform them, as well. He healed the sick, cast out demons, and even raised the dead. Humble before those whose position in society was lower than his, he was fearless with the nobility; he even ordered that the Emperor Theodosius not be permitted to enter any church until the Emperor repented of his sins. He departed this life on the morning of Pascha in the year 397 A.D.

In the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we hear the account of the healing of the ten lepers, one of whom, a Samaritan, returns to give thanks, prompting our Lord to ask, “Where are the other nine?” Presumably, those who did not return to say, “Thank you,” were from the people of the first Covenant, to whom God had revealed Himself in a special way, setting them apart from everyone else on the earth. It was this group of people who had been given the promise of the Messiah, and the prophecies about Him. Now He had come; but among these ten lepers, the only one to recognize Him was someone from outside the house of God.

We should always pay attention when the circumstances and responses of those who had been given the first Covenant by God are the subject of the story, because now that group is us, the people of the new Covenant. We are partakers of the special revelation of God to us in Jesus Christ; we are the beneficiaries of the promise of God; and now we can enjoy the special relationship that sets us apart from all other forms of belief, worship, and practices. But can we honestly say that we are doing any better than our predecessors? Like them, we are more likely to live according to the ways of the world, rather than the way of life required by God. Like those who are not members of the community of the new Covenant, we are not looking for the second coming of Christ; and, like the nine who were healed but did not return to give thanks, we daily experience the loving mercy of God, but so often fail to give thanks to God, much less give thanks to God when things do not go the way we’d like them to go. God might look at St. Ambrose, and the good example of his life, and, thinking that the saint was not made in any way differently than any of us, ask, “Where are the others?”

Brothers and sisters, let us not be like those who, having been blessed by healing in the Gospel account today, failed to return to give thanks and to bow down at the feet of our Lord. Let us set our hearts and minds to give thanks to God even in the midst of sickness and suffering, and certainly when we have been given good things by God. Let us not follow any longer the ways and practices and beliefs of the culture around us, but rather let us beg God to give us His grace and strength to follow instead the example of life given to us by our holy father Ambrose, of the saint whose name we bear, and of the most holy Lady Theotokos.

Holy hierarch, father Ambrose, pray to God for us!

Saint Nicholas: The Power of Love

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Our father among the saints, Nicholas, was the only child born to wealthy parents, and was instructed in the Christian faith by his uncle (also named Nicholas), who was the bishop in the town of Patara, where St. Nicholas was born. When his parents reposed, Nicholas gave away his considerable inheritance to help the poor, and entered the monastery his uncle had established. It was his uncle who tonsured Nicholas as a monk, and who ordained Nicholas a priest. Throughout his life, Nicholas was known for his love and mercy, and for miracles worked both before and after his repose. Part of his legacy can be seen in his presence in our midst even today. Many nations, including Russia, look to him as a protector of their land and people, and more than 1,200 churches are named in his honor, including 400 in Great Britain – more than any other saint. It is estimated that western artists have depicted him more frequently than any other saint, apart from the most holy Theotokos. Many people don’t realize that the “right jolly old elf” dressed in red and driving a sleigh with reindeer has his origins in this saint: “Santa Claus” is the anglicized version of “Sinter Klaus” – Dutch for, “St. Nicholas.”

Most of us are familiar with certain aspects of the life of St. Nicholas. Probably the most well-known story is how the saint secretly provided gold coins to a family where poverty threatened to cause the sale of three daughters into prostitution. The gold – in some stories, it is dropped down a chimney to land in the stockings of the daughters, which had been hung by the fire in order to dry – spared the family from such a terrible decision. Many of us also know, and, in a way, sort of enjoy, the story of how St. Nicholas, enraged by the heretical teachings of Arius, struck Arius – according to some accounts, he punched Arius in the nose – at the Council of Nicaea in the year 325. Perhaps you even know how, on two separate occasions, St. Nicholas intervened to spare three men who had been wrongfully sentenced to be executed: once, when he confronted a regional governor who had take a bribe to find three men guilty; and again when he appeared in a dream to the Emperor Constantine to tell him that three officials of the imperial court were innocent of the charges that had been brought against them. IN each case, the condemned men were set free.

