WEBVTT 00:00:13.230 --> 00:00:18.449 Joy to be with you all on the first day, the 00:00:18.449 --> 00:00:25.910 first day of the Lord's year, 2020. I think the 00:00:25.910 --> 00:00:30.789 litany that we had at the beginning said enough 00:00:30.789 --> 00:00:35.689 about our time and the year past and the year 00:00:35.689 --> 00:00:39.009 to come, our need for God's blessing upon it, 00:00:39.109 --> 00:00:44.810 our hope that We never think of time as something 00:00:44.810 --> 00:00:48.890 to kill or waste. But we remember that time is 00:00:48.890 --> 00:00:52.890 a precious commodity. It's really the only thing 00:00:52.890 --> 00:00:59.109 we have. And it's a... It's given to us for our 00:00:59.109 --> 00:01:03.929 repentance, for deepening our knowledge, understanding 00:01:03.929 --> 00:01:07.670 of God, and our fellowship with one another. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:11.000 And I think those prayers probably said enough, 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:14.760 and we'll do a few more. Instead of talking about 00:01:14.760 --> 00:01:17.659 the new year, which everybody talks about anyway, 00:01:17.980 --> 00:01:22.180 I wanted to read out of the Synaxaria just a 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:26.000 little bit on today's feast, the circumcision 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:29.719 of the Lord, who received that precious name, 00:01:29.859 --> 00:01:34.159 Jesus, on the eighth day after his birth, the 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:39.620 name we repeat over and over. and over, the name 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:43.540 which has power on this earth and in heaven. 00:01:44.299 --> 00:01:49.079 Here's what the Sennacherib says. Eight days 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:52.299 after the Savior's birth, his parents had him 00:01:52.299 --> 00:01:55.079 circumcised. We read that in Luke chapter 2, 00:01:55.219 --> 00:01:57.439 if you want to look it up. Just one sentence. 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:01.040 In accordance with the order given by God to 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:04.579 Abraham, and when he promised to make an everlasting 00:02:04.579 --> 00:02:09.449 covenant with him and all his descendants. This 00:02:09.449 --> 00:02:11.550 is my covenant which you shall keep, said the 00:02:11.550 --> 00:02:15.449 Lord, between me and you and your descendants 00:02:15.449 --> 00:02:19.590 after you. And who's speaking to Abraham? It's 00:02:19.590 --> 00:02:22.810 the word of God. When they are eight days old, 00:02:22.889 --> 00:02:25.210 all your meals shall be circumcised throughout 00:02:25.210 --> 00:02:31.530 your generations. He, says the synopsis, he who 00:02:31.530 --> 00:02:33.889 in his love for mankind deigned to assume the 00:02:33.889 --> 00:02:38.030 human nature he created. even extended his compassion 00:02:38.030 --> 00:02:42.030 so far as to assume in its fallen and corrupt 00:02:42.030 --> 00:02:45.569 condition but without sin. By the cutting away 00:02:45.569 --> 00:02:48.669 of that fragment of mortal flesh, representing 00:02:48.669 --> 00:02:53.550 mankind's subjection to death, he, the pure and 00:02:53.550 --> 00:02:56.449 sinless one, condescended to receive the sign 00:02:56.449 --> 00:03:01.349 of reconciliation, which as God and author of 00:03:01.349 --> 00:03:04.599 the law, he himself had instituted. and it shall 00:03:04.599 --> 00:03:08.599 not pass away. We no longer circumcise. And St. 00:03:08.659 --> 00:03:12.080 Paul was very clear on why. Romans and Galatians, 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:15.039 and you heard in Colossians. It's been fulfilled. 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:19.240 We circumcise the heart, cutting away our sins. 00:03:19.379 --> 00:03:21.060 And you're going to hear more of that in a moment 00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:23.960 through baptism. On coming to the earth, he submitted 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:26.879 humbly to the ordinance of the law and showed 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:30.360 thereby that its foreshadowing is finding in 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:34.240 him their fulfillment. The drops of blood that 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:37.479 he shed today were the earnest of the blood which 00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:40.580 he was soon to shed on the cross to wash away 