Category: Sermons Page 1 of 2
Delivered in Christ the Savior Church on 11/4/2012
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Congratulations, Brothers and Sisters, on the feast of All Saints of Russia, on which we commemorate all those saints who have shone forth in the Russian land.
We know from sacred history that Russia was not always a land united in its love for God and for the Holy Orthodox Church. Ancient Russia was a pagan land, devoid of the light of the Gospel. It was a land in which war between the various princedoms was common as there was no common faith, no sense of unity among the people. Lamenting this situation, St. Vladimir, the prince of Kiev, understood that the people of Kievan Rus’ were in need of a faith to unite them first to God and, thus, to one another as well.
As we have no doubt heard, St. Vladimir sent his emissaries out from Kiev to find the true faith, the faith that would unite Russia. The emissaries of St. Vladimir examined the faith of the Muslims, of the Jews… they came also to Germany and learned of the Latin faith. Finally, they came to the Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople were they encountered Holy Orthodoxy. So moved were the emissaries that, upon their return, they recounted the following to St. Vladimir:
“When we journeyed among the Bulgars, we beheld how they worship in their temple, called a mosque, while they stand ungirt. The Bulgarian bows, sits down, looks hither and thither like one possessed, and there is no happiness among them, but instead only sorrow and a dreadful stench. Their religion is not good. Then we went among the Germans, and saw them performing many ceremonies in their temples; but we beheld no glory there. Then we went on to Greece, and the Greeks led us to the edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendour or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We know only that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty. Every man, after tasting something sweet, is afterward unwilling to accept that which is bitter, and therefore we can no longer dwell here.”
-From the “Primary Chronicle”
The envoy’s impression of Orthodox Christianity was so profound that they not only advised St. Vladimir to adopt Orthodoxy as the faith of Russia, they announced that, having fulfilled their mission, they would now return to Constantinople to live where God dwells with men.
At this report, we understand that Prince Vladimir eventually decided to accept Orthodox Christianity himself and requested that priests and bishops be sent from Byzantium to baptize his people. This event was truly a turning point, a new beginning for Kievan Rus’, a new beginning that led to such a flowering of holiness that to now recount all the saints of Russia is not at all an easy task.
Referring to the first flowering of Christianity in the ancient Roman empire, the Church father Tertullian famously said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church”, and what was true in Ancient Rome turned out to be equally true in Russia. Beginning with the martyrdom of Sts. Boris and Gleb, and continuing on to the countless Russian ascetics who were martyrs of a different type, those who became dead to their passions through a life of spiritual struggle, the land of Russia became a spiritual meadow, with radiant examples of holiness appearing everywhere. As with the flowering of monasticism in ancient Egypt, the wilderness areas of the Russian North became filled with hermits and ascetics who shone as examples of holiness inspiring the faithful in their own struggles.
In turn, churches and monasteries appeared everywhere, lanterns set on the hill of Russia calling all the faithful to the life of holiness. This entire edifice was led by princes, and eventually tsars, who took the words of the Savior to heart, “if you would be great, you must become the servant of all”. Indeed, many rulers, such as the great St. Alexander Nevsky, were also great examples of piety and holiness, showing the example of Christ by sacrificing themselves for their people.
When we look back at the sacred history of Russia, it is sometimes tempting to think that there was something very different between their circumstances and ours… Of course, we can’t be expected to become holy like they did, because everything has changed, modern life is so complicated, we are all busy and preoccupied with the complexities of modern life, whereas they had simple lives with nothing to do to occupy themselves except prayer and fasting…
If we fall prey to such a manner of thinking, we are surely deceiving ourselves. Without a doubt, the saints of Russia tread the narrow path of struggle against their passions, but this narrow path is equally open to us today. There is no great mystery as to how so many people acquired holiness within the Russian Church… those who became holy were, very simply, those who acknowledged their sinfulness, turned to God in repentance and truly embraced the life of the Church, the life of struggling against the passions. The saints of Russia devoted themselves to Christ considering that the cares of this life will soon pass away, but to live in Christ is to live forever.
Has this changed? Is it not possible for us to imitate their example?
While it is true that our society is not an “Orthodox” society: there is no tsar setting the example of piety, we are not surrounded by Orthodox churches and monasteries, our culture is, in fact, clearly at odds with the principles of Orthodoxy. Nevertheless, each one of us still has the opportunity to choose to struggle against our passions and to unite ourselves to Christ.
Through the prayers of all the saints of Russia, may God bring us to our senses and establish us firmly on the path of salvation. May we decide from this day to come frequently to Holy Confession and Communion, to perform good deeds for our neighbors, to struggle against sinful thoughts and to build the sure foundation of our spiritual lives by remembering God throughout the day, by praying to Him in the morning and evening and by humbly accepting whatever crosses God allows for our salvation. In this way, brothers and sisters, we truly honor the saints of Russia, not by simply remembering their feast day once a year, but by imitating their example of spiritual struggle for the sake of Christ.
Through the prayers of All the Saints of Russia, may God have mercy on us.
Amen.
