Quite a moving homily. Whether you have followed the struggles of Kosovo or not, you will get some sense of the opinion of the Archbishop Hilarion and the Church at large on this issue in particular and about holding fast to the faith under difficult circumstances in general.
From Again and Again...
His Eminence Hilarion, Archbishop of Volokolamsk and Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church visited recently the Diocese of Ras and Prizren in Kosovo. On the second day of his visit, Wednesday, October 28, 2009, the bishop officiated at the Holy Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the historic Monastery Gracanica where he delivered the following homily.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
We heard in today’s gospel reading the story of how the Disciples together with our Savior sailed in the boat across the sea. This happened at night and during that night a storm appeared. The Disciples saw that the boat might sink since the waves were so great. Christ, tired from all his labors, slept at the stern. The Disciples then began to wake Jesus, saying: Teacher, Teacher, we are going to die! The Lord awoke and asked them: “Where is your faith?” And He supressed the winds and a great silence arose.
This gospel story tells us how our Lord never sleeps, the Lord is always awake. If a storm arises and lifts great waves then the Lord has allowed it. And it is only the Lord who can supress that storm.
When waves are lifted around us, when conflicts arise around us, when enemies and man’s evil deeds rise on us, then we might feel as if the Lord has forsaken us, that the Lord sleeps. But that is exactly that very same moment the Lord is asking each of us: “Where is your faith?” And faith must always be so firm and strong, that we can withstand any kind of temptation, that no antagonism or evil act ever cause our faith to sway.
You live here as on an island surrounded by the antagonism of the heterdox who act towards you with hatred and hostility. Many of the heterodox that lived on this land have already passed to that other world while others have been forced to leave this land, to roam other lands and countries. The Lord has kept you here that you might carry the podvig of witness, that you, in the midst of the great storms and great waves of this world, might be kept in the salvific ship of God, in that boat in which He does not sleep, but the very Lord Himself is awake.
This church and this monastery is that divine boat which is led by the Lord Himself. No waves can ever sink this ship. They cannot sink it because the very Lord is here and because the Lord does not sleep but He is awake. Because He will never leave His flock and He will never desert them. And because the doors of hades will not prevail against Christ’s Church.
I wish you, dear Bishop, dear brothers and sisters who live here and carry this podvig of witness, that the Lord always be your help so that your faith might never waver, so that the Lord would never have to ask you “Where is your faith?”, but that your faith be evident in your deeds, in the fact that you dwell here in this much suffering land. And for all your suffering and for your podvig of witness the Lord will reward you as He rewarded the many martyrs, the venerable and the confessors who over the centuries carried the word of the Gospel and lived their lives according to it, in spite of all the storms and conflicts which happened around them.
I wish you spiritual strength and spiritual firmness. May the prayers of the Saints and the confessors keep you. May the Most Holy Theotokos protect you with her heavenly veil and may the Lord Himself through His grace heal all of your wounds – spiritual and bodily, and lead you in the salvific boat of Christ’s Church through all the waves and storms of this world towards that salvific dock of God’s Kingdom. Amen.
May the Lord keep all of you.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
We heard in today’s gospel reading the story of how the Disciples together with our Savior sailed in the boat across the sea. This happened at night and during that night a storm appeared. The Disciples saw that the boat might sink since the waves were so great. Christ, tired from all his labors, slept at the stern. The Disciples then began to wake Jesus, saying: Teacher, Teacher, we are going to die! The Lord awoke and asked them: “Where is your faith?” And He supressed the winds and a great silence arose.This gospel story tells us how our Lord never sleeps, the Lord is always awake. If a storm arises and lifts great waves then the Lord has allowed it. And it is only the Lord who can supress that storm.
When waves are lifted around us, when conflicts arise around us, when enemies and man’s evil deeds rise on us, then we might feel as if the Lord has forsaken us, that the Lord sleeps. But that is exactly that very same moment the Lord is asking each of us: “Where is your faith?” And faith must always be so firm and strong, that we can withstand any kind of temptation, that no antagonism or evil act ever cause our faith to sway.
You live here as on an island surrounded by the antagonism of the heterdox who act towards you with hatred and hostility. Many of the heterodox that lived on this land have already passed to that other world while others have been forced to leave this land, to roam other lands and countries. The Lord has kept you here that you might carry the podvig of witness, that you, in the midst of the great storms and great waves of this world, might be kept in the salvific ship of God, in that boat in which He does not sleep, but the very Lord Himself is awake.This church and this monastery is that divine boat which is led by the Lord Himself. No waves can ever sink this ship. They cannot sink it because the very Lord is here and because the Lord does not sleep but He is awake. Because He will never leave His flock and He will never desert them. And because the doors of hades will not prevail against Christ’s Church.
I wish you, dear Bishop, dear brothers and sisters who live here and carry this podvig of witness, that the Lord always be your help so that your faith might never waver, so that the Lord would never have to ask you “Where is your faith?”, but that your faith be evident in your deeds, in the fact that you dwell here in this much suffering land. And for all your suffering and for your podvig of witness the Lord will reward you as He rewarded the many martyrs, the venerable and the confessors who over the centuries carried the word of the Gospel and lived their lives according to it, in spite of all the storms and conflicts which happened around them.
I wish you spiritual strength and spiritual firmness. May the prayers of the Saints and the confessors keep you. May the Most Holy Theotokos protect you with her heavenly veil and may the Lord Himself through His grace heal all of your wounds – spiritual and bodily, and lead you in the salvific boat of Christ’s Church through all the waves and storms of this world towards that salvific dock of God’s Kingdom. Amen.May the Lord keep all of you.
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