The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (17:1-9)

Blessed Feastday! On Tuesday evening we sung the Paraklesis (Canon of supplication) and afterwards as I was saying a few words about Our Lady the Mother of God, I told those who were present that today I would prove that the saints are really truly alive. I will go even further today and prove to you that it is indeed biblical to not only believe in the saints but even to speak with the saints!

In today’s gospel we are told that Our Lord Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them high up a mountain, away from the other disciples. We note here that while there were twelve disciples, the Lord had a special relationship with these three and according to His will and His purposes, He chooses only these three to reveal His glory and His majesty in a particular and significant way. As they were all together, high atop the mountain, we are told that the Lord “was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as light.” From this we see that the Lord is not simply reflecting light from somewhere else. He is revealing Himself as the light of the world.

One of the most prominent descriptions throughout the Scriptures regarding God and the Divine is the image of light and fire. On this day the Lord displays this glory of His divinity for His disciples. He is not simply the long-awaited Messiah of the Jews. He is the one who appears as fire within the burning bush. He is the one who appears as a pillar of flame before the Jews in the wilderness. He is one with His Father and the Holy Spirit.

After the Lord was transfigured this is what the gospel tells us “And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him.” My brothers and sister, I promised to prove to you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that saints exist and that they are truly alive. I also promised to prove to you that it is right and proper to speak with the saints. Rather, it is the Lord Jesus who demonstrates the truth of this matter. Moses and Elijah appeared and they spoke with Jesus! Moses had died and was buried thousands of years earlier, and Elijah had been translated to heaven many years before the time of Jesus. Yet they both appear fully alive, fully present at this miraculous event. The passage could not be any clearer. Far from being some vision that only the Lord could see, Peter and the other disciples also saw these men and they were amazed. We should also be amazed. The kingdom of God is rarely as we imagine it. It is infinitely more grand, beautiful and alive than we can possibly conceive.  Not only are the saints alive.  Not only should we speak to them…we should also become saints ourselves!

The saints, those who love God and obey His teachings, are also much more alive than we can imagine. They radiate the light of God through the Holy Spirit. As we have mentioned in the past, they are like candles that are lit off of the great flame of the divinity of God. In fact, as I was studying this week, I happened to read the passage in Exodus where Moses goes up on the mountain for 40 days, neither eating nor drinking, and he speaks with God and waits for the tablets of the law to be made once again. Do you know what happens to Moses after 40 days of fasting and speaking with God? His face glows! When he leaves the mountain, the people can barely look at him from the brightness of his appearance and in fact he wears a veil. Such is the power of the presence of God in the life of one who loves Him.

The great feast of transfiguration was a special moment in the life of the disciples. It didn’t make sense to them yet but later, after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, it became perfectly clear. Jesus is the king of glory who demonstrated a small taste of that glory to His inner circle. But there is more! Because we worship the God who is love, we know that He is not content to hoard His glory and keep it only for Himself. Our Orthodox Christian concept of salvation is to share, experience and fully partake in the glory of God. In order for us to fully experience this we will also need to be brave enough to go through the trials, temptations, tribulations and sufferings that come our way. There is for us, no glory without the life of the cross as our prerequisite. There is no Christian life without carrying the cross, because it is by the cross that we are saved.

God is glorified in His saints and the saints are glorified through their struggles to live the life of self-emptying, which is the life of Christ. The Lord did not need to take flesh and become a man. The Lord did not need to suffer temptation, hunger and thirst. The Lord did not need to suffer betrayal, injustice, spitting, and the cruelty of the cross. He chose them through His humble condescension to be like His people, the people whom He loved. Yet through all of this, the transfiguration tells us that there is much more than meets the eye. Jesus Christ is full of majesty, glory and power. This is the power that is poured out on all of the saints who love Him and bring their life into alignment with the teachings and example of the Lord.  May we boldly accept the daily life of crucifixion that we might be transformed through the grace of the Holy Spirit and receive the light of the glory of God. AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (14:14-22)

In today’s gospel text we hear these words “when Jesus went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick.” We are or we should be constantly amazed by the love of God that is demonstrated through His Son, Our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ. Who are we that we should be treated with the care and mercy that the Lord shows to the great multitude of people. His care for them is not superficial. He isn’t worried only about their appearance. He is worried about their health. He is worried about what is going on in their bodies and in their souls.

We often try to separate the things of God from the things of this world. We assume that God has no interest in whether we are sick or unhealthy in the body or that God is not interested in our food and clothing and shelter. Nothing could be further from the truth. God cares deeply for our souls, but He does this without neglecting the material needs of His people.