While these stories are familiar to us, we seem to be less familiar with the deeper details of the life of the saint, the details that make such actions as are celebrated in these stories possible. What power makes it possible to confront a government official, risking imprisonment or even death – and St. Nicholas certainly suffered for the faith during the persecutions under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian – to save innocent lives? What power makes it possible to stand up against popular false teachings to defend the Christian faith? What power – and this is particularly crucial in our world today – makes it possible to break the grip of wealth and possessions, and to give away a fortune? There is only one power capable of doing these things: the power of the love of God in Jesus Christ, that flows through those who love God above all else, and whose love flows to everyone made in the image of God, making them sources of God’s love for each one of us to everyone around them. If we do not love God, we will not put ourselves at risk to protest injustice and unrighteousness, to spare others from suffering or to save innocent lives. If we do not love God, we will not take a stand against false teachings; and we will even make compromises with teachings and practices that do not agree with those of the Orthodox Church and faith. If we do not love God, then we cannot truly love each other as we should; and the things of this world that attract and hold our attention – wealth, fame, honor, power, pleasure – these will capture us and keep us from rising toward heaven, as St. Nicholas rose, living as an angel on the earth in the midst of others.
St. Nicholas is loved by many because he loved so richly. His love for God caused him to turn his back on the world, giving away his worldly possessions, and not seeking any worldly honors. His love for God led him to be obedient when, in pursuing a solitary life, he was instructed by God to live his life in the midst of the people around him. His love for God led him to love every one of us – and in his love for us, to seek justice and righteousness for us, and to give gifts of love.

Brothers and sisters, let us love one another as Christ loves us – for He went to His passion and death through the power of His love. Let us love one another as St. Nicholas loves us, and ask for the grace to follow the example of his life.

Holy hierarch, father Nicholas, pray to God for us!

Church Growth? "Come and See..."

Image by carulmare via Flickr

Is there anyone who does not want the church to increase? Think about that…

Today we celebrate the feast of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-called. He is given the title, “the First-called” because it he, with another of the disciples of St. John the Baptizer, were shown the Lord by the Forerunner. We do not know the other disciple’s name; nor would we know Andrew’s, except that he responded not only to the instruction of the Lord to follow Him, but also by going to find his brother, Simon, and telling him to come and see for himself that the man Jesus was the Messiah, the anointed one of God, for Whom they and all the faithful in Israel had been awaiting His coming. When Simon saw the Lord, he was given the name, “Cephas,” which we know as “Peter”; both terms deriving from the words for “rock” in Aramaic and in Greek. Thus, it is also fair to say that St. Andrew was also the first evangelist; although surely St. John the Baptizer might also be given this honor.

When the faithful were forced to flee from Jerusalem because of the persecutions of the Church growing there, the holy apostle Andrew went to the region of Byzantium, and then along the Danube and the Black Sea and even to Kiev before returning to Greece, having established churches, consecrated bishops and ordained priest along the way during his journey. In the Greek city of Patras, he preached the Gospel; among his converts were the wife and brother of the Roman governor, who was furious, and ordered the arrest and torture of the apostle. He was executed by crucifixion; and as he was on the Cross, the faithful came to him, and he taught them, then prayed, was covered with a bright light for some thirty minutes, and then yielded his spirit into the hands of God. He departed this life for the next in the sixty-second year of our Lord.

In the reading from the holy Gospel according to St. John the Theologian, in which we heard about the holy apostle Andrew, we hear as well about the apostles Philip and Nathaniel, and there is a common theme at play. The Lord finds Philip, and say to him, “Follow me.” Philip, in turn, goes to his friend Nathaniel, and says that they have found the One they had been waiting for, of Whom Moses and the prophets had foretold. Nathaniel is skeptical at first; “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” But he responds to Philip’s invitation, “Come and see”; and, when he meets Jesus, he, too, becomes a disciple.

