The great 14th century monasticism, founder of
monasticism, more or less in Russia. Iconic,
he borrows in the middle of the church, but he
appears up here on the iconostasis, this range,
the second range, which is called the deus' range.
You notice they are all complaining towards Christ
in prayer. So we ask him to pray for us. We remember
the great Damascus king Athanasius of Mount Athos,
the founder of the monastery, the great monastery
of Lavra. Also, we remember him today. Of course,
we're still celebrating the 250th anniversary
of the founding of this country, so we did some
of those prayers at the litany. We'll do another
prayer coming up shortly. But mostly, mostly
this time after Pentecost, fifth week, we're
back to basics of what it is a Christian does,
believes, how he, she walks and thinks. I'm not
going to review the Gospels of the past few weeks,
but you can think back on that. The single eye,
the faith of the centurion, Christ's power, the
storm, which Christ stops. The gospel message,
when I say gospel, I mean the whole thing, Christ.
The entire gospel message is about what God in
Christ has done and does for us. It's not what
we do for him. Yes, we respond, but the gospel,
the salvation comes from him. And this story
today, okay, it's an extreme example. But that's
what it's about. And we heard something from
the epistle to the Romans, part of St. Paul's
explanation to the Jewish Christians in Rome.
There were Jews in Rome that had converted, and
there were new converts that had joined that
church, and they were now together. And so St.
Paul, in that epistle, which seems kind of dense,
as St. Peter says in one of his epistles, Paul
writes many things difficult to understand. And
that's true. We need some explanation for these
things. But he's telling them that Christ is
the... That's my godson. Christ is the end. The
meaning. He's the goal of all the Old Testament.
He is what... completes it and fulfills it and
fills it up. He accomplished what the law of
Moses could not, that is to sanctify us and to
save us from the two things that the law of Moses
could only manage. That is sin, which kills us,
and death, which is the wages of sin. Christ
has saved us from that. The law was concerned
with what a man... Human does. The gospel is
directed to what God does. And what he does here
in this story, it's so perfect for us. As we
get back to basics of what it is to be a Christian,
he seeks us. He seeks the lost sheep. He seeks
those that are troubled. He breaks the bars.
Behind which we are imprisoned. We're just saying
that. My Savior and Redeemer. As God has come
and broken the chains that have bind us. Something
like that. And he enters in this account today.
After he and his disciples had been in a storm
on the Sea of Galilee. And he was asleep. And
they're crying, they're crying, they're afraid.
Wakes up, he says, why are you afraid? Why are
you afraid? Well, they were afraid they were
going to get drowned. And he says, peace and
the storm completely. Does water work this way?
No. Completely become still. That's what we want
of Christ in our heart. So, he comes to this
place, which we might call enemy occupied territory.
It's apparently a place where pigs are. Jews
don't raise pigs. They're unclean. But Gentiles
raise pigs. Why do they raise pigs? It's not
just for bacon or what Archbishop Benjamin used
to call on this Sunday, hearkening to meat fair
and cheese fair, he would call this swine Sunday.
No, pigs. Pigs are raised because they are offered
in religious pagan sacrifices to the pagan gods.
Or as St. Paul says, all the gods of the pagans
are demons. That's why there are pigs there.
And he encounters two men. Possessed. A legion
of demons. Thousands. How they got in there.
Probably a slow process. That's the way it usually
works. They were living in the tombs. They were
more dead than alive. They were spiritually dead.
They were living dead. And they were violent.
That's usually what the evil one provokes people
to do, is to be violent. And Jesus heals them.
Jesus has come into this enemy -occupied territory
during summer camp. Maybe Jackson and Zoya were
there at that session during our Christian ed
sessions. Father Kirill from San Francisco and
I were teaching, and he made the comparison about
the gospel, the good news. The word gospel is
good news. It's the victory, he said, of the
kingdom of God already proclaimed. It's already
happened. God has done it all, but we are awaiting
its fulfillment. It's coming to us in its fullness.
Just, he says, just as those resistant fighters
in France during World War II. They heard about
the invasion of D -Day and they knew the war
was over. But yet, for them, it was not yet over.
For us Christians, we live in this world. It
is like that. We have the signs, however. We
have the signs of the presence of the kingdom
of God. We have those signs that the victory
is completed. It is over. And we have a part
to play. We are not just sitting around waiting
for a heavenly taxi to take us to the kingdom.
We have tasks to do. We have something to become,
something to change into, to be transfigured
and transformed into. And the signs of the kingdom
of God are all the miracles done by the Savior,
all the healings, all the teachings, but especially
his trampling down death by his death on the
cross, especially his resurrection and his ascension.