There is a sense in which every church, every parish is a miracle. This is perhaps even more true with a mission. Many of you have been here from the start of this humble mission and you know that the mission exists as a place of daily miracles. There are daily signs here that Our Lord is alive and working within our midst as we seek to live out our daily lives in prayer and worship of the Lord Jesus and in love and service of one another.

Today’s gospel passage about the 5 loaves and the 2 fish is a great reminder that God doesn’t need much in order to accomplish His will. But there is one thing that He requires…that we entrust everything to Him. As the Lord seeks to feed the hungry and tired people, the disciples look at the meager supply of food, the loaves and the fish and they say to Him “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” How does our Lord respond? “Bring them here to Me.”

We started about 18 months ago with very little. We had a few families and a desire and yet the Lord has multiplied this work beyond our expectations. We are thankful to the Lord for working powerfully in the life of this holy community. We are thankful to our father St. Raphael who prays for us night and day. He doesn’t simply pray for the building, he is praying for each of our families.

People often wonder how a mission can function from day to day. Ultimately the answer is that we bring our small offerings to the feet of Jesus Christ and we trust Him to multiply them. The worst thing in the world is to be distracted or to set your gaze on anything else. Instead we are called to bring our focus and everything else to God. Bring everything to God, ourselves, our senses, our minds, our service, our worship, our lives, that is the meaning and purpose of the Christian life. What was true for the disciples and what is true for this mission is also true for each of us as we seek to do God’s will.

He doesn’t need us to be saints before He can use us. He doesn’t wait for us to have a multitude of gifts and talents before we become useful.Whoever you are, no matter your age or size or strength, no matter your strengths or weaknesses, God can use you in ways that you could never imagine. God can take your meager offerings (your talents, your gifts, your resources) and if you lay them down humbly at His feet and at His service, He can multiply them in a miraculous way. He did exactly that with the disciples, didn’t He?

There is not much good that can come from pondering our limitations. The Lord doesn’t need you to be perfect. It is the Lord Himself who will perfect you. Bring your sins and weaknesses so that God can heal them. Bring them in prayer, with intense supplication. Bring your gifts and your verylivesas well. Whatever God touches, He leaves changed by His grace. God does not need our abundance. In fact, He only worked the miracle when they realized that they were lacking. God does not need our abundance, He knows that we are poor and He wants to be our abundance!

The God we serve is faithful and generous, merciful and long suffering. May the Lord see our sicknesses and hungers and may He have compassion on us as He did on the multitude and fill us with good things, both material and spiritual because He alone can satisfy us and to Him is due all glory, honor and worship. Amen.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (5:14-19)

Nothing attracts others to God like people who are genuinely faithful to God and to His commandments. In fact, it is sometimes said that people have no problem with Jesus but that they have a problem with the followers of Jesus whom they’ve encountered. In today’s gospel passage the Lord Jesus, the light of the universe is reminding His disciples that they are called to be the light of the world. He tells them not to hide their light and keep it away from men.

How do we as disciples and followers of Jesus, fulfill this calling to be the light of the world? It starts by our obedience to the teachings and commandments of Jesus Christ. The Lord says to us “If you love me, obey my commandments.” And in the process of trusting God and obeying His commandments, we demonstrate our love for Him. This genuine love isn’t simply with the lips but with the heart. Without obedience to the commandments of God and the teachings of the Son of God, there can be very little progress in our spiritual life. It is a prerequisite of the faith.

When we obey the Lord, we are surprised to find that we are drawn closer and closer to the divine nature of the Lord Himself. It makes sense that as we follow God, we become more and more God-like. We draw near to the Light and we take light from the Light that is never overtaken by night. Each and every Christian is like a candle that does not fulfill it’s purpose unless it is on fire for God. If the candle is far away from the source, the flame, it is practically useless. When the candle comes near to the heat, it comes to life, it not only benefits itself by finding meaning and purpose for it’s existence, it greatly benefits others as well. In the sayings of the desert fathers we find this story…

Abba (Father) Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, “Abba, as far as I can say, I do my little office, I read my psalms, I fast a little bit, I pray and I meditate, I live in peace with others as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. Tell me, Father, what else, what more can I do?” Then the old man, Father Joseph, stood up, stretched out his hands toward heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire, and he said to him, “If you will, you can become all flame.”

My brothers and sisters, we are the candles! Each one of us was excited when the Holy Fire came to our church and we passed it carefully to one another. But the Lord asks all of His disciples to pass the fire and the light of the Christian teaching and way of life to those around us. We don’t have to do this by being preachy. People don’t like preachy, but people swarm to genuine warmth, and love. This genuine love comes by the grace of God, through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, when we engage in the struggle and choose to live holy lives.

