An Invitation to keep watch over his flock and pray for the edification of his body the Church
The Lord walked by the sea of Galilee in which he observed from afar two brothers who were fishermen, Simon who he later named Cephas (Peter) and his younger brother Andrew who were about their trade casting their nets in the sea for the daily catch. He then called out to them: “Follow me” which they perceived were words that moved their hearts to compassion for he added: “I will render you into fishers of men” At this, they leapt from their boats leaving their trade, lifestyle and all that they knew behind for they responded wholeheartedly to his invitation in following him. (Mtt 4: 18-20)
When we think of prayer or have been exposed to it – many via weddings and most of all funerals, prayer in itself for these (the younger generation) who are away from the faith see such as nothing but babble! They are certainly not captivated by prayer and perhaps do not know what or how to pray - especially within the context of funeral services.
Such occasions (Memorial Services and other such) most often tends to just wash over their heads so to speak for these days memorials become more about the people that are there than the reason why they have gathered. Hence, standard (set) prayers etc. are not being taught in a practical and pastoral manner nor implemented in such a way (understanding and living the faith) by the clergy which in effect make people feel disconnected from the Church.
Standard prayer, along with ritual may also at times become rather dry (tasteless) due to not being explained well. If we as clergy do not engage our people with what is happening, then the hope of encouragement and participating in holy liturgy is rather dim. This then unfortunately becomes like Panadol or Nurofen in response to flue/ bronchitis like symptoms; ineffective and obsolete! We really need to live by what we preach via living in the world and not in our own safe houses – fully aware of where people are at (especially in matters of faith) and what they may be going through in the struggles we all face considering financial and social difficulties.
How many times have we come across those who either are in the ranks of the clergy or lay (religious people) who outwardly appear all holy, pious, and immaculate, whilst when dealing with others they are the exact opposite? They are as holy as a block of Swiss cheese and via their actions towards others - sour as a cocktail of lemon and vinegar!
A classic example is when the young or stray actually begin to be drawn to the Lord commencing alike the cherubic hymn states “lay aside all earthly cares” but stupidity under the guise of supposed tradition gest in the way. Old ladies scorning young women for not covering their heads with veils and wearing pants as opposed to skirts. {Canon law (Church Code of Conduct) here was implemented due to the fact that cross dressing in early centuries was becoming problematic}
Then young men are scalded by the religious people because they have tattoos and are thought to be demonic {tattoos especially religious ones are the tradition of the Ethiopian and Coptic Christians. The women especially endorsed such due issues of rape via the Islamist tendency of those times and regions. Yet, when these saw religious symbols (the cross especially) imprinted on the flesh of their victims – they could not vilify/partake due to being religiously defiled}
Having stated thus, I must clarify a most important issue which is predominant amongst the Slavic Christians - the issue of menstruation (women in phase of their period) I need to state such due to a cousin of mine that married into a Slavonic family – she was reprimanded from approaching the chalice due to menstruation. We must remember that the law is insufficient (Rom 8:3) however time honoured the Levitical law may be. Yet, we have been called out of darkness via he (IESUS KRISTOS) who is light - to dwell in the pastures of life within the Ark of Salvation which is Holy Mother Church!
Hence, such who are in phase of their period (menstruation) are NOT TO BE BLOCKED from Holy Communion!!! It is very clear that in the account of the Apostle Luke that: "The woman in faith came behind him, and touched the border of his garment; immediately her issue of blood resolved!" (Lk 8:44) We need to think deeply about various issues and weigh up what is gospel and what is not. Let us also highlight that there is much ignorance, and certain elements of an inferiority complex, especially through miss-interpretation. This of course unfortunately results in BECOMING AN IMPEDIMENT TO OTHERS on their journey towards God!
In truth, the elder generation did not enjoy such privileges or freedom we have today and thus within the understanding of their minds; anything contrary to what was common tends to be deemed evil. Furthermore, there are monastics who may not be as holy as they portray and may be victims of vice. This often results in a tendency to shun our young out of fear who come to them for advice.
Hence, a guilt complex which has crept into centres of faith – causing alienation which ultimately closes the doors of the kingdom to those who desire to grow in the Lord. Although we are not of the world, yet we live in the world and are called to mission to it. This is precisely why saintly monks like St. Seraphim of Sarov (1754-1833AD) always put the seeker first via rendering paternal care.
