St. Michael’s Cathedral
Sitka, Alaska
March 5, 2002
” He who does not love his brother abides in death” (1 John 3:14)
Dearly beloved in the Lord:
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Love and love for brother and sister put into practice form one of the central themes of Saint John’s catholic epistle. The reality of love and its application also provide the foundation for celebrating the eucharistic banquet and today’s installation of His Grace, Bishop NIKOLAI as Bishop of Sitka and Alaska.
Love cannot be separated from God. This fundamental fact is expressed very clearly in Saint John’s first letter. Saint John stresses to his audience that we are able to love-we are able to embrace and serve the other-because God has loved us first (cf. 1 John 4:19). God is the source of love in our lives. He draws near to us so that we may draw near to him. The culmination of the divine overture of love-of God reaching out to us in love-is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. For it is Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, who is the very incarnation of love: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the word, so that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9).
To live through Jesus Christ means to be joined to His death and resurrection which is made possible through baptism. By water and the Spirit we are made one with Christ’s death and resurrection. By water and the Spirit we are born again. No longer are we children of the flesh bound to sin and death, but we have become children of the Spirit and therefore children of light and life. In the Gospel according to Saint John, the Lord Jesus tells His friend Nikodemos that “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God… And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of God be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:5-16).
The love of God revealed in our Lord’s death and resurrection is offered for the healing and unity of every one and every thing. Our gathering in this holy place as the Church in order to celebrate the Divine Liturgy is for the healing and unity of all creation. As we will pray in this Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom: “Again we offer unto Thee this reasonable worship, for the whole world.” Today as we install an archpastor to shepherd the Church in Alaska we do so with the prayer that the healing and transfiguring ministry of Jesus Christ may continue here and now as we gather in this place and in the future, through the archpastoral ministry of Bishop NIKOLAI.
Abiding in love confirms and affirms that we are one in Christ. Therefore, the relationship of pastor and flock or, in light of what we do today, of bishop and diocese, must be lived out in the mutual offering of “self” to the “other.” Without this dynamic of mutual love, the work of Christ is undermined. Without mutual love neither the shepherd nor the flock can be considered children of God and therefore, without love, neither shepherd nor flock can be considered true and faithful disciples of Christ.
Outside of the embrace of love exists a false Christianity that has abandoned its mission to make all one in Christ. Such a false Christianity-a false Orthodoxy-proclaims a love for God that has no connection to ministering to and serving the other. “If anyone says ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).
The bishop, called by God to lead and serve a local Church, must be the model of love to his clergy and all the faithful entrusted to his care. This love is expressed and emulated when the bishop is indeed a rule of faith, an image of humility, a teacher of abstinence, and one who impoverishes himself so the other may be saved.
Today, as we celebrate this Eucharist and as we publicly announce Bishop NIKOLAI as the archpastor of the Church in Alaska we are compelled by God to love one another. We are compelled by God to abide in the embrace of love and life and not return to the old life of sin and death. In the embrace of divine and human love the Church in Alaska will remain faithful to its missionary legacy. In the embrace of divine and human love the Church will bear the fruits of the Spirit which seek to unite the divided and transform the world into the living body of Christ. Amen.