When we struggle to obey Christ and to become holy, the Holy Spirit visits us and transforms each one of us so that we become light-bearers. When this happens people are affected and transformed by us since we are vessels of the Holy Spirit. This not only saves us, but it makes us useful to others and their salvation. It allows others to know God through us. It allows God to become incarnate and made a tangible reality for those who struggle to know God otherwise. When the people hear about a living saint, they flock to that individual from all over the world. Why? Because in the presence of the saint, they will come tangibly closer to the grace of God.

We come to God and struggle to know Him, not in order to gain any special gifts from Him or that others might think of us as special. We struggle to know God because we love Him and desire to know Him more fully, just as a man longs to go deeper in his relationship with his wife. In a healthy marriage, the husband doesn’t get bored with the wife, and vice-versa. Each one is courting the other and desires to draw the other one closer. The marriage is profound and magical even when the two are simply in each others presence. This is ultimately what prayer is about, being in the presence of God. Uniting with God through love. But the prerequisite to uniting with God is a life of obedience to the commandments of Jesus Christ. This life allows our life to be changed, it allows us to be transfigured by the Holy Spirit and through this we become like the city set on a hill. As St. Seraphim of Sarov says “Acquire the Holy Spirit and a thousand around you shall be saved.” Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (8:28-9:1)

How can we forget the scope of God’s love and mercy for all mankind? It is the basis and foundation for all of the work of salvation which is found within the holy gospels and the rest of the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus demonstrates His exceeding goodness not only toward the Jewish people, His own people, but towards the demon possessed men who dwelt in the country of the Gergesenes.

St. Matthew recalls this story in part, because he wants to draw the reader’s and hearer’s attention to the fact that the Lord is come to save more than one select group of people. He is come to save the whole of mankind. He is come to make all people, His people. It is likely that the country of the Gergesenes was a land of the gentiles. This is demonstrated by the fact that there are herds of swine nearby. Such herds of swine would be unimaginable among the Jews since pigs were considered unclean and were never consumed or handled by the Jewish people. The Lord Jesus Christ had such love and compassion that He could not stand to see these men imprisoned, enslaved and tormented by the demons. It did not matter that they were not His people, Our Lord Jesus desires to make all men His people. He desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

There are many lessons for us as we hear today’s gospel. We are surprised by the similarity between the demon possessed men and the people of the city who came to meet Jesus. The demons cry out “what have we to do with thee, O Son of God?” And the people of the city do nearly the same thing when they beg the Lord to leave their city. Each group believes that they have something to lose by the presence of Christ. The demons believe that they will be tormented by the mere presence of Christ. They know that they will lose their grip on the souls of the two men whom they had possessed.

Likewise, the people of the city feel that they will lose their livelihood by the mere presence of Christ. After all, the herdsmen had lost quite a bit of wealth by losing their herd of swine, which ran into the sea and perished. We expect the demons to be uncomfortable with the presence of Christ, but we should be surprised that the people reject the presence of the Lord in their midst. During the Divine Liturgy we pray for “the ignorance of the people.” Here in the gospels we have this clear example. They cannot see past their particular situation to the great and powerful miracle that the Holy One of Israel has just performed in their midst. Instead of rejoicing at the restoration of two men who were created in the image and likeness of God, we find that they are gripped by sadness and despair since they lost their swine.

As a Christian it is good to make peace with one simple fact: Jesus Christ is always trying to disrupt our lives. This is a process of holy disruption. What is the character of this holy disruption? It is the process of disrupting the sin in our lives. The Lord Jesus is always trying to expose us with all of our frailties and shortcomings, to the light of His grace. The mere presence of Christ is powerful enough to disrupt our lives. We often sense the Lord trying to come to the city of our hearts. How does our heart react to this visitation? Do we greet the Lord with joy, as we saw at the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem? Or do we greet the Lord in order to quickly dismiss Him and remove Him from our lives?

When does the Lord visit us? Every time that we have a thought that reminds us of God. Every time that our conscience speaks to us and attempts to correct us. Every time that we think about praying. Every time that we are faced with the pain and suffering of others. Every time that we see the poor. Every time we read or hear the Bible.  Most importantly, every time we come to the divine liturgy. These are opportunities when God visits us.

