On St Alypius to Children

I can tell you about a saint that liked that

too. He's painted on our wall, this saint. Do

any of you catch the name of the saint that the

choir sang about? What his name was? I'll tell

you. His name was Olypius. Do any of you know

where this saint is painted on our wall? Adults,

you can chime in too, because I have a feeling

that it's not well known. Well, we have, you

know where it is. And that's St. Simeon the Stylite.

And over here we have St. David of Thessalonica.

He lived in a tree. He loved trees so much. And

over here you have St. Olivia's. You see him.

We're asking his prayers today to inspire us,

to help us. And I'm asking his prayers so I could

tell a little bit about his life. He was born

about 1 ,500 years ago. And you might think,

well, that's a long time ago. What's that have

to do with us? Well, he was a Christian. His

parents were Christians. He was born in the year

522. You can tell me exactly how many years ago

that was. I'll take you to In -N -Out after Christmas

as a reward. His mother and his father were Christians.

They were Orthodox Christians. They loved God.

They went to liturgy just like what we have.

A little bit different, but the same. His mother,

I don't know her name, when she was asleep, she

had a vision from an angel. And the angel showed

her many, many people. And they were all coming

to see her son, who was at that point in her

vision, grown up. And she had another vision

of a lamb. Well, actually it was a ram with his

horns. And there were lambs hanging from it.

And somehow she thought, that must be somehow

my son. It's not clear what that means, but that

was her vision. So he was born. And when he was

three years old, his father died. And his mother

said, I'm going to dedicate my son to God. I'm

going to take him to the church. Just like we

see Mary bringing Jesus to the temple. Just like

we saw a couple days ago. The parents of the

Virgin Mary bringing her to the temple. Dedicating

the child to God. You have all been dedicated

to God. Did you know that? You were baptized.

You are a servant, a handmaid of God. Whatever

you say. whatever you do, either sends glory

to God or doesn't. Either makes you closer to

God or doesn't. So you think about the things

you say and the things you do in your life, that

God has given you not only life, you have legs,

you have feet, you have lungs, you have a heart,

you have mind, a voice, and ears and eyes. He

gave all of that to you. What an incredible thing.

We didn't earn it. But we also want all those

things to be sanctified, to be dedicated to the

love of God. Well, when he was about 15 years

old, when Olympias was 15 years old, his mother

took him to a monastery and said to this bishop,

his name was Theodore. Now, this was in a place

called Adrianopolis in Paphlagonia. That doesn't

help you any, I know. But it's up there by the

Black Sea. She took her son and she said, you

take care of my son now. He loves God so much.

He wants to be in the monastery. And this bishop,

Theodore, he took charge of the boy, Olypius.

He died and another bishop came. His name was

also Theodore. Well, when Olypius was about,

probably about 21 years old. He said to his mother,

didn't tell anybody else. He said, my soul wants

to go to the holy land. My soul wants to be in

the holy places where Jesus was. And she said,

go, my son. She didn't say, oh, you're leaving

me, your mother, and I have nothing. You know,

she said, go, my son. She trusted God. This story

about St. Olympias teaches us the first thing,

trusting God. Trusting God. Putting our faith

in God. When we love God, when we do his commandments,

we can trust God. And so he went. Secretly. He

didn't. Oh, by the way, he was made a deacon.

And he was also put in charge of the parish.

Like the counting of the contributions, the olive

oil. Getting the wine, getting the candles. They

thought this man, the people in this parish loved

this boy so much. But he secretly left. The bishop

heard about it. What do you think he did? He

got on a horse and he chased him. And he found

him not too far. And he said, you have to come

back. The people love you so much. And Olympias

was very humble. He went back with the bishop.

And everybody rejoiced. Then Olympia said, I

have to find a holy place. And he had a vision,

too, from an angel in his dream. But probably

it wasn't a dream. It was a vision. And the vision

said, you can go to the holy land. You can be

in the holy place where Jesus Christ is, where

he was. That's your heart. Wherever you are when

you carry Jesus with you. That's the holy land.

That's the holy place. Because the kingdom of

God is within us. So he didn't worry anymore.

But he thought, I have to find a place to pray.

A quiet place. So imagine Santa Rosa. We have

the church here. And he thought, I'll go up to

Mount Taylor. And I'll find a secret place. And

so he went up there. Except it was a little bit

farther away. let's say, as far as Mount Tamalpais.

And he thought, oh, I can't live without water,

so he's digging. He spends all day digging, looking

for water to dig a well. And he's exhausted.

