WEBVTT 00:00:00.810 --> 00:00:03.029 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:03.029 --> 00:00:07.889 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We know that in the 00:00:07.889 --> 00:00:13.710 Church there are countless martyrs. Every single 00:00:13.710 --> 00:00:16.530 day in the lives of the saints, you could read 00:00:16.530 --> 00:00:20.370 about a different martyr, a group of martyrs. 00:00:20.570 --> 00:00:25.289 Sometimes many at the same time. Sometimes thousands 00:00:25.289 --> 00:00:31.359 at the same time. Forty martyrs. the ten martyrs 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:35.479 of Crete, and so on and so forth. These are all 00:00:35.479 --> 00:00:43.579 magnificent stories for us to see how a Christian 00:00:43.579 --> 00:00:46.979 can take seriously what the Lord said. Fear not, 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:50.740 little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure 00:00:50.740 --> 00:00:56.899 to give you the kingdom. The martyr we're commemorating 00:00:56.899 --> 00:01:01.640 today was a priest. So we call him a hiero martyr. 00:01:03.020 --> 00:01:08.280 The word hiero simply means priest. And he wasn't 00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:13.319 a martyr from far away or long ago. He's a martyr 00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:19.799 from our own time. His grandchildren are still 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:24.939 living. I know a priest who is acquainted with 00:01:24.939 --> 00:01:31.680 them. This higher martyr is John, John known 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:37.260 as John of Chicago and St. Petersburg. I'm going 00:01:37.260 --> 00:01:42.620 to tell you a little story about him. A person's 00:01:42.620 --> 00:01:45.239 life isn't told in 10, 15, 20 minutes or even 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:49.260 2 hours or 10 hours. Every day there's something 00:01:49.260 --> 00:01:53.819 significant in the life of any one of you. Something 00:01:53.819 --> 00:01:58.269 important that happens. But we'll have to skip 00:01:58.269 --> 00:02:02.750 over that for this man and just focus on mainly 00:02:02.750 --> 00:02:08.710 the end of his life. He's a man that took those 00:02:08.710 --> 00:02:11.590 words of the Lord very seriously. Do not fear, 00:02:11.669 --> 00:02:14.349 little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure 00:02:14.349 --> 00:02:16.849 to give you the kingdom. For where your treasure 00:02:16.849 --> 00:02:24.370 is, there your heart will be also. These words 00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:26.870 apply to this saint, Hiram Ardijan of Chicago. 00:02:27.409 --> 00:02:34.729 He was born in 1871 in Russia, in a city not 00:02:34.729 --> 00:02:37.449 too far from Moscow. His father was a priest. 00:02:37.590 --> 00:02:41.789 His grandfather was a priest. At the time, that 00:02:41.789 --> 00:02:46.090 was quite normal. There weren't many options 00:02:46.090 --> 00:02:51.939 for a person, the son of a priest. Except to 00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:54.300 become a priest. And you would go to a local 00:02:54.300 --> 00:03:01.340 seminary. And they were, the moral life and the 00:03:01.340 --> 00:03:05.120 material life of those places was rather low. 00:03:05.379 --> 00:03:10.099 Because not everybody wanted to be there. In 00:03:10.099 --> 00:03:17.840 any case, he was married in 1895. Of course, 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:23.039 his wife. was the daughter of a priest. They 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:25.819 traveled to New York and then to Chicago. He 00:03:25.819 --> 00:03:29.060 had a burning desire at seminary where he excelled 00:03:29.060 --> 00:03:32.840 at the St. Petersburg Academy. He had a burning 00:03:32.840 --> 00:03:35.199 desire to be a missionary, and he was invited 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:37.979 by Bishop Nicholas, who was the bishop of the 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:42.599 American diocese at the time, to come. He came 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:48.060 to Chicago. He knew no English at the time. But 00:03:48.060 --> 00:03:51.740 he was assigned to minister to a rather disorganized 00:03:51.740 --> 00:03:55.939 and scattered, you couldn't call it a congregation 00:03:55.939 --> 00:03:59.439 because