What does any of this have to do with us? I’m sure that most, if not all, of you would answer the question I asked at the beginning in the affirmative: Yes, we want the church to grow. Well, growing the church is a lot like growing a garden. It’s not enough to go to the place where you want the garden, and sprinkling some seeds on the ground, and hoping for the best. If you want your garden to grow, it’s going to take some work: preparing the ground, planting the seeds, watering, pulling the weeds, and so on. The same thing is true for growing the church: it takes work. More than anything else, we need to work at living in the Orthodox way of life, so that what we say agrees with what we do; and we need to be willing to admit our mistakes, when we fail to live as did the fathers and the saints. But there’s a lesson for us in the Gospel about what we need to do, and it’s not terribly complicated. In order to have the church grow, we have to do what the holy apostles Andrew and Philip did: we have to invite people; we have to say, “Come and see.”

In part, this requires us to heed the teaching of the holy apostle Peter, who wrote that we must be prepared at all times and in every season to give an account of the hope that is within us. What hope is that? It is the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, a life on which death has no claim and no hold – the life given to us in our baptism. Our hope is in the love of God in Jesus Christ, by which our sins are forgiven and our souls are saved. If we consider what God has done, and is doing, for us, and if we receive the love God intends for each and every one of us, then we should find ourselves able to say to those we know who are broken and hurting, and to those who are searching, and to those who are in darkness, “Come and see.” Brothers and sisters, if we live with the desire to reveal Christ in us, the hope of glory, if we live loving everyone around us as Christ, and if we will say to them, “Come and see,” the church will grow, God will be glorified, and souls will be saved. May God, through the prayers of the holy apostle Andrew, give us the grace to join in his labors, and to say to as many as we can, “Come and see.”

Riches, Retirement, and the Kingdom of Heaven

This is the time of year when the accountants and tax preparers are contacting us to help us with the end-of-the-year steps we can take to reduce our tax bills for the year. If you haven’t already heard an appeal from some agency about making an end of the year donation on the television or on the radio or on the internet or in a newspaper, magazine, or email, you probably will in the next few weeks.

In the first reading today from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we hear the parable of a man who is wealthy in worldly terms, whose riches are increasing so much that he needs to build larger barns in which to store his possessions. We also hear him planning his retirement into a life that he expects will be comfortable.

Now, to this point in the story, who among us would not want to be in the same situation: to be rich; to have additional riches at hand; and to have the prospect of a comfortable retirement? Most of us would take a deal like that with barely a moment’s thought.

Of course, being familiar with the rest of the parable, perhaps we wouldn’t be as quick to exchange our situation for his. We hear him called a fool by God; and we learn that his soul will be required of him that very night. What, then, will come of his wealth and his plans? As we all know very well, “You can’t take it with you.”

Truth be told, most of us are, indeed, very much like the rich man in the parable. This is not to say that we are rich – although you must admit that, by the standard of living of most people around the world today, as well as the vast majority of those who have ever lived – the average American lives more comfortably, more abundantly, than almost anyone anywhere at any time. But it is true that there are people who have more material possessions and greater worldly wealth than we have. But it is not on the basis of wealth alone that makes us like the man in the parable. We are like him in that our thoughts and concerns are dominated by the things of this world; we pursue wealth in order to make our own lives more comfortable – and we do this even though we know that we do not know when our own soul will be required to come into the presence of God and to give an accounting of how we used the things that God entrusted to us – time, talents, and treasures – not for ourselves alone, but for the good of all. Like the man in the parable, we are rich in worldly terms, but poor in spiritual things: praying, fasting, giving, loving.

The truth is, we can take it with us. Not in its worldly form; but by using the time and talents and treasures we have been given to lay up wealth for ourselves in the kingdom of heaven. By feeding the hungry, by clothing the naked, by visiting the sick and those in hospitals and prisons, and, yes, by giving to help support the work of the church, we can employ the things of this world for the benefit of others now, and for our own benefit in the world to come. Then, we will not be like the man in the parable, finding ways to store our wealth here while contemplating a comfortable retirement. Rather, we will have the safest place of all to store our wealth; and the hope of eternity sharing the love of God with Him and each other in His kingdom, because we have already learned how to do so in this world.