Let us take the liturgy for example. What is the disposition of our hearts during the liturgy? Do we long to meet and to commune with Jesus Christ or do we find our minds wandering to all of the things that we’ve got planned after the liturgy. Are we more excited about communion or coffee hour? More excited to chat with our beloved friends or to unite with our beloved Savior? Every liturgy and every day and every moment of every day, brings another chance to either accept Christ into the city of our hearts or to quickly show Him the door. It is a chance to make Him either first or last, but He does not accept to be somewhere in the middle. Listen to the words of our Lord Jesus to the church of Laodicea

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Rev 3:15-20

The people of the city thought that they had everything and that all they needed was their pigs. But in their confidence that they had it all, they turned away the One who was worth more than all of the treasures of the universe.  They rejected Him because He disrupted their lives, or had the potential to disrupt their lives.  The Lord waits at the door of our city.  What do we see?  Do we see someone who wants to trouble and disrupt our lives or do we see the One who loves us and wants to not only be part of our lives, but beckons and calls us to be part of His life, which is true life!  Behold, He stands at the door and knocks….how will we answer?                   Glory be to God Forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (8:5-13)

God’s grace is something that we speak of but do we realize that this energy and healing presence of God is very near to us?

It often becomes our habitual way of thinking to assume that God is far away, a distant entity who cannot be concerned with our day to day lives. With such a theology it becomes easy to believe that we are basically all alone barring certain inexplicable miracles. Today’s gospel passage tells us something quite different and it is of utmost importance that we figure this out and that we also figure out how to feel God’s presence.

The Lord is entering into Capernaum and as He does this He is greeted by a Roman centurion, a very high ranking soldier. The centurion said to Jesus “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress.” That’s it! That is all that he said and this is how the Lord responded to him: “I will come and heal him.” We should wonder at the speed and the willingness of our Lord to go and heal a man who is not of the house of Israel, but an outsider.  How often do we find ourselves going out of our way to immediately help those in need and to serve others?  The Lord was ready to jump to the aid of a complete stranger (though we know that no one is a stranger to the Lord).  Are we ready to at least jump to the aid of our brothers and sisters in the church or within our own family?

We are stunned at the quick response from the Lord but the next thing that the centurion says will show us why the Lord was so quick to try and help the man.

The centurion, having heard the Master’s reply says to Him “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Unbelievable! The Lord was not simply content with such a response, He was genuinely overjoyed and marvelled to hear such a response. He tells those who are standing nearby “Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  What made the centurion different? What was it about him that invited and welcomed the grace of God? Humility. Genuine humility.

Think about it, this man was a Roman centurion, a high ranking member of the greatest army the world had ever known. He was in some ways, the definition of earthly power and might. Yet even this powerful man comes to the Lord without haughtiness or pride. He comes as one who genuinely seeks the help of Christ and he does this without any feeling that this healing is his right or is somehow owed to him. In fact, it is the opposite, he tells the Lord that he is not worthy to receive Him into his house. What a concept! The idea of unworthiness is completely alien to our culture isn’t it?  People believe that they deserve everything under the sun.  While it is alien to our culture, it is important that it becomes part of our very fiber as Christians.  Because if the concept of unworthiness is alien to you, then you will be alien to God.  

Why is this the case?  Scripture tells us that “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  The Lord Himself teaches us to follow Him as He says “For I am meek and humble of heart.”  The only way to attract God’s grace and to feel God’s presence is to feel a deep seated sense not of entitlement, but of unworthiness to be in the presence of God. One of the powerful dichotomies in the life of the saints is that as they grow in holiness and the grace of God, they will also grow in humility and it would reinforce their deep and profound sense of unworthiness to know and to experience the presence of God.  After all, who are we to think that we are worthy of God’s grace?  Who are we to think that we should be given the opportunity to experience His powerful visitation?  

None of this is owed to us.  None of this is required of God. And that my dear brothers and sisters is why it is called God’s grace.  Because it is freely given.  While there is nothing that we could do to earn it, there is a certain attitude and demeanor that attracts this grace of God and allows us to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and this doesn’t take long, it can happen very quickly, like a flash of lightning.  This is what happened to the servant of the centurion.  The Lord healed the servant based on the centurion’s faith and humility.  

Are we praying for others with genuine faith and profound humility?  Are we seeking the Lord’s face with humble prayers?  Or are we coldly going through the motions and imagining that we are somehow worthy of feeling God’s presence, and worthy of seeing God’s miracles? Or even worse, are we simply in disbelief that God is very near to us and desires to dwell with us?  

Do not be unbelieving, but believe as this centurion believed.  His humility invited the grace of the Holy Spirit just as a bee is drawn to a lovely flower.  He knew that he was unworthy of the Lord’s visitation.  He didn’t make excuses for his sins and shortcomings.  He didn’t put blame on others.  He knew that he was very unworthy of having the Lord Jesus come to his home and his deep sense of meekness and humility attracted the grace of God and all of the gifts that come with His grace all the more!

We can approach Christ in the same way that the centurion approached Christ, and we do this through real prayer.  Whether we are approaching God in prayer for ourselves or for others, let us follow this example and we will be shocked by the immediate willingness of the Lord to dwell with us and to come to our aid.

Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (10:32-33, 37-38; 19:27-30)

On this day, the Sunday after the Feast of Pentecost, we celebrate All Saints. In the West this celebration falls on November 1^st and for this reason Halloween, which means “All Hallows eve or All Saints eve, is the previous evening. In the Orthodox Church this All Saints day is celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost as a sign of the fruits of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and in the life of her people. Because the Lord, the Holy Spirit has come down and dwelt within us, it is possible for us to be completely changed and to become saints. Not all of the saints will be recognized officially by the Church. But they will all be recognized by the Lord as His children, His sons and daughters.

You and I were created to enter into a full relationship with our Father, God. Becoming a saint is not something strange or weird. Becoming a saint is accepting your calling and the purpose for which you were created. You were not created for worldly successes and honors. You were not created to win the lottery and become rich. You were not created to become the president. Even all of these titles and honors are nothing compared to the purpose for which you were created, to serve and to know and to commune with the most high God.

When we orient ourselves to this reality and to this purpose, we find everything is a source of peace in our lives, even the difficult circumstances. When we run from this reality and purpose, we find that everything is tedious and challenging and nothing brings peace or joy, no matter how successful we are, no matter how wealthy we become, no matter what honors or titles are bestowed on us. All of it is empty and meaningless because we haven’t found the source of our hunger and thirst and this hunger and thirst cannot be quenched by anything but the One who is infinite joy and unending peace.

What is the beginning of sainthood? According to the Lord, it is the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ before others. The Lord said “Everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father Who is in heaven; but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before My Father Who is in heaven.” How do we acknowledge our Lord and master on a daily basis before others? It is a really important question that is worthy of reflection and a thoughtful answer.

We may acknowledge God with simply gestures like bowing our head and making the sign of the cross before we eat our meals, no matter where we eat our meals. We may acknowledge God by asking others to refrain from using the name of Jesus Christ in vain since it is deeply offensive and would not be tolerated if the name of Christ was replaced with any other religious figure. The name of Christ is sacred. You might be thinking “but I will be labelled and people will think differently of me…” Glory to God for that. If you have to suffer a little dishonor in order to honor God, you aren’t actually suffering at all, you are blessed by God! I’m challenging you today because the Lord is challenging us and this is no game. The Lord loves us and an important step in our journey to sanctity and sainthood is to honor the Lord and not to deny Him. Either He is our Lord and master and the One whom we love and serve, or we should be more transparent and honest with ourselves and say that we are not practicing Christians but Christians in name only.

I have the sense that in our society almost anything is allowed. We can say whatever we want about any subject, no matter how ignorant or immoral our opinions may be. But if we speak clearly and soberly about Jesus Christ or His teachings….we are committing an act of open revolution. George Orwell once wrote “In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” My brothers and sisters, we are here now in the time of universal deceit. But are we ready to tell the truth?

It is no secret that many of the saints of the Church are martyrs. These people have suffered and died for sharing the truth. The martyrs were like revolutionaries who never took up swords and guns, but instead they slew the empires with their courage and with the truth who is Jesus Christ. New martyrs are being made daily. Somewhere right now, someone is being challenged to remain quiet and deny Jesus Christ, and they are defiant to the glory of God, no matter what the consequences or punishment may be.

Tomorrow we will begin the Apostles fast. This is a time when we increase our prayers and ascetic disciplines in order to honor the Apostles and to emulate their courage. The Apostles were transformed from men who worked in the world to me who served the Lord with complete disregard for the things of the world. They spent their time courageously preaching and teaching others about Jesus Christ. And when at times, they were beaten and imprisoned, and slaughtered, they glorified God for the privilege of suffering for His holy name.

They were true revolutionaries because they taught the world the truth about the God-man Jesus Christ. They were men transformed by their encounter with Jesus Christ and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Their transformation led to the transformation of the entire Roman Empire. The people who sat in darkness indeed saw a great light and this light is the truth who is Jesus Christ. Let us take courage from our Holy Fathers, the Apostles and disciples of the Lord and boldly acknowledge Christ not only with words but with our hearts and minds and our very lives….for this, we will be acknowledged and our memories will be eternal in the sight of Our heavenly Father.

Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons

Today (Sunday June 4th),

we celebrate the Holy Feast of Pentecost. We celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples and Apostles of Our Lord Jesus Christ. But what about us? “How do we receive the Holy Spirit?” A basic study of this question may yield some surprising results. According to the book of Acts, baptism alone does not grant the gift of the Holy Spirit:

Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14–17)

The passage continues to reinforce the idea in the next verses: “And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 8:18–19).

