Gadarene Demoniac 2024

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

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

Glory to Christ. I'd like to speak about the

Feast of All Saints just for a moment. You know,

the Orthodox Church celebrates All Saints on

the Sunday after Pentecost in the West. It's

established in the following way. No groaning,

please. I'm not going to talk about this the

way you think I'm going to talk about this. I

promise. On November 1st, the year 732, I think

I have the facts right, but Father James can

correct me if I'm not. Pope Gregory, Pope St.

Gregory III called a local council in St. Peter's

Basilica bishops and he consecrated there a side

chapel to the Theotokos and for the feast of

all saints and all martyrs and they hung several

icons there and they pronounced with the bishops

there against the iconoclasts who were raging

in the church in the east icons were being destroyed

in that time the 700s the mid 700s in the year

In 835, so remember we celebrate the feast of

the Sunday of Orthodoxy in 843. In 835, Pope

Gregory IV, another Gregory, ordered that this

feast of all saints be kept throughout the whole

Western Church as a universal festival in response

to the persecutions that were still going on

by the iconoclasts in the East. So this Western

Feast of All Saints is akin to our Sunday of

Orthodoxy celebration and akin to our Sunday

of All Saints as a banner, a statement, an affirmation

of the propriety of the veneration of icons.

Remember, we spoke about icons. Was it last week?

Yes. So All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Eve. Halloween,

All Saints Eve, is this feast. Now, there's a

murky history of this feast from that point on,

and I'm not qualified to speak about it, and

I'm not interested to speak about it. All I can

say, and I'll say very little, is what we now

know of Halloween, unless you're Roman Catholic,

I suppose, it's devoid of any liturgical content,

of any festal... joy and meaning for people.

Halloween in our society is about spending vast

amounts of money to celebrate I don't know what

and it's become a strange amalgamation of different

world views containing within itself some pleasant

customs and also some positively evil practices

very much on display. If I was a kid And I wanted

to celebrate the feast, and I'll call it All

Saints. It is a church, after all. I certainly

think, what saint, what saint, a very important

and beloved saint, near to All Saints Feast,

what saint would I choose to dress up as? That'd

be St. Demetrius of Thessalonica, martyred in

306. Our St. Demetrius, his icon, is here. We

had vestments for him on Friday, liturgy yesterday,

and we're continuing the feast today along with

his disciple, Nestor. Our St. Demetrius was holy

before he was martyred. He had been a soldier,

but he had been promoted, and now he was a governor

of that whole region around Thessalonica. He

was a servant of... He was a Christian. He was

sanctified by the Spirit of God. He was transfigured

by God. He was a temple of God. And because of

that, the gospel was being spread. One saint,

I think it's St. Gregory of Palamas, says he's

a new St. Paul. He's equal to the apostles, sharing

the good news of salvation in a very dark and

strange pagan time. persecutions were still going

on but were almost over. Almost over. A church

was built where he was martyred and the altar

was right above the spot of his martyrdom. And

sometime later it was discovered that myrrh was

streaming from his holy relics. I've been in

this church a number of times. The most recent

time was 2018 when I went with my sons and my

son -in -law. And I remember the look on their

face when we walked into this magnificent basilica.

It is a basilica. It doesn't have a dome. It's

very large. It was rebuilt in 1912 after the

great fire in Thessalonica. It's magnificent.

And there's a whole place where you go and you

can receive some of the myrrh from St. Demetrius.

Your heart leaps when you're there. It's touched.

It's one of the oldest churches that there is.

It's very much beloved. So I'd dress up as St.

Demetrius. I'm halfway there right now. I'd have

that sword and that spear that you see. There's

a wonderful fresco behind the choir. Please remember

that he was martyred by the sword. And the spear.

He's carrying it. Not as a sign of offense to

someone else. Except to the demons of course.

But a sign of his own martyrdom. And resolute

testimony to the Lord's resurrection and life.

I'd have that armor. I'd have that breastplate.

That shield because of what St. Paul said. Stand

therefore having fastened on the belt of truth.

Having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

Take up the shield of faith. With which you can

extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil

one. Take the helmet of salvation. The sword

of the spirit. Which is the word of God. He doesn't

mean a book. He means Christ within him. Christ's

word dwelling richly within him. Praying at all

times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication.

This is what St. Paul says about all that armor.