Brothers and sisters, let us not be ignorant, and let us not be lazy, but rather let us set our minds to use what God has entrusted to us for the service of His people, to give glory to God, and to bear witness to Him in the world.

Mercy, Not Sacrifice

Today we celebrate and remember the holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew. He was a tax collector – every bit as unpopular at the time as he would be today – and was at his work when the Lord Jesus called to him, saying, “Follow me.” To his credit, Matthew did so, leaving behind all worldly possessions and possibilities, choosing instead an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. According to tradition (although modern Biblical scholarship may say otherwise), he wrote the first account of the birth, life, and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ; and the account he wrote is first among the four Gospels in the New Testament canon. This is why he is called an Apostle and an Evangelist: for he was one of the Twelve who accompanied our Lord, and one of the four who wrote about Him after His passion, crucifixion, resurrection from the dead, and ascension into heaven. St. Matthew went to Ethiopia, where he established a church and consecrated a bishop. He also baptized the wife and son of a prince of that land, causing the prince to seek the arrest of the apostle. The first band of soldiers sent to bring him to the prince returned without him, saying they had heard his voice, but could not see him. The second detachment found the saint, but the light that shined from him dazzled them so that they cast down their weapons and ran away. The prince himself went to find the saint, and was blinded by the same light; his sight being restored only by the prayers of St. Matthew. This did not prevent the prince from seizing the apostle; and, after many tortures, in which he was protected and sustained by the Lord, the holy apostle yielded his spirit to his Master. The prince ordered that his body be placed in a casket made of lead and thrown into the sea; but the bishop, following the appearance of the apostle in a dream, found the body. It was this miracle that brought the prince to repent, and to embrace the Christian faith; and he became first a priest, and then later the bishop of that land, serving the Lord as a faithful shepherd of the flock until his own falling asleep in the Lord.

In the reading from the Gospel bearing his name, we hear of the feast that St. Matthew gave after he left behind his earthly life to follow the way of Jesus Christ. It is striking to hear how the Pharisees criticized our Lord for sitting down to eat with tax collectors and sinners. We should recall that the Pharisees sought to fulfill all the commandments of the law of Moses, which included avoiding meals with those who were “unclean” – and certainly Matthew and the others gathered for the feast he gave qualified for that distinction in the eyes of the Pharisees. Our Lord speaks to them; and we would do well to hear and understand what He is saying. First, He says that He did not come for the righteous, but to save sinners. Then, He rebukes them, saying, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Of course, it is the work of an evangelist to bring the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ to those who do not yet know Him, who have not yet come to Him for mercy and forgiveness and new life in Him. We don’t have any real problems with the first part of His reply to the Pharisees. But that second part? For some reason, this can be a very real challenge for some of us as we seek to embrace and practice the Orthodox way of life.

The danger for us is that we can get so caught up in trying to do everything right that we can miss the real center of the Orthodox faith: to love God with the fullness of our being, and to love others as we love ourselves. If we remember to pray, but do not remember the poor, what god does praying do for us? If we remember the fast, but do not feed the hungry, does our fasting really benefit us? If we confess our sins, but judge others in our hearts, have we truly confessed? If we pay more attention to what others are doing while we are in church than we are to the prayers, have we really taken part in the worship of God? “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” says the Lord – and I take that to include the need for us to be blind to the faults of everyone else, except perhaps in order to pray for them, and to not be so focused on outward acts, as valuable as these may be, that we do not remember to forgive, and to love, and to be patient, and to be humble, and not to judge, or tell another person what to do – unless, of course, they come to you and ask.

Brothers and sisters, let us leave behind the ways of the world – including the ways of the Pharisees – and, following the example of the holy apostle and evangelist Matthew, let us be transformed from our lives in this sinful world to shine with the light of the love of God in Jesus Christ, even to the point of praying for those who seek our deaths.

