Homily on the 4th Sunday of Great Lent
“If you can believe, all thing’s are possible to him who believes!” Mk 9:23
As a deacon of the orthodox Church, it frightens me to see/hear cases in which priest’s/bishops are dismissing truths regarding the supernatural.
St John Chrysostom, refers to the Church as a hospital, where people with spiritual problems come to be cured by He who is the Treasury of blessings and giver of life, via the prayers and supplications of the deacon, presbyter or bishop.
Discernment, is something that can not be taught in school’s nor in universities. It is a grace imparted us via the Holy Spirit. Sadly, many clerics have wilfully rejected this grace that the Holy Spirit wishes to impart in order for us to distinguish what is what, so that healing may take place.
However, the disheartening reality is that these clerics have fallen into ignorance via the power of suggestion. (evil personified) The evil one wants us to dismiss any forms of possession or evil intent as forms of mental illness in order for it to have it’s fun in attempting to destroy the work of God’s hands.(humanity) And I would like to make a clarification as stated clearly in the gospels. There are tendency's for those who see the church or faith as it were as a comfort or band-aid to cover ignorance; the evangelists especially St Luke who was a leading physician and philosopher (scholar) made a clear distinction (diagnosis) from those who were mentally ill to those who were suffering possession/ both illnesses physical and spiritual were immediately healed via the touch of Gods right hand through His Son Jesus the Lord!
Having stated thus, there defiantly are forms of mental illness in it’s vastness that must be treated via medical professionals (psychologists, psychiatrists), however at the same time, there is also the reality of spiritual warfare a subject that is delicate requiring much discernment and care laying aside all ignorance.
Furthermore, just as clerics cannot prescribe medicine’s or discern what is fitting in order to take control over mental illness in the medical field, our medical professionals can not deal with that which is spiritual or presume to administer treatment which is out of their scope; both groups specialise in their own field (medical and spiritual) must not attempt to deal with what is not known to them for it will defiantly have dyer consequences!
Hence, as stated previously it is only via the grace of discernment that a cleric can properly diagnose a spiritual problem and fix it as soon as it has been brought to attention whilst having the humility to consult with his bishop or spiritual father on how to proceed with the circumstance.
And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him in private, “Why could we not cast it out?” Mk 9:28
May I indicate another result of grace not being present; there lies a notorious fact that clerics indeed forget whom they serve either in times of immense pressure or when the institutional side of the church is way to secure of itself (our present times) such become self obsessed rendering of their own accord and not that of our Lords grace and command. in other words, we are mere spiritual physician and the medicine is God the Holy Spirit!
My bishop told me a story of something that happened in Greece several years ago.
A young priest straight out of the seminary had been assigned to a church in a small village because the former priest was advancing in years and needed to slow down.
Now a family had a young child that was demon possessed. They went to the church and asked the young priest if they could have the retired priest to serve the exorcism. At this the young priest was enraged with jealousy, and exclaims: “ I now am the canonical authority here! and I will exercise this demon myself, take me to him!”
With such an over zealous statement, the family took the young priest to their home to visit the child. Upon entering the family home, the young priest was filled with confidence and certainty, that he begins to envisage his victory over the demon in how the town would acclaim him to be their hero!
Thus, as the young priest (only in name) entered the bedroom of the demon possessed child, the door slammed shut behind him. He was violently beaten, thrown around in the air like a rag doll and suffered bones broken from head to toe. with that the young priest was rushed to hospital in the intensive care unit clinging to life. The demon absolutely mangled him! or as we say in Italian Il demonio ci ha fatto la festa (The demon had a feiled day)
At the same time, the retired priest who was a saintly man received a stiring within to visited the family and along the way as we know in villages, gossip spreads heard what happened. and visited the child and performed the rite of exorcism; liberating the child and his family via the grace of the Holy Spirit.
As for the young priest, he learned a valuable lesson that day. After he had been restored to health he entered the monastery, to become a true priest with a zeal for God instead of the prestige and titles and tokenism, never to leave the monastery walls ever again for a contemplative life is a true remedy fro those who have been destroyed.
So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” Mk 9:29
As we know, this lentern season is a time for us to remove all obstacles that impede our spiritual growth knocking downs the walls baring us from salvation!
This Holy Pascha will be an intimate one for all Christians, for it will be purely (monos) one on one, us and our Lord in the silence of our hearts. This is not punishment for our sins as some may think, in actual fact this is an opportunity for us to have ample one on one time with our Lord in order block out all the noise of this world (media included) and fully focus all our attention on Him and His sacrificial love for us.
May we use this time of segregation and isolation to let our faith become living stone for Christ the living rock, calls us forth in love to build our hop in Him who comes to commune His people; rendering our lives eternal: Alleluia.(Cherubicon taken from the pre-sanctified liturgy)
Let us ask the Holy Spirit to grant us the grace of discernment in order to distinguish what is and isn’t of God and that we may always cling to His rod of righteousness never allowing sentiments of pride, lust for power and verbal fodder to take over. (From the prayer of Ephraim)
or those of us who have been dishearten via the restrictions that impeded the paschal celebrations from taking place, may i remind you of the martyrs of the church under the yoke of communism in soviet lands. These martyrs suffered all forms of torture yet when they could within their selves they would pray the paschal prayers and with a few crumbs of stale bread and sultanas diluted in water the presbyteral martyrs would offer the anaphora of the apostles and be filled with the inner joy of Christs resurrection hearing nothing in the knowledge that the eternal death has been annihilated by Christ who is bishop of his church.
“The Son of man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And after He is killed, He will rise on the third day!” Mk 9:31
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