In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.
Glory to Christ. Last time I was with you, since
I've been away for a week, it was Pentecost.
We were celebrating. the gift of the Holy Spirit,
the comforter, the Spirit that speaks to our
hearts, the Spirit of truth who guides us to
all truth, the cleansing Spirit, the exuberant
Spirit, the Spirit that unites us to Christ,
the Spirit that makes us children of the Father,
the Spirit that holds us together, the Spirit.
That makes saints. So last week we celebrated.
The Orthodox Church worldwide. Sunday of all
saints. This week. The church says. But look
at the saints of your land. The saints that are
dear to you. And so. The church gives us this
interesting gospel. Gospels. Well. Gospel, there's
one gospel. But readings, the second one about
the sermon on the plain, describing what it is
a Christian is like, merciful, peaceful, joyful,
trusting in God. And the first gospel, the calling,
the calling of the disciples. So I see today
as the day of getting back, with all that I've
said, just said, the day of getting back to basics
of what it is to be a disciple of Jesus. Let
me try to explain. St. Matthew records that Jesus
saw two brothers, there they are, Simon Peter
and St. Andrew, their nets into the sea. They
were fishers. We say fishermen, but it sounds
awfully nice. They were fishers. And Jesus says
to them, follow me, I will make you fishers of
men. Now, no doubt they had seen Jesus. No doubt
they had heard of Jesus already. When Jesus says
to them, and then to James and John, who are
with their father and they leave their father,
Jesus says, Follow me. He doesn't say, he doesn't
mean, hey, come check this out. I want you to
see something. They left everything. The father's
standing in the boat probably with the nets going,
what's going on? They left their boat and their
fishing business. They left it. It's not recorded
if they ask for more time to put things in order.
They left things. Here's the key. Response. What
do we respond to? They responded to Christ. One
follows in response to something that's serious
and real, to something that touches you, that
brings you in. You respond. In this case, it
was Jesus, the Lord and Savior, who... whom they
knew very little about. But it's kind of like
this. A young man falls in love with a woman
and says to her, will you marry me? I believe
in you, and I want to know you, and I want to
spend my life getting to know you. That's not
what I said. I probably really confused my wife
when I asked her to marry me, but I wasn't anywhere
as eloquent as that. But when we see Jesus, when
we hear that call, we're responding not to some
idea and religious thinking. Response is a response,
not thoughts. Faithfulness. Deeds. We direct
our thoughts and our words and our mind according
to the gospel teaching and dogma. But first,
we try to just know Jesus and follow him. It's
an amen with our life. It's like saying, I want
to live with you forever. It's not like saying,
it is saying. Follow me, Jesus is whispering
to us every moment. For many of us, there are
so many things that come before speaking with
Christ, trying to know him better. I'm speaking
about prayer, obviously. So many things. We just
don't hear. We don't sense. We don't feel that
call. When we respond to Christ, and I mean daily,
this is acts of faithfulness. Faith is not thinking
about some kind of holy religious things. It's
faithfulness. Deeds of trust and love and acts.
And we're guided. On the way. Christian life
is called the way in the book of Acts. That's
the right word. Because we're going in a direction
that is different from the direction that you
see in the world. We all know that. I was going
to say it's that enmity is opposed to the world.
But that's not the proper description. Because
the kingdom of God is not about opposition. It's
about the invitation. Follow me. This is real.
The kingdom of God, of course, can't be harmonized
with the fallen world, which we might sadly mistake
as normal. We do have the Sunday of forgiveness,
the casting out of Adam and Eve from paradise,
so we know this world's not normal. Death is
not normal. Sin is not normal. Our passions are
not normal. So we follow Christ. We're on the
way to holiness. Thankfully, Jesus is very persistent
and keeps saying to us, follow me. I will make
something of you. Not something great in the
eyes of this world. Heaven forbid, but great
in the eyes of the Father who is in heaven. We
don't need worldly self -esteem. We need God's
esteem. He made the fishermen theologians. What
can he make of us? St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians,
you know, brothers and sisters, about your calling.
Not many are wise according to the world. Not
many of you are powerful according to the world.
But God has called us and shows the world's wisdom
to be foolish. He has called us to show that
our weakness is more powerful than the power
of the world because it's the power of the cross.
And the cross always leads. to resurrection.
It's all saints of America. We're surrounded.
The epistles had a great cloud of witnesses.
Let me read you the names. No particular order.
Priest Alexander Hotovitsky went back to Russia,
was murdered by the Soviets. Archpriest Alexis
XII of Wilkes -Barre. Leader of former Eastern
Rite Catholics. Responsible for bringing tens
of thousands of people to the Orthodox Church.
Apparently, he's in my family tree somewhere.
I've never been able to find it. Priest Basil,
higher marker in Poland. Served in Alaska, went
back to Poland. And was killed. He was shot.
Venerable Brendan the Navigator, leader of a
short -lived sixth -century Irish monastic community
in Canada, they say. Venerable Father Herman
of Alaska, first missionary to Alaska, 1794.
