In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Christ is risen
It is a special joy for me to have the possibility to come today, the last day of Bright Week, to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. It is very important for us to remember the words of today’s Gospel. The words of the Prophet and Forerunner, John, apply most particularly to us and to our daily life in Christ. The Forerunner said that “‘He must increase, but I must decrease’”. That means that even in those early days of the revelation of Who is Jesus Christ, His cousin, the Prophet and Forerunner, John, already understood very well Who He is, and what is necessary. People came to him and said : “‘Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified – behold, He is baptising, and all are coming to Him’” (John 3:26). In the world, and apart from Christ, that would, in fact, start a competition. People would say (to paraphrase) : “These people belong to me. These are mine”. They would form a party, and start arguing about who belongs to whom, and who is better than whom. This is not the way in Christ. This is not the Orthodox Christian way. Even though we fall into the temptation sometimes, it is not our way.
The way for us is the way of the Forerunner. The Forerunner expressed his great joy that so many people went to Christ to be baptised because he knew that Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom. We cannot have anything except joy that the Bridegroom is amongst us, and that people respond to the Bridegroom. We are the Church, the Bride of Christ. We are responding to the Bridegroom with love and affection, recognising Him and uniting ourselves to Him. The Prophet and Forerunner expressed this joy, and he said : “‘He must increase, but I must decrease’”. The way of the Christian, the way of the Orthodox Christian, is precisely like the way of the Prophet and Forerunner. Everything has to point to Jesus Christ in our lives in the same way as in this icon of the Mother of God, who is the image of our Church. She is holding Jesus Christ in her arms in this icon, and she is pointing to Him. It does not matter what form the icon of the Mother of God takes, whether it is this very expression or not ; nevertheless, the Mother of God is always directing or drawing us to her Son. Everything about her life pointed, and does point to her Son. Even in these days, when sometimes the Mother of God will appear to one person or another, one group of persons or another, she is always directing us to her Son.
This is how our life must be as Orthodox Christians. The way we live our lives ; the things we do ; the things we say ; the way we react in difficult times ; the way we react when we are in trouble, when we are attacked – this always must be pointing to Jesus Christ, and involving Jesus Christ. In Orthodox ancestral countries, we see this simply in the way people talk. People are always saying : “Glory to You, O Lord”, “Glory to God”. They are always saying things like : “Help me”. “Help me, Lord”. “Save me, Lord”. People are always saying these things. They always bring the blessing of Christ upon themselves when there is difficulty. When they want to do anything, when they want to drive a car, when they want to leave the house, they make the sign of the Cross, and bring Christ’s blessing with them. When we go to the grocery store or wherever else we are going in any given day, we are taking Jesus Christ with us.
In certain parts of the Slavic world (mostly in western Ukraine and Carpatho-Rus’), people will not talk to each other until first they have said : “Glory be to Jesus Christ”. The answer is : “Glory be forever”. If Christ is not glorified at the beginning of the conversation, then no conversation is going to happen. We do not find that absolutely everywhere in the Orthodox world. This custom may be a bit extreme, but it is spiritually prudent. In case anyone wonders where that custom came from, I believe that those western Ukrainians and those Carpatho-Rusyns got it from monks a very long time ago. If we are in a monastery, and we want to talk to a monk or a nun, we have to knock on the door of the monastic and say : “Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and save us”. The answer inside has to be : “Amen”. Then the conversation can begin.
Even if we do not talk just like that, and behave just like that, our life as Orthodox Christians needs to grow into this. We have just sung “As many as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ”. We carry Christ with us. Our life, like that of the Mother of God, must point to Jesus Christ. When people encounter us, they should be able to feel love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, long-suffering, and all those other fruits of the presence of the Holy Spirit that the Apostle Paul speaks about (Galatians 5:22-23). When we have this about us – love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, long-suffering – it is evident that Jesus Christ is alive and active in our hearts, and we are being like Him. That is to say, we are being servants like Him, and our love works like His.
Brothers and sisters, let us pray that Grace will come from our Saviour Jesus Christ, to help us to live in the love of Jesus Christ, and to glorify Him single-heartedly, single-mindedly, putting Him above everything, so that like Saint Seraphim, our whole life will proclaim with love : “Christ is risen”.