All Saints of America

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

of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

Glory to Christ. Last time I was with you, since

I've been away for a week, it was Pentecost.

We were celebrating. the gift of the Holy Spirit,

the comforter, the Spirit that speaks to our

hearts, the Spirit of truth who guides us to

all truth, the cleansing Spirit, the exuberant

Spirit, the Spirit that unites us to Christ,

the Spirit that makes us children of the Father,

the Spirit that holds us together, the Spirit.

That makes saints. So last week we celebrated.

The Orthodox Church worldwide. Sunday of all

saints. This week. The church says. But look

at the saints of your land. The saints that are

dear to you. And so. The church gives us this

interesting gospel. Gospels. Well. Gospel, there's

one gospel. But readings, the second one about

the sermon on the plain, describing what it is

a Christian is like, merciful, peaceful, joyful,

trusting in God. And the first gospel, the calling,

the calling of the disciples. So I see today

as the day of getting back, with all that I've

said, just said, the day of getting back to basics

of what it is to be a disciple of Jesus. Let

me try to explain. St. Matthew records that Jesus

saw two brothers, there they are, Simon Peter

and St. Andrew, their nets into the sea. They

were fishers. We say fishermen, but it sounds

awfully nice. They were fishers. And Jesus says

to them, follow me, I will make you fishers of

men. Now, no doubt they had seen Jesus. No doubt

they had heard of Jesus already. When Jesus says

to them, and then to James and John, who are

with their father and they leave their father,

Jesus says, Follow me. He doesn't say, he doesn't

mean, hey, come check this out. I want you to

see something. They left everything. The father's

standing in the boat probably with the nets going,

what's going on? They left their boat and their

fishing business. They left it. It's not recorded

if they ask for more time to put things in order.

They left things. Here's the key. Response. What

do we respond to? They responded to Christ. One

follows in response to something that's serious

and real, to something that touches you, that

brings you in. You respond. In this case, it

was Jesus, the Lord and Savior, who... whom they

knew very little about. But it's kind of like

this. A young man falls in love with a woman

and says to her, will you marry me? I believe

in you, and I want to know you, and I want to

spend my life getting to know you. That's not

what I said. I probably really confused my wife

when I asked her to marry me, but I wasn't anywhere

as eloquent as that. But when we see Jesus, when

we hear that call, we're responding not to some

idea and religious thinking. Response is a response,

not thoughts. Faithfulness. Deeds. We direct

our thoughts and our words and our mind according

to the gospel teaching and dogma. But first,

we try to just know Jesus and follow him. It's

an amen with our life. It's like saying, I want

to live with you forever. It's not like saying,

it is saying. Follow me, Jesus is whispering

to us every moment. For many of us, there are

so many things that come before speaking with

Christ, trying to know him better. I'm speaking

about prayer, obviously. So many things. We just

don't hear. We don't sense. We don't feel that

call. When we respond to Christ, and I mean daily,

this is acts of faithfulness. Faith is not thinking

about some kind of holy religious things. It's

faithfulness. Deeds of trust and love and acts.

And we're guided. On the way. Christian life

is called the way in the book of Acts. That's

the right word. Because we're going in a direction

that is different from the direction that you

see in the world. We all know that. I was going

to say it's that enmity is opposed to the world.

But that's not the proper description. Because

the kingdom of God is not about opposition. It's

about the invitation. Follow me. This is real.

The kingdom of God, of course, can't be harmonized

with the fallen world, which we might sadly mistake

as normal. We do have the Sunday of forgiveness,

the casting out of Adam and Eve from paradise,

so we know this world's not normal. Death is

not normal. Sin is not normal. Our passions are

not normal. So we follow Christ. We're on the

way to holiness. Thankfully, Jesus is very persistent

and keeps saying to us, follow me. I will make

something of you. Not something great in the

eyes of this world. Heaven forbid, but great

in the eyes of the Father who is in heaven. We

don't need worldly self -esteem. We need God's

esteem. He made the fishermen theologians. What

can he make of us? St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians,

you know, brothers and sisters, about your calling.

Not many are wise according to the world. Not

many of you are powerful according to the world.

But God has called us and shows the world's wisdom

to be foolish. He has called us to show that

our weakness is more powerful than the power

of the world because it's the power of the cross.

And the cross always leads. to resurrection.

It's all saints of America. We're surrounded.

The epistles had a great cloud of witnesses.

Let me read you the names. No particular order.

Priest Alexander Hotovitsky went back to Russia,

was murdered by the Soviets. Archpriest Alexis

XII of Wilkes -Barre. Leader of former Eastern

Rite Catholics. Responsible for bringing tens

of thousands of people to the Orthodox Church.

Apparently, he's in my family tree somewhere.

I've never been able to find it. Priest Basil,

higher marker in Poland. Served in Alaska, went

back to Poland. And was killed. He was shot.

Venerable Brendan the Navigator, leader of a

short -lived sixth -century Irish monastic community

in Canada, they say. Venerable Father Herman

of Alaska, first missionary to Alaska, 1794.