Metropolitan Innocent of Alaska, tireless missionary
and Metropolitan of Moscow, was a married priest.
Widowed missionary evangelist to Alaska. Priest
John Kucherov. Missionary priest who eventually
was martyred by the Soviets in Russia. Archbishop
John of Shanghai and San Francisco. The wonder
worker. Priest Juvenali of Alaska. The proto
-martyr of North America. Peter the Aleut. Bishop
Nikolai Velimirovich. Bishop of Zizia. Rector
of St. Tikhon Seminary. called the New Chrysostom.
Bishop Raphael from Palestine, first bishop consecrated
in the United States. Archbishop Seraphim Samoyevich
of Uglitch, a missionary in Alaska, higher martyr
under the Soviets. Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow,
bishop and missionary of North America. Died
in Russia. Bishop Varnaba Nastic, the new confessor,
born in Gary, Indiana. Died in Serbia. Archbishop
Anatoly Kaminsky, new higher martyr and Archbishop
of Ljubljana, missionary in Alaska. Archimandrite
Sebastian Dabovic, called the Serbian Apostle
to America, born in San Francisco in 1865. First
natural American citizen made a priest. Bishop
Mardari, Voskukovic, first Serbian bishop of
America and Canada, and let me, those are 19
names, by the way. Let me mention some other
holy people. Metropolitan Filaret Vosnicenski
of New York, Rocor Metropolitan. Archbishop Arseni
of Winnipeg. Bishop Grasmos of Abydos, a Greek
Orthodox in America. Brother Jose, keeper of
the mer -flowing icon of the Theotokos, who was
murdered. The icon was stolen. Hieromonk Seraphim
Rose of Latina. Matryoshka Olga Michael of Alaska.
Ivan Smirennikov, the elder of the Aleutian people.
Archbishop Yoasov, Enlightener of Canada. Schema
Monk Sergei Shenovsky, disciple of Saint Hermon.
Bishop Yoasov Bolotov of Alaska. Bishop Constantine
Esensky of Richmond, Great Britain. His relics
are incorrupt. Elder Ephraim of Arizona. Yes,
he's only been dead a year and a half, but still.
Archbishop Dimitri of the South, reposed five
years ago or so. His relics are incorrupt. Our
Commander at Roman Braga. Father George Calciu.
The Lebanese priest, great man. Father Nicola
Yanni. who served in rural Nebraska. Archimandrite
Dimitri of Santa Rosa, the founder of the Skeet.
Archimandrite Andronik Elpidinsky, missionary
to India, eventually became rector of the parish
of the protection of the Holy Virgin. This place
became abbot of St. Tecumseh. He was here in
1958, 59, 60. This list of saints. All kinds
of people from all kinds of places. They're calling
us. They're inviting us through the invitation
of Christ. Come follow me. Leave behind whatever's
holding you back. Live the faith. Don't be ashamed.
Don't be afraid. Let me give you five short suggestions
to wind this up so that we may walk the paths
of the righteous. Number one, how many of us
know anything about these people that I just
mentioned? Learn the lives of the saints of America.
Do we know their life stories? Or are you like
me? able more readily to give an account of TV
episodes of I Dream of Jeannie and Hogan's Heroes
and I Don't Know What. Number two, look to the
saints of the church as the perfect role models
and heroes, not to emulate everything they do,
but to be inspired by what they do. The saints
of the church are not going to let us down. or
disappoint us. We're not going to find some evil
deeds that were hidden. They didn't leave secret
or double or hidden lives that caused scandal.
Ask for their help. Pray to them. Number three,
like them, resolve to love God over everything
else. Follow Christ. No excuses for not praying,
not reading the scriptures, not learning about
the faith. Don't be satisfied with the Sunday
school understanding of your Orthodox faith.
Four, every saint recognizes three things that
are opposed to us. The world, don't mean the
beautiful things God has made, but that which
is in opposition. The world, the flesh. I don't
mean our bodies, but the impulses within us,
the world, the flesh, and the devil. Don't justify
sin in yourself. Evil is to be vanquished, not
explained. The devil is to be destroyed, not
approached, in dialogue. Don't be ashamed of
your faith. Repent. Five, the final thing. Every
saint fasted, prayed, lived fully in the life
of the church. But they started out pretty ordinary.
What was Peter and Andrew and James and John,
what were they doing when Jesus came? Just fishing.
They were mending nets. Christ is coming to us
just in our everyday life. The Lord himself is
looking at us and he sees not the wretchedness
and the sins of our life, but he sees what we
can be. Think of how, when he said at the beginning,
let there be light, and there was light. Can
we conceive of what that meant? Cannot the same
Savior, the lover of mankind, Fill us little
beans with his light too. And banish the darkness
there. After all, St. John teaches us at the
beginning of his gospel, he is that light that
came into the world to enlighten every person.
So brothers and sisters, this is Back to Basics
Day. Let's give our amen to the Lord and mean
it with every ounce of our being. To him be glory,
now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.