The Church: The Body, Mission and Life of Orthodox Christians
"So we will prepare for the coming Sunday, for the Big Feast of Pentecost, which as you know is the second, is the second big feast of the year after Pascha. And so let us truly partake of it, not just a little bit, you know God says “open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” So often when I give communion it’s important that a mouth is open so that communion can be given. So open your mouth and receive all that God has given you. So come feast, partake richly of the grace that comes when we stand in feast together and in the liturgies.
Doxa Patri Ke Eyo Epnevmati.
Christ is Among us. (Congregation: He is and ever shall be!)
This Sunday, the Sunday that follows the feast of Ascension, which was celebrated just a few days ago on Thursday, is an interesting Sunday because it comes a couple of days after Ascension and it is, as I’ve mentioned, before the Great and Solemn Feast of Pentecost. This Sunday is interesting because it is dedicated to the 318 Holy Fathers that gathered a long time ago, in the year 325 in the beautiful and peaceful sea town of Nicaea, it was nice and cool, for the first Ecumenical Council.
And this was a very fundamental event in the Life of the Church, a foundational event in the life of the Church. The Orthodox Faith, earliest faith in the Incarnate Word, received, experienced and believed as Con-substantial with the Father, this faith that Christ is Truly man and Truly God, that He is one in essence with the Father, is held in common by all Christians till this very day. It is the one thing which all true Christians have despite all the divisions that have come to throughout the centuries. This is the Faith of all Christians that is expressed in the council of Nicaea. This is what we have all in common.
So you ask, why dedicate a Sunday to this event? Why celebrate a feast for the 318 Father at Council of Nicea three days after the Ascension?
Let us ponder just for a moment, that the reality of the Feast of the Ascension is not the leavetaking of the Lord. He uttered a promise to be with us until the end of the ages. His Ascension not Him leaving us, but it is a withdrawal from our senses of His bodily presence. He withdraws His physical presence, leaving instead the Church, His Body, on Earth, to extend to the working of the Holy Spirit His Body throughout all the Earth and to the end of the ages.
If you look at the Icon of the Ascension, you will notice how the Lord in the Icon is kind of getting smaller and smaller, and what’s on the Earth? The Church which is a lot bigger in proportion. It’s almost an optical... not an illusion but an optical teaching...that as He becomes invisible to our senses what appears more is the Church. And it is on this Body as it keeps vigil in prayer that we will do on Saturday, it is on this Body that the Holy Spirit will descend on Pentecost day. And the Spirit will gather all, in the Church, through the Church, all...including the whole universe, the whole cosmos, all that God has created, into this Body and as we heard in the Gospel today in “perfect unity”.
And the sign of this is Joy.
Thus the Body of Christ, the Church, IS the heart of the world. The Church is the world as is it should be. That is why we heard a long time ago, St Cyprian, in the 3rd Century, who was a Bishop of Northern Africa, say these very powerful words that come down through the centuries: “Salus extra ecclesiam non est.” “There is no salvation outside of the Church”
As Bishop Kalistos Ware, commenting on these words says, “because the Church is Salvation, there is no salvation outside the Church, because the Church is Salvation.” All that God does, all the works of God, in our lives, in history, in the world, all that God does has this aim, this goal, this telos, this end...to incorporate us into the Body of the Incarnate Word, to make it become part of the Body of Christ.
The Church is not a club. It is not reduced to any egotistical, tribal, national agendas. It cannot be limited to any such thing. The Church cannot be marketed. The Church doesn’t have to be promoted.
Over and over the Father remind us, that just as it is true that there is no salvation outside the church, “salus extra ecclesiam non est”, at the same time we don’t fully know who is in the Church.
Only at the end of the age will it be revealed who is in the Church. And we will all be in for a great surprise. I remember an old Monk, a friend of mine said “at the end of time we will have so many surprises....so many surprises await”
And any attempt to use the Church as a way to separate us, with our agenda or our group, and to keep others, the other out, puts us outside the Church...because we no longer have the mind of Christ.
You, me, those of you who are here, assembled, who have been baptized, who today receive the Body and the Blood of Christ, as that Body and Blood is within you, as that Life runs through your veins and strengthens your bones...you who are this Body, you taste and you see how Good is this Body. You taste and see how easy the Body of the Church there is Life. It is therefore a necessity for love around us, to want to bring others into this Body in the same way that the Father wants all to be part, to be incorporated into this Body.
To be missionaries is nothing else but to have within our hearts the same desire, the same longing to participate with the action of God, Who wants to bring all into the Body of Christ.
And I say especially to you who are here today, you’ve chosen among all possible parishes in Toronto to be part of this one, this mission, a mission Church, whose very reason of being is to be open to all.
So today, as you wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, I ask you to open your hearts, open your hearts to any person who comes to be here among us.