So, amazingly, we see that it wasn’t enough simply to be baptized. We also see the role of the sacramental priesthood in the work of the Apostles as they came to lay hands on the newly baptized. After the Apostles died, the teaching of the Orthodox Church is that a tradition was passed on from them to the bishops of the Church and this is the sacrament of chrism. Chrism (also known as myron) is a special oil of anointing that was originally blessed by the Apostles. In modern times, it is blessed only by the patriarchs or heads of the various Orthodox churches at specifically appointed times. It is also quite possible that St. John the Evangelist is speaking about this in his general epistle when he writes, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things” (1 John 2:20). A few verses later he also writes:

But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

This anointing is spoken of throughout the early centuries of Christianity. Hippolytus, Roman priest (170–235), writes:

The neophytes are anointed by the presbyter from the oil consecrated by the bishop. He says, ‘I anoint you with holy oil in the name of Jesus Christ.’ (Apostolic Tradition 21–22)

Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (313–386), writes:

And to you in like manner, after you had come up from the pool of the sacred streams, there was given an Unction, the anti-type of that wherewith Christ was anointed; and this is the Holy Spirit. (Catechetical Lecture 21:1)

Basil, Bishop of Caeserea (330–379), one of the great figures of Christian history, has this to say:

We also bless the water of baptism, the oil of anointing, and even the baptized themselves. By virtue of what writings? Is it not by virtue of the protected, secret, and hidden tradition? Indeed! Even the oil of anointing, what written word has taught about that? The triple immersion, from where does it come? And everything that surrounds baptism: the renunciation of Satan and his angels—from what scripture does that come? Is it not from that teaching held private and secret, which our fathers kept in silence, protected from anxiety and curiosity, knowing well that in keeping quiet one safeguards the sacred character of the mysteries? For how would it be reasonable to divulge by writing the instruction, that which is not permitted to the uninitiated to contemplate? (On the Holy Spirit 15, 35)

Not only does St. Basil show us the teaching about the sacrament of chrism, but we also see him touch on the subject of holy tradition and why certain subjects are not “divulged by writings” but kept secret and safe from “the uninitiated,” that is, those who have not yet received Christian baptism.

It becomes clear from all of these passages that this sacrament of the early Christians has fallen out of practice in nearly every Christian denomination besides the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic (confirmation). God wants to bless our lives. This is the way that has been preserved for us from apostolic times. Our journey with the Lord Jesus Christ is fulfilled and blessed because we have received the Lord, the Holy Spirit and in this we have become like the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. On this joyous feast may we cleanse our hearts and humble ourselves and actively seek the guidance of the Lord, the giver of life who desires to unite our nature with His divine nature and to glorify us with the saints.

Glory be to God Forever AMEN.

(excerpted and adapted from “Ask for the Ancient Paths” J. Guirguis, Ancient Faith Publishing)

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (17:1-13)

There is in our society a concerted effort which begins at the university level, to discredit the idea of absolute or objective truth. In the life of a Christian there is nothing that is more important than the absolute truth. We do not understand the truth as an idea or a philosophy or ideology but as a person. The Lord Jesus Christ says “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”

Today we celebrate the memory of the holy fathers of the first ecumenical council which was assembled at Nicaea in the year 325 a.d. by the emperor St. Constantine the great. This council was assembled to address a swirling controversy in the Roman Empire concerning the teaching of a priest named Arius and the real identity of Jesus Christ. Nowadays we argue and bitterly divide over politics and things that ultimately won’t matter but at that time the argument really mattered…and the answer mattered. The truth mattered whether it was convenient or inconvenient, whether it was alone or in the majority.

In today’s gospel the Lord Jesus Christ says “This is eternal life, that they know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent.” According to our Lord, knowledge of God is the most important goal of one’s existence. Knowledge of God is in large part, the purpose for which we were created. In knowing God we know the One who exists, the I AM, and in knowing this One who exists, we are imparted with His existence, we find immortality.

Knowledge of God assumes that one will understand God in truth, and with a proper understanding or else one does great harm to themselves and to those around them. In the light of this we understand that the work of the fathers of the first ecumenical council was of utmost importance. We speak about and teach about and worship Jesus Christ because of what the Holy Fathers taught us or discerned for us. The Bible is not simply a document that is subject to whatever interpretations one imagines within his or her mind. This is one of the problems of the Protestant movement; everyone brings their private interpretation of the text and calls it authoritative. The problem is that we can’t all have an authoritative reading of the text. It’s impossible.

