In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. I
love stories. I love movies, and even children's
books, to novels like The Lord of the Rings,
to plays. Perhaps you do too. Why do we like
stories so much? Well, sometimes it's about the
characters that we relate with, that we can identify
with, or perhaps we can try to emulate. Sometimes
it's because of the adventure and the excitement.
And when we look at a story and we look at, is
it true? Is it nonfiction? Or is it fiction?
It kind of helps us. to know how best to look
at it. And like the Chronicles of Narnia, I would
not go around in life expecting that Aslan would
be jumping up to see me. However, when I read
the Gospels, I know that our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ has sent the Holy Spirit to us to
guide us, and I live as if that is non -fiction.
I love all kinds of stories, and today we honor
the royal passion bearers, Tsar Nicholas, Tsaritsa,
Alexandra, Tsarevich, Alexei, Grand Duchess Olga,
Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and we also honor
the holy fathers of the first six ecumenical
councils. And imagine all the stories just in
the lives of these people that we could look
at and how the Lord God worked in each one of
their lives in various ways, helping to bring
them close to him. In today's gospel, in Matthew,
we are told that Jesus met two men in the country
of the Gergesenes. And that these two men were
demon -possessed. And they came out from the
tombs. And they would block the roads and keep
people from following where they needed to go
on the path. And Jesus walks up and they recognize
him. And they say, Jesus, what have you to do
with us? you Jesus, you Son of God? Have you
come to torment us before the time? What do they
mean there, before the time? Well, that means
before the last judgment, when Christ will return
in all power and all those demons that do exist,
well, they'll face their ultimate end. The light
of Christ It shines out even before his resurrection
in a way that they are repelled by him. These
demons, the villains of this story, recognize
that they are powerless against Jesus, the ultimate
hero, and they just seek to get away from him.
requesting that they could go into that herd
of spines, you know, the pigs that eventually
rushed in and drowned themselves. Did you notice
the fear? They just wanted to get away from Jesus.
So what can we conclude from this story? Well,
one, we can conclude that Demons do exist. And
we can conclude, secondly, that demons are powerless
before Christ. And this is true in the world
today, that demons do exist around us in the
world. They are malicious and deceitful and work
against God's purpose and against God's people,
trying to manipulate those who would listen to
them. But we can also take from this story that
they are powerless before the Lord. Even before
his resurrection, Jesus commands them out of
those two men, and he rescues those two men,
just as he seeks to rescue you and me. So we
get from this story that demons do exist. And
do they exist the same way? You know, we live
in the scientific age. Can we say that there
are demons and really mean it? Yes. Yes, we can.
And we see in the world doctrines of demons which
are meant to take people away from God. And they're
in the world around us this day. You could look
around and see people leaving the church and
you could ask them, why? Why did you decide to
turn away from God? And they would probably tell
you something that had been entered into the
world by demons seeking to do just that, to pull
people away from the church, away from their
salvation, and away from God. But we walk with
God. We are filled with the Holy Spirit. and
the light of Christ will not allow any shadow
to be near us. There's no reason to fear these
demons. In Luke 10, 17 to 19, we are told of
the 70 who were sent out as apostles by Christ,
and it reads this. Then the 70 returned with
joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject
to us in your name. And he said to them, I saw
Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold,
I give you authority to trample on serpents and
scorpions and over all the power of the enemy,
and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless,
do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are
subject to you, but rather rejoice because your
names are written in heaven. And so you and I
can rejoice the same way, for God has given us
the church that he is guiding us to heaven by
being a part of the church. And his light drives
away the deceit of demons. St. Silouan the Athonite
says concerning spiritual warfare, Blessed are
we Orthodox Christians because we live under
the protection of God's mercy. It is not difficult
for us to wage this war. The Lord had pity on
us and gave us the Holy Spirit who abides in
our church. Our only sorrow is that not everyone
knows God and how greatly he loves us. The man
who prays is conscious of this love and the Spirit
of God bears witness in his soul to salvation.
So as you and I live the stories, which are our
lives, and we move forth, let us emulate the
examples of those who have come before us. The
fathers of the six and ecumenical councils who
stood for truth and rejected error. The royal
passion bearers who gave their lives still faithful
to the Lord. And let us commit ourselves to faithful
prayer and let us shine God's light. to the world,
for we know the ultimate ending of the story.
We know the ultimate victory of Christ, that
we will stand with him when he returns in power.
May the light of Christ illuminate all. Glory
to Jesus Christ.