Good Fruit from Dry Sticks

Among the saints commemorated today is our holy father John Kolobos (little, or dwarf) of Egypt, a friend of St. Paisios the Great, and teacher of St. Arsenius the Great. Among the aspects of his life we learn how, as a novice, he was given an obedience by his spiritual father, St. Pambo, to plant a dry stick in the ground, and to water it every day until it produced leaves. St. John watered that stick every day for three years, until, by the grace of God, the stick produced leaves, and then fruit, which St. Pambo gathered and took to the church, saying, “Come and taste the fruit of obedience!”

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Yesterday, we celebrated the festival of the holy archangel Michael and all the other bodiless powers with the added blessing of the presence of the most holy Theotokos through her Kursk Root Icon, whose visit was a great privilege and blessing. We considered how it is that the nature of angels, who certainly appear far more powerful than we are ourselves, not to have dominion, but rather are called to serve. We remember that it is said of many of the saints that they lived as angels on earth; and how each of us is called to be the servant of everyone around us, honoring and respecting every person because they are made in the image and after the likeness of God, and, being blind to, and quick to forgive, their sins, remembering only our own sins, to consider all others as being more worthy of honor and respect than we may ever be ourselves.

Everyone, I am sure, will agree that actually obtaining this ideal requires a great deal of labor, a great deal of struggle. Yet the life of St. John Kolobos and his watering of the stick should encourage us, as we should also be encouraged by the account of the woman with an issue of blood, of whom we hear in the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Luke. No doctor was able to cure her, and she suffered daily for twelve years; but drawing near to our Lord Jesus Christ by faith, and touching only the fringe of His garment, she was healed. Both her healing and the restoration of life and the bearing of fruit from what was once a dry stick are beyond our power to achieve, or to comprehend; yet both are possible by the grace of God.

Brothers and sisters, in so many ways we are like the woman with an issue of blood: suffering the loss of our lives both bodily and spiritually because we have cut ourselves off from the root of Life by our sins. We are like the dry stick: lifeless, and with no chance of bearing fruit. But if we will put our trust and hope in the Lord, and draw near to Him by prayer and fasting and all the other practices of our Orthodox way of life, and persevere in doing so, even when all it might seem that we are doing is watering with faith a dry, lifeless stick, by our obedience, by desiring and pursuing the grace of God, not the least of which by drawing near with fear and faith to regularly receive the holy mysteries of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we may have hope that we also, like the woman with an issue of blood, and like the dry stick, may be healed, and so bear the fruits of the Spirit, and so live in such a way that others may taste of that fruit, and draw near to God, and so be saved.

Saved by Grace? Grace and Works in Our Salvation

“For by grace you have been saved by faith; and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)

St. Paul writes this in his epistle to the Church in the city of Ephesus. He tells them of God’s plan and purpose, to bring all of creation together under Christ: a plan that begins with His reconciling us to Him through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Being reconciled with God, we are then to be reconciled to each other, with the barriers that separate us having been torn down by the Lord Jesus. Made one, we are able to become the Church, through which and in which the message of salvation is to be proclaimed throughout all the world, so that everybody everywhere has the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Why emphasize the point that we cannot save ourselves? The saint wants us to know that we lack the capability to truly love, or to forgive, or to be merciful, when we are apart from God – and sin, of course, separates us from God. He is telling us that God works first in us; that His work is that of faith, the faith in Jesus Christ that saves sinners. There is nothing, no work that we can do to earn the favor of God. Does this mean, then, that it does not matter what we do? Is there any need for praying, or fasting, or giving? Is there any need to struggle against our passions, against the impulses and appetites that, left uncontrolled, soon control us, and lead us away from the path that leads to heaven? If we are not saved by our works, why bother to forgive, or to discipline our flesh, or to pursue humility or patience or generosity or mercy?