The Church of Christ has built-in structures that allow it to rise above such tendencies. In the first place, we don’t rely solely on the biblical text. There is more to our faith than the words on the page. The faith of the Church of Christ is rooted in the faith that was preached and handed down by the Apostles and which they learned directly from Christ. The Church is called the body of Christ and this body is a living breathing body that passes the faith from person to person. The Church has leaders just as any properly organized group would have. These leaders are the bishops who are tasked with teaching, preaching and upholding the faith. If at any place or time one of those who is given the authority to teach, does so in a way that seems improper or inaccurate, they can be brought before the assembly or council of bishops to state their case and attempt to define their position. The council of bishops, guided by the grace of the Holy Spirit, will ultimately decide whether the teachings are sound or false. In this way they protect and safeguard the faith throughout the ages.

We see a similar approach in the way that laws are crafted in the United States. Ultimately a law may be deemed unconstitutional, yet the Constitution itself does not deem what is or is not unconstitutional rather it is the informed, authoritative reading of the Constitution that is offered by the nine Supreme Court Justices that matters.

What is true for the American system of law and government is more true and has far greater consequences in the life of a Christian and in the life of the Church. Knowledge is a key part of our salvation and that salvation hinges upon whether or not the knowledge we have is true Scriptural, Apostolic, knowledge of God or falsehood. There are correct ways to understand and speak about Jesus Christ. There are correct ways to speak about God the Father and the Holy Spirit. There are of course, incorrect ways and the incorrect ways far outnumber the correct ways as our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us “narrow is the way that leads to eternal life, and there are few who find it.”

So our commemoration of the 318 holy fathers, bishops of the One Holy Church of Christ is a celebration of the one saving truth which is the identity of Jesus Christ as perfect God and perfect man. It is the celebration of Christ as unoriginate, without beginning. It is the celebration of the truth that the One who came to dwell among us and suffered and shed His blood for us and died for us is indeed able to save us because He is truly light from light, true God from truth God, and nothing less than God. It is God’s will that all would know Him and His Son intimately. May we faithfully follow the One whom we know and enter into true fellowship and communion with the Lord who is Life eternal. Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John 9:1-38

The miracles of our Lord God and savior Jesus Christ are often seen in the gospels as something of a litmus test. Each and every person will respond to the miracle in a slightly different way. Some will respond with an even greater sense of faith in God. Others will look suspiciously on such work and claim that it is the work of the devil. Yet others will question why this work happened at such a time and to such a person.

In today’s gospel the Lord acts in a powerful way to heal a man who was born blind. Perhaps even, born without eyes. In His powerful work we see the faith of the blind man and the utter refusal to believe by the Pharisees and the Jewish authorities. In this we see the truth with which the evangelist St. John is trying to feed us and give us life; It is better to see with one’s heart than to see with one’s eyes. True sight is to recognize the Lord and His work in the world and in your life. True blindness is to refuse to acknowledge the presence and the work of God in your life.

Why do some refuse to acknowledge His presence and His work in their lives? Often it is because people want to be their own masters and lords. In addition, people will refuse to acknowledge the work of God in their lives because that work does not fit neatly into their concepts of what God can do. God is never bound to work according to our ideas or imaginations. Often God works in unexpected ways. We are regularly given the choice to accept this work or to ignore it. God does not impose His opinion on us because He loves us and in His love He has allowed us complete freedom to choose how we live and what we will believe in our hearts.

We cannot also help but notice that those who have the most serious problem of unbelief are in fact the most “religious” people of the day. It is the Pharisees who were well known for their religiousity and their keeping of the Jewish customs and the teachings of the Mosaic law. Yet time and time again we see that the way that God acts in the world has completely escaped their understanding. It should give us pause my brothers and sisters. If we come to the Church and if we live lives where we go through the motions of Orthodoxy, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ve come to a genuine knowledge of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. Every believer is given the daily opportunity to reflect on why they go through the motions, what is the purpose of what we do, do we really believe, do we really hold this faith as sacred? And if so, how does our practice of the faith translate to tangible love for God and love for our neighbor.

In today’s passage we notice that the Pharisees did not simply discount the miracle when the blind man was questioned. They questioned the honesty of every witness who came forward including the blind man’s parents. But they went even further in their utter denial of the amazing work of God. They denied that the miracle was the work of God and they ascribed it to the demons. Finally, they treated the man who could now see for the first time in his life, not with mercy or with amazement, but with contempt bordering on utter hatred. In this they demonstrated that their religious practice and belief was unto death and condemnation and not unto their salvation. They used their religious practice not as a tutor that would bring them to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, not as a way to glorify God and praise Him for His mighty acts. They used the law of Moses to judge, to condemn and to punish. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke rightly when He said to them “But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’.”

What about us? Do we recognize the work of God happening in our own lives and all around us? Do we glorify God for everything or do we find little reasons not to joyfully give thanks to God? God is alive and moving actively. We have so much for which to be thankful. I don’t want us to miss out on the joy and the blessings by being blind to the work the God is doing. I don’t want us to miss out because we have a narrow definition and understanding of what God can do. He is doing much more than we can imagine.

