In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today's commemorations
offer the preacher so many riches. that one finds
oneself floundering in it all. We celebrate the
memory of St. Thomas the Apostle today, the one
who said to Jesus after the resurrection, the
first one to say, my Lord and my God, and you
see up here to my right, fresco, the belief of
Thomas, Thomas coming to belief in the Lord and
proclaiming him as his Lord and Savior. We have
this marvelous gospel. about Jesus raising the
widow's son. It's incredibly dramatic. St. Luke
and the gospel writers don't give you psychological
profiles and insights. They give you the text
very simply, but incredibly dramatic. A woman
losing her son, she's a widow. She has nothing
now. Jesus, St. Luke calls him Lord for the first
time in the gospel, as in the Lord spoke to Moses,
as in Elijah received the word of the Lord, or
the Lord came to Abraham. Yes, the same Lord.
And Jesus, it says, had compassion. His heart,
his heart felt sorrow. In Greek, that particular
word means That gets translated as compassion
means the spleen, somehow or other. We don't
think that way now, that those kind of deep feelings
come from the spleen. We would say his heart
went out to her. The Lord God, as a man, as our
Savior and our God, touched the open coffin.
It's all about touch, our salvation. We could
speak about that. We could speak about the epistle,
this wonderful epistle about St. Paul's travails
and difficulties, but I think what I'd like to
do is focus just on one thing today, and that
is the marvelous apostle to America, the evangelizer
of the Aleuts, the metropolitan of Moscow, innocent.
Ms. Fresco is over here. Icon is here. And in
the narthex, he's next to St. Herman. So obviously,
three depictions. You know he's important for
us. Listen to this psalm verse, which he wanted
preached at his funeral. Preached on. The Lord
guides a man safely in the way he should go.
Or the footsteps of a man are directed by the
Lord. St. Innocent left this verse behind as
a theme for his sermon. for the sermon at the
funeral when he died in 1878 as the Metropolitan
of Moscow, which he had served as for only 11
years. Throughout his whole life, as we will
see, he felt the guidance and the protection
of God. This was the case in 1823 when he was
just a young priest. He was ordained at the age
of 23. He was a successful young priest in the
city of Irkutsk. If I got my geography right,
that's southeast Siberia. Is that correct? And
he heard the call from his bishop to go to Alaska
as a missionary. None of the clergy wanted to
go, and neither did he. He wrote later this.
He said, why should I, humanly speaking, have
traveled God knows where when I had one of the
best parishes in the city, when I enjoyed the
love of my parishioners and the good graces of
the authorities, when I already owned my own
home and had a larger salary being offered to
whomever was assigned? Why would he go? But he
did. He did, brothers and sisters. Let me back
up. He was born in 1797 to a very poor family.
His father was sort of the caretaker of the parish,
died at his... Father died when St. Innocent
was six years old, and he went to live with his
uncle, who was the deacon in the church, and
he entered the school for the clergy children,
which was the normal thing. He was a brilliant
student. He eventually married. Of course, he
married the daughter of the parish priest. That
was what was done there, and ordained at age
23. You can read the rest of his story, how he
answered that call, how he traveled with his
family. for a year, his wife, his children, his
mother -in -law, how when he got to Alaska, he
didn't check into the local hotel or to the rectory.
He had to build himself an earthen hut. He taught
the local people, the local American natives,
skills of carpentry, blacksmithing, building.
He traveled up and down the rivers, visiting
churches that had sort of been established, but
not really, and the people knew nothing about
their faith. He learned the local languages,
six different dialects he could do, translated
the gospel. at least some of it, translated some
of the church services, designed and built the
cathedral in Sitka, Alaska, dedicated to St.
Michael, and on and on and on, preaching the
good news of the gospel and gaining the trust
and love of the local people only after he learned
their languages. Well, he returned to Russia
in late 1838, I think it was. to secure funds
for the mission, to get help, additional clergy.
While he was gone, tragically, his wife died.
He was encouraged to be consecrated bishop. It
took him about a year and a half to decide about
that. One could speak... all day long about his
exploits his encounters his sorrows his successes
of how he arrived in that remote location where
no other white man had really been where he was
greeted by name by a local shaman a local holy
man who had said that two shining men would come
to him every week for the last number of years
Other people couldn't see these two people. And
they would speak to him about the gospel, teaching
him about Jesus Christ and saying, a very noble
person, a very holy man by the name of Innocent
is going to come to this village, prepare the
people. St. Innocent arrives and he's greeted
by all these people and greeted by name. And
he's amazed. How do they know to even be there?
And he discovers this story about this holy man.
And the man says, I can introduce you to these
two men if you want. Saint Innocent wrote his
bishop. And it took a year to receive the answer.
And his bishop said, if you want to, you're blessed
to meet them. But Bishop Innocent said, no, I
will not. I don't want to test the Lord my God,
nor do I want to meet these angels because it
will come to my pride. You see how humble this
man was. Probably a wise thing to do. He was
a Renaissance man, a deep man of prayer and faith
of God. I mean, look at his journey. One man,
a family man. One man, a priest at first only.
with no support, did so many things. Architect,
botanist, linguist, adventurer, father to his
children, husband to his wife, pastor to the
community, traveling far and wide. Obedient to
God in all things. One man, a family man, did
all these things. Would that any of us, think
now to yourself, of the gifts and talents God
has given each of you. Think of this verse that
Saint Innocent wanted to be preached on at his
funeral. The steps of a man, of a person, are
guided by God. Think of the trust in God to do
his will. Think of each one of us obediently
nurturing the gifts and the talents God has given
us. What an amazing thing happened with just
him, by himself. Eventually, he was elected Metropolitan
of Moscow in 1868. There was no patriarch then.
Peter the Great had abolished it, and he fell
asleep. the Lord on March 31st 1879 on Holy Saturday
and was buried in the Holy Spirit Church of the
Trinity St. Sergius Lavra. I had the blessing
to go there in 2001. I didn't know his coffin
was in that church and it was such a joy and
blessing to go venerate him. He was glorified
in 1977 on this date, October 6th, by the Russian
Orthodox Church at the request of the Orthodox
Church in America, and his memory is celebrated
three times during the year. March 31st, the
day of his repose, and October 5th, yesterday,
that is the Synaxis of the Moscow Hierarchs,
and today. Miracles do happen. Miracles do happen.
The hard heart of Father John Vinyaminov, as
he was known before he was called innocent, was
touched by the grace of God. And he accepted
this mission. Psalm 37, that verse that I've
mentioned now three times, is about overcoming
that psalm, is about overcoming anxiety. Overcoming
worry and fretting. overcoming envy and distress
over the prosperity and success of others who
seem to be evil, the wicked. That's something
that distracts so many of us, isn't it? Our life
is in God's hands if, and only if, you allow
him that freedom, for he will not force. St.
Silouan. He said this, the Lord has given the
Holy Spirit upon earth. To whomsoever he dwells,
that one feels paradise within himself. Now you
might say, why hasn't this happened to me? Why
don't I feel paradise in my heart? He says, because...
You've not given yourself over to the will of
God, but you live according to yourself. Look
at the one who loves his own will and follows
his own will. That person never has peace within
himself, always blames somebody else for his
problems, always is displeased with something.
St. Silouan says, but whoever has given himself
over to God's will, as St. Innocent did. perfectly.
That person has pure prayer and trust in God's
providence. His soul loves the Lord and everything
is acceptable and good for him. I'll finish with
a word from St. Innocent from this marvelous
little book which he wrote for the Alaskan Native
people. As I said last night, some of it seems
over our head. We're simply not as spiritually
mature as those people were. He says this, what
would happen now if Jesus Christ suddenly appeared
before us visibly and asked us, my children,
do you love me for what I have done for you?
Do you feel in your hearts gratitude to me? Who
of us would not say, yes, Lord, we love and we
thank you. But if you love, Jesus Christ and
consider yourself grateful to him will you do
what he deigns you to do because whoever loves
anyone whoever feels grateful will do everything
he can to please his benefactor but Jesus Christ
wants from you only one thing he wants you to
follow him into the kingdom of God to him be
glory now and ever to ages of ages Amen.