In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.
Glory to Christ. I'd like to speak about the
Feast of All Saints just for a moment. You know,
the Orthodox Church celebrates All Saints on
the Sunday after Pentecost in the West. It's
established in the following way. No groaning,
please. I'm not going to talk about this the
way you think I'm going to talk about this. I
promise. On November 1st, the year 732, I think
I have the facts right, but Father James can
correct me if I'm not. Pope Gregory, Pope St.
Gregory III called a local council in St. Peter's
Basilica bishops and he consecrated there a side
chapel to the Theotokos and for the feast of
all saints and all martyrs and they hung several
icons there and they pronounced with the bishops
there against the iconoclasts who were raging
in the church in the east icons were being destroyed
in that time the 700s the mid 700s in the year
In 835, so remember we celebrate the feast of
the Sunday of Orthodoxy in 843. In 835, Pope
Gregory IV, another Gregory, ordered that this
feast of all saints be kept throughout the whole
Western Church as a universal festival in response
to the persecutions that were still going on
by the iconoclasts in the East. So this Western
Feast of All Saints is akin to our Sunday of
Orthodoxy celebration and akin to our Sunday
of All Saints as a banner, a statement, an affirmation
of the propriety of the veneration of icons.
Remember, we spoke about icons. Was it last week?
Yes. So All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Eve. Halloween,
All Saints Eve, is this feast. Now, there's a
murky history of this feast from that point on,
and I'm not qualified to speak about it, and
I'm not interested to speak about it. All I can
say, and I'll say very little, is what we now
know of Halloween, unless you're Roman Catholic,
I suppose, it's devoid of any liturgical content,
of any festal... joy and meaning for people.
Halloween in our society is about spending vast
amounts of money to celebrate I don't know what
and it's become a strange amalgamation of different
world views containing within itself some pleasant
customs and also some positively evil practices
very much on display. If I was a kid And I wanted
to celebrate the feast, and I'll call it All
Saints. It is a church, after all. I certainly
think, what saint, what saint, a very important
and beloved saint, near to All Saints Feast,
what saint would I choose to dress up as? That'd
be St. Demetrius of Thessalonica, martyred in
306. Our St. Demetrius, his icon, is here. We
had vestments for him on Friday, liturgy yesterday,
and we're continuing the feast today along with
his disciple, Nestor. Our St. Demetrius was holy
before he was martyred. He had been a soldier,
but he had been promoted, and now he was a governor
of that whole region around Thessalonica. He
was a servant of... He was a Christian. He was
sanctified by the Spirit of God. He was transfigured
by God. He was a temple of God. And because of
that, the gospel was being spread. One saint,
I think it's St. Gregory of Palamas, says he's
a new St. Paul. He's equal to the apostles, sharing
the good news of salvation in a very dark and
strange pagan time. persecutions were still going
on but were almost over. Almost over. A church
was built where he was martyred and the altar
was right above the spot of his martyrdom. And
sometime later it was discovered that myrrh was
streaming from his holy relics. I've been in
this church a number of times. The most recent
time was 2018 when I went with my sons and my
son -in -law. And I remember the look on their
face when we walked into this magnificent basilica.
It is a basilica. It doesn't have a dome. It's
very large. It was rebuilt in 1912 after the
great fire in Thessalonica. It's magnificent.
And there's a whole place where you go and you
can receive some of the myrrh from St. Demetrius.
Your heart leaps when you're there. It's touched.
It's one of the oldest churches that there is.
It's very much beloved. So I'd dress up as St.
Demetrius. I'm halfway there right now. I'd have
that sword and that spear that you see. There's
a wonderful fresco behind the choir. Please remember
that he was martyred by the sword. And the spear.
He's carrying it. Not as a sign of offense to
someone else. Except to the demons of course.
But a sign of his own martyrdom. And resolute
testimony to the Lord's resurrection and life.
I'd have that armor. I'd have that breastplate.
That shield because of what St. Paul said. Stand
therefore having fastened on the belt of truth.
Having put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Take up the shield of faith. With which you can
extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil
one. Take the helmet of salvation. The sword
of the spirit. Which is the word of God. He doesn't
mean a book. He means Christ within him. Christ's
word dwelling richly within him. Praying at all
times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication.
This is what St. Paul says about all that armor.