What's besides the dome here? What's the next
highest icon in here? You're looking at it right
behind me. It's the ascension where Christ is
ruling all things. And we, brothers and sisters,
St. Paul says we are seated with him in the heavenly
places. That's the liturgy. We are seated even
right now in the heavenly places. We are joined
to Christ. So where he is ruling, we are with
him. He is not separated. Lo, I am with you to
the end of the age. The signs of his presence,
the signs of the victory, the gospel, is the
gift of the Holy Spirit. The sign is the saints,
St. Sergius, St. Athanasius, who did more miracles.
As Christ said, greater things shall you do.
The sign is the divine liturgy today in which
we taste and see. That the Lord is good. The
sign is that our sins are forgiven. And when
you hear that prayer at absolution. You know
it. Because in your soul. You sense it. For now.
We see through a glass. Darkly. But then. When
Christ appears. In his majesty and glory. With
all the angels. And the evil one. Satan is cast
into the lake of fire. Then. We will know face
to face. Now I know in part, says St. Paul, about
God, who he is, what his plan is. Now I know
in part, but then I shall know, even as also
I am known. Because we are in Christ, the demons
have no power over us unless we give it to them.
And how do we give it to them? Usually very slowly.
A little sin here. A little sin there. And then
we're captured by some impulse. Some addiction.
Some anger. Some violence. Some hatred. Some
judgment. Little by little, we acquire those
things. But didn't we hear today? That what we
are to acquire is the fruit of the Spirit, this
basket of fruit, all kinds of different fruit,
love, joy, peace, mercy, long -suffering, self
-control. That's what we are doing here. That
is what the Lord has given us to do until the
time he comes again. And the man in the gospel
is an extreme example of what a person can become.
The Savior of all. The Savior of all has come
to destroy him that held the power of death,
says St. Paul. And that is the devil. So our
task, our goal, is not to fight the demons. No,
that would be silly. I'm not St. Athanasius.
I am not St. Sergius. Who did that? Our task
is to acquire Christ and those fruits for him
to be formed in our hearts and in our minds,
our actions, our words. Don't forget to pray.
Don't put that second. Put it first. Put thanksgiving
and glory and honor to God who is our master.
First on your list every morning. Move your cell
phone to another room when you sleep. I'm telling
myself that. But you see, if there's an emergency,
I need to hear the phone ring. So I don't look
at it at night. But move it to another room so
that when you get up in the morning, your first
thought is, thank you, Lord, for this new day.
Satan can't find a place in that because it's
gratitude. And all he is about is divisiveness
and hatred. The Savior of all, with all power
over visible and invisible things, may force
the demons into that swine in that story, as
he did in the account today. But the Savior,
he who is, he who causes all things to be, will
not force us to do anything. If we give over
to the devil, we are forced. Christ will not
force us to obey, to follow, to be faithful.
He won't force us. We are totally free, and we
want the freedom that comes with being closer
to him. In this story that we heard with the
demoniacs, my brothers and sisters, I always
feel worse for the other people in that town
than I do for the two demoniacs. They, after
all, were healed. The demoniacs. They were purged.
They were cleansed. They were let out of the
prison. Their hearts were made free. But the
people of Gadara, there in that place, the end
of the gospel scene, they're as clueless at the
end as they were at the beginning. We might say
that this is a case where the usual is mistaken
for the normal. You know, it's amazing to behold
what abnormalities are taken as normal in society
and amongst us simply because they happen to
be widespread and usual. No matter how many people...
because wear chains or gash themselves with stones
and scream in the tombs and howl and carry on
or even quietly harm themselves in a desire to
be transformed into something that they are not.
Let the hearer understand. It's important to
say that this is abnormal and delusional and
inspired by the devil because God has made us
as we are. So, Let me end with this word from
St. Porphyrios who died in, I think it was 1994.
Fix your gaze unwaveringly upward toward Christ.
Become familiar with Christ. Work with Christ.
Live with Christ. Breathe with Christ. Suffer
with Christ. Rejoice with Christ. Let Christ
be everything for you. No one can deny that Christ
is the fullness of life. Those who deny this
truth are soul sick. They deny that which they
are lacking. And so the devil finds their soul
empty and enters in. And just as a child is deeply
traumatized if he is deprived of his father or
his mother in this life, so too and much more
so is the person who is deprived of Christ. But
we have Christ. So, you heard the Beatitudes.
How do they end? Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
for your reward is great in heaven. To our Lord,
risen from the dead, be glory now and ever, to
ages of ages.