Why do we put on all that armor? St. Paul says,

so that you may be able to stand against the

schemes of the devil. Which is what St. Demetrius

did. Which is what we do when we make the sign

of the cross. When we call upon the name of the

Lord, St. James says, the devil flees. especially

the Jesus prayer. St. Paul goes on, he says,

we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but

against the rulers, against the authorities,

against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,

against the spiritual forces of evil in the air,

in the heavenly places. And that brings me to

the gospel account from this morning. Let's remember

these words from St. Paul. about what we struggle

against. Let's remember that the first thing

Jesus did after he was baptized was go into the

wilderness. You remember in the story we just

heard, this man was possessed by a legion of

demons. He was fragmented. He was broken. He

was violent. He was obscene. He was naked. He

was living in the tombs. Spirit seized him. And

he broke the shackles. And was driven by the

demon. Into the wilderness. Jesus goes into the

wilderness. And he confronts the devil. That's

the first thing he does. And the devil has nothing

in him. And Jesus then. Continues his ministry.

Mark. His gospel very clear. As the others. He

goes and heals those that were possessed. Now,

you and I, mostly, haven't seen anything this

dramatic. What have I to do with thee, Jesus,

Son of the Most High, says this demon. I usually

don't quote demons in church. But this is the

gospel. I beg you, do not torment me. For he

had commanded the unclean spirit to come out

of the man. For it often seized him. And he was

kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles.

He wore no clothes. Neither did he live in a

house, but in the tombs. And when he saw Jesus,

he fell down before him. Because he knew who

Jesus was. This gospel is a partner. is an illumination

of what we heard last week. I spoke to you about

the temple of God, that you are the temple of

God, that the Holy Spirit was given to you at

your baptism and your chrismation. And now, says

St. Paul, don't you know you've been bought with

a price? You are the temple of the living God.

This story here is a partner to that. It illustrates...

What happens to a person that pursues something

different and opens himself up to the hatred

and the violence of demonic power? Yes, I've

seen it. Go down to the tenderloin. The devil

doesn't need to do much anymore. He just gets

people addicted. And they lose their minds. And

they lose their consciousness and they become

legion also. So the reason I'm telling you this,

dear brothers and sisters, is not because I'm

afraid any of this is going to happen to us.

I'm telling you this because the devil does strive

against us. We struggle not against flesh and

blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,

against cosmic powers. Because we are the temple

of God. He would like to destroy, if not destroy,

at least harm. And if not harm, make a big mess

in that temple so that you don't even know that

that Holy Spirit is within you, the Spirit of

God. My encouragement to you today is to rejoice

at this miracle that occurred to this man because

what happened? The demons had to ask for permission

from Christ and Christ sent them into the swine.

Why swine? Was that cruel to the pigs? Well,

why swine is because swine provide the preferred

meat at the pagan sacrifices. In the pagan temples.

And they went. And the man was then healed. They

found him. Sitting at the feet of Jesus. Clothed

and in his right mind. He became then. The temple

of God. Clothed. Beautiful. Peaceful. So. So

attached to the Lord. That he didn't want to

let him out of. his sight for a moment, and listen

to what he did. Jesus says, tell everybody the

things that God has done for you. And he says,

and he goes off, and he went his way and proclaimed

throughout the whole city what things Jesus,

parentheses, bracket, in the scriptures, I would

think, Jesus, our Savior and God, had done for

him. This is why we have this story, to remind

us. That last week we may have spoken about the

icons in the temple of God and that we are sanctified.

This week we see what happens if a person is

not. And we give glory to God for what we have

been given. That we have been saved. And let

me remind you why Jesus came. St. John says it

very clearly. He came to destroy the works of

the devil. First letter of John. Came to destroy

the works of the devil. So we too. You get up

in the morning. You say your prayers. This is

the works of God. No other work can take place

after that. No work of the devil can happen.

You forgive your neighbor. The work of God happens

again. And more grace comes to you. You spend

a little time reading the scriptures. You look

into your heart. Maybe you see. The image of

Christ in your heart. And if we do that all our

life, when we leave this life, we will be sanctified

and we will have the great joy and the knowledge

of the grace of God dwelling within us. Be careful

of your temple. You have been bought with a price.

We work for the Lord. We rejoice in the Lord.

And we honor him as much as we can. To our Lord

who has saved us, be glory and honor now and

ever to ages of ages. Amen.