Sunday of the Fathers 2022 Fr. Nicholas Carr

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

of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. I

love stories. I love movies, and even children's

books, to novels like The Lord of the Rings,

to plays. Perhaps you do too. Why do we like

stories so much? Well, sometimes it's about the

characters that we relate with, that we can identify

with, or perhaps we can try to emulate. Sometimes

it's because of the adventure and the excitement.

And when we look at a story and we look at, is

it true? Is it nonfiction? Or is it fiction?

It kind of helps us. to know how best to look

at it. And like the Chronicles of Narnia, I would

not go around in life expecting that Aslan would

be jumping up to see me. However, when I read

the Gospels, I know that our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ has sent the Holy Spirit to us to

guide us, and I live as if that is non -fiction.

I love all kinds of stories, and today we honor

the royal passion bearers, Tsar Nicholas, Tsaritsa,

Alexandra, Tsarevich, Alexei, Grand Duchess Olga,

Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and we also honor

the holy fathers of the first six ecumenical

councils. And imagine all the stories just in

the lives of these people that we could look

at and how the Lord God worked in each one of

their lives in various ways, helping to bring

them close to him. In today's gospel, in Matthew,

we are told that Jesus met two men in the country

of the Gergesenes. And that these two men were

demon -possessed. And they came out from the

tombs. And they would block the roads and keep

people from following where they needed to go

on the path. And Jesus walks up and they recognize

him. And they say, Jesus, what have you to do

with us? you Jesus, you Son of God? Have you

come to torment us before the time? What do they

mean there, before the time? Well, that means

before the last judgment, when Christ will return

in all power and all those demons that do exist,

well, they'll face their ultimate end. The light

of Christ It shines out even before his resurrection

in a way that they are repelled by him. These

demons, the villains of this story, recognize

that they are powerless against Jesus, the ultimate

hero, and they just seek to get away from him.

requesting that they could go into that herd

of spines, you know, the pigs that eventually

rushed in and drowned themselves. Did you notice

the fear? They just wanted to get away from Jesus.

So what can we conclude from this story? Well,

one, we can conclude that Demons do exist. And

we can conclude, secondly, that demons are powerless

before Christ. And this is true in the world

today, that demons do exist around us in the

world. They are malicious and deceitful and work

against God's purpose and against God's people,

trying to manipulate those who would listen to

them. But we can also take from this story that

they are powerless before the Lord. Even before

his resurrection, Jesus commands them out of

those two men, and he rescues those two men,

just as he seeks to rescue you and me. So we

get from this story that demons do exist. And

do they exist the same way? You know, we live

in the scientific age. Can we say that there

are demons and really mean it? Yes. Yes, we can.

And we see in the world doctrines of demons which

are meant to take people away from God. And they're

in the world around us this day. You could look

around and see people leaving the church and

you could ask them, why? Why did you decide to

turn away from God? And they would probably tell

you something that had been entered into the

world by demons seeking to do just that, to pull

people away from the church, away from their

salvation, and away from God. But we walk with

God. We are filled with the Holy Spirit. and

the light of Christ will not allow any shadow

to be near us. There's no reason to fear these

demons. In Luke 10, 17 to 19, we are told of

the 70 who were sent out as apostles by Christ,

and it reads this. Then the 70 returned with

joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject

to us in your name. And he said to them, I saw

Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold,

I give you authority to trample on serpents and

scorpions and over all the power of the enemy,

and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless,

do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are

subject to you, but rather rejoice because your

names are written in heaven. And so you and I

can rejoice the same way, for God has given us

the church that he is guiding us to heaven by

being a part of the church. And his light drives

away the deceit of demons. St. Silouan the Athonite

says concerning spiritual warfare, Blessed are

we Orthodox Christians because we live under

the protection of God's mercy. It is not difficult

for us to wage this war. The Lord had pity on

us and gave us the Holy Spirit who abides in

our church. Our only sorrow is that not everyone

knows God and how greatly he loves us. The man

who prays is conscious of this love and the Spirit

of God bears witness in his soul to salvation.

So as you and I live the stories, which are our

lives, and we move forth, let us emulate the

examples of those who have come before us. The

fathers of the six and ecumenical councils who

stood for truth and rejected error. The royal

passion bearers who gave their lives still faithful

to the Lord. And let us commit ourselves to faithful

prayer and let us shine God's light. to the world,

for we know the ultimate ending of the story.

We know the ultimate victory of Christ, that

we will stand with him when he returns in power.

May the light of Christ illuminate all. Glory

to Jesus Christ.