WEBVTT

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Glory to Jesus Christ. Well, here we are, first

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Sunday of the Great Fast, and the church said

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this is a feast day. Why is it a feast day? Well,

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let's start at the beginning. Let me give you

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a synopsis of the gospel we just heard. Jesus

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comes to the Jordan. John says, I can't baptize

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you. Jesus says, you must to fulfill our righteousness.

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John baptizes Jesus. And he witnesses, he says

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in the Gospel of John, that the Spirit descended

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upon him. The next day, Jesus is back. And John

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points to Jesus as he's walking. That's all St.

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John the Evangelist says. Jesus is walking by.

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And St. John says what? He says to his two disciples,

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the Lamb of God. The two disciples, gone. They

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go right after Jesus. They follow Jesus. And

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Jesus asks them, basically, what do you want?

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And they say, where are you staying? And he says,

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come and see. Isn't that the way it is with Jesus?

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You're not going to get specifics all the time.

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Faithfulness is a matter of putting one foot

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in front of the other with trust in God, knowing

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he's leading you the right way. Faith is not

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just an intellectual ascent. You know, we heard

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some hymns today. last night about heresy. Heresy

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is not that you and I might have an incorrect

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opinion about something the church teaches. If

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I asked most of us to give an explanation of

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the doctrine of the Trinity, in that case most

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of us would be way off. Heresy is a pulling away,

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a sectarianism, a drawing out, a saying, come

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and see. They're wrong in the church. This is

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right. Jesus has come and seen. And they come.

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They follow. And then it says the next day. Well,

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it was the 10th hour. It's about 4 o 'clock.

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And they're with Jesus that whole time. Could

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you imagine being with Jesus at the beginning?

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That afternoon, all evening, speaking with the

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Lord. The next day, another disciple comes. I'll

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let you fill in the blanks here. I'm just giving

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you the high points. It says, we found the Messiah.

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We have found him. So Nathaniel, that disciple,

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comes. We've already got Andrew. We've got Peter.

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We've got Philip. Now we have Nathaniel. And

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then he comes up to Jesus. And Jesus says to

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him these enigmatic and strange words. An Israelite

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in whom there is no deceit. You remember Jacob.

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He gained the name Israel because he wrestled

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with God. He saw God. The name Israel is the

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one who sees God. And Nathaniel responds, and

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how do you know me? Jesus says, oh, before when

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you were under the fig tree, I saw you. There's

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nothing in the Gospel of John to tell us what

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that means. But it had to be an event in Nathanael's

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life that nobody else knew. Because how else

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can you explain the response of Nathanael? You're

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the king of Israel. You know these things. And

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Jesus says again, come, see, follow me. Nathanael

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is surprised. He's shocked, and Jesus says, well,

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you'll see greater things than these. Remember,

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Israel is the one who sees God. You'll see the

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angels of God ascending and descending upon the

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Son of Man. It's a feast day today, so why this

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interesting, enigmatic, strange encounter? Why

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is the gospel that today? Why is that given to

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us? I've pondered this for a long time. Mostly

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on this day, you're going to hear a sermon, which

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is right, about the feast day of the triumph

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of Orthodoxy, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the restoration

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of the holy icons, which is why you're holding

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icons, and the icon of that feast day is in the

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middle of the church, commemorating the Council

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of 843, the year 843, and the proclamation. that

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the icons are restored after 110 years of persecution

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by the civil authorities of the church, towards

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the church. So it's a feast day. The church is

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in freedom, finally. Well, this gospel tells

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us, first, a disciple of Jesus Christ is going

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to follow him, number one. A disciple of Jesus

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Christ is going to see things that other people

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don't see because we're looking at the Lord.

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Let's start really at the beginning for me to

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give a short synopsis. You know, the politicians,

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when you watch CNN, some debate in the Senate,

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one senator will say, I give up my time, I yield

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my time to the senator from Rhode Island. Well,

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I'm going to yield most of my time to the procession

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at the end because we have a prayer, and I think

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it's important that we stay focused. So I'm just

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going to say this, and then we can move on with

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the liturgy. Our faith, the feast day that we

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celebrate, is rooted in that strange defeat,

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said Father Alexander Schmemann. which became

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the most glorious victory. The defeat of the

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man nailed upon the cross, who rose from the

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dead, who is the Lord and Master of this world

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and of all worlds. This is the first triumph

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of Orthodoxy before anything to do with the painted

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icon, because Jesus assures us that the living

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icon You and me can have, as that hymn said that

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the choir just sang, the corrupted image healed

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and suffused with divine beauty. This is the

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first triumph of orthodoxy. This is the content

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of our commemoration. This is our joy, that we

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have a way and God is leading us. Jesus, the

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word of God. selected and chose 12 men. You heard

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about four of them today. That's important. And

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he gave them, after Pentecost, the power, not

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worldly power, because the world persecuted them

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for 300 years. He gave them the power to preach

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and to speak to the heart and to teach us. To

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worship the one God, the Father, the Son, and

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the Holy Spirit. The word of God who came to

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us, who sends us from the Father, the Holy Spirit,

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to sanctify us and to lead us into all truth.

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So that the kingdom of God would be announced

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to the whole world. Not just to the Greeks, to

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the Syrians, to the Russians. No, the whole world.

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You know, my brothers and sisters, how those

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12 men, very simple men, they were fishermen.

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Doesn't mean they were stupid. Very simple men,

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simple fishermen, went out and preached. They

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were covered with blood. But that blood was another

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victory because they proclaimed the resurrection.

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the end of the first century, when the church

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was still very small, a small minority in society,

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and the society was definitely anti -Christian,

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much more than we complain about in our country,

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much, much more. And persecutions were beginning.

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St. John the Divine, the holy disciple, wrote

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these words. This is the victory. Our faith.

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This is the victory. There was no victory at

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that time. St. Paul probably thought he failed

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when he died. And yet, St. John knew that in

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his faithfulness, he had the victory that will

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be applied to us today. We have the promise of

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Christ. The gates of hell will never prevail

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against the church. We have the promise of Christ

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that if we have faith, faithfulness, walking

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in faithfulness, we have all the possibilities,

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for with God all things are possible. The orthodoxy

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we celebrate today is not fulfilled, not manifested,

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not celebrated by having the right answers. to

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particular theological questions. They are important.

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Nor by preserving the tradition just because

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it's old. Or because we think that if we do this

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or that, we're going to be good Orthodox Christians.

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We may be. No, the orthodoxy we celebrate today

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is that of having our attention captivated by,

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which is why we had one week of services morning.

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We should have had it at noon, but there's not

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enough strength there, and night, every day,

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to draw us in, to teach us that we are going

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to see greater things than you can imagine in

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our soul, that it will be suffused with divine

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beauty. The orthodoxy we celebrate today is by

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having our gaze fixed upon, our ears open to,

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and our hearts enthralled with our Lord Jesus

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Christ through prayer, through fasting, through

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worship in the church, through confession and

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communion, for works of good for the poor and

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for each other. He is for us, Jesus is for us,

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the beginning and the end of all things. The

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gospel you heard today is the beginning of his

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ministry. Let us see, brothers and sisters. How

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he is the alpha, the beginning, and the omega.

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We can only do that by faithfulness if we stick

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to it and apply ourselves. He is for us the beginning

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and the end of all things. Archpriest John Bear,

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who taught at St. Vladimir, says, he is the one

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who began our faith, and he is the one who will

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bring it to each one of us to fulfillment. to

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fruitfulness, to repentance, to Pascha. Amen.