Sometimes after the Liturgy I walk around and I see some people eating all alone, nobody is talking to them...It’s hard to enter a Church today. There are so many barriers. It’s a miracle that anyone comes. Especially any new person, any non-Orthodox person , it’s difficult to come into a Church. There are many reasons why people don’t come to Church...
Someday I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned here for the last thirty years on why that is so....
But none the less, we can start today to reach out and start to care for the stranger among us...completely.
After the Divine Liturgy find a person you feel most uncomfortable with and go and share your bread with them. Remember, only in the Church there is salvation, and that person made their own choice to be with us this Sunday...and you who are part of the Church, Whose Body and Blood you have received Christ, you are the great image for this work to begin.
It’s not because we’re trying to raise our profile or grow in number, or I don’t know what else...
Or because we mention “that everybody else is going to hell” so we have to all save them.
No, God has loved us beyond what we can imagine, and God needs to Love. There is in the Body of Christ a Love that the world cannot give and so often ignores, but at the same time thirsts for. It is a love that risks all, in forgiving, in hoping...as we heard in the Epistle today...”in bearing the weakness of one another.”
You see, what often convinces people to the Truth, to Orthodoxy, to what the Fathers witnessed in Nicaea, is not really fancy service or activities or really nifty programs, but rather people are drawn to the goodness of a beautiful life.
You know, in Constantinople, the representatives of Kiev they went to Church and said, “we do not know whether we’re in earth or in heaven”
It’s true that it can apply to Liturgy for certain, but it can also apply to all the areas of our life...that people should come in and say, whether we are singing or sharing bread, “we do not know whether we’re in earth or in heaven”.
It’s interesting that the second most important book in the Life of Orthodox, besides the Bible, is a book called the Philokalia, which literally means “the love of Beauty”.
In its perfection, the Orthodox faith is simply Love.
The Holy Trinity’s love dwelling in the Body of Christ...the Church. That’s the beauty.
This is witnessed of those who are part of this Body, this is what our fathers witnessed at the first Ecumenical council, and this is what each of us are called to witness by our life...a beautiful life. Seeing how the Church loves, see how the members of Christ’s Body love one another...by this love they shall know that you are Orthodox.
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, our Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and save us. Amen."
"So we will prepare for the coming Sunday, for the Big Feast of Pentecost, which as you know is the second, is the second big feast of the year after Pascha. And so let us truly partake of it, not just a little bit, you know God says “open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” So often when I give communion it’s important that a mouth is open so that communion can be given. So open your mouth and receive all that God has given you. So come feast, partake richly of the grace that comes when we stand in feast together and in the liturgies.Doxa Patri Ke Eyo Epnevmati.
Christ is Among us. (Congregation: He is and ever shall be!)
This Sunday, the Sunday that follows the feast of Ascension, which was celebrated just a few days ago on Thursday, is an interesting Sunday because it comes a couple of days after Ascension and it is, as I’ve mentioned, before the Great and Solemn Feast of Pentecost. This Sunday is interesting because it is dedicated to the 318 Holy Fathers that gathered a long time ago, in the year 325 in the beautiful and peaceful sea town of Nicaea, it was nice and cool, for the first Ecumenical Council.And this was a very fundamental event in the Life of the Church, a foundational event in the life of the Church. The Orthodox Faith, earliest faith in the Incarnate Word, received, experienced and believed as Con-substantial with the Father, this faith that Christ is Truly man and Truly God, that He is one in essence with the Father, is held in common by all Christians till this very day. It is the one thing which all true Christians have despite all the divisions that have come to throughout the centuries. This is the Faith of all Christians that is expressed in the council of Nicaea. This is what we have all in common.
So you ask, why dedicate a Sunday to this event? Why celebrate a feast for the 318 Father at Council of Nicea three days after the Ascension?Let us ponder just for a moment, that the reality of the Feast of the Ascension is not the leavetaking of the Lord. He uttered a promise to be with us until the end of the ages. His Ascension not Him leaving us, but it is a withdrawal from our senses of His bodily presence. He withdraws His physical presence, leaving instead the Church, His Body, on Earth, to extend to the working of the Holy Spirit His Body throughout all the Earth and to the end of the ages.
If you look at the Icon of the Ascension, you will notice how the Lord in the Icon is kind of getting smaller and smaller, and what’s on the Earth? The Church which is a lot bigger in proportion. It’s almost an optical... not an illusion but an optical teaching...that as He becomes invisible to our senses what appears more is the Church. And it is on this Body as it keeps vigil in prayer that we will do on Saturday, it is on this Body that the Holy Spirit will descend on Pentecost day. And the Spirit will gather all, in the Church, through the Church, all...including the whole universe, the whole cosmos, all that God has created, into this Body and as we heard in the Gospel today in “perfect unity”.
And the sign of this is Joy.
