New Haven, Connecticut
October 28, 2023
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Today, as we gather to celebrate the liturgy as an assembled diocese, we celebrate the memory two of the great saints of Russian and Ukrainian Orthodoxy, Job of Pochaev and Demetrius of Rostov. In connection with the feast of the venerable Job of Pochaev, some of you may remember that the late Archbishop Job of Chicago, formerly bishop of Hartford, celebrated his name day today. It was then Bishop Job, of course, who painted New England’s diocesan icon of the most holy Theotokos of the Sign.
In today’s Gospel, the Savior speaks of the Christian life well-lived as a lamp on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light. In the Greek tradition, there is a Paschal chant: “Come receive the light…” When we enter into the faith and tradition of our holy Church, we walk, as it were, into a room full of lamps on lampstands, and these lamps are the canonized saints and other Christians who have gone before us and who have edified us with their lives and deeds. The memory of Saints Demetrius of Rostov and Job