WEBVTT 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:07.299 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:07.299 --> 00:00:17.480 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. My dear brothers and 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:29.820 sisters and children in Christ. The epistle ended 00:00:29.820 --> 00:00:32.780 with those words about how we're surrounded by 00:00:32.780 --> 00:00:37.619 a great cloud of witnesses. I think the witnesses 00:00:37.619 --> 00:00:43.320 are more than the congregation today. We're small. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:49.399 That's okay. Each heart, each one, is precious 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:56.520 to God. So let's celebrate this feast day with 00:00:56.520 --> 00:01:03.420 all the joy. and the enthusiasm we can. I congratulate 00:01:03.420 --> 00:01:08.079 you first on this feast day. I congratulate you 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:10.879 for two reasons. First, because we've completed 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:15.599 clean week. We started with forgiveness, and 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:18.260 then we began our fast, and we had services. 00:01:18.700 --> 00:01:22.359 It's not easy being hungry when you have to work, 00:01:22.379 --> 00:01:26.379 and your schedule doesn't change to make things 00:01:26.379 --> 00:01:29.890 easier. It's not easy standing for long times 00:01:29.890 --> 00:01:33.150 in services. And even if you did not have the 00:01:33.150 --> 00:01:37.269 opportunity to come to many services this week, 00:01:37.349 --> 00:01:42.849 I have a hunch that your life was probably a 00:01:42.849 --> 00:01:46.709 little more difficult this week. God gave each 00:01:46.709 --> 00:01:53.150 of us a hurdle to overcome, a podvig, if you 00:01:53.150 --> 00:01:55.849 will, a spiritual contest that we had to overcome. 00:01:56.170 --> 00:02:00.790 Show our fidelity to him to stay constant in 00:02:00.790 --> 00:02:04.129 prayer. This is clean week. It's our spiritual 00:02:04.129 --> 00:02:06.370 therapy. And now we're ready for the rest of 00:02:06.370 --> 00:02:09.370 Lent. So I congratulate you and I hope you feel 00:02:09.370 --> 00:02:13.030 encouraged. We have a feast day because we have 00:02:13.030 --> 00:02:19.590 been fasting. And now having fasted, which puts 00:02:19.590 --> 00:02:22.409 our appetites to the back burner a little bit. 00:02:22.469 --> 00:02:25.659 And we have a lot of appetites. For a lot of 00:02:25.659 --> 00:02:32.919 different things. Not just food. We gave alms 00:02:32.919 --> 00:02:35.919 and we will continue so we can show our love 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:39.240 for those who are less fortunate and find some 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:43.199 humility to put our self -love on the back burner. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:47.379 And perhaps we found a little silence during 00:02:47.379 --> 00:02:51.039 clean week so we can get away from the stream, 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:55.910 the television show of our thoughts. Constantly. 00:02:55.910 --> 00:03:00.569 Directing us this way and that. And then we're 00:03:00.569 --> 00:03:03.569 open to God's will. And this is the beautiful 00:03:03.569 --> 00:03:09.449 thing about Clean Week. We receive so many blessings. 00:03:09.789 --> 00:03:13.289 And that God can speak to us in our conscience. 00:03:13.550 --> 00:03:16.889 And we can follow him more clearly. And he's 00:03:16.889 --> 00:03:19.969 more dear to us. I congratulate you also because 00:03:19.969 --> 00:03:23.110 this feast is about that cleansing of the heart. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:27.360 You know, in a few years, we're going to have 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:31.699 to clean these frescoes probably. They'll get 00:03:31.699 --> 00:03:34.719 smoky. It's just what happens. We've got all 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:38.819 that stuff going on all the time. But Clean Week 00:03:38.819 --> 00:03:42.139 and Lent is where we, not just by confession 00:03:42.139 --> 00:03:45.159 where we do that, but Clean Week we make an intense 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:48.039 effort and Lent we make the intense effort to 00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:52.620 clean the image of God in the soul and the heart. 