But what is required of us? We have to understand that Our Lord Jesus Christ is the light of the world just as He states in this passage. We must then fall humbly and ask the Lord to remove all of the blindness of our hearts and illumine us with His divine light. We have to commit to Christ Himself as the way. Pray, “Lord replace the darkness of my heart, which was caused by my own sins, with Your glorious light. Remove O Lord, all of the blinds and pull back the curtains of my heart and allow me to see You through the grace of the Holy Spirit.”

Once the Lord visits us, we will be the opposite of what we once were. Instead of doubting and disbelief, we will be renewed in our faith and blessed to see His hand in everything in our lives. May the Lord grant this to us through His grace and love for mankind. Christ is risen!

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John 4:5-42

On this Sunday we hear the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. This is a long and fascinating passage that deserves to be studied carefully and I would encourage you to do so. I would like to focus on some of the difficult things our Lord Jesus Christ says to the woman at the well. In our society we are being very well trained not to cause any waves with the things that we say. We are taught to be politically correct with all of our speech. We are taught that there are no absolute truths and objective realities only opinions and feelings are relevant.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the great healer and yet He can also divide in that His word is a two edged sword. It is binding in our lives and this word has the power to unite yet it can most certainly divide us and put us at odds with others. At such times we should not be surprised when people throw accusations at us. They can call us hateful and cruel and many other things but we are at peace when we follow the king of peace. We want others to know the truth of a life with Christ and in Christ.

In today’s passage our Lord says to the Samaritan “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” This is really an epic statement and it breaks all of our conventions and rules for polite and sensitive discourse. Sensitivity is good, but never at the expense of truth.

The Samaritans were an off-shoot of the Jewish faith. They believed in the same God. They had the Torah of Moses as their holy scriptures. They were very similar in their beliefs and yet the Lord boldly declared that they worshipped what they did not know! He went even further to say to them that their worship and practice of religion was not salvific. Meaning the way that they practiced the faith would not bring them to salvation. All of this really makes us pause and wonder about the ways of God. They are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.

In our day and age I have heard people often say “We all pray to the same God.” But that’s not really true is it? We don’t all pray the same God. But taking this further, according to the Lord, even worshipping the same God in the wrong way means that we don’t understand our worship and who we worship and this means that our very salvation is at risk. This is not my opinion but it is the word preached by Christ.

According to the Lord Jesus salvation comes from the Jews. This is most certainly true since we know that Our Lord Himself was born into the Jewish people, and He is our salvation. But this saying teaches us so much about having the proper knowledge and worship of God. Not everything is simply a matter of feelings or opinions. Some very important matters require definition, exactness and a healthy dose of reality. Our Lord tells us that our worship and religious practices are such matters.

He continues in today’s passage saying “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” St. Basil the great, commenting on this verse has this to say “To worship in the Spirit implies that our intelligence has been enlightened. Consider the words spoken to the Samaritan woman. She was deceived by local custom into believing that worship could only be offered in a specific place. But the Lord, attempting to correct her, said that worship ought to be offered in Spirit and in truth. By truth he clearly meant himself.”

How we worship is a sign of how we believe and what we believe. As Orthodox Christians we believe that there are right ways to worship God and wrong ways to worship God. There are also right ways to speak of God and wrong ways to speak of God. There are ultimately right ways to know God and wrong ways to know God. Without right belief we will not have right worship and without right worship we will not enter into right faith and practice which brings us into right relationship with the Lord. It is right relationship with the Lord that leads us to salvation.

That is what the Orthodox Church is all about; Holding the doctrines and practices that have been handed down to us with love and reverence in order to share them with humanity. Orthodox Christianity is about human beings coming to a right knowledge of God and entering into a right relationship with God through the genuine practice of faith and proper worship.

Why am I telling you all of this today? Because I want us to understand that the Church is not a museum but a living temple to God. The Church is an institution of God’s love for mankind. What we do and what we believe are closely related and they both matter! Being a part of the community of Orthodox Christians is for us not simply a matter of preference, it is in very truth, a matter of salvation. You may have had various reasons for coming to the ancient apostolic faith but God has in His abundant mercy, brought you into the Church in order to heal and to save you.

Let’s not be like the wishy washy and unstable like much of this generation but let us be like the woman at the well who held fast the truth when it was revealed to her. Her name is St. Photeini and we keep her feast on February 26th. Her life changed through her encounter with Christ and she travelled everywhere spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. She even gave her life as a martyr in Rome. That is a changed life. That is worship in spirit and truth….and this type of love for Christ and His Church, is what the Lord desires for our lives.

Source: Sermons