Sermon by Fr Jonah Campbell
Delivered at Christ the Savior Orthodox Church, Sunday of All Saints of Russia, 2012
Source: fatheralexander.org
God is a holy Trinity. A Trinity consubstantial and indivisible. Consubstantial, that is, one essence, one nature. A Trinity indivisible: the Son has never been divided from the Father, nor the Holy Spirit from the Father or the Son, and never will be divided.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three gods, but one God, since They have one nature. But not only because of this. People also have one nature, one essence. But with people one cannot say that two or three persons are one person, no matter how close and amicable they may be. People not only have separate bodies, but each one also has his own will, his own tastes, his own moods. No matter how similar people may be in body and character, it still never happens that everything is in common or that everything is the same.
With the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity everything is in common. The boundless love of the Father for the Son, of the Son for the Father, and the same love between them and the Holy Spirit make Their will and all of Their actions to be common. They have one will, and everything is performed by Them together. Whatever pleases the Father also pleases the Son and the Holy Spirit. Whatever displeases the Holy Spirit also displeases the Father. Whatever the Son loves, the Father and the Holy Spirit love also.
Everything is accomplished jointly by the Holy Trinity. At the creation of the world it says in the Bible: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light (Gen. 1:3). What does “said” mean? It means that God the Father created by His Word, by that Word of which the Gospel says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1) and which is the Only-begotten Son of God.
God the Father created everything by His Word; in other words, He accomplished everything through His Son. The Father does not create anything without the Son, just as the Son does not create anything without the Father, and the Holy Spirit always assists the Father and the Son. It is said in the Bible about the creation of the world: And the Spirit of God moved over the waters (Gen. 1:2). It “moved” over creation, but did not merely move over it—the word in the Hebrew original, which lacks an exact equivalent in Slavonic, signifies “to cover,” “to warm,” just as a brood-hen sitting on her eggs gives life to them by her warmth, and from them come forth living creatures.
By the Word of the Lord were the heavens established, and all the might of them by the Spirit of His mouth (Ps. 32:6). All that exists was created by God the Father through the Son and was brought to life by the Holy Spirit. In other words, everything the Father wanted or wants, immediately was or is fulfilled by the Son and is animated by the Holy Spirit. Thus was the world created, thus was all accomplished by the providence of God concerning the world and mankind.
In order to save man, who through sin had fallen away from God and became mortal, the Son of God, in accordance with the pre-eternal counsel of the Holy Trinity, obeying the will of the Father, came down to earth, was born of the Ever-Virgin Mary through the action of the Holy Spirit, proclaimed to the people the True God the Father and His Divine will, and taught the true worship of God. Having suffered for our sins, He descended in soul into hades, and, having freed the souls of the dead, He rose from the dead.
Even before His sufferings, Christ promised His Apostles, chosen by Him from among His disciples, to give them the power to loose and to bind—to remit people’s sins or to leave them in their sins. After His Resurrection the Lord bestowed this gift of Grace not on any of the Apostles separately, but on all of them together: He established His Church, the repository of that Grace, and united in her all those who believe in Him and love Him.
Having promised His Apostles that He would invest them with power from on high, having sent them the Holy Spirit, and having accomplished all for which He came to earth, the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, receiving in His humanity that glory and honor which He had as the Son of God since before the creation of the world.
In descending upon the disciples of Christ, according to the promise, the Holy Spirit confirmed them in the faith of Christ and through His Grace poured out upon them the gifts of God. He strengthened them for the preaching and fulfilment in life of Christ’s teachings, for the building up of the Church established by Christ and put into action by the Holy Spirit.
The Church, standing on her foundation on earth and headed by the Son of God seated at the right hand of the Father, is mysteriously guided by the Holy Spirit. She inwardly links together all of her children and unites them with God. Through the Church, God’s gifts of Grace are poured out on those striving to follow the way of Christ; they sanctify and fortify all good in them, and cleanse them from sin and every defilement, making them able to become receptacles of the radiance of the glory and power of God.
Through the Church man is made a partaker of the Divine nature, and he enters into the closest relationship with the Holy Trinity.
Not only the soul, but also man’s body is sanctified and communes with God by partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, through which he is united with the entire Holy Trinity. Through Divine Grace, with the participation of his own will and effort, man becomes a new creature, a participant in the eternal Kingdom of God.
Nature, too, is being prepared for the coming Kingdom of God, for the coming purification by fire of the consequences of man’s sin and the curse that lies on her. She receives the first fruits of sanctification through the descent of the Holy Spirit on her at Theophany in the blessing of the waters and in many other Church rites, so that she may later become a new earth and a new heaven.
This will be accomplished at the time appointed by God the Father, and the Son of God will come in glory to pronounce judgment on the world.
Then those who have loved God and have been united with Him will shine with the rays of Divine light and will eternally delight in the uncreated light of the Triune Godhead of the Consubstantial, Life-creating, and Indivisible Trinity.
To God, our Creator and Saviour, be glory, honor, and worship unto everlasting ages:
“Come, O ye people, let us worship the Godhead in Three Hypostases: the Son in the Father, with the Holy Spirit; for the Father timelessly begat the Son Who is Co-ever-existing and Coenthroned, and the Holy Spirit was in the Father, glorified together with the Son; One Might, One Essence, One Godhead. In worshipping Whom let us all say: O Holy God, Who madest all things by the Son, through the cooperation of the Holy Spirit; Holy Mighty, through Whom we have known the Father, and through Whom the Holy Spirit came into the world; Holy Immortal, the Comforting Spirit, Who proceedest from the Father, and restest in the Son: O Holy Trinity, glory be to Thee” (Dogmaticon of Great Vespers of Pentecost).