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:59.680 You and I are created in the image and likeness. 00:03:59.699 --> 00:04:02.800 We heard on Wednesday in the Old Testament reading 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:05.860 the story of the creation. And after the sixth 00:04:05.860 --> 00:04:08.819 day, God created male and female. He created 00:04:08.819 --> 00:04:15.960 them in his image. And on Friday at the pre -sanctified, 00:04:16.100 --> 00:04:22.879 we heard the story of the fall. Eve and Adam. 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:27.779 Ignoring God's command. One command. Just one. 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:31.860 You remember what God, kids, what God told Adam 00:04:31.860 --> 00:04:35.959 and Eve not to do? What? It had to do with their 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:39.560 mouth, right? Not to eat. Right, to fast. But 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:46.160 one thing. And they failed. So the image of God, 00:04:46.220 --> 00:04:50.139 as Luke tells us, is not what it's supposed to 00:04:50.139 --> 00:04:59.490 be. I saw a statistic the other day. Every single 00:04:59.490 --> 00:05:05.829 day, 75 million photos are uploaded just to Instagram. 00:05:05.910 --> 00:05:10.569 One application for social media. 75 million. 00:05:10.870 --> 00:05:16.410 This tells us that we love our pictures. The 00:05:16.410 --> 00:05:19.110 image we want to retain, we want to remember, 00:05:19.389 --> 00:05:25.100 we want to somehow... Relive it. Well the true 00:05:25.100 --> 00:05:28.139 image. That we have to be concerned about. Is 00:05:28.139 --> 00:05:34.680 not the 75 million. But the one right here. I 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:37.860 was preparing remarks for today. Preparing my 00:05:37.860 --> 00:05:44.459 sermon. And. It just wasn't going anywhere. I 00:05:44.459 --> 00:05:46.300 was about to call Father John. And say you preach 00:05:46.300 --> 00:05:50.300 today Father. It's not working here. And then. 00:05:51.180 --> 00:05:56.620 I picked up this book of the sermons of Archimandrite 00:05:56.620 --> 00:05:59.959 Elder Emilianos of Mount Athos. He just died 00:05:59.959 --> 00:06:04.560 in May. And I read these few pages and I thought, 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:07.920 that's what I want to say. And so I'm going to 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:12.420 share what he said to his congregation when he 00:06:12.420 --> 00:06:14.660 was outside of the monastery and went to a church. 00:06:17.660 --> 00:06:22.199 Because we are in his image. God does not abandon 00:06:22.199 --> 00:06:27.259 us, even when we sin. Although we are prideful, 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:31.180 he is always humble. Although we often forget 00:06:31.180 --> 00:06:35.439 him, his thoughts are always about us. If we 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:39.160 reject him, he never ceases to love us, in the 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:42.399 same way that a mother loves her children, for 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:46.500 they are a part of her. A mother loves her little 00:06:46.500 --> 00:06:53.949 children, and God... Loves his little gods. And 00:06:53.949 --> 00:06:58.689 when the little gods sinned, God wept. God wept. 00:06:59.750 --> 00:07:04.149 But Adam ran off and hid. What did God do then? 00:07:04.550 --> 00:07:08.709 He humbled himself. He acted like nothing was 00:07:08.709 --> 00:07:11.629 wrong. He approached quietly, feigning ignorance, 00:07:11.790 --> 00:07:14.410 hoping gradually to come around to the subject 00:07:14.410 --> 00:07:18.209 of what happened. Adam, he calls out, where are 00:07:18.209 --> 00:07:23.759 you? No answer. Just a trembling behind the trees. 00:07:24.620 --> 00:07:28.920 But God finds him and says, why didn't you come 00:07:28.920 --> 00:07:33.500 out to meet me? Why didn't you come running to 00:07:33.500 --> 00:07:36.319 see me as you always do? What is the matter? 00:07:37.339 --> 00:07:41.480 What is that that you are wearing? By this time, 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:44.980 however, Adam had thought up an excuse and blurted 00:07:44.980 --> 00:07:48.939 out, the woman you gave me, she deceived me. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:52.680 It's as if he had said, this is all your fault, 00:07:52.699 --> 00:07:55.899 oh God. This happened because the woman you gave 00:07:55.899 --> 00:07:59.819 me. No humility here. And it was Adam's utter 00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:02.959 lack of humility that sealed the verdict of death 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:07.019 against him. This is a story we read about Wednesday 00:08:07.019 --> 00:08:09.680 and Friday at Pre -Sanctified. And then the elder 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:12.899 goes on. To all this, God said something like, 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:17.519 the woman that I gave you? Do you mean Eve? But 00:08:17.519 --> 00:08:20.980 you and Eve are one person. Aren't you? How then 00:08:20.980 --> 00:08:23.839 can you blame this on her and say that you had 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:26.600 nothing to do with it? How can you divide yourself, 00:08:26.939 --> 00:08:30.680 your nature, in this way? How did Eve become 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:33.539 a separate person to you? Wasn't it you who said 00:08:33.539 --> 00:08:36.440 she was bone of your bones and flesh of your 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:40.059 flesh? Didn't you call her by your own name? 00:08:41.139 --> 00:08:43.759 When did the two of you, when did the one become 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:47.960 two? Despite the fall of man, God did not and 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:51.639 never will abandon the human race. Unlike the 00:08:51.639 --> 00:08:54.600 woman in pain in the story in the newspaper who 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:58.279 forgot her baby at the dentist's office, God 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:02.299 will never abandon us. Through his prophet, he 00:09:02.299 --> 00:09:05.759 tells us, even if a mother forgets her child, 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:11.059 I shall not forget you because you are a God 00:09:11.059 --> 00:09:17.259 I have made. So this is our God, he says to the 00:09:17.259 --> 00:09:20.100 prophet Isaiah. I have stretched out my hand 00:09:20.100 --> 00:09:24.419 all the day long to a disobedient and contrary 00:09:24.419 --> 00:09:30.240 people. We have no time for God. We have no time 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.100 for God. We're too busy. We don't think about 00:09:33.100 --> 00:09:36.100 him because we're tired. All the day long, he 00:09:36.100 --> 00:09:38.440 stretches out his hands and entreats us. All 00:09:38.440 --> 00:09:40.919 the day long, Christ, the great high priest. 00:09:41.309 --> 00:09:44.309 stands with his hands outstretched on the cross 00:09:44.309 --> 00:09:51.070 on which the little gods have nailed him. And 00:09:51.070 --> 00:09:55.149 from that lofty vantage point, he supplicates 00:09:55.149 --> 00:09:58.769 his Heavenly Father on our behalf. Though we 00:09:58.769 --> 00:10:01.950 crucify him every day through our sins, God prays 00:10:01.950 --> 00:10:07.409 for us. That, my beloved, is humility. We've 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:12.659 seen what God is. He is the Holy One. And I am 00:10:12.659 --> 00:10:17.379 his image and likeness. I am a little God called 00:10:17.379 --> 00:10:20.879 to be so. And after centuries of stretching his 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:23.360 helping hand down to us from heaven, God himself 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:28.100 came down, became man, dwelt among us. God entered 00:10:28.100 --> 00:10:33.480 the mud to find his precious pearl and to raise 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:37.440 him and her up and grant him knowledge of God. 00:10:37.740 --> 00:10:41.059 The Son of God does not come in symbols. or in 00:10:41.059 --> 00:10:44.980 the clouds, or in the still breezes. Instead, 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:49.580 he removed his garments of light and clothed 00:10:49.580 --> 00:10:53.480 himself in the garments of human nature. Long 00:10:53.480 --> 00:10:59.399 ago, God made man a little god. Now, God himself 00:10:59.399 --> 00:11:02.960 becomes man. And this is beyond anything that 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:07.159 man could ever have imagined or hoped for. Until 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:09.360 now God built bridges so that he might cross 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:13.440 over to