Metropolitan Innocent of Alaska, tireless missionary

and Metropolitan of Moscow, was a married priest.

Widowed missionary evangelist to Alaska. Priest

John Kucherov. Missionary priest who eventually

was martyred by the Soviets in Russia. Archbishop

John of Shanghai and San Francisco. The wonder

worker. Priest Juvenali of Alaska. The proto

-martyr of North America. Peter the Aleut. Bishop

Nikolai Velimirovich. Bishop of Zizia. Rector

of St. Tikhon Seminary. called the New Chrysostom.

Bishop Raphael from Palestine, first bishop consecrated

in the United States. Archbishop Seraphim Samoyevich

of Uglitch, a missionary in Alaska, higher martyr

under the Soviets. Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow,

bishop and missionary of North America. Died

in Russia. Bishop Varnaba Nastic, the new confessor,

born in Gary, Indiana. Died in Serbia. Archbishop

Anatoly Kaminsky, new higher martyr and Archbishop

of Ljubljana, missionary in Alaska. Archimandrite

Sebastian Dabovic, called the Serbian Apostle

to America, born in San Francisco in 1865. First

natural American citizen made a priest. Bishop

Mardari, Voskukovic, first Serbian bishop of

America and Canada, and let me, those are 19

names, by the way. Let me mention some other

holy people. Metropolitan Filaret Vosnicenski

of New York, Rocor Metropolitan. Archbishop Arseni

of Winnipeg. Bishop Grasmos of Abydos, a Greek

Orthodox in America. Brother Jose, keeper of

the mer -flowing icon of the Theotokos, who was

murdered. The icon was stolen. Hieromonk Seraphim

Rose of Latina. Matryoshka Olga Michael of Alaska.

Ivan Smirennikov, the elder of the Aleutian people.

Archbishop Yoasov, Enlightener of Canada. Schema

Monk Sergei Shenovsky, disciple of Saint Hermon.

Bishop Yoasov Bolotov of Alaska. Bishop Constantine

Esensky of Richmond, Great Britain. His relics

are incorrupt. Elder Ephraim of Arizona. Yes,

he's only been dead a year and a half, but still.

Archbishop Dimitri of the South, reposed five

years ago or so. His relics are incorrupt. Our

Commander at Roman Braga. Father George Calciu.

The Lebanese priest, great man. Father Nicola

Yanni. who served in rural Nebraska. Archimandrite

Dimitri of Santa Rosa, the founder of the Skeet.

Archimandrite Andronik Elpidinsky, missionary

to India, eventually became rector of the parish

of the protection of the Holy Virgin. This place

became abbot of St. Tecumseh. He was here in

1958, 59, 60. This list of saints. All kinds

of people from all kinds of places. They're calling

us. They're inviting us through the invitation

of Christ. Come follow me. Leave behind whatever's

holding you back. Live the faith. Don't be ashamed.

Don't be afraid. Let me give you five short suggestions

to wind this up so that we may walk the paths

of the righteous. Number one, how many of us

know anything about these people that I just

mentioned? Learn the lives of the saints of America.

Do we know their life stories? Or are you like

me? able more readily to give an account of TV

episodes of I Dream of Jeannie and Hogan's Heroes

and I Don't Know What. Number two, look to the

saints of the church as the perfect role models

and heroes, not to emulate everything they do,

but to be inspired by what they do. The saints

of the church are not going to let us down. or

disappoint us. We're not going to find some evil

deeds that were hidden. They didn't leave secret

or double or hidden lives that caused scandal.

Ask for their help. Pray to them. Number three,

like them, resolve to love God over everything

else. Follow Christ. No excuses for not praying,

not reading the scriptures, not learning about

the faith. Don't be satisfied with the Sunday

school understanding of your Orthodox faith.

Four, every saint recognizes three things that

are opposed to us. The world, don't mean the

beautiful things God has made, but that which

is in opposition. The world, the flesh. I don't

mean our bodies, but the impulses within us,

the world, the flesh, and the devil. Don't justify

sin in yourself. Evil is to be vanquished, not

explained. The devil is to be destroyed, not

approached, in dialogue. Don't be ashamed of

your faith. Repent. Five, the final thing. Every

saint fasted, prayed, lived fully in the life

of the church. But they started out pretty ordinary.

What was Peter and Andrew and James and John,

what were they doing when Jesus came? Just fishing.

They were mending nets. Christ is coming to us

just in our everyday life. The Lord himself is

looking at us and he sees not the wretchedness

and the sins of our life, but he sees what we

can be. Think of how, when he said at the beginning,

let there be light, and there was light. Can

we conceive of what that meant? Cannot the same

Savior, the lover of mankind, Fill us little

beans with his light too. And banish the darkness

there. After all, St. John teaches us at the

beginning of his gospel, he is that light that

came into the world to enlighten every person.

So brothers and sisters, this is Back to Basics

Day. Let's give our amen to the Lord and mean

it with every ounce of our being. To him be glory,

now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.