Thus the Body of Christ, the Church, IS the heart of the world. The Church is the world as is it should be. That is why we heard a long time ago, St Cyprian, in the 3rd Century, who was a Bishop of Northern Africa, say these very powerful words that come down through the centuries: “Salus extra ecclesiam non est.” “There is no salvation outside of the Church”As Bishop Kalistos Ware, commenting on these words says, “because the Church is Salvation, there is no salvation outside the Church, because the Church is Salvation.” All that God does, all the works of God, in our lives, in history, in the world, all that God does has this aim, this goal, this telos, this end...to incorporate us into the Body of the Incarnate Word, to make it become part of the Body of Christ.
The Church is not a club. It is not reduced to any egotistical, tribal, national agendas. It cannot be limited to any such thing. The Church cannot be marketed. The Church doesn’t have to be promoted.
Over and over the Father remind us, that just as it is true that there is no salvation outside the church, “salus extra ecclesiam non est”, at the same time we don’t fully know who is in the Church.
Only at the end of the age will it be revealed who is in the Church. And we will all be in for a great surprise. I remember an old Monk, a friend of mine said “at the end of time we will have so many surprises....so many surprises await”
And any attempt to use the Church as a way to separate us, with our agenda or our group, and to keep others, the other out, puts us outside the Church...because we no longer have the mind of Christ.
You, me, those of you who are here, assembled, who have been baptized, who today receive the Body and the Blood of Christ, as that Body and Blood is within you, as that Life runs through your veins and strengthens your bones...you who are this Body, you taste and you see how Good is this Body. You taste and see how easy the Body of the Church there is Life. It is therefore a necessity for love around us, to want to bring others into this Body in the same way that the Father wants all to be part, to be incorporated into this Body.
To be missionaries is nothing else but to have within our hearts the same desire, the same longing to participate with the action of God, Who wants to bring all into the Body of Christ.
And I say especially to you who are here today, you’ve chosen among all possible parishes in Toronto to be part of this one, this mission, a mission Church, whose very reason of being is to be open to all.
So today, as you wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit, I ask you to open your hearts, open your hearts to any person who comes to be here among us.
Sometimes after the Liturgy I walk around and I see some people eating all alone, nobody is talking to them...It’s hard to enter a Church today. There are so many barriers. It’s a miracle that anyone comes. Especially any new person, any non-Orthodox person , it’s difficult to come into a Church. There are many reasons why people don’t come to Church...
Someday I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned here for the last thirty years on why that is so....
But none the less, we can start today to reach out and start to care for the stranger among us...completely.
After the Divine Liturgy find a person you feel most uncomfortable with and go and share your bread with them. Remember, only in the Church there is salvation, and that person made their own choice to be with us this Sunday...and you who are part of the Church, Whose Body and Blood you have received Christ, you are the great image for this work to begin.
It’s not because we’re trying to raise our profile or grow in number, or I don’t know what else...
Or because we mention “that everybody else is going to hell” so we have to all save them.
No, God has loved us beyond what we can imagine, and God needs to Love. There is in the Body of Christ a Love that the world cannot give and so often ignores, but at the same time thirsts for. It is a love that risks all, in forgiving, in hoping...as we heard in the Epistle today...”in bearing the weakness of one another.”
You see, what often convinces people to the Truth, to Orthodoxy, to what the Fathers witnessed in Nicaea, is not really fancy service or activities or really nifty programs, but rather people are drawn to the goodness of a beautiful life.
You know, in Constantinople, the representatives of Kiev they went to Church and said, “we do not know whether we’re in earth or in heaven”
It’s true that it can apply to Liturgy for certain, but it can also apply to all the areas of our life...that people should come in and say, whether we are singing or sharing bread, “we do not know whether we’re in earth or in heaven”.
It’s interesting that the second most important book in the Life of Orthodox, besides the Bible, is a book called the Philokalia, which literally means “the love of Beauty”.
In its perfection, the Orthodox faith is simply Love.
The Holy Trinity’s love dwelling in the Body of Christ...the Church. That’s the beauty.
This is witnessed of those who are part of this Body, this is what our fathers witnessed at the first Ecumenical council, and this is what each of us are called to witness by our life...a beautiful life. Seeing how the Church loves, see how the members of Christ’s Body love one another...by this love they shall know that you are Orthodox.
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, our Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and save us. Amen."
+ P.R., Orthodox Priest in Toronto,
Sermon for the Last Sunday Before Pentecost,
Feast of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, 2014
+++
Acts of the Apostles 20:16-18, 28-36
Prokeimenon. Mode 4.
Daniel 3.26,27
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers.
Verse: For you are just in all you have done.
IN THOSE DAYS, Paul had decided to sail past Ephesos, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. And from Miletos he sent to Ephesos and called to him the elders of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them: "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, 'it is more blessed to give than to receive.' " And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
The Gospel of John 17:1-13
At that time, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you gave me to do; and now, Father, you glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was made.
"I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world; yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you; for I have given them the words which you gave me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you did send me. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are mine; all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves."
