New Martyrs

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to Christ. In the

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

Holy Spirit. Amen. It wasn't so long ago, someone

who had been reading Lives of the Saints said

to me, But really, Father, some of this looks

just fantastical. Hard to believe and hard to

accept. And not only that, the number of martyrs

over and over and over again that appear in the

lives of the saints, the Synaxarion, the book

that has these everyday lives, it seems impossible.

Of course, the first 300 years... of the existence

of the Christian church show that there were

indeed countless martyrs. Not every single year.

There were periods of peace. But you read about

these men and women and children who have St.

Sophia over here with her daughters. And there

were many, many, many others just like that.

It's not that fantastical when you see someone

who's a true Christian and desires to witness

and to give testimony what he or she knows is

the truth about reality. You have these tens

of thousands of people. Getting burned up in

a church. It's just a couple days after Christmas.

You have that feast. The martyrs of Nicomedia.

It's like 10 ,000 people in a church. How could

that be? You have the 40 martyrs. And you have

these 40 martyrs. You have these 300 people.

In Georgia. 100 ,000 Christians killed on the

bridge. Well. Maybe that seems fantastical. But

we have actual proof. That this is the case.

For 75 years, the church was the victim, not

the victim, but stood tall against the relentless

and the vicious and the bloody attempt to dismantle

the Orthodox Church completely. Before the revolution,

there were 75 ,000 churches in Russia. Over 1

,000 monasteries. You can look up all these statistics.

Father Nicholas gave a very fine talk last night

about Metropolitan Benjamin of Petrograd, who's

over there on the wall, and his life and how

he stood. By 1937, 74 ,000 of those churches

had been closed or destroyed or blown up. A couple

of bishops remained. Very few monastics. Priests

had dug their own ditches and been shot and shoved

into them. There are stories over and over again.

The story of Metropolitan Peter of Clutica. At

the age of 47 in 1920, he was consecrated a bishop.

A death sentence for sure, like being made a

pope in the third century in Rome. for sure you

wouldn't last very long. He was arrested and

put on a train where priests and other people

were just shoved off as the train's going. He

was shoved off, but he landed in a snowbank.

And he wasn't hurt. This was the middle of the

night, the middle of nowhere, on the way to Siberia,

I suppose. And he walked and he walked. He only

had his cassock on. And it was cold. Obviously

there's snow. He sees a bear. And he makes a

sign of the cross. Gives glory to God. The bear

lies down before him. And he snuggles up to the

bear. And he probably smelled pretty bad. And

he was saved by the heat of that bear. Of course.

The Secret Service found him eventually. He lived

in a village where he ministered to people for

almost a year. But he was found out. And in 1937,

he was shot. What's special about 1937? Well,

in 1937, the government did a census. And they

found out that 80 % of the population still considered

themselves Christian. After all those years of

terror. Vicious terror. Dismantling because they

believe that the old had to go. Had to go. So

I ponder this. This feast of the new martyrs

of the Russian lands. And the revolution. And

then I think, this gospel we heard today. Of

course, the one about betrayal and wars and rumors

of wars. But not that one. This one. This one.

Jesus said to the Pharisees questioning him.

This is the third time he was questioned in this

chapter. What's the greatest commandment? Well,

you shall love the Lord your God with all your

heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

This is the first and great commandment. And

the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor.

As yourself. I think today is a good day to ask

myself, in the absence of persecution on me,

why is it so hard to love the Lord our God with

all our soul? Not just the little portion of

it we set aside on Sunday. That's good, but not

enough. Why can't we love him with all our strength,

all our mind, all our heart? Everything that

we have. Those in the persecuted times did that.

And they loved their neighbor as themselves.

Which we find so hard to do. To love our neighbor.

We love ourselves maybe dysfunctionally. That's

why. And then I hear this epistle from Colossians.

And I ask myself. As the Christians. The Orthodox

Christians in Russia were being killed, churches

blown up and dismantled, turned into public restrooms

in the cities. The communists, the Bolsheviks

are saying, where's your God? Look at what's

happening to you. It's all over for you people.

Where's God in this? There is no God. And the

Christians are thinking St. Paul's words, for

you died. and your life is hidden with Christ.

We are all to be martyrs in the sense that we

have died in baptism, and can we not witness

with the very words and manner of our life to

that glorious kingdom that as these Christians

were being killed, more Christians were standing

in the place, just like the 40 martyrs, because

they saw, they saw something in those men and

women and children. And they believe, when Christ,

who is our life, appears, then we shall also

appear with him in glory. There was no glory

at the time. Therefore put to death your members

which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness,

passion, evil desire. Put off anger, wrath, malice,

blasphemy, filthy language. They did that in

the face of that terrible persecution. They lived

that way, which is why they're saints. It's not

just because they died, no, but because they

witnessed to the glory of God, to God's power

in human weakness, which is the story of the

cross, and they became like Christ, shedding

their blood for the truth of things. They knew

because they did this. They put on tender mercies,

kindness. humility, long -suffering, meekness,

bearing with one another, forgiving one another.

They let the peace of God rule in their hearts

and Christ dwell in them richly in all wisdom,

teaching with psalms and hymns and spiritual

songs. Why is it? That we can't love our neighbor

as ourself and love God with all our hearts,

all our mind, all our strength. Why is it that

the words of St. Paul in Colossians seem so foreign

to us? Sort of religious, but not essential.

The communists told the Orthodox Christians,

that's just sky, your religion is sky, pie in

the sky fantasy. I would say politics is pie

-in -the -sky optimism. Promises. And isn't the

church amazing that she puts right at the beginning

of the liturgy so that we put our loyalty and

fidelity in the right kingdom? Put not your trust

in princes and the sons of men in whom there

is no salvation. Doesn't mean you hide your head

in the sand. But it means that you put your trust

in the only place that is the kingdom of God

and the Lord Jesus Christ. Metropolitan T. Conn

wrote a little meditation, three or four lines.

Here's what he says. Here's a lesson for us in

this feast day. Rather than more talk, more indignation,

more public stands, more controversies and opinions,

Shut off the news, brothers and sisters. You

want your heart to be pure, not filled with that

stuff. Rather than all that, perhaps we need

more prayer, more fasting, more services, more

attention to our neighbors. That is, the living

and breathing people God places before us each

day. To say it in a few words, what we need is

more simplicity, more humility. This is the way

of holiness. and holiness is the only solution

to the ailments of fallen creation. To our Lord

be glory. Through the prayers of the holy new

martyrs and confessors, Lord Jesus Christ, have

mercy on us.