Unfortunately, mainstream Christianity is becoming very strange indeed, and it explains the various sects - where such people/subscribers make the lives of the young a living hell. Alas, these mentalities portray God as a monster who delights in the sufferings of others via inflicting thus on those who don’t submit. What a nightmare of Christian testimony is being rendered especially in cult contexts - atrocity in all its connotations!
We are fragile, and we must be mindful of our fragility, especially when pretending to be someone or something we are not in order to be socially or religiously acceptable. Yet, only Divine Grace which is sufficient (2Cor 12:9) can bring us to terms with our own reality, and grant us the ability to grow and mature in God!
This grace is accessible to all, but the problem is that when people are gasping for air (refreshment in God) the religious fanatics turn them away. Again, a repeat of the Pharisees and Sadducees of old; people need to be up to their standards (Isa 10: 1-4) rather than coming freely onto God who is the physician and nourishment of our souls!
Yet, if one is holy, one knows the suffering of others, because they have, or are going through such themselves, and do everything in tenderness of heart with encouraging others to walk in the way of the Lord. The greatest testimony we can render onto others is to actually live out the truth by our struggles, and for once – stop pretending to be something and someone we clearly are not!
It’s only when we come to terms with our own self and stand wholeheartedly before God – exposed fully, it is here that through his wounds (God the Son) we find solace and are truly healed. For God so loved the world and through love, he showed us his own love as a parent. This same love is the safeguarding of our lives (as parents do placing themselves in front of danger) through the person of his Son that willingly sacrificed himself on the wood of the cross.
This Sunday, the Church celebrates all Saints of Russia, yes, Holy Russia, despite what is going on at present and how political climates demise that which is genuine. In many ways, this present issue of terror (coercion and bloodshed) occurred with the rise of communism where Russians turned on their own people – seeking to eradicate God who gave us freedom in his Son – replacing the Divine bestower of grace with the state which supposedly renders such through its governance!
Amongst the saints who testified to the Gospel of Christ, these filled the hearts of the tortured faithful with care that stems from the heart of God. Such a grace filled person (saint) was the great physician, healer and bishop, St. Luke of Simferopol, who we commemorated last Sunday on the feast of All Saints of God’s Church.
Thus, martyrs strive to convey this certainty even when confronted with their own mortality – they do not go around exhorting how God is merciful and then have no such mercy for their fellow human beings, but rather annihilate them which is supposedly done for their ideology of God!
There is no such thing as earthly rewards and pleasures in paradise, for that is all left behind once the soul leaves the body. Rather, we must have a level of discernment in the realisation of what is from God and what tarnishes his words and seeks to derail our path to the spiritual reality and delights that are offered for all those who will to embrace Him!
Unfortunately, history repeats itself and we forget the lessons and embrace the stupidity of the ancient rebellion (evil personified) via wanting control over that which is not ours to begin with. This brings to mind the upheaval and let’s not kid ourselves – its demonic orchestration presented as the rise of communism within the Russian lands.
Under such a rule, people were tortured, starved, beaten to a pulp, robbed of their cognitive faculties, imprisoned, and annihilated all in the name of not shunning the source of all goodness, law, order, and righteousness (God); a movement that sort to hijack ones’ fee will via enforcing total abandonment to the prevailing ideal (communist rule)
Perhaps this account from the Apostle Luke’s Gospel may highlight the origins of such enforcement: Then evil personified led he who became Son of Man up to a mountain presenting the mirage of all kingdoms in an instant whilst suggesting “All authority is given you to which I who am ruler of earthly nations grant power to whom I please – worship me oh Son of Man and I will grant you all worldly authority!” Then Jesus reprimanded him saying: “In the beginning as recorded in Holy Scripture which you well know, it is commanded that you will only worship the Lord your God in whom service is granted!” (Lk 4: 3-8)
There is a remarkable testimony of service for the love of their fellow humans rendered in faith and works as mentioned previously by a surgeon who was also an archbishop – striving to be an extension of the healing power and presence of God in the world so tarnished by opposing powers: Archbishop Luke (Valentine Yassentsky) of Simferopol (1877-1961AD) In his book THE BLESSED SURGEON Archdeacon Vasiliy Marushchak shares the saint’s testimony to such cruelty along with other testimonials pp 77-78
“That horrible conveyor (incessant interrogations followed by tortures and beatings leading to madness) continued for days and nights. The interrogators alternated, but the interrogated was not allowed to sleep neither during the day nor at night. I went on a hunger strike again and it continued many days. In spite of that, I was forced to stand in the corner but would quickly fall down from exhaustion. I soon discovered a distinct inclination to optical and tactile hallucinations.
