WEBVTT 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:05.280 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:10.019 of the Holy Spirit. It's our joy to gather together 00:00:10.019 --> 00:00:13.900 all these holy days of July to celebrate these 00:00:13.900 --> 00:00:20.320 martyrs and these holy ones. Of course, we celebrate 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:23.800 the Feast of St. Seraphim on Sunday. Tomorrow, 00:00:24.059 --> 00:00:27.100 we'll commemorate St. Elizabeth, the new martyr, 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:33.939 and her attendant, the nun Barbara. Next week, 00:00:33.979 --> 00:00:38.880 we'll have St. Jacob of Alaska. There's St. Christina. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:43.960 And today is St. Marina, the great martyr. There's 00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:45.920 a fresco that's going to be painted of her every 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:51.159 year. One day, God willing. And, of course, we 00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:54.939 gather today to ask the intercessions of the 00:00:54.939 --> 00:00:58.859 royal passion bearer, St. Martin Nicholas. His 00:00:58.859 --> 00:01:06.040 wife, Seriza Alexandra. And their children. Alexis, 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:14.599 Tatiana, Olga, and so forth. We can't possibly 00:01:14.599 --> 00:01:18.620 imagine what their life, very vaguely imagine 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:21.859 what their lives were like. Maybe you've seen 00:01:21.859 --> 00:01:29.099 PBS shows, upstairs, downstairs. The Crown. Movies 00:01:29.099 --> 00:01:35.000 about Queen Elizabeth. Not a very good, for the 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.299 Russian church in any way, for the Russian people, 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:40.180 not a very good representation. We can't put 00:01:40.180 --> 00:01:42.560 our minds to what their lives would be like. 00:01:43.819 --> 00:01:50.719 And to the incredible level of honor that they 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:56.019 had. And the authority that they were given. 00:01:56.739 --> 00:02:01.260 And the love. that up until the end, the people 00:02:01.260 --> 00:02:08.719 gave Tsar Nicholas. You know, people say he was 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:12.360 murdered. He wasn't murdered. He was martyred. 00:02:12.819 --> 00:02:15.500 Big difference. In the world, he's murdered. 00:02:16.300 --> 00:02:18.780 And they judge him according to how good he was 00:02:18.780 --> 00:02:22.539 as a ruler. He himself said he was totally unprepared 00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:25.580 to be a ruler. He had no idea what it meant and 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:28.139 no idea how to do it, and he was desperate, desperate. 00:02:28.780 --> 00:02:31.259 for god's help and he prayed constantly in the 00:02:31.259 --> 00:02:34.840 church we say he was martyred and we don't judge 00:02:34.840 --> 00:02:41.139 him according to the political standards he wasn't 00:02:41.139 --> 00:02:44.060 voted in the office after all and he wasn't voted 00:02:44.060 --> 00:02:48.419 out we judge him according to his life his whole 00:02:48.419 --> 00:02:58.039 life his life went from the glory of of the empire 00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:03.659 to the most frightful degradations that humans 00:03:03.659 --> 00:03:13.919 have to suffer. Slander, lies, brutality. He 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:18.599 and his family experienced all of that. And how 00:03:18.599 --> 00:03:22.710 did he respond? He responded in a certain way 00:03:22.710 --> 00:03:25.389 that he knew exactly what the Lord said that 00:03:25.389 --> 00:03:27.990 we heard today. And he knew what St. Paul had 00:03:27.990 --> 00:03:32.110 written that we heard today. Nothing is going 00:03:32.110 --> 00:03:36.050 to separate us from the love of God. And in fact, 00:03:36.169 --> 00:03:38.729 St. Paul is saying in tribulations and glory, 00:03:39.009 --> 00:03:45.930 in nakedness, in shipwreck, in tribulation, in 00:03:45.930 --> 00:03:52.400 hunger, in betrayals. We show our love for God 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:56.300 and how we respond in those situations. And we 00:03:56.300 --> 00:04:00.599 commemorate the royal martyrs. We call them passion 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:03.639 bearers because in their response, they witnessed 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:08.039 to exactly what Jesus was talking about. Jesus 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:11.479 said he would send the comforter. They had the 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:15.280 comforter. They lived according to the words 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:18.279 of Jesus. They knew if they hated him, they will 00:04:18.279 --> 00:04:22.420 hate you also. Their lives were not of this world. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:26.899 It was not a kingdom on earth that they were 00:04:26.899 --> 00:04:29.620 concerned about so much. And we're not concerned 00:04:29.620 --> 00:04:32.100 about going back to some kind of monarchy like 00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:36.300 that. Our gaze is fixed on the eternal kingdom. 00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:41.019 Our gaze is fixed on following Christ and responding 00:04:41.019 --> 00:04:47.550 in whatever situation that we are in. Whether 00:04:47.550 --> 00:04:52.350 we have to wear a mask, whether we have a pestilence 00:04:52.350 --> 00:04:56.490 and a pandemic to deal with, brothers and sisters, 00:04:56.689 --> 00:05:01.629 comparatively, really, we look at these people 00:05:01.629 --> 00:05:06.930 and we exalt them today. We honor them today 00:05:06.930 --> 00:05:12.649 and we try to emulate their response. Forgiveness. 00:05:14.389 --> 00:05:17.370 Kindness. Do you know? that the Bolsheviks had 00:05:17.370 --> 00:05:21.810 to continually change the guards when the family 00:05:21.810 --> 00:05:24.889 was at the Tatev house. Continually change the 00:05:24.889 --> 00:05:28.250 guards because the family would be so kind and 00:05:28.250 --> 00:05:31.389 so loving. After a week or two, the guards would 00:05:31.389 --> 00:05:36.149 become friendly and open to them. And so the 00:05:36.149 --> 00:05:38.810 Bolsheviks got the lowest of the low, the most 00:05:38.810 --> 00:05:41.769 brutal people to be the guards. And their hearts 00:05:41.769 --> 00:05:46.879 would be changed too after a week or two. That's 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:49.540 the kind of people we want to be. To respond 00:05:49.540 --> 00:05:53.519 to hatred with godly love. And if we don't have 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:57.259 it, we get on our knees like those people did. 00:05:57.420 --> 00:06:03.240 And we pray, God, send me thy love. Jesus, in 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:07.240 this gospel reading we heard today, love one 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:10.860 another is what he said. And when we love one 00:06:10.860 --> 00:06:17.050 another, it's not love those who love you. It's 00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:21.170 even love the enemy. Our royal passion bearers 00:06:21.170 --> 00:06:24.509 are for us an example for our time, for sure, 00:06:24.529 --> 00:06:27.889 and not that distant was it when they were killed, 00:06:28.110 --> 00:06:30.509 when they were martyred, when they witnessed 00:06:30.509 --> 00:06:33.610 to the power of God, the power of the resurrection, 00:06:33.970 --> 00:06:36.730 the belief that God will raise us from the dead, 00:06:36.889 --> 00:06:39.709 that God sends the comforter, that God is with 00:06:39.709 --> 00:06:41.790 us no matter what tribulation and difficulty 00:06:41.790 --> 00:06:47.860 we have. He is there. Let us be with him. Through 00:06:47.860 --> 00:06:50.220 their prayers, Lord Jesus Christ, your God, have 00:06:50.220 --> 00:06:50.920 mercy on us.