they were not yet congregated, spread 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:02.819 out over hundreds of miles around Chicago. For 00:04:02.819 --> 00:04:07.280 10 years, this man diligently and with excellent 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:11.620 administrative skills and pastoral skills, of 00:04:11.620 --> 00:04:14.340 course he could sing, he could chant, he could 00:04:14.340 --> 00:04:20.300 pray. He loved the people. He brought people 00:04:20.300 --> 00:04:23.740 together from Chicago, from Madison, Illinois, 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:30.220 from Streeter, Illinois, any established congregations, 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:33.279 growing them from hardly anything to in each 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:38.660 place over 200, easily in a few years. This man 00:04:38.660 --> 00:04:40.839 was creative. He did something that I can imagine 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:45.459 my father doing. There was the world. the World 00:04:45.459 --> 00:04:50.379 Exposition in Chicago, the World's Fair, and 00:04:50.379 --> 00:04:52.620 at the Russian Exposition, there was a chapel. 00:04:53.339 --> 00:04:56.220 It had been built in Russia, taken apart piece 00:04:56.220 --> 00:04:59.139 by piece, brought to Chicago, and reassembled. 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:02.779 He asked for it, to have it. He couldn't have 00:05:02.779 --> 00:05:05.740 the whole thing, but he had it brought to Streeter, 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:08.740 Illinois, about 100 miles outside of Chicago, 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:14.370 and they built it again. It lasted maybe 15 years, 00:05:14.470 --> 00:05:17.410 then it was sold, sadly, to a Baptist congregation. 00:05:18.829 --> 00:05:21.629 The various Orthodox elements were stripped out, 00:05:21.670 --> 00:05:25.189 and eventually it's not there now. It was demolished. 00:05:27.029 --> 00:05:32.350 He took small groups of miners and laborers and 00:05:32.350 --> 00:05:36.310 butchers, Slovaks, Greeks, Serbs, Hungarian, 00:05:36.629 --> 00:05:40.490 Russians, Eastern Rite Catholics, Galicians. 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:45.980 and built that parish. A hymn for today tells 00:05:45.980 --> 00:05:48.860 us that he was the comfort and consolation of 00:05:48.860 --> 00:05:52.300 the people. He ministered to them in all their 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:55.540 needs and cares. He guided them in a strange 00:05:55.540 --> 00:06:01.800 land, like Abraham of Holt, and he was deeply 00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:07.129 loved. At the exact same time, He was laboring, 00:06:07.149 --> 00:06:09.370 and this is not a coincidence because this is 00:06:09.370 --> 00:06:13.709 how God's providence works. With him was St. 00:06:13.730 --> 00:06:17.649 Ticon, who arrived in America in 1898 to become 00:06:17.649 --> 00:06:22.430 the bishop of the American diocese. Alexis Toth, 00:06:22.569 --> 00:06:28.009 St. Sebastian Dobovich of Jackson in San Francisco, 00:06:28.269 --> 00:06:33.769 St. Raphael of Brooklyn. St. John, this man, 00:06:33.970 --> 00:06:37.509 Kucherov is his name, Kucherov, worked with all 00:06:37.509 --> 00:06:42.350 of them. In 1900, the year 1900, he was terribly 00:06:42.350 --> 00:06:45.490 homesick. His family was still there in Russia. 00:06:46.509 --> 00:06:50.569 Not his immediate family, but his parents and 00:06:50.569 --> 00:06:54.329 his in -laws. And so he received a blessing to 00:06:54.329 --> 00:06:57.550 return to Russia to see them. But what did he 00:06:57.550 --> 00:07:00.189 do? How did he spend his time? Resting from all 00:07:00.189 --> 00:07:06.040 his labors? No. fundraising. He raised $50 ,000 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:10.019 over the period that he was there so that he 00:07:10.019 --> 00:07:13.060 could build a church in Chicago, a proper church. 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:19.079 On the 10th anniversary of his ordination, he 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:23.279 received the gold cross, and Bishop Tikhon, who 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:29.339 greatly admired John Kocherov, said in his remarks, 00:07:29.500 --> 00:07:34.250 in his congratulatory remarks that day, You've 00:07:34.250 --> 00:07:39.529 faced so many difficulties. Loneliness, being 00:07:39.529 --> 00:07:47.910 isolated from brother priests. Living in a untidy, 00:07:48.009 --> 00:07:51.529 wet, half -ruined building with your family. 