Panakhida Sermon for Matushka Eleanor Margitich Fr. Stephan Meholick

In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of

the Holy Spirit. Amen. Christ is risen. He is

risen. When a Christian falls asleep in the Lord,

using the words of the Apostle Paul himself,

we gather during these days for three reasons.

First and foremost, and all of that's revealed

to us as we know by how we pray, during all the

services, beginning with the first litia and

panikida, tonight and tomorrow, the otpivania.

There's that wonderful word, lex orandi, lex

credendi. We know what we believe by how we pray.

And so we first gather together to pray for her.

We gather together to comfort all those who are

mourning. And, as it will be most evident tomorrow

during the Opivania service, even now during

this Paschal period, we gather together and we

will indeed... have put before us our own mortality.

Often say maybe even too much in our service,

but I think that tension, the balance between

the joy and hope of the resurrection and our

need for vigilance, that eschatological tension,

if you would, is a very important, no, essential

part of our... I'm going to say daily life, but

no, hourly life. That tension has to be there.

So first was prayer. And how do we pray? Well,

if you take a look at all of our services have

a history. We've been around for a long time.

And most of the things we do when someone dies,

we do what humans have always done. And maybe

we're the last remnant in this culture who do

a lot of the things associated with death, dying,

burial, that just comes natural to humans. And

so, we take a look at the services that develop.

There are many layers, and probably the most

ancient layer in the Christian funeral service

will be revealed tomorrow. at 11 o 'clock, right

at the beginning, and that's the chanting of

verses from the 17th Kathisma. Blessed are those,

the blameless, who walk in the way of the Lord.

That was, for centuries, the very, very core

of the funeral service. It's a long psalm, and

very often we abbreviate it, and I think pastorally

that's very often a good idea. Sometimes it's

just too much to take in and adjust, especially,

Pastor, when you know who's present and all kinds

of circumstances. But there's something very

important, there's something essential to remember

about that psalm in teaching us what we do when

someone dies. And I'm thinking right now of the

74th verse of that psalm. And that's addressed

to God. In this case, it's addressed definitely

to God the Father. Those who fear thee will see

me and rejoice, for I have hoped in thy word.

Now, we know that that psalm is a part of our

funeral service because it's the very core. Remember

on Holy Friday night or Matins of Holy Saturday

when we gather before the Holy Shroud and we

chant that psalm with the beautiful lamentation

verses. And we know then absolutely without a

doubt that those words of that whole psalm were

only fulfilled by one person. And that's the

incarnate Word of God, Jesus. He's the only one,

when we read that psalm, that can say Amen to

every one of those verses. Sometimes I think

when I hear or read those verses, if they were

read over me, it would be an embarrassment to

read those. Because we know that only Christ

fulfilled them completely. But all of us who

were baptized into Christ and who put on Christ

are called in part as much as possible. And to

the degree that the likeness of God that's in

us has been through repentance. raised to the

image, what we call prepodobne, most thoroughly

like God, that those words also apply to us.

And they certainly, certainly apply to Matushka

Elena. Those who fear God see her, and what do

we do? Rejoice. Because she has hoped in his

word. Her whole life is a witness to that. And

just looking at the obituary, it's kind of awesome.

Awesome, the things that she accomplished. So

many facets of a life. So wonderful. And yet,

and yet... She fulfilled all of those things

in a wonderfully, what I would say, normal way.

Her living out the faith as a baptized Christian,

as a spouse, as a clergy spouse, as a mother,

as a grandmother, great -grandmother. as a church

musician, as an artist, and even in the business

world, in the beginning of her career. She did

all of this, and this is an important lesson

to all of us, right here and now, this day and

age, there was no, if someone looked at her as

a model Orthodox Christian, there was no weirdness

in her. She fulfilled that picture of a Christian

which is given in the letter Diognetus. We're

not recognized by our faith, by how we look or

how we dress or whatnot, but by the very fabric

of our being, how we fulfill all of those normal,

regular responsibilities which God gave to her

and gives to each of us. She is an extraordinary

witness of that normalcy of being an Orthodox

Christian. And it's a very essential one today.

Because I think the devil tempts us in very different

directions other than that. And so what a privilege

it is to know her. And as some have said, this

kind of end of a certain era. She's perhaps one

of the last of the generations. of those clergy

spouses who give us that image of faithfulness

and normalcy. We gather to comfort those who

grieve this loss. In this case, to the Margitish

family who has labored so lovingly and so long,

I cannot imagine the patience, the love, the

work and dedication of the family. May God grant

to all of you the consolation that this new phase

in your life brings you. And may God, again,

restore that kind, as you restore normalcy in

your life, but may everything of that experience

teach and knead together that... normalcy. I

can't imagine, Mr. Ann and Father Lawrence and

your family, I didn't go through that. I can't

say I knew what you went through. Both my parents

died when I was 29 years old. And so that loss

came to me a long, long time ago. But I know

the love and I know what that takes, even those

that I know in love who care for family members.

what a difficult and sometimes arduous, arduous

path of patience and love. And finally, remembering

our own mortality, the question, just an ending,

when we hear those words of that psalm, those

who fear thee, O God, will see me and rejoice.

For I have hoped in thy word. Can we say those

words? Will those who see us, those who fear

God, when they see us, will they rejoice when

they see us? Because we have hoped in the Lord.

Through her prayers and through the love of this

whole community, may God bring that to fruition.

in our life as we commit her into the fullness

of God's love and presence. Amen. Christ is risen.

Indeed he is risen. Oh.