WEBVTT 00:00:09.529 --> 00:00:14.130 Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to the Father. In 00:00:14.130 --> 00:00:17.550 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 00:00:17.550 --> 00:00:27.910 the Holy Spirit. Amen. I need to tell you that 00:00:27.910 --> 00:00:31.070 this gospel you just heard about the Canaanite 00:00:31.070 --> 00:00:35.340 woman, You hear every year just before you hear 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:40.579 about Zacchaeus. And you hear Zacchaeus just 00:00:40.579 --> 00:00:44.960 before you hear about the publican and the Pharisee. 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:49.479 Then there's the prodigal son. Then there's the 00:00:49.479 --> 00:00:52.600 last judgment gospel. Then there's the forgiveness 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:56.820 Sunday. And guess what comes next? The holy season 00:00:56.820 --> 00:01:00.560 of the fast, Great Lent. So, the flags are out. 00:01:02.040 --> 00:01:05.920 The bell has rung to tell us that we're on a 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:08.939 new course. And this is good because I think 00:01:08.939 --> 00:01:12.239 all of us need a new course. And the church gives 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:17.019 us this challenge which we find gives us comfort 00:01:17.019 --> 00:01:22.400 and help and understanding. But I'm not going 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:26.540 to talk about the gospel today. I want to ask 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:29.760 you to think about this for a moment. What is 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:35.560 a martyr? Is a martyr? No. Not the one that blows 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:40.840 up a car and a whole marketplace to win a war. 00:01:41.319 --> 00:01:47.200 That's not a martyr. Is a martyr the one that 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:49.780 gets left behind and has to clean up the dishes 00:01:49.780 --> 00:01:52.780 at home when everybody goes out to the movies? 00:01:53.980 --> 00:01:57.760 That didn't happen to me this week. No. That's 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:03.400 not a martyr. Martyr is the one who joyfully, 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:10.699 underline that word, joyfully witnesses to the 00:02:10.699 --> 00:02:14.500 love and power of the resurrection, which is 00:02:14.500 --> 00:02:20.939 within. So it's real. This power to that person 00:02:20.939 --> 00:02:27.379 is real. And they give testimony by their very 00:02:27.379 --> 00:02:30.840 life. In Rome, You can believe in Jesus Christ, 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:34.039 but you also have to affirm everything else. 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:40.400 The martyrs didn't just die because they believed 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:44.860 in Jesus Christ. They believed everything about 00:02:44.860 --> 00:02:48.159 Jesus Christ, that he is Lord and God, and that 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:54.759 Caesar wasn't Lord and God. And so the martyrs 00:02:54.759 --> 00:03:01.120 went to their deaths. Voluntarily and with joy. 00:03:04.379 --> 00:03:08.900 This is a mystery. This is a mystery of the church. 00:03:11.580 --> 00:03:15.599 But we're surrounded with icons of the martyrs. 00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:21.900 No one at the moment is asking for our life to 00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:27.580 be given. But you think about Russia. Today is 00:03:27.580 --> 00:03:33.080 the Sunday of the new martyrs. 500 years. Orthodox 00:03:33.080 --> 00:03:36.620 Church. Bastion of Christianity. Yes, it had 00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:41.639 many problems. But suddenly, things started to 00:03:41.639 --> 00:03:47.780 shift. So no one's asking for our life now. But 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:51.319 think, brothers and sisters, what can you offer 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:59.830 joyfully, voluntarily, of yourself to God. How 00:03:59.830 --> 00:04:05.990 many are there that ask for our mercy and they 00:04:05.990 --> 00:04:08.969 need the word of truth, which if we don't have, 00:04:09.050 --> 00:04:13.969 we can't give. But if we can have it, it would 00:04:13.969 --> 00:04:18.329 bring to their hearts new life, new hope, new 00:04:18.329 --> 00:04:24.910 joy. On the stand here and here, you see an icon 00:04:24.910 --> 00:04:27.269 of the Russian new martyrs. We celebrate this 00:04:27.269 --> 00:04:33.370 memory today. The thousands, millions of martyrs 00:04:33.370 --> 00:04:38.110 of the Church of Russia and every church, Bulgaria, 00:04:38.269 --> 00:04:41.810 Romania, Greece, has its new martyrs. But this 00:04:41.810 --> 00:04:45.449 is ours. One Orthodox historian wrote this. He 00:04:45.449 --> 00:04:48.930 said that in this commemoration, what we see 00:04:48.930 --> 00:04:57.000 with the horror that was let loose on the church 00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:59.899 