Sermon delivered at St. Vladimir's Seminary,

Crestwood, New York

+ Theodosius

Archbishop of Washington, DC

Metropolitan of All America and Canada,

Primate of the Orthodox Church in America

Orthodox Education Day

October 4, 1997 / 15th Saturday after Pentecost

1 Cor 10:23-28 / Luke 5:17-26

This morning's gospel reading, which recounts the healing of a paralytic, easily captures our attention because of the way the crippled man is brought to the Lord. Carried on a stretcher by his friends, the paralytic is let down through an opening made by removing roof tiles so that Jesus might take notice of the man and his infirmity. No other way was possible to reach Jesus because of the large crowd that had gathered in and around a certain house where the Lord had come to teach and to heal. Clearly, based on the information Saint Luke provides, the reputation of Jesus as teacher and healer was spreading. This is stressed by the evangelist's reference to the Pharisees and teachers of the law "who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem" (Luke 5:17).

      Hearing about the removal of roof tiles to let down a paralyzed man on a stretcher catches our attention and draws us into the unfolding miracle. Hearing about the words and miraculous cures of Jesus draws crowds of people to a certain house in an unnamed village at an unspecified time. The crowds came to catch a glimpse of the teacher and perhaps ponder his words. Certainly for the Pharisees and teachers of the law, seeing and listening to Jesus gave them the opportunity to scrutinize his words and actions.

      We are drawn to this reading because of the determination and desire of a group of men to have their friend restored to health by the healing power of Jesus. With these men and with all who witnessed or heard about this miraculous event, we are seized with amazement as we glorify God (cf. vs. 26). Yet it is precisely at this juncture of being amazed and glorifying God that this reading compels us to pause and reflect. It is at this juncture that we must ask ourselves what is it that causes us to be amazed and glorify God. At first this question may sound strange. Indeed one may respond to this question by saying it is simply natural — a miracle has been performed! What other response could be more fitting?

      While the response is fitting, questions arise. "Why, at the end of his ministry is Jesus betrayed by one disciple and denied by another?" Why, at the cross, is Jesus abandoned by all who knew him — by all who were amazed and glorified God?" Saint Luke refers to this abandonment when he writes about the Lord's passion and how "all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance..." (23:49). Yes, many were amazed and glorified God during the public ministry of Jesus, but in the end he is alone as he is suspended upon the cross.

      It is the cross that exposes the amazement and glorification of God by the people who witness and hear about the healing of the paralytic. For many people, the amazement at the healing event stems from an attraction to the event itself and not to the Gospel. People are amazed and glorify God because the miracle of the paralytic is understood as its own end and not as a sign pointing to the coming of God's Kingdom. Thus, the miracle is accepted at the cost of forfeiting the Kingdom. And this is so because the Kingdom of God can only be accepted — can only be entered — when the word of the cross is received as the foundation and core of the Gospel. "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it" (Luke 9:23-24).

      The cross stands as the sign and key to understanding the Gospel which includes the miracles of the Lord. To those who sought after signs and miracles, Jesus was blunt and challenging. "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation" (Luke 11:29-30).

      The healing of the paralytic, together with all the miracles of Jesus, confirm that the Kingdom of God is among us. They confirm that Jesus is the God-Man — the Messiah upon whom rests the Holy Spirit. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (cf. Luke 4:18-19; also Isaiah 61).

            The miracles of our Lord help to form the contour of the new creation in which at its center is planted the cross — the tree of new and eternal life. Today we have received the miracle of the paralytic. The miracle does not stand alone but as an event which points to the cross as the weapon that has slain sin and death. The miracle of the paralytic calls us to be amazed and to glorify the Savior whose Kingdom we now celebrate for the life of the world and its salvation. To this Kingdom all of creation is called. From this Kingdom all things are made new (cf. Revelation 21) and beautiful. This is the good news the children of Adam long to hear. This is the good news that delivers us from the fear of death and draws us to the tree of life — the tree of life from where reigns the Triune and Tripersonal God. Amen!

---

Sermon Delivered at St. Tikhon's Monastery

+ Theodosius

Archbishop of Washington, DC

Metropolitan of All America and Canada,

Primate of the Orthodox Church in America

August 26, 1997 / Celebration of the

Bicentennial of the Birth of St. Innocent

EPISTLE 2 Cor: 2:14-3:3 GOSPEL: Matt: 2:23-28

We have heard this morning in the epistle reading of St. Paul to the Corinthians the following quote:

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ [and] we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word; but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:14-15, 17).

      What purer words could we expect to hear to describe the life and work of Saint Innocent Veniaminov. What greater praise can be made to characterize the deeds and efforts of this man of God than to say he was the aroma of Christ. What greater glory can be attained that surpasses the triumph of one whose labors and intercessions seek to bring the proclamation of the life-giving and life saving Gospel to all people.