Why do we put on all that armor? St. Paul says,
so that you may be able to stand against the
schemes of the devil. Which is what St. Demetrius
did. Which is what we do when we make the sign
of the cross. When we call upon the name of the
Lord, St. James says, the devil flees. especially
the Jesus prayer. St. Paul goes on, he says,
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the air,
in the heavenly places. And that brings me to
the gospel account from this morning. Let's remember
these words from St. Paul. about what we struggle
against. Let's remember that the first thing
Jesus did after he was baptized was go into the
wilderness. You remember in the story we just
heard, this man was possessed by a legion of
demons. He was fragmented. He was broken. He
was violent. He was obscene. He was naked. He
was living in the tombs. Spirit seized him. And
he broke the shackles. And was driven by the
demon. Into the wilderness. Jesus goes into the
wilderness. And he confronts the devil. That's
the first thing he does. And the devil has nothing
in him. And Jesus then. Continues his ministry.
Mark. His gospel very clear. As the others. He
goes and heals those that were possessed. Now,
you and I, mostly, haven't seen anything this
dramatic. What have I to do with thee, Jesus,
Son of the Most High, says this demon. I usually
don't quote demons in church. But this is the
gospel. I beg you, do not torment me. For he
had commanded the unclean spirit to come out
of the man. For it often seized him. And he was
kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles.
He wore no clothes. Neither did he live in a
house, but in the tombs. And when he saw Jesus,
he fell down before him. Because he knew who
Jesus was. This gospel is a partner. is an illumination
of what we heard last week. I spoke to you about
the temple of God, that you are the temple of
God, that the Holy Spirit was given to you at
your baptism and your chrismation. And now, says
St. Paul, don't you know you've been bought with
a price? You are the temple of the living God.
This story here is a partner to that. It illustrates...
What happens to a person that pursues something
different and opens himself up to the hatred
and the violence of demonic power? Yes, I've
seen it. Go down to the tenderloin. The devil
doesn't need to do much anymore. He just gets
people addicted. And they lose their minds. And
they lose their consciousness and they become
legion also. So the reason I'm telling you this,
dear brothers and sisters, is not because I'm
afraid any of this is going to happen to us.
I'm telling you this because the devil does strive
against us. We struggle not against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against cosmic powers. Because we are the temple
of God. He would like to destroy, if not destroy,
at least harm. And if not harm, make a big mess
in that temple so that you don't even know that
that Holy Spirit is within you, the Spirit of
God. My encouragement to you today is to rejoice
at this miracle that occurred to this man because
what happened? The demons had to ask for permission
from Christ and Christ sent them into the swine.
Why swine? Was that cruel to the pigs? Well,
why swine is because swine provide the preferred
meat at the pagan sacrifices. In the pagan temples.
And they went. And the man was then healed. They
found him. Sitting at the feet of Jesus. Clothed
and in his right mind. He became then. The temple
of God. Clothed. Beautiful. Peaceful. So. So
attached to the Lord. That he didn't want to
let him out of. his sight for a moment, and listen
to what he did. Jesus says, tell everybody the
things that God has done for you. And he says,
and he goes off, and he went his way and proclaimed
throughout the whole city what things Jesus,
parentheses, bracket, in the scriptures, I would
think, Jesus, our Savior and God, had done for
him. This is why we have this story, to remind
us. That last week we may have spoken about the
icons in the temple of God and that we are sanctified.
This week we see what happens if a person is
not. And we give glory to God for what we have
been given. That we have been saved. And let
me remind you why Jesus came. St. John says it
very clearly. He came to destroy the works of
the devil. First letter of John. Came to destroy
the works of the devil. So we too. You get up
in the morning. You say your prayers. This is
the works of God. No other work can take place
after that. No work of the devil can happen.
You forgive your neighbor. The work of God happens
again. And more grace comes to you. You spend
a little time reading the scriptures. You look
into your heart. Maybe you see. The image of
Christ in your heart. And if we do that all our
life, when we leave this life, we will be sanctified
and we will have the great joy and the knowledge
of the grace of God dwelling within us. Be careful
of your temple. You have been bought with a price.
We work for the Lord. We rejoice in the Lord.
And we honor him as much as we can. To our Lord
who has saved us, be glory and honor now and
ever to ages of ages. Amen.