and the church faithful. What we see here, he 00:04:59.899 --> 00:05:04.480 says, is the incarnation of absolute evil in 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:08.420 the temper of man. In other words, he says, the 00:05:08.420 --> 00:05:12.399 participation of the devil, the father of lies, 00:05:12.439 --> 00:05:16.439 an ancient enemy of God, who tries to make humans 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:20.279 his obedient weapon against God. And this is 00:05:20.279 --> 00:05:25.569 revealed in this great sea of witnesses. Those 00:05:25.569 --> 00:05:29.269 who led the revolution in Russia in the years 00:05:29.269 --> 00:05:34.269 before 1917 and after boasted that they are beginning 00:05:34.269 --> 00:05:37.870 a new project. They're going to produce the new 00:05:37.870 --> 00:05:43.329 man. And in doing so, they had to eliminate all 00:05:43.329 --> 00:05:45.810 those that stood in the way of perceived progress. 00:05:47.649 --> 00:05:51.189 And those that did object to this fantasy of 00:05:51.189 --> 00:05:55.300 utopia. They just always believed that they would 00:05:55.300 --> 00:05:57.920 have a better revolution than those who came 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:01.819 before. And one has to sacrifice for the future, 00:06:01.899 --> 00:06:06.579 they said. And so they produced countless martyrs. 00:06:07.019 --> 00:06:12.839 Only God knows all the names. Revelation, the 00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:16.360 book of Revelation says, lo, a great multitude, 00:06:16.500 --> 00:06:21.779 which no one could number, of all nations and 00:06:21.779 --> 00:06:26.040 kindreds. in people and tongues. They stood before 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:31.040 the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:36.959 robes and with palms in their hands. Do you know 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:40.860 why we wear white at baptism and carry palms 00:06:40.860 --> 00:06:45.660 at Palm Sunday? The first churchman to be arrested 00:06:45.660 --> 00:06:48.860 and killed was Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev, 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:52.129 whose feast day was yesterday. Frightening and 00:06:52.129 --> 00:06:56.470 brutal men tortured him. The words of Archbishop 00:06:56.470 --> 00:06:59.069 Benjamin of Petrograd, who is depicted on the 00:06:59.069 --> 00:07:02.170 wall over here. He's our own bishop saint. They 00:07:02.170 --> 00:07:05.490 ring out. He says, when he was arrested and he 00:07:05.490 --> 00:07:08.269 had to deal with these terrible circumstances, 00:07:08.389 --> 00:07:12.430 he wrote, it's difficult, it's hard to suffer. 00:07:13.490 --> 00:07:16.269 But according to the measure of my sufferings, 00:07:16.329 --> 00:07:21.069 consolation abounds from God. It is difficult 00:07:21.069 --> 00:07:25.089 to cross this Rubicon, this frontier, and give 00:07:25.089 --> 00:07:29.529 oneself over completely to the will of God. But 00:07:29.529 --> 00:07:32.550 when this is done, and we don't need to be a 00:07:32.550 --> 00:07:37.449 martyr to do that, that person abounds in consolation 00:07:37.449 --> 00:07:40.649 and does not feel even the greatest sufferings. 00:07:41.149 --> 00:07:44.110 Filled as he is in the midst of sufferings by 00:07:44.110 --> 00:07:47.689 an inner peace, he draws others to suffering. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:51.279 so that they could imitate that condition in 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:57.800 which the joyful sufferer finds himself. My sufferings 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:01.680 had not yet reached their full measure. Now it 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:05.360 seems I have to go through everything. Prison, 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:11.100 trial, public mockery, demands for my death as 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:14.860 people applaud it, the ingratitude, the betrayal. 00:08:16.750 --> 00:08:19.970 anxiety and responsibility for the fate of others. 00:08:20.910 --> 00:08:24.329 My sufferings have reached their height, but 00:08:24.329 --> 00:08:29.649 consolation has also increased. I am joyful and 00:08:29.649 --> 00:08:33.769 calm as always. Christ is our life. Christ is 00:08:33.769 --> 00:08:37.210 our light and our peace. We pastors should have 00:08:37.210 --> 00:08:41.250 more faith. We should abandon all self -reliance. 00:08:41.870 --> 00:08:45.070 our intelligence and learning and human strength, 00:08:45.230 --> 00:08:49.669 and give place to the grace of God. I am joyful 00:08:49.669 --> 00:08:54.889 and peaceful. He is a living example of what 00:08:54.889 --> 00:08:57.690 St. Paul said. We heard it in the epistle. What 00:08:57.690 --> 00:09:02.230 can separate us from the love of God? Height? 00:09:02.250 --> 00:09:06.730 Depth? Angels? Principalities? Powers? Life or 00:09:06.730 --> 00:09:11.220 death? Nothing can separate us. It's been said 00:09:11.220 --> 00:09:15.259 that the glory of the church is its martyrs. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.940 Those people who prove ready to be witnesses 00:09:18.940 --> 00:09:24.000 of God, witnesses of their faith up to their 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:31.299 own death. I was asked once, why would you endure 00:09:31.299 --> 00:09:37.179 martyrdom? Why not be silent? Take the fifth, 00:09:37.379 --> 00:09:43.000 but have faith in your heart. I looked for an 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:45.220 answer to this. I knew the answer, but I wanted 00:09:45.220 --> 00:09:48.279 an answer from someone with spiritual authority. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.360 Metropolitan Anthony Bloom says this. Would you, 00:09:51.480 --> 00:09:55.039 if challenged, renounce your father, your mother, 00:09:55.159 --> 00:10:00.759 your child, your spouse, whom you love simply 00:10:00.759 --> 00:10:06.080 for the sake of enduring no danger? And so it 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:10.480 was the martyrs. They love God, not sentimentally. 00:10:12.950 --> 00:10:18.129 Not superficially, but with all of their heart. 00:10:18.149 --> 00:10:25.710 They love the Lord with all of their life. I 00:10:25.710 --> 00:10:29.549 have a few words here to end from Archpriest 00:10:29.549 --> 00:10:34.610 Sergei Michev, executed November 1941. His father 00:10:34.610 --> 00:10:39.549 was a great ascetic and elder. And to me, this 00:10:39.549 --> 00:10:42.340 answers the question, Why did Margaret Dunn come 00:10:42.340 --> 00:10:49.480 to Russia? After 500 more years of orthodoxy. 00:10:50.539 --> 00:10:56.000 And here's what he said. Listen carefully, because 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:59.559 this has to do with us. The judgment of God is 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:02.259 taking place upon the Russian church. He's writing 00:11:02.259 --> 00:11:06.139 this in the 30s. It is not by coincidence that 00:11:06.139 --> 00:11:10.639 the external aspect of Christianity is being 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:14.159 taken away from us. The Lord is punishing us 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:18.019 for our sins and is thereby leading us towards 00:11:18.019 --> 00:11:22.980 a cleansing. What is happening is unexpected 00:11:22.980 --> 00:11:27.720 and incomprehensible for those who live by the 00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:32.379 standards of the world, who seek worldly things 00:11:32.379 --> 00:11:36.860 first. Even now, they still strive to bring everything 00:11:36.860 --> 00:11:42.919 down to an external level. attributing all the 00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:50.559 problems to outside the church. Our Lord is calling 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:55.399 us to accept a new form of life and salvation. 00:11:56.940 --> 00:12:01.100 And this is the part I underline. Many churches 00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:04.519 built by hands of men, filled with many treasures, 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:08.259 were open for centuries. At the same time, many 00:12:08.259 --> 00:12:12.059 temples, not made by the hand of man, by God, 00:12:12.139 --> 00:12:16.519 the soul. We're in a terrible state of decline. 00:12:18.019 --> 00:12:25.299 Left unused and superficial. Formalism, secularism, 00:12:25.379 --> 00:12:29.700 a nod to Jesus Christ was felt to be sufficient. 00:12:29.940 --> 00:12:33.879 Come into church, light a candle. Now that the 00:12:33.879 --> 00:12:36.419 church is built by man's labor are being destroyed 00:12:36.419 --> 00:12:40.000 by the communists. In the repentant yearning 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:45.059 for them are raised temples built by the hands 00:12:45.059 --> 00:12:51.139 of God. The flames of humble martyrdom are beginning 00:12:51.139 --> 00:12:55.200 to be ignited. Let us, beloved ones, enter into 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:58.340 the cell of our soul, into the temple of our 00:12:58.340 --> 00:13:01.200 spirit, which is consecrated to God at the time 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:04.679 of our baptism and sanctified by him at the time 00:13:04.679 --> 00:13:08.830 of our communion, repeatedly. This temple of 00:13:08.830 --> 00:13:13.230 ours, no one can destroy, except we ourselves. 00:13:14.389 --> 00:13:19.850 In there is both priest, Christ, and penitent, 00:13:19.909 --> 00:13:25.610 us. It's the altar table of our heart, he says, 00:13:25.750 --> 00:13:30.789 and upon it we can always, with our tears, consummate 00:13:30.789 --> 00:13:36.110 the great mystery of repentance and love of God. 00:13:37.769 --> 00:13:40.649 It's difficult for us who have let our invisible 00:13:40.649 --> 00:13:47.210 temple grow desolate without prayer, living by 00:13:47.210 --> 00:13:52.970 the visible church, but now accept from the Lord 00:13:52.970 --> 00:13:58.870 a new way of salvation. And he ends his letter 00:13:58.870 --> 00:14:03.470 with these words. Let us stand aright. Let us 00:14:03.470 --> 00:14:06.690 stand with the fear of God. Amen.