      Within the context of this Eucharist — within the context of celebrating the memory of Saint Innocent — we are compelled to save the words of Saint Paul from empty glory and blind pride. This indeed is our challenge. This indeed requires the most serious reflection if our gathering in this sacred place is to stand above the tedium of routine formality.

      One way we can avoid the seductive trap of empty glory and blind pride is to ponder the relationship between Saint Paul and the Corinthian Church. The Book of Acts informs us that it was Paul who brought the Gospel to Corinth (cf. Acts 18:1-11). The one who is an apostle — the one who is sent by God to preach the Good News — brings Christ to Corinth.

      We are familiar with the trouble confronting the Corinthian Church. Elitist spiritually, partisan politics, and class segregation contribute to an internal division within this local Church. Yet, in spite of this internal strife or, to be more precise, within this strife, Saint Paul expresses the undeniable fact that the Church in Corinth has its existence from Christ. Through the labors of the Apostle the Lord establishes the Church which is his living body; "...and you Corinthians show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Cor. 3:3).

      The Church is the living body of Christ because it is the Spirit of the living God who has inscribed on the human heart the new and everlasting covenant of Christ. It is this new Covenant and not the covenant of the law that endows humanity and all creation with new and eternal life. And it is the Church that reveals and offers this new and eternal life to all the world.

      Saint Paul rejoices in this, and at the same time he is well aware of the dangers that impede the work of the Spirit and therefore the ministry of Christ. Where do these dangers come from? In what we have heard this morning it is clear that what hinders the Gospel comes from within the Church itself; "for we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word" (2:17). Let us be wary of these peddlers. These peddlers pervert the Gospel. They adulterate it — they twist it — forming it into a spirituality that culminates in division and ultimately hypocrisy.

      Given this relationship of Saint Paul and the Corinthian Church, we can begin to see a similarity in the relationship of Saint Innocent and the Church sojourning in America. As an apostle to America, Saint Innocent delivers the Gospel of Christ. From this Gospel written by the Holy Spirit on the human heart emerges a new local Church that is commissioned to unite all in the Kingdom of the Triune and Tripersonal God.

      The Gospel has been delivered to this land. And yet we must sadly confess that after more than 200 years of Orthodoxy in America the body of Christ is being divided from within. Peddlers of the gospel continue to polarize Orthodox Christians with self righteous claims to true spirituality, unwavering fidelity to the Scriptures and the Fathers and unquestionable canonicity. As in Corinth, we hear the corresponding rallying cries to "I belong to Paul, I belong to Apollos or I belong to Peter" (1 Cor. l:11). Here within this eucharistic celebration we must discover that first and foremost we belong to Christ. To belong to anyone else divides the Church and veils the Gospel that is to be proclaimed with one mouth and one heart.

      As the Church sojourning in America, we are called to spread the fragrance of the true and living Gospel. Though all of us are not apostles, each of us has been called to exude the aroma of Christ to all who embrace the gospel as well as to those who reject the Word of Life. Together we must always strive to convince the world in word and deed that Christ is not divided — that his Church is one as he and the Father and the Spirit are one. Together we must show the world that we belong to Christ who desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). Amen!

---

+ Theodosius

Archbishop of Washington, DC

Metropolitan of All America and Canada,

Primate of the Orthodox Church in

America

Address delivered at

St. Vladimir's Seminary Commencement

May 17, 1997 / Commencement Address

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

On behalf of the Board of Trustees and Faculty of the Seminary, I want to welcome all of our guests this afternoon. As always, it is a personal joy to have this opportunity to address our graduates as they prepare to leave this campus and begin to pursue new goals and face new challenges. It is my wish — indeed it is my prayer — that you who leave this venerable school leave as changed and new persons. It is my desire and hope that the precious gift of theology has been deeply implanted as a healthy seed in your minds and hearts. All of us who gather to celebrate with you today now look forward to this seed bearing much good fruit for the building up of the body of Christ.

      We live in a time when there are many voices within the Church claiming to proclaim the Truth of Christ. So many of these voices try to maintain, explicitly or implicitly, that what they say and publish is the articulation of Orthodox thought and life which can only unite and strengthen the Church. Yet, who can deny that from these voices there has emerged a polarity within the Church. And who can deny that from this polarity the body of Christ is being divided and weakened.

      Based on the life of the Holy Trinity the Church has always sought to maintain unity in diversity, and diversity in unity. This dynamic of Trinitarian and ecclesial life is now being undermined by the discordant sounds of self proclaimed prophetic voices and movements that seek to carry out their own narrow crusades. With each crusade comes the incomplete answers and cures for all the ills and disabilities of the Orthodox Church in this land and throughout the world. Consequently, the faithful of the Church — both clergy and laity — are subjected to simple solutions which in the end will crumble into dust.

