Acts 11:19-30; Matthew
4:18-23
We celebrate today for the first time in our Archdiocese the Sunday of All Saints of Antioch together with our Patriarchate. It is through their faithful witness that we have been welcomed into the fullness of the Body of Christ in which divisions according to nationality, ethnicity, and culture have no legitimate place or spiritual significance. The miracle of speaking in diverse languages at Pentecost shows that the transforming power of the Holy Spirit enables all people to fulfill their basic human vocation to become like God in holiness. The first Gentile church was in Antioch, where “the disciples were first called Christians.” As His Eminence, Metropolitan SABA recently wrote, the Antiochian Church has always been a multicultural and multilingual church. Its “freedom from ethnocentrism made it the first Orthodox church in North America to open its doors…to converts to Orthodoxy.”[1] We are obviously deeply indebted to those through whom we have heard the Lord’s call, “Follow Me.” The ministry of Antioch proclaims this calling not to a select few but as the vocation of all who bear the divine image as unique, irreplaceable icons of God.
To gain the
spiritual strength to respond to this calling, we must grow in humility and
find healing for our souls. From ancient
times, Christians have observed a fast after celebrating the great feast of
Pentecost. After the festive seasons of
Pascha, Ascension, and Pentecost, we now focus on the struggle to become fully
receptive to the healing power of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles Fast concludes with the celebration
of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, who are shining examples of what it
means to become radiant with the divine glory.
The stories of their personal transformations should inspire us, for
both had sinned greatly, with Peter denying the Lord three times and Paul
having fiercely persecuted Christians. Nonetheless,
they became foundational pillars of the Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. They truly were healed.
We
might refuse to see how they are examples for us due to a misplaced sense of
humility. It may seem presumptuous to
put ourselves anywhere near the place of those who first heard the Savior’s
call: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” The
point is not that we are somehow to repeat the unique roles of any of the
apostles, but that we must learn from their examples how to become fully
receptive to the healing mercy of the Lord.
The difficult journeys of all the apostles had nothing to do with
glorifying themselves. Instead, they
became living icons of Christ by their humility, for their sins were made clear
for all to see. Sts. Peter and Paul both
made the ultimate witness as martyrs, becoming last in this world to the point
of shedding their blood for Christ. Contrary to the temptations common to
religious people and leaders to this very day, the apostles pursued paths that
had nothing to do with exalting themselves above others. As St. Paul wrote, “God has displayed us, the
apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made
a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men… To the present
hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and
homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we
bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have
been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.”
(1 Cor: 4: 9-13)
As living
members of Christ’s Body, the Church, we have received the fullness of truth by
the power of the Holy Spirit, poured out richly at Pentecost. We are filled with the same Spirit personally
in Chrismation and nourished by the Savior’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist. He
has called and empowered us to live each day of our lives as those who
participate by grace in the life of the Holy Trinity. To confess these truths is to know
immediately how unworthy we are of such blessings and how far short we fall of
living accordingly. When we recall the
Lord’s teaching that “to whom much is given, much will be required,” we should
fall on our faces in repentance because of the great responsibility that is
ours. (Lk 12:48) The Savior said, “Not
everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but
he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21) He also said,
“If you love me, you will keep my
commandments.” (Jn. 14:15) As the Lord told His disciples, “Unless your righteousness
exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5: 20) Struggling to obey the Lord each day in humility is the only way to grow
in holiness and follow the apostles to the heavenly kingdom. To identify ourselves as Orthodox Christians without
pursuing this demanding path is sheer hypocrisy by which we condemn ourselves. We will become the opposite of “fishers of
men” if we entangle ourselves in the nets of our passions, such as spiritual
pride and the false gods of worldly political and ethnic divisions. Instead of
attracting others to Christ like a beacon in the darkness, we will repel them by
our refusal to follow in the way of the apostles and saints.
The world so obviously
lacks peace today, especially in situations where earthly powers blasphemously view
themselves as the highest good and become blind to the humanity of those who
threaten their desires and illusions. As
His Eminence has written, the refusal of the Antiochian Church to identify
itself with a nation arises from the experience of “living under non-Christian
rule since the seventh century [which] exposed the Church to various
persecutions. Yet, wherever possible, it engaged with its surroundings, rulers,
and citizens of different sects, remaining a witness to its faith and
spirituality...” To be faithful stewards of the spiritual inheritance that we
have received from our Antiochian forebears, we must follow in their way of
freedom “from ethnic and nationalistic entanglements” and maintain “a theology
untainted by a fusion of religion and nationalism.”[2]
St. Seraphim of
Sarov taught, “Acquire the Spirit of peace and a
thousand souls around you will be saved.”
The Spirit of peace is, of course, the Holy Spirit, through whom we have
become children and heirs of God through Christ, regardless of our ethnic,
cultural, or national identity. (Gal. 4:6-7) St. Seraphim also taught that “the true aim of our Christian life
consists of the acquisition of the
Holy Spirit of God.” Our vocation
is not to serve the false gods of our passions or of the divisions of the
world. It is, instead, to become like God in holiness through the healing,
transformative presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
The light yoke
of the Apostles Fast gives us an opportunity to do precisely that, as we humble
ourselves before the Savior in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. That is how we acquire the spiritual strength
necessary to overcome the weakness of slavery to our self-centered desires as
we answer the calling to become the uniquely beautiful living icons that our
Lord created us to be. Remember that when
the disciples first heard Christ say, “Follow Me,” they were doing their daily
work as fishermen. His calling is not esoteric
or removed from the mundane realities of life.
We have no lack of opportunities to answer His call today in our
families, workplaces, friendships, and neighborhoods, as well as in our
parish. No one else is married to your
spouse, is the father or mother of your children, or is the particular friend, worker,
or parishioner that you are. No one else
has the vocation to serve Christ in those around you in the unique way that you
do. The present circumstances of our lives present limitless opportunities to
become fully receptive to the healing presence and peace of Holy Spirit. None of us lacks anything at all that is necessary
to grow in holiness, obey Christ’s calling, and draw others into the life of
the Kingdom. The disciplines of the Apostles
Fast will help us gain the spiritual clarity to hear and respond faithfully to
that calling, as have all the saints across the centuries. Let us use these weeks to abandon the nets that
would hold us back from doing so.
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