Fr.Vladimir's Sermon Delivered on the 5th Sunday after Pentecost, July 20th, 2008:

My beloved brothers and sisters, It was expected that you would get weary from my constant talk about the Church, the Cross, and a virtuous life, but I see that what happened is actually completely opposite: in you, because of the constant preaching, in stead of the weariness, an even greater desire for listening and learning is rising, so that you never complain about the length or the topic of the sermon, but rather you find even greater delight in the food that is being offered to you in this holy place. It happened exactly what happens at the worldly banquets and feasts with the lovers of wine and alcohol: the more they drink of it, the more they feel thirsty. The same is with us: the more we listen and pay attention, and the more we learn here in this holy place, all the more we intensify our desire for this holy place, and love for each other that is commanded to us by our Lord and God Jesus Christ Himself. So also I, though well aware of my own weaknesses and my utter poverty, will not stop to imitate the only true generous hosts, those wonderful saints, the only true Christians and the only true followers of Christ, and in my attempt to imitate them offer you this plentiful banquet and fill the cup of learning and teaching, because I see that, even when we drink that entire cup, we leave here with a new thirst. That was always clear to all, but especially last week. That you have a great thirst for the Word of God we proved when we all came together in the spirit of God's Word, to love our God and love our neighbor, and we worked very hard all together, to benefit our small community, and our Church in general, in spite of our differences and misunderstandings. We all witnessed that when we all work in one spirit, having our Lord in our heart and on our lips, God will pour upon us great and abundant gifts. It was last week that we imitated the saints, when we were able to condemn our own sins, and spare the others- St. and great apostle Paul, who said that "he is the first among the sinners" (1 Tim. 1:13), St. and great apostle Paul who considered himself one who is untimely born and who is not worthy to even be called an apostle (1 Cor. 15:8-9). This is also seen in the example of St. apostle Peter who said: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, o Lord" (Lk. 5:8). Matthew who called himself to be a publican even when he was an apostle (Mt. 10:3).

On the other had, when we condemn others, we are no better then the flies, and let me justify my assertion. For, just like the flies go to the others' wounds, so also, those who condemn others are hunting for others' sins, thus spreading the illness even unto those with whom they communicate. But, those who do the opposite, those who never accuse or condemn others, are like the working honey bees, for they do not spread the illnesses, but they build the honey comb of the greatest piety, and then they fly to all the corners to collect the virtue of the saints, and this community proved itself to be capable of following the second example, the example of the saints and the working honey bees. May God bless all of you who in any way contributed and continue to contribute to the well being of our community, and by doing so, you contribute to the Church in general. Because this community is a part of the Church, and if one member suffers, the rest of the body suffers as well.

Now, there are always those who speak evil against others, and who will always spread the negativity, yet never help, and no matter what is being done, they will find something to be in disagreement. Some may ask, but if we work for God, how come there is always that opposition? If we are correct, how come there are people who do not see that we are trying to do something for the Church? My beloved, take the words of Scripture and the saints as the consolation and encouragement. First, there was never a time when all people were in agreement with each other, and that is precisely what the problem is. But, when you work for the well being of the Church (and the Church is always one and the same with Christ- Acts 9:4-6) and the well being of your neighbor, and on the top of it you are being criticized, just think of your Lord and God Jesus Christ, whom those who were evil accused of being in service of the devil himself (Mk. 3:22; Mt.12:24); and not only that, but they even killed Him by hanging Him on the Cross, because they did not like what He was preaching. If they did that to our Lord and our God, what can we expect they will do to us, who are trying follow Him? And they did all that with an excuse of the Law of God (Mt. 12:2). What a blasphemy? What a sin? They claimed they knew the Law, yet they did not see God in their midst.

But, what does the great apostle Paul say in the midst of his struggles, he says: "suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us" (Rom. 5:3-5). When you think that there is no way out of the problem, think of the righteous Job from the Old Testament, who endured many great sufferings in order to be shown even greater and in order to close the mouth of the devil and put him to shame. It is for this reason that God allowed apostle to undergo all kinds of suffering, so that they may be shown to be even stronger, more diligent and shinier than the son in the sky. This is not a little cause. And this is why, when the great apostle Paul asked God to alleviate his efforts and to give him a little bit of rest from the misfortunes, God replied to him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).