Either I seemed to see yellow chickens running around the room – and I tried to catch them – or I would see myself standing at the edge of a huge chasm where a town was brightly lit up by electric street lights. Sometimes I clearly felt as if a snake were squirming under my shirt. I was being stubbornly enjoined to plead guilty to espionage, and I just asked them to tell me in favour of what state I had been spying. Naturally they could not tell me. The conveyor interrogation lasted thirteen days and nights, and I was often taken to the shower to have my head soaked with cold water!”
A political detainee accused of spying within the Soviet Union: Muhammad Raim who was a cousin to the Emir of Afghanistan also imprisoned alongside Archbishop Luke and many other intellectuals testifies: “At first, his fellow detainees mocked the bishop and challenged him to political discussions. The bishop would not respond to such provocations, especially about political matters. He was courteous and restrained with everyone. He was ready to help anyone as a doctor. He would even give others his last piece of bread!”
Russia was a land which bore witness to the gospel of Christ not only in faith but in blood. Many church temples were consecrated to the Holy Virgin. That very woman who made God’s intervention possible by wholeheartedly responding yes to God’s RSVP: Mother Mary, La Madonna, Mariam Theotokos, Bogorodiza. The Holy Mother made her presence known within these lands, and brought its people together via professing total love for Jesus her son.
With reluctance, I touch upon a subject that is well known in the West but not looked kindly upon in the East. This of course is due to grand misconceptions from its origins or better still – its interpretation. The Mother of God has indeed made herself known in the East as she has done so in the West. Yet, there seems to be a grand glitch which obviously is caused by undoubtable ecclesial superiorities and the probable twisting or misunderstanding of words along with other elements.
In light of the testimony from the martyrs of the Church, especially in Soviet times (1922-1991AD) present in Russian Lands, its great devotion as a nation to the Mother of God from day one must be highlighted (988AD) Thus, with all reason, why then would the All Holy Theotokos, the Mother of God, state that Russia needs to be converted and consecrated to her? Is it not an absolute fact that the grace of baptism and Chrismation (confirmation) bestows such a gift? Was this not so (consecration) ever since it (Russia) as a land, and a people were baptised???
Furthermore, the Russian Church produced a great number of martyrs who wholeheartedly died for their Lord in defending the faith – keeping it alive when it went underground (the Catacomb Church opposing the communist ridden state institution in the guise of a church). It is the mission of the Church to pray for conversion and salvation of its persecutors (Mt 5:44) but to ask an entire nation to convert (at which thousands died as martyrs and were executed in their temple churches) and further be consecrated? Hence, the grand glitch!
This consecration happened the day when the entire nation received the grace of Holy Baptism, and in due course, consecrated many church temples to the All Holy Mother. The poison of communism ran this nation through with the blood of its people, yet it could not annihilate the Church which as the Christian Apologist Tertullian (160-220AD) states in his apologetics: the Church grows through the blood of her martyrs! Is this not a testament of the presence of the Lord, who is alive in his Church, through those who wholeheartedly commit to their baptismal promises???
When we were baptized, we are robed in that very same Son who is Jesus Christ and are called to become his hands and feet in the world. Furthermore, we are via such terms called to become a well of refreshment where others who dwell in the desert of uncertainty and political tyranny may come to quench their thirst in being replenished by he (Jesus) who is the Living Water poured out into the depths of the well of our souls!
In conclusion, there is a great reason why God chose to be born in time within the context of a land that has been in war from day one, and chose the most common people with all sorts of vices to be his successors (apostles) in his presbytery. He is the peace that the world cannot give neither fathom, for He is the potter which moulds and at times re-moulds the clay (Jer 18: 1-23) of each vessel which is ready for service once it withstands the heat of the furnace! (Isa 48:10)
Thus the brothers leapt from their boats leaving their trade, lifestyle, and all that they knew behind, for they responded wholeheartedly to his invitation in following him. Hence, Jesus went throughout the region of Galilee in proclaiming his ministry within the synagogues. These very same men were witnesses to his kingdom via the signs, and wonders that accompanied his words. These words are of the glorious gospel that renders healing to the afflicted, and diseased amongst his people! (Mtt 4: 22-23)
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