us and we to him. Now he abolishes all 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:17.620 distances, removes all boundaries, comes to dwell 00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:21.519 with us forever. Unable to endure the loss of 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:24.600 his creation, he sets aside his unspeakable glory 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:28.500 and humbles himself, definitively taking on our 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:33.559 condition. And his whole life was an ongoing 00:11:33.559 --> 00:11:39.139 self -abasement. an unending self -emptying from 00:11:39.139 --> 00:11:42.100 the moment of his conception until his death 00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:46.139 and burial and beyond. In the extreme humility 00:11:46.139 --> 00:11:48.799 of his descent, God did not stop at the clouds, 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:52.820 neither did his journey end on the earth. He 00:11:52.820 --> 00:12:00.480 went all the way to death into Hades. In light 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:05.299 of God's descent, everything has changed. When 00:12:05.299 --> 00:12:09.100 the highest entered the lowest, when God entered 00:12:09.100 --> 00:12:12.159 the realm of Hades and death, everything there 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:15.120 was turned upside down. The devil was defeated. 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:18.500 Death yielded to life. Darkness was swallowed 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:22.759 up by light. Fallen man ascended into heaven. 00:12:23.259 --> 00:12:27.519 In union with Christ, human nature now sits on 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:29.940 the throne of God, being filled with the Holy 00:12:29.940 --> 00:12:34.590 Spirit. God has descended. and reduced himself 00:12:34.590 --> 00:12:39.470 for our sake. While redeemed, humanity has become 00:12:39.470 --> 00:12:43.590 a great assembly, exalted so high as to surpass 00:12:43.590 --> 00:12:48.009 heaven itself. In his sermon on humility, St. 00:12:48.029 --> 00:12:51.230 Basil the Great says, from a state of nothingness, 00:12:51.350 --> 00:12:57.450 man has expanded into the heavens. And all of 00:12:57.450 --> 00:13:01.429 this can be ours, if only we humble ourselves. 00:13:02.730 --> 00:13:05.730 Having completed his work, Christ has returned 00:13:05.730 --> 00:13:08.509 to the heavens, but he remains inseparably united 00:13:08.509 --> 00:13:12.649 to us and has given us his spirit of power and 00:13:12.649 --> 00:13:15.809 sanctity. He has also given us Holy Communion, 00:13:15.830 --> 00:13:20.830 which is the continuation of his presence on 00:13:20.830 --> 00:13:27.409 the earth, though in a humble form. Can anything 00:13:27.409 --> 00:13:33.580 sick, any disease, pass through? That glorious 00:13:33.580 --> 00:13:38.360 body and blood? No. He has given us holy communion. 00:13:38.659 --> 00:13:41.720 Being united to the flesh. God communicates with 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:44.820 the flesh. And we, receiving God, are raised 00:13:44.820 --> 00:13:50.379 to the heights of heaven. But, to truly commune 00:13:50.379 --> 00:13:55.100 with the humble God, we must be humble. This 00:13:55.100 --> 00:13:57.919 is our Lenten journey. This is why Christ says, 00:13:58.120 --> 00:14:01.549 He who humbles himself will be exalted. What 00:14:01.549 --> 00:14:05.649 does exalted here mean? It means that such a 00:14:05.649 --> 00:14:09.809 person will attain to the knowledge of God. It 00:14:09.809 --> 00:14:12.570 doesn't mean being glorified in some abstract 00:14:12.570 --> 00:14:16.210 way or being established in a comfortable place 00:14:16.210 --> 00:14:20.470 in heaven. Still less does it mean that people 00:14:20.470 --> 00:14:25.409 will honor and praise us. It means that the Holy 00:14:25.409 --> 00:14:29.730 Spirit will reveal all things to our hearts. 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:34.639 as long as we humble ourselves and bow our heads 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:40.399 to God. God decreases, but we increase. In humility, 00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:45.320 we ascend to God. We come to know him and his 00:14:45.320 --> 00:14:50.200 ways. To our Lord be glory and honor, now and 00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:51.320 ever, to ages of ages.