On Saint Innocent

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

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today's commemorations

offer the preacher so many riches. that one finds

oneself floundering in it all. We celebrate the

memory of St. Thomas the Apostle today, the one

who said to Jesus after the resurrection, the

first one to say, my Lord and my God, and you

see up here to my right, fresco, the belief of

Thomas, Thomas coming to belief in the Lord and

proclaiming him as his Lord and Savior. We have

this marvelous gospel. about Jesus raising the

widow's son. It's incredibly dramatic. St. Luke

and the gospel writers don't give you psychological

profiles and insights. They give you the text

very simply, but incredibly dramatic. A woman

losing her son, she's a widow. She has nothing

now. Jesus, St. Luke calls him Lord for the first

time in the gospel, as in the Lord spoke to Moses,

as in Elijah received the word of the Lord, or

the Lord came to Abraham. Yes, the same Lord.

And Jesus, it says, had compassion. His heart,

his heart felt sorrow. In Greek, that particular

word means That gets translated as compassion

means the spleen, somehow or other. We don't

think that way now, that those kind of deep feelings

come from the spleen. We would say his heart

went out to her. The Lord God, as a man, as our

Savior and our God, touched the open coffin.

It's all about touch, our salvation. We could

speak about that. We could speak about the epistle,

this wonderful epistle about St. Paul's travails

and difficulties, but I think what I'd like to

do is focus just on one thing today, and that

is the marvelous apostle to America, the evangelizer

of the Aleuts, the metropolitan of Moscow, innocent.

Ms. Fresco is over here. Icon is here. And in

the narthex, he's next to St. Herman. So obviously,

three depictions. You know he's important for

us. Listen to this psalm verse, which he wanted

preached at his funeral. Preached on. The Lord

guides a man safely in the way he should go.

Or the footsteps of a man are directed by the

Lord. St. Innocent left this verse behind as

a theme for his sermon. for the sermon at the

funeral when he died in 1878 as the Metropolitan

of Moscow, which he had served as for only 11

years. Throughout his whole life, as we will

see, he felt the guidance and the protection

of God. This was the case in 1823 when he was

just a young priest. He was ordained at the age

of 23. He was a successful young priest in the

city of Irkutsk. If I got my geography right,

that's southeast Siberia. Is that correct? And

he heard the call from his bishop to go to Alaska

as a missionary. None of the clergy wanted to

go, and neither did he. He wrote later this.

He said, why should I, humanly speaking, have

traveled God knows where when I had one of the

best parishes in the city, when I enjoyed the

love of my parishioners and the good graces of

the authorities, when I already owned my own

home and had a larger salary being offered to

whomever was assigned? Why would he go? But he

did. He did, brothers and sisters. Let me back

up. He was born in 1797 to a very poor family.

His father was sort of the caretaker of the parish,

died at his... Father died when St. Innocent

was six years old, and he went to live with his

uncle, who was the deacon in the church, and

he entered the school for the clergy children,

which was the normal thing. He was a brilliant

student. He eventually married. Of course, he

married the daughter of the parish priest. That

was what was done there, and ordained at age

23. You can read the rest of his story, how he

answered that call, how he traveled with his

family. for a year, his wife, his children, his

mother -in -law, how when he got to Alaska, he

didn't check into the local hotel or to the rectory.

He had to build himself an earthen hut. He taught

the local people, the local American natives,

skills of carpentry, blacksmithing, building.

He traveled up and down the rivers, visiting

churches that had sort of been established, but

not really, and the people knew nothing about

their faith. He learned the local languages,

six different dialects he could do, translated

the gospel. at least some of it, translated some

of the church services, designed and built the

cathedral in Sitka, Alaska, dedicated to St.

Michael, and on and on and on, preaching the

good news of the gospel and gaining the trust

and love of the local people only after he learned

their languages. Well, he returned to Russia

in late 1838, I think it was. to secure funds

for the mission, to get help, additional clergy.

While he was gone, tragically, his wife died.