Even those who did not yet come to know the true light of Christ and His Church, can benefit from our very examples and our lives, for the Lord said: "You are the salt of the world; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?" and "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hid" (Mt. 5:13-14). In other words, you have to show the love of God for others, but if in your community there is no love and harmony, who will restore it? How will others, who do not know Christ, learn what the love of God is, if we, who are the salt and light of the world, do not show them with our very example; within our communities? But, if they see us bear injustice, endure insults, refuse tempting but lethal offers, being exposed to all kinds of slandering, and at the same time we are not afraid of none of the above, just think how much admiration this will cause. All this, not only does not scandalize those who are watchful, but rather it becomes a source of many lessons. This is why the great apostle Paul heard: "My power is made perfect in weakness." This can be shown in both, the Old and New Testament. Think what that rich and powerful ruler Nebuchadnezzar must have underwent, when in the sight of his entire army he was conquered by the three youths, three slaves, three prisoners who were chained and thrown into the furnace; that powerful man was not able to subdue three subordinate youths, who were depraved of their fatherland, freedom, any authority, honor and property and who settled far from their native land. Had it not been for this temptation and suffering, there would have not been such a great crown of victory. Or elsewhere, think what that powerful Herod must have underwent watching how St. John the Baptist, in spite of his apparent weakness, did not loose the courage, but instead he wanted all the more to suffer rather than to renounce his freedom of speech. Here, I am not talking about those people who are unclean and irrational, who are completely devoted to the body and who are lighter and more fragile that the leaves that can be blown by a small breeze. Those do not fall off just by big misfortunes, but rather by everything that is happening around them. I am talking about people constantly virtuous, constantly watchful and attentive, those who triumph over the mighty and powerful, though they themselves appear to be weak. But let us go even further and see what happened then. Herod has killed St. John, and St. John was beheaded. But which one of the two everybody considers a saint? Who is being glorified, exulted, preached? And what are we to say about that Egyptian woman who condemned Joseph? She slandered against him because he did not want to listen to her wishes. O evil woman, why did you plot evil against the righteous? Why do you slender to your husband and those who serve you this young and innocent man? What evil is within you? But what kind of harm did Joseph have from this then, and now? Just like the burning coals hidden beneath hay, at first appear to be extinguished, and then soon after that the flame starts to devour the hay and it reaches great heights, so also the virtue, which appeared to be conquered by the slandering, soon blossoms and is being exulted to the heavenly heights. We all see how that righteous Joseph, though jeopardizing his own position and even life, he advises this evil and spiritually blinded woman to behave appropriately, he was trying to do everything he possibly could, in order to save her from the storm of her rage and lead her into the safe haven. But, the storm continued, the ship started sinking, and she was the one who suffered the shipwreck. The righteous one managed to escape the great waves of danger from all sides, finding the shelter only upon the rock of the clear conscience and wisdom. But our reading does not stop there, instead it goes on and we see how they take the righteous one into the prison one more time, and that he spends a lot of time there chained. It is for this reason that we admire and glorify the righteous Joseph. When reading this and thinking about the righteous who underwent all this, everybody, even the most wise can benefit from his virtue.

Now, since we know all this, let us not be afraid, rather let us gain from everything that is happening around us. Let the endurance of the saintly and righteous people be our teacher for our perseverance, and seeing how the lives of those righteous and saints were exulted through that suffering, let us not be discouraged nor confused because of our own or others' temptations. The Church itself was going through the same in the very beginning, and that is why she multiplied. Just as the thieves are gathering where there is something of value, so also, the devil sets his traps where he finds the treasures of piety which the righteous souls have collected. If those who expose themselves to the snares of the devil are watchful, then not only they will not suffer any harm, but they also will gain even greater wealth of virtue, which happened here, last weekend, and we all witnessed that. In this, my beloved brothers and sisters, we may see the Church's greatest sign of richness, goodness and fearlessness. When the cunning demon saw at the very beginning that the Church flourishes and that she is glorified in such a short time, that people show a great deal of piety, and that the sinners live in repentance, than he set into motion all his wiles and started mutual wars. And just like with the righteous Job, whom he tried to subdue through his friends, enemies, even his wife, so also, he is trying to subdue the Church, through the friends, enemies, and trough those who served as priests and even through those who deigned to be elevated to the rank of episcopacy etc. But, not only that he did not manage to harm the Church, instead he even made her shinier and brighter. The Church never stopped teaching and preaching to everybody about the abstinence and fasting, endurance, to shun the richness, to avoid honors, to understand life and death, that everything in this life, that is to say honors, glory, richness and luxury are nothing more than a spring breeze that fades away very soon and leaves no mark behind. And now, with the shiny face and clear eyes, with great courage, the righteous now teach and preach and gather all over the world. Those, on the other hand, who tried to harm them with all kinds of evils and slandering, now they are hiding themselves because of their unclean conscience and are afraid because they are crushed. And just like wounded wild beasts after the first and second shot are throwing themselves all over the place more furiously, thus worsening the situation, so also those malicious people, by trying to harm the Church, they actually harm themselves (Acts 26:14). Having in mind all of the above, and other things that the Church and the Bible teach us, let us be prepared in advance. Let us build a strong barrier around us and our Church, and let us stay strong and unwavering, waiting for the goods that are prepared for us. In any case we are expecting a reward not only for what we deserve, but much, much greater. Indeed, God loves mankind: He rewards with a great reward those who do good and speak good, a reward that exceeds what we deserve beyond any reason and beyond any word, and may we all be accounted worthy of those gifts through Jesus Christ our Lord and God, to whom be glory now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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