He falls asleep. Guess what happens? Vision?

He has a vision. An angel says to him, dummy,

you're digging in the wrong place. That's not

the first time he gets called a name. And the

angel said, don't dig there. Dig in this other

place. And so he digs. And water comes out. And

there's a fresh spring coming. And he tells the

bishop. And the bishop says, oh, that's wonderful.

You can have your place. And the bishop's thinking,

that's not wonderful. He's too far away. So the

bishop, true, sends somebody when Olypius is

not there to cover up the spring. He does. And

Olympias thinks, well, I can't be here. And so

he goes back to the city near the church. And

when he is near the church, there is an old cemetery

that belonged to pagans. And they had pagan sacrifices

there. And they were praying to the demons. And

it was a very scary place. And there were many

demons. Nobody went into that cemetery. And Olympias

thought, That's where I'm going to go. And his

friend said, you're crazy. They said that. It's

in the story. It says, you're crazy. We're not

going with you. And so he goes into the cemetery.

And what does he find? He finds a big, really

big, bigger than I am, pillar. A column. You

see the picture of him up there. It must have

been bigger than that. In fact, that one is a

stairway going into it. And he climbs up there.

And there's a... statue of a half lion, half

bear from before. He goes to the column and he

embraces the column. He puts his arms around

the column. He says, this is the stone which

the builders rejected. It has become the cornerstone.

This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in

our lives. And he hugged the column. He says,

this is where I will be. And he got across. And

he got an icon, and he went up to the top, and

he had a crowbar, and he knocked the lion bear

off. And he went back down, and he built himself

a little hut. And people came to him. You might

think, this is a strange man. He goes away, then

he tries to go to a mountain, and then he goes

into a cemetery, and there's many demons, and

the demons are afraid of him, and they all scatter.

They throw rocks at him, but it doesn't bother

him. He says, the holy martyr Stephen suffered

from being stoned. If that's the way I'm going

to die, that's okay. But he didn't. They were

afraid of him and they all ran away. And he built

a little hut. And people came. And they were

healed of diseases. People came. And he gave

them money because a monastery for women. Grew

up here. And a monastery for men. Grew up over

there. And people gave funds for charity. And

then one day, he decided, I'm not going to live

down here anymore. I'm going to live on top.

And he climbed the pillar. And he built a little

hut. And he stood in prayer on his pillar. Day

and night. Day and night. Day and night. And

people could see him sometimes at night. He was

shining as bright as a star. As bright as the

sun. Because his love for Christ was so great.

His heart was so pure. He had fasted. He had

prayed. He had given alms. Guess what? He is

a saint not because he went up on the pillar.

But because he followed the commandments of Christ.

You can fast a little bit. We're done with Thanksgiving

now. Now we're back into the fast. Now it's more

serious for us. You can do works of charity.

You could give something away. You probably have

lots of toys, lots of clothes you don't even

use. You can give it to the poor. And you can

pray. You can come to church. You can pray to

God. Mostly, you can trust in God. One day, Olympias...

sent his mother to the city to get some food

for the monasteries down here. And she came back,

and he noticed. He could see her. She's standing

on those pillars way down there. She's coming

back. She had nothing. She had no food, and she

had less clothes than when she started. And he

said, Mother, what happened? What happened? She

said, Well, there were many poor people. And

I gave away all the money, and I gave away all

the food, and I gave away some of my clothes.

And he said, Mother, God has blessed you. He

didn't worry about what he was going to eat.

Jesus said, Why are you worried about that? Seek

the kingdom of God first. This man does something

that we're not going to do. We're not going to

climb up a pillar. Maybe one of you will do that.

I don't know. It'd be strange, but it'd be wonderful.

But he trusted in God, in God's loving providence.

And God showered him with gifts of healing and

wisdom so people could come to him and he could

give them comfort. His heart was changed. He

became like Christ. You know how long he lived

on his pillar? 50 years. The last 14 years of

his life. He was very sick. Obviously, he was

outside all the time. And he was paralyzed, and

he could only lie down. And he died, and he was

buried, and people rejoiced that they had a saint

in heaven interceding for them. He followed a

way that is very difficult, but his heart was

on fire. Fire with love for God. And this is

what he had to do. And he obviously loved climbing

rocks too. That's St. Olypius the Stylite. When

you come into church now, you will see him. And

you will come to church every year on November

the 26th. And you'll remember his name. Olypius.

Pray to God for us. Amen.