Our salvation is a gift from God. No one “earns” a gift; no one “deserves” a gift. A gift is given, at least, ideally, because the giver loves the person for whom the gift is intended. The act of giving is independent of the recipient. But this is not to say that we need do nothing. Actually, those aspects of the Orthodox way of life that might be called “works” – praying, fasting, giving, forgiving, struggling to be patient, humble, laboring to uproot the passions that betray us – these are things we undertake in response to the gift we have been given. We follow the Orthodox way of life not because it saves us – it does not – but because it is through the development of the qualities that praying and fasting and giving and struggling produce in us that allows us to “get out of the way,” as it were, and allow the life of our Lord Jesus Christ given to us in holy Baptism to come forth, to be seen and heard in what we say and do. The “works” of the Orthodox way of life are a way of giving thanks for the gift of salvation given to us freely, while we were still sinners, while we were still the enemies of God, so that we might know the love of God for us in His Son, and in His death on the Cross on our behalf. As we allow the life of our Lord and Savior to be seen in and through us, we may know that we are becoming His Body, His Church – and that the message of salvation is being proclaimed in this time and this place, as St. Paul wanted the believers in Ephesus to know and to do.

Brothers and sisters, we cannot save ourselves; but the good news is that God has saved us, doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Let us give thanks to God for the love that is the source of His mercy and grace; and let us, with thanksgiving, embrace the way of life of our Orthodox faith, so that we may fulfill His purpose for us, and be His servants, gathering in all His people, to the glory of God.

Does Sin Cause Earthquakes?

The holy Great-Martyr Demetrius was the only child of faithful and devout parents, who had begged God in prayer to grant them a child. Of a wealthy family, Demetrius was well educated, and his family’s place in society led him to become the military commander of Thessalonica after his father retired from that post. It was in this office that Demetrius was ordered by the Emperor Maximian, who hated the Christian Church and faith, to persecute and exterminate the faithful in the region under his command. Instead, the saint openly and boldly refused to follow the order, declaring his faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He was arrested; and, knowing that his life would soon come to an end, gave all is possessions to his servant, so that he in turn could give them all to the poor and needy in the city. His executioners found him in prayer, in which he was strengthened for what would happen by an angel; and they killed Demetrius with their spears. His friends collected his body; and found that myrrh came from his burial site. Many of those who were sick found healing through this myrrh, and a church, small at first, was built at the site of his relics. A rich nobleman who ran to the relics was healed of an incurable disease, and built a larger church in thanksgiving. When the Emperor Justinian tried to move the saint’s relics to Constantinople, a flame of fire arose from the tomb, and a voice was heard, saying, “Leave them here; do not touch them!” The martyr had not, at the time of his death, been removed from his office as the military protector of Thessalonica; and so continued in that office even after his repose, delivering the city many times from barbarian attacks.

In the year 740, a great earthquake struck the city of Constantinople on the feast day of St. Demetrius. It was an earthquake of some duration, and the destruction is caused was significant. The people of the city understood that the earthquake was the result of their sins, and so they were moved to repentance and a changed way of life, even as they gave thanks to the most holy Theotokos and to the Great-Martyr Demetrius for their protection in the time of trial.

This theme is echoed again and again in the hymns during the canon recalling the great earthquake, which is chanted at the service of Matins on the eve of the feast. The hymns call us to flee from sin, which is the cause of great earthquakes, plagues, and death; and to seek to please God by repentance and amendment of life. Of course, this explanation of the cause of the quake that day, as on other days, does not fit well with our understanding of the science of plate tectonics, the cause, as best as we are able to explain it, of earthquakes and volcanic activity. Yet we would do well to remember that the heavens and the earth are created by God; and who can predict when an earthquake might take place, or explain exactly why the earthquake was of any given magnitude or duration? Surely, if God exists – and, of course, we believe He does – it is not beyond the realm of possibility that, indeed, an earthquake may very well be one way in which the love of God, Who desires not the death of a sinner, but that we might instead turn from our death-directed ways, and return to Him, and so find life, shakes us – literally – from the path to destruction, and gives us the opportunity to once more walk with Him, as did Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

Brothers and sisters, let us, with faith, overcome the world – and what it has taught us that intentionally or unintentionally denies the reality of God; for when we deny the existence and activity of God, we also deny the existence of sin. If there is no God, then there is no sin, and so there is no need to repent, or confess, or to change our way of life. May we never deny our faith and trust in God; and may we, by our faithfulness to our Lord Jesus Christ in word and in deed, through the protection of the most holy Theotokos and the holy Great-Martyr Demetrius, bear witness to Him, and to His love for us.