00:07:51.730 --> 00:07:54.689 They're sick all the time. You've been sick continually. 00:07:55.029 --> 00:07:57.490 Your congregation is spread out over hundreds 00:07:57.490 --> 00:08:01.470 of miles. Their faith is weak. St. Ticon said, 00:08:02.089 --> 00:08:04.949 the faith of his congregation was torn asunder 00:08:04.949 --> 00:08:11.850 by wild beasts. Well, with this 50 ,000, St. 00:08:11.970 --> 00:08:14.089 John managed to build the magnificent Cathedral 00:08:14.089 --> 00:08:17.470 of the Holy Trinity in Chicago, which is something 00:08:17.470 --> 00:08:21.810 you can see today. There will be a huge celebration 00:08:21.810 --> 00:08:25.629 in this lovely place designed by the well -known 00:08:25.629 --> 00:08:28.129 American architect, interestingly enough, Louis 00:08:28.129 --> 00:08:35.549 Sullivan. In 1907, feeling again homesick, and 00:08:35.549 --> 00:08:39.190 his in -laws needed him and his wife to return, 00:08:39.350 --> 00:08:41.690 he came back to Russia with his six children. 00:08:42.669 --> 00:08:46.649 And he was eventually, after six or seven or 00:08:46.649 --> 00:08:50.470 eight years of labors in various churches and 00:08:50.470 --> 00:08:53.669 dioceses, assigned to the immense Cathedral of 00:08:53.669 --> 00:08:58.759 St. Catherine in the town of Tsarskoe Selo. the 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:03.840 Tsar's village. You have to remember this was 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:10.500 1916 and World War I was tearing Russia apart. 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:13.840 We have it in our minds because this is what 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:17.320 we were taught in school that Russia was terribly 00:09:17.320 --> 00:09:20.779 backward, just filled with peasants. The church 00:09:20.779 --> 00:09:24.840 was so corrupt. The peasants were unhappy. In 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:27.899 fact, the peasants had been freed. Decades before, 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:34.259 Russia was extremely prosperous, but it wasn't 00:09:34.259 --> 00:09:37.360 prepared for World War I, and the devastation 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:40.559 and the exhaustion of the war eventually led 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:43.419 to the abdication of the Tsar, and into that 00:09:43.419 --> 00:09:47.200 vacuum came the Bolsheviks. Not many of them, 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:52.559 but vicious enough to do whatever they felt they 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:58.269 had to do to gain power. In 1917, in October, 00:09:58.330 --> 00:10:02.289 at the end of the month, the Bolsheviks seized 00:10:02.289 --> 00:10:05.870 power in Petrograd and St. John, seeing the chaos 00:10:05.870 --> 00:10:11.409 there and fearing what was to come, the frightful 00:10:11.409 --> 00:10:15.309 suffering that Russia was to endure, called his 00:10:15.309 --> 00:10:21.149 congregation to be vigilant, to remember what 00:10:21.149 --> 00:10:24.529 Jesus said, what we heard today, where your treasure 00:10:24.529 --> 00:10:29.409 is. There will your heart be also. Let your waist 00:10:29.409 --> 00:10:31.990 be girded, your lamps burning, and you yourselves 00:10:31.990 --> 00:10:34.570 be like men who wait for their master. When he 00:10:34.570 --> 00:10:37.169 will return from the wedding, that when he comes 00:10:37.169 --> 00:10:40.850 and knocks, they may open unto him. To be prepared. 00:10:42.429 --> 00:10:46.809 To be ready. Blessed are the servants whom the 00:10:46.809 --> 00:10:51.570 master, when he comes, will find watching. On 00:10:51.570 --> 00:10:55.620 the morning of the 30th of October, 1917, That 00:10:55.620 --> 00:10:59.039 would have been yesterday's date for us. Stopping 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:03.019 at the outskirts of this town of Tsarskoe Selo, 00:11:03.259 --> 00:11:06.679 the Bolshevik forces began to bombard the city. 00:11:06.779 --> 00:11:10.440 They shelled the city. The inhabitants of that 00:11:10.440 --> 00:11:14.799 town, like everywhere else in Russia, did not 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:20.720 realize there was a civil war. The people gathered 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:26.269 then in the cathedral. to pray for peace. Bombs 00:11:26.269 --> 00:11:28.529 were falling. They're praying for the end of 00:11:28.529 --> 00:11:32.210 fighting. And they organized a cross procession. 