00:03:40.580 --> 00:03:43.520 the sins of the world and to release us from 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:48.479 our condemnation, death, and sin. Hence, in the 00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:51.340 circumcision of our Lord, we are in fact commemorating 00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:55.460 the whole mystery of the redemption. Today, in 00:03:55.460 --> 00:03:58.659 the circumcision of Christ, the new Adam, the 00:03:58.659 --> 00:04:01.159 fleshly circumcision of the old covenant reaches 00:04:01.159 --> 00:04:05.090 its term, and the new and true covenant is brought 00:04:05.090 --> 00:04:10.530 in by His blood. Christian baptism is none other 00:04:10.530 --> 00:04:14.689 than true spiritual circumcision, the sign of 00:04:14.689 --> 00:04:18.290 belonging to a new people, no longer by cutting 00:04:18.290 --> 00:04:21.829 away a piece of mortal flesh, but by gaining 00:04:21.829 --> 00:04:25.509 freedom from death itself through communion with 00:04:25.509 --> 00:04:28.230 the Lord's life -giving death and resurrection. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:31.500 This is why St. Paul and the other apostles were 00:04:31.500 --> 00:04:34.420 so strongly opposed to those who wanted to oblige 00:04:34.420 --> 00:04:38.100 converts from paganism to be circumcised. In 00:04:38.100 --> 00:04:41.839 Christ, writes St. Paul, you have been circumcised 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:45.360 with the circumcision made without hands. Such 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:48.040 is the circumcision of Christ, and you have been 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:51.439 buried with him in baptism, in which you are 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:54.850 also raised with him. because you have believed 00:04:54.850 --> 00:04:58.589 in the active power of God who has raised him 00:04:58.589 --> 00:05:03.730 from the dead. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision 00:05:03.730 --> 00:05:08.790 nor uncircumcision is of any of them, but only 00:05:08.790 --> 00:05:16.550 faith, effective through love of God. Hence Orthodox 00:05:16.550 --> 00:05:18.870 Christians, witnesses of the life -giving name, 00:05:19.110 --> 00:05:21.689 ought to do everything in the name of Jesus. 00:05:22.250 --> 00:05:27.149 Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything 00:05:27.149 --> 00:05:30.269 in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks 00:05:30.269 --> 00:05:34.170 to God the Father through him. By our constantly 00:05:34.170 --> 00:05:37.350 repeating with each breath and in every circumstance 00:05:37.350 --> 00:05:41.490 the holy prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, 00:05:41.509 --> 00:05:44.569 have mercy on me. The very person of our Lord 00:05:44.569 --> 00:05:49.910 himself will occupy our thoughts, inspire our 00:05:49.910 --> 00:05:54.490 behavior, purify our passions, and finding little 00:05:54.490 --> 00:05:57.629 by little a fixed abode in our heart will cause 00:05:57.629 --> 00:06:00.290 the divine light of His countenance to shine 00:06:00.290 --> 00:06:04.129 in us. Commemoration of the circumcision on the 00:06:04.129 --> 00:06:06.490 eighth day after the Nativity is thus also the 00:06:06.490 --> 00:06:10.170 feast of the Holy Name of Jesus and the prayer 00:06:10.170 --> 00:06:13.470 through which we acquire the grace of His Holy 00:06:13.470 --> 00:06:18.569 Spirit. It's said that the martyrs, we know, 00:06:18.649 --> 00:06:24.060 suffer denying themselves their own life for 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:27.300 the life of the kingdom. And they shed their 00:06:27.300 --> 00:06:31.879 blood. We dare not celebrate the Feast of the 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:37.079 Martyrs, that shedding of blood for Christ, without 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:41.319 ourselves denying our own will, martyring our 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:44.319 own will, as it were. As the Lord says, if you 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:48.579 want to follow me, deny yourself this invitation. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:52.800 This beautiful invitation from the Lord, not 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:57.720 a threat, but an invitation to be with him, to 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:02.040 acquire his will, which is life -giving and will 00:07:02.040 --> 00:07:03.120 save us. Amen.