      Unity in diversity and its converse create a dynamic that can only exist when each voice is moored to a common vision and experience sustained by the Holy Spirit. Unless this mooring to the sanctifying Spirit exists, those voices calling the faithful back to the Scriptures, the Fathers and the Liturgy, will create a one-sidedness that is not part of the living tradition. Unless it is understood that the voice of Christ calls us beyond the political and ideological arenas of our time, the evangelical work of the Church will be reduced to an aggressive and polemical campaign that will be unable to transfigure the world.

      The seed of theology implanted in each of you must be allowed to grow and mature so that all which pertains to proclaiming and revealing the Kingdom of God may be used properly. History continues to teach us that when theology is misused the doctrine of salvation is forged into a wedge which creates heresy and schism. It is Saint Gregory of Nazianzus who, in his "Discourse on Theology," points out so clearly and emphatically that the mishandling of theology gives rise to division, which in turn creates an insensitivity to the Lord himself. Using Saint Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, Saint Gregory goes on to say that division indicates the voice of Christ has been abandoned for the many claiming to be Paul, Cephas and Apollos. And from this abandonment emerges a zeal and energy that is not rooted in the Kingdom but in self love and self service.

      As students who have received the seed of true doctrine, you are called to follow a path that requires the acquisition of divine illumination and sanctification. Some of you will be entrusted to lead others upon this path which ultimately brings all of us into the very life of the Holy Trinity. Heed carefully the words of King Solomon the Wise, "Do not swerve to the right or to the left, turn your foot away from evil" (Proverbs 4:27). Offer the fruit of this wonderful seed to the Church — to the faithful who must be nourished on the Word of Truth. Use what you have received to become humble servants who seek to bring all who are weary and burdened into the joy of the Master. As you mature in serving others, strive to emulate John the Baptist who empties himself so that the voice of the Bridegroom may increase (cf. Jn 4:30).

      Dear graduates, cherish the seed you now carry. Allow it to grow in your minds and your hearts. May this seed bear fruit so that others may be drawn, from the words you speak and the lives you live, to the living Gospel.

Christ is Risen!

---

Sermon Delivered at St. Tikhon's Monastery

+ Theodosius

Archbishop of Washington, DC

Metropolitan of All America and Canada,

Primate of the Orthodox Church in America

Sermon delivered at

St. Tikhon's Monastery

May 26, 1997 / 93rd Annual Memorial Day Pilgrimage

Acts 12:12-17 / Jn 8:42-51

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

The issue of truth provides the basis for this morning's Gospel reading. Having listened to this reading, all of us are now called to examine ourselves in relationship to the truth. But before we can begin this analysis we must first have a clear understanding of what the Gospel means when it refers to truth.

      One of the poignant and tragic questions raised in the Gospel comes from the mouth of Pontius Pilate. Before the Lord is sentenced by the authorities to die, there is a compelling exchange between him and Pilate. In the course of this exchange Jesus says to the governor; "every one who is of the truth hears my voice" (Jn 18:38). Pilate responds with a brief question; "What is truth?" (Ibid.) The tragedy of Pilate's question rests in the fact that the Truth was standing in his presence.

      Truth is the incarnate God-Man Jesus Christ. It is not an ideology or a philosophy. It is not, as may have been the case for Pilate, a political system nor a careful application of Roman law. In the Gospel according to Saint John, Pilate's question is highlighted by the response Jesus receives from so many of his own people. Among the leaders and teachers of Israel were those who, because of their hard hearts, did not correctly understand the law and the prophets. The law of Moses became an end in itself while the prophets foretold the coming of a military Messiah who would restore Israel as a great worldly power. For this reason the chief priests and officers of the temple cry out for the crucifixion of Jesus (Jn 19:6ff).

      What we have heard this morning has a direct tie to the trial and sentencing of the Lord. It is a reading that requires us to understand that we are being called to draw near and to embrace the one who is the Truth. It is a reading that strongly reminds us of our great and high calling to be in Union and communion with the incarnate Son of God.

      Yet, to have this personal relationship with the God-Man requires that we not only see him as the Truth but that we see the truth about ourselves. To confess that we know Jesus Christ to be the Truth enjoins us to confess that we have often sought after false truths and false gospels. And it is these false truths and false gospels that bind us to sin and death. Thus, this morning's reading exhorts us to flee from worldly power and glory. It exhorts us to understand that without Christ we stand apart from the Truth subjecting ourselves to those powerful ties which make the Word of God unbearable. Indeed, this is perhaps the most frightening aspect of this morning's reading; "Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word...[B]ecause I tell the truth, you do not believe me" (Jn 8: 43,45). Consequently even when the Truth is known the lie prevails.

      Beloved in the Lord, as we continue to celebrate the bright Feast of the Resurrection we are now called to embrace the incarnate Truth. We are now called to withdraw from all sin — from all the lies we allow to rule over us. Together, in the Holy Spirit, let us receive the Word of the Father. For it is this True Word, who yearns to share His life with us in the Kingdom, where death and lies no longer reign. Amen!

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!