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Homily on the 4th Sunday of Great Lent

A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” Mk 9:17-18

Humanity has been battling against the forces of evil since the fall of our first parents. We all know how they gave into temptation via evil disguising itself as the serpent; taking the Fig from the tree of knowledge in which God commanded not to take from. (Adam and Eve) And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Gen 2:16-17

Unfortunately, as we are well aware the bible has become like a game of Chinese whispers. Holy scripture has been translated so many times by different people from other nationalities. Hence when someone cannot find the meaning or translation to a word, they will try to either invent their own interpretation or find a word from another language which comes close and use that.

Hence, if we recall when Christ was leaving Bethany, He was hungry and He saw a fig tree from afar. Thus, when He came to the tree, He saw that it no longer produced fruit. He thus cursed the fig tree causing it to die and wither away on the spot.

In addition, the meaning of the cursing of the fig tree has several meanings for us to be aware of. The first one being a reminder of the rebellion of Adam and Eve; affirming that in actual fact it was a fig tree not an apple tree that was forbidden to take from in the Garden of Eden.

The next explanation Jesus cursed the fig tree has to do with us as humans. Thus, if we as people especially Christians do not produce good fruits via rendering goodness onto other in order to inherit the kingdom of heaven.

I would like to quote from a passage in the Epistle of James where he talks about such with specific detail - What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus, also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:14-17

Thus, after Christ had commissioned His Apostles to go out into the world to fight against such powers in the name of the All-Holy-Trinity, the Katholic (Universal) Church has been in constant battles against demonic attacks.

However, over the course of the years due to schisms, heresies and synods of bishops desiring to transform the institutional churches of Christ (The Spiritual Hospital for Souls) into a military camp, spiritual healing such as the blessing of a person, place or object has weakened dramatically.

Thus, it is an evident sign that no matter if there is Apostolic succession that can be traced back to the 12 Apostles, if a church community has severed itself from the true Apostolic faith via conforming to the rest of the world under the auspices of prestige and commodities where the faith totality is compromised; then grace cannot abide in such a place.

Hence, as the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the river Jorden when He (Jesus) came to sanctify them, the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove. Why? Because as we are aware doves are clean animals' doves will not come to rest on anything impure.

Therefore, the same principle applies with a Church community! Once they willfully defile themselves via the passions of the world: pride, ambition, lust for power and the crime of hate especially to those considered interferent then the Holy Spirit removes Himself from that particular community and watches on; in the hope that one day they will come to their senses and repent – just as the story of the prodigal son.

In addition, my superiors have recounted many events that have taken place in the past with the institutional churches regarding exorcisms, house blessing and prayers for healing - having no affect what so ever; returning to the subject of weakening dramatically.

For example, several months ago I came across a video on YouTube that showed an orthodox priest from Russia preforming an exorcism. You clearly see the priest forcing the “demon possessed man” to give him a piggy-back ride whilst praying the exorcism prayers. You can then clearly see the priest steps on the man's feet whilst the man is clearly in pain.

Therefore, you can clearly see that the exorcism is not working because 1 the priest has become too big for his boots as the expression goes. 2 he has allowed for pride to take over. 3 hence it is no longer about expelling in the name of Christ but via the priest's own merits. The sin of Pride via arrogance.

In addition, although the Apostle were very Holy men that were personally called by God to serve His Church and most of them died for it also; we must remember that they too were human with passions just as we are. Just because they were Apostles did not exempt them from the passions of life such as pride.

Just as we sometimes become proud with certain things so did they. Imagin God telling you that you have power over evil and many other things. If one doesn't pray for God to keep him grounded anyone can fall victim to it (pride) also. Look what happened to King Soloman with the gift of wisdom, at one stage in his life he no longer needed God because he thought he was it, and in order for him to see the truth his kingdom and his whole family, were devied!

Moreover, just because we may become proud and so forth, does not mean that we are horrible and terrible sinners, it just means that we have to ask God to bring us back to reality and remember that it is all about the All-Holy-Trinity not us alone. We are just mere instruments of His saving grace.

On Monday the Church commemorated the Saints of God Nikon and his 199 disciples in Sicily in the year of our Lord 251 AD.

Saint Nikon was born in Napoli Italy to a pagan father and a Christian mother. Once he arrived at the age of maturity, he was enlisted into the army. One day whilst on an assignment the saint and his comrades were surrounded by the enemy and were destined to die. However, the Saint remembered the prayers his mother taught him as a child.

Therefore, he began to pray to God to liberate him and in return he would be baptized and become a Christian. Thus, Nikon miraculously escaped from certain death and fulfilling his promise went to find a priest to be baptized in the name of the All-Holy-Trinity.

Hence, Nikon was unsuccessful in finding a priest so one night whilst he was asleep, he beheld a vision of an angel instructing him to go to a certain mountain where he would find a small community of monks.

Thus, fulfilling the instructions of the angel, Nikon found Bishop Theodosios and his monks at a monetary on top of a mountain. There it was that he was baptized and tonsured a monk also.

Three years later, bishop Theodosios also beheld a vison of an angel instructing him to consecrate Nikon to the Episcopacy; this led to his mission in Sicily to evangelize with the aid of other monks.

Therefore, Bishop Theodosios consecrated Nikon and sent him and the monks to Sicily to evangelize just as the angel had instructed him.

When Nikon and the monks arrived in Sicily, the governor Quintilian ordered that all 199 monks were to be beheaded; however, Bishop Nikon was to live so as to endure brutal torture.

Thus, Saint Nikon was placed in a burning fire - however remained unharmed as he evoked the intersessions of the mother of God. When the governor saw that the style of torture didn’t work, he ordered the Saint be tied by his legs to horses and be dragged through the street - however the horses did not move from their places.

Hence, after all attempts of torture had failed the governor ordered that the Saint be beheaded.

Thus, Saint Nikon fell asleep in the Lord. The Saints body was thrown into a paddock to be eaten by wild beast. However, a demon possessed shepherd came across the body and immediately the demon possessed shepherd fell on the ground and began to scream - “What do you want with me Bishop Nikon” and from that moment the shepherd was released from the clutches of the evil spirit and glorified God.

The Bishop of Milan had heard what had happened to Saint Nikon so he and his disciple went to retrieve his body and gave him a proper burial.

“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” Mk 9:19-30

Through the prayers of the Holy Theotokos and Her Spouse Joseph, Lord Jesus Christ our God have mercy on us and save us!