00:11:32.210 --> 00:11:34.210 The hundreds and hundreds of people, perhaps 00:11:34.210 --> 00:11:37.629 thousands, processing throughout the entire city 00:11:37.629 --> 00:11:42.730 with the cross, singing and praying. The Cossack 00:11:42.730 --> 00:11:47.169 soldiers that were guarding that town decided 00:11:47.169 --> 00:11:50.090 it was time to leave. They said to St. John, 00:11:50.389 --> 00:11:55.379 time for prayer is over. Time to run. And his 00:11:55.379 --> 00:11:58.279 response and the response of the other priests. 00:11:59.580 --> 00:12:03.759 These are our people. This is our place. This 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:10.700 is our cathedral. Our brothers are coming to 00:12:10.700 --> 00:12:15.620 us. What harm will they cause us? You see how 00:12:15.620 --> 00:12:20.659 people that are holy always see the good. always 00:12:20.659 --> 00:12:26.139 see their responsibility before God. And they 00:12:26.139 --> 00:12:28.580 will carry it out, no matter what the danger. 00:12:31.419 --> 00:12:35.820 So they stayed. On the morning of October the 00:12:35.820 --> 00:12:41.620 31st, 1917, today is the anniversary, the Bolshevik 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:46.360 forces entered the town. They encountered no 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:51.360 opposition because the soldiers were gone. The 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:56.080 priests were then rounded up, accused of inciting 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:00.179 resistance against the attack. St. John tried 00:13:00.179 --> 00:13:03.519 to reason with the soldiers, the Bolsheviks. 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:06.419 This is not true. We were praying for peace. 00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:10.100 We were praying for God's love. We were praying 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:13.240 for the restoration and the end of civil strife. 00:13:13.620 --> 00:13:16.860 We were not praying for the Cossacks or this 00:13:16.860 --> 00:13:22.480 group or that group. The leaders made an example 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:28.679 of him. They punched him repeatedly, knocked 00:13:28.679 --> 00:13:32.600 him down, abused him, dragged him out to a field, 00:13:32.659 --> 00:13:37.259 and shot him. And he was not yet dead, and they 00:13:37.259 --> 00:13:40.059 left him there. They came out later and shot 00:13:40.059 --> 00:13:45.500 him numerous times until he was dead. So, we 00:13:45.500 --> 00:13:48.860 have the first martyr of the Bolshevik Revolution. 00:13:50.539 --> 00:13:53.620 Of which there would be countless martyrs. Not 00:13:53.620 --> 00:13:57.799 casualties, dear people. But witnesses to the 00:13:57.799 --> 00:14:03.480 love and glory of God. Witnesses to the kingdom 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:10.700 of God. Not witnesses to evil. Oh, the demons, 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:14.759 my friends. Legion is the name, as we heard in 00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:21.840 that gospel. Possessed, rational men. to do horrible, 00:14:21.940 --> 00:14:25.919 brutal, ungodly acts against their fellow human 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:32.799 beings. Atheism, please remember, is not a philosophy. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:38.279 Atheism has no guiding principle except the self. 00:14:40.139 --> 00:14:43.559 And the power of the passions in any one of us 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:48.659 can easily prevail. Where there is no authority 00:14:48.659 --> 00:14:52.039 of God, where there is no law of God, Dostoevsky 00:14:52.039 --> 00:14:56.120 claimed, then all things are allowed. And what 00:14:56.120 --> 00:15:01.080 dreadful things. What dreadful things. Yes, the 00:15:01.080 --> 00:15:05.980 sorrow on earth and the loss of so much. But 00:15:05.980 --> 00:15:09.480 the crown of glory, but the crown of glory of 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:11.360 a faithful witness to Christ in the heavens, 00:15:11.460 --> 00:15:16.580 so joy too. I'm wearing this red vestment today 00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:19.320 because red is the color of the blood of the 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:24.279 martyrs. It's an embroidered vestment. Some people 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:27.399 may say it's a little too extravagant. But I 00:15:27.399 --> 00:15:29.440 think of the hymn we sing on Saturday night. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:32.220 The Lord is robed. He is clothed in majesty. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:35.899 The Lord is girded with strength. And this is 00:15:35.899 --> 00:15:38.379 what he does for the faithful who will stand 00:15:38.379 --> 00:15:43.240 before him. He will robe us in glory and honor. 00:15:44.110 --> 00:15:46.830 and especially the martyrs who stand about his 00:15:46.830 --> 00:15:51.529 throne. Because martyrs are not afraid of losing 00:15:51.529 --> 00:15:55.190 anything, because they know in Christ they have 00:15:55.190 --> 00:16:02.710 everything. They have died to sin, and they've 00:16:02.710 --> 00:16:06.799 died to death already in their baptism. And they 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:09.419 have the kingdom of God within themselves. Their 00:16:09.419 --> 00:16:12.480 treasure is there in the kingdom in their heart. 00:16:12.620 --> 00:16:15.539 And they witness, the word martyr means witness, 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:18.659 and they are the ones most like Christ because 00:16:18.659 --> 00:16:21.419 they do what Christ did. They witness to God's 00:16:21.419 --> 00:16:25.320 kingdom that is not of this world, but is for 00:16:25.320 --> 00:16:29.600 this world. They witness to the reality of the 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:32.200 resurrection because they're not afraid of death. 00:16:34.509 --> 00:16:38.610 That reality of which we partake of at every 00:16:38.610 --> 00:16:42.809 liturgy when we receive the precious body and 00:16:42.809 --> 00:16:45.529 blood of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, 00:16:45.690 --> 00:16:49.129 his resurrected and glorified body, and we become 00:16:49.129 --> 00:16:54.330 resurrected a little bit too. Fear not, little 00:16:54.330 --> 00:16:57.590 flock. It is your father's good pleasure to give 00:16:57.590 --> 00:17:01.230 you the kingdom. For St. John, the treasure in 00:17:01.230 --> 00:17:06.109 heaven, his heart was already there. Saint Tikhon 00:17:06.109 --> 00:17:12.490 of Moscow, learning of this martyrdom as he was 00:17:12.490 --> 00:17:17.269 attending the All -Russian Council of 1917, the 00:17:17.269 --> 00:17:20.410 one that would elect him patriarch, he said the 00:17:20.410 --> 00:17:24.569 following, Adorned with the martyr's crown, the 00:17:24.569 --> 00:17:28.710 reposed pastor, John, now stands before the throne 00:17:28.710 --> 00:17:32.569 of God amongst the chosen faithful of Christ's 00:17:32.569 --> 00:17:35.900 holy flock. He was destined to be the zealous 00:17:35.900 --> 00:17:40.180 parish priest and inspired witness even unto 00:17:40.180 --> 00:17:45.119 death. Quoting the Book of Revelation, even unto 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:48.619 death of Christ's truth, Archpriest John Kocharov, 00:17:48.700 --> 00:17:51.200 who met a martyr's death at the hands of the 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:54.740 apostates and fighters of God on 31st October 00:17:54.740 --> 00:18:00.400 1917 in Saroskoye Selo, the first martyr under 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:04.670 the Bolsheviks of the Russian Church. We have 00:18:04.670 --> 00:18:09.130 a great intercessor before God, one close to 00:18:09.130 --> 00:18:12.569 us. Okay, you may not be a fan of the Chicago 00:18:12.569 --> 00:18:15.809 White Sox or the Chicago of this or the Bears, 00:18:16.009 --> 00:18:21.970 but you're a fan of Chicago now. The place of 00:18:21.970 --> 00:18:24.809 the witness of the pastorship of this magnificent 00:18:24.809 --> 00:18:28.910 man, this magnificent pastor. His work still 00:18:28.910 --> 00:18:32.769 continues because we pray. We offer intercession 00:18:32.769 --> 00:18:35.529 before him, and he answers us before the throne 00:18:35.529 --> 00:18:38.470 of God. Through his prayers, Lord Jesus Christ, 00:18:38.529 --> 00:18:39.849 our God, have mercy on us.