He was encouraged to be consecrated bishop. It

took him about a year and a half to decide about

that. One could speak... all day long about his

exploits his encounters his sorrows his successes

of how he arrived in that remote location where

no other white man had really been where he was

greeted by name by a local shaman a local holy

man who had said that two shining men would come

to him every week for the last number of years

Other people couldn't see these two people. And

they would speak to him about the gospel, teaching

him about Jesus Christ and saying, a very noble

person, a very holy man by the name of Innocent

is going to come to this village, prepare the

people. St. Innocent arrives and he's greeted

by all these people and greeted by name. And

he's amazed. How do they know to even be there?

And he discovers this story about this holy man.

And the man says, I can introduce you to these

two men if you want. Saint Innocent wrote his

bishop. And it took a year to receive the answer.

And his bishop said, if you want to, you're blessed

to meet them. But Bishop Innocent said, no, I

will not. I don't want to test the Lord my God,

nor do I want to meet these angels because it

will come to my pride. You see how humble this

man was. Probably a wise thing to do. He was

a Renaissance man, a deep man of prayer and faith

of God. I mean, look at his journey. One man,

a family man. One man, a priest at first only.

with no support, did so many things. Architect,

botanist, linguist, adventurer, father to his

children, husband to his wife, pastor to the

community, traveling far and wide. Obedient to

God in all things. One man, a family man, did

all these things. Would that any of us, think

now to yourself, of the gifts and talents God

has given each of you. Think of this verse that

Saint Innocent wanted to be preached on at his

funeral. The steps of a man, of a person, are

guided by God. Think of the trust in God to do

his will. Think of each one of us obediently

nurturing the gifts and the talents God has given

us. What an amazing thing happened with just

him, by himself. Eventually, he was elected Metropolitan

of Moscow in 1868. There was no patriarch then.

Peter the Great had abolished it, and he fell

asleep. the Lord on March 31st 1879 on Holy Saturday

and was buried in the Holy Spirit Church of the

Trinity St. Sergius Lavra. I had the blessing

to go there in 2001. I didn't know his coffin

was in that church and it was such a joy and

blessing to go venerate him. He was glorified

in 1977 on this date, October 6th, by the Russian

Orthodox Church at the request of the Orthodox

Church in America, and his memory is celebrated

three times during the year. March 31st, the

day of his repose, and October 5th, yesterday,

that is the Synaxis of the Moscow Hierarchs,

and today. Miracles do happen. Miracles do happen.

The hard heart of Father John Vinyaminov, as

he was known before he was called innocent, was

touched by the grace of God. And he accepted

this mission. Psalm 37, that verse that I've

mentioned now three times, is about overcoming

that psalm, is about overcoming anxiety. Overcoming

worry and fretting. overcoming envy and distress

over the prosperity and success of others who

seem to be evil, the wicked. That's something

that distracts so many of us, isn't it? Our life

is in God's hands if, and only if, you allow

him that freedom, for he will not force. St.

Silouan. He said this, the Lord has given the

Holy Spirit upon earth. To whomsoever he dwells,

that one feels paradise within himself. Now you

might say, why hasn't this happened to me? Why

don't I feel paradise in my heart? He says, because...

You've not given yourself over to the will of

God, but you live according to yourself. Look

at the one who loves his own will and follows

his own will. That person never has peace within

himself, always blames somebody else for his

problems, always is displeased with something.

St. Silouan says, but whoever has given himself

over to God's will, as St. Innocent did. perfectly.

That person has pure prayer and trust in God's

providence. His soul loves the Lord and everything

is acceptable and good for him. I'll finish with

a word from St. Innocent from this marvelous

little book which he wrote for the Alaskan Native

people. As I said last night, some of it seems

over our head. We're simply not as spiritually

mature as those people were. He says this, what

would happen now if Jesus Christ suddenly appeared

before us visibly and asked us, my children,

do you love me for what I have done for you?

Do you feel in your hearts gratitude to me? Who

of us would not say, yes, Lord, we love and we

thank you. But if you love, Jesus Christ and

consider yourself grateful to him will you do

what he deigns you to do because whoever loves

anyone whoever feels grateful will do everything

he can to please his benefactor but Jesus Christ

wants from you only one thing he wants you to

follow him into the kingdom of God to him be

glory now and ever to ages of ages Amen.