In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen. Christ is risen. He is
risen. When a Christian falls asleep in the Lord,
using the words of the Apostle Paul himself,
we gather during these days for three reasons.
First and foremost, and all of that's revealed
to us as we know by how we pray, during all the
services, beginning with the first litia and
panikida, tonight and tomorrow, the otpivania.
There's that wonderful word, lex orandi, lex
credendi. We know what we believe by how we pray.
And so we first gather together to pray for her.
We gather together to comfort all those who are
mourning. And, as it will be most evident tomorrow
during the Opivania service, even now during
this Paschal period, we gather together and we
will indeed... have put before us our own mortality.
Often say maybe even too much in our service,
but I think that tension, the balance between
the joy and hope of the resurrection and our
need for vigilance, that eschatological tension,
if you would, is a very important, no, essential
part of our... I'm going to say daily life, but
no, hourly life. That tension has to be there.
So first was prayer. And how do we pray? Well,
if you take a look at all of our services have
a history. We've been around for a long time.
And most of the things we do when someone dies,
we do what humans have always done. And maybe
we're the last remnant in this culture who do
a lot of the things associated with death, dying,
burial, that just comes natural to humans. And
so, we take a look at the services that develop.
There are many layers, and probably the most
ancient layer in the Christian funeral service
will be revealed tomorrow. at 11 o 'clock, right
at the beginning, and that's the chanting of
verses from the 17th Kathisma. Blessed are those,
the blameless, who walk in the way of the Lord.
That was, for centuries, the very, very core
of the funeral service. It's a long psalm, and
very often we abbreviate it, and I think pastorally
that's very often a good idea. Sometimes it's
just too much to take in and adjust, especially,
Pastor, when you know who's present and all kinds
of circumstances. But there's something very
important, there's something essential to remember
about that psalm in teaching us what we do when
someone dies. And I'm thinking right now of the
74th verse of that psalm. And that's addressed
to God. In this case, it's addressed definitely
to God the Father. Those who fear thee will see
me and rejoice, for I have hoped in thy word.
Now, we know that that psalm is a part of our
funeral service because it's the very core. Remember
on Holy Friday night or Matins of Holy Saturday
when we gather before the Holy Shroud and we
chant that psalm with the beautiful lamentation
verses. And we know then absolutely without a
doubt that those words of that whole psalm were
only fulfilled by one person. And that's the
incarnate Word of God, Jesus. He's the only one,
when we read that psalm, that can say Amen to
every one of those verses. Sometimes I think
when I hear or read those verses, if they were
read over me, it would be an embarrassment to
read those. Because we know that only Christ
fulfilled them completely. But all of us who
were baptized into Christ and who put on Christ
are called in part as much as possible. And to
the degree that the likeness of God that's in
us has been through repentance. raised to the
image, what we call prepodobne, most thoroughly
like God, that those words also apply to us.
And they certainly, certainly apply to Matushka
Elena. Those who fear God see her, and what do
we do? Rejoice. Because she has hoped in his
word. Her whole life is a witness to that. And
just looking at the obituary, it's kind of awesome.
Awesome, the things that she accomplished. So
many facets of a life. So wonderful. And yet,
and yet... She fulfilled all of those things
in a wonderfully, what I would say, normal way.
Her living out the faith as a baptized Christian,
as a spouse, as a clergy spouse, as a mother,
as a grandmother, great -grandmother. as a church
musician, as an artist, and even in the business
world, in the beginning of her career. She did
all of this, and this is an important lesson
to all of us, right here and now, this day and
age, there was no, if someone looked at her as
a model Orthodox Christian, there was no weirdness
in her. She fulfilled that picture of a Christian
which is given in the letter Diognetus. We're
not recognized by our faith, by how we look or
how we dress or whatnot, but by the very fabric
of our being, how we fulfill all of those normal,
regular responsibilities which God gave to her
and gives to each of us. She is an extraordinary
witness of that normalcy of being an Orthodox
Christian. And it's a very essential one today.
Because I think the devil tempts us in very different
directions other than that. And so what a privilege
it is to know her. And as some have said, this
kind of end of a certain era. She's perhaps one
of the last of the generations. of those clergy
spouses who give us that image of faithfulness
and normalcy. We gather to comfort those who
grieve this loss. In this case, to the Margitish
family who has labored so lovingly and so long,
I cannot imagine the patience, the love, the
work and dedication of the family. May God grant
to all of you the consolation that this new phase
in your life brings you. And may God, again,
restore that kind, as you restore normalcy in
your life, but may everything of that experience
teach and knead together that... normalcy. I
can't imagine, Mr. Ann and Father Lawrence and
your family, I didn't go through that. I can't
say I knew what you went through. Both my parents
died when I was 29 years old. And so that loss
came to me a long, long time ago. But I know
the love and I know what that takes, even those
that I know in love who care for family members.
what a difficult and sometimes arduous, arduous
path of patience and love. And finally, remembering
our own mortality, the question, just an ending,
when we hear those words of that psalm, those
who fear thee, O God, will see me and rejoice.
For I have hoped in thy word. Can we say those
words? Will those who see us, those who fear
God, when they see us, will they rejoice when
they see us? Because we have hoped in the Lord.
Through her prayers and through the love of this
whole community, may God bring that to fruition.
in our life as we commit her into the fullness
of God's love and presence. Amen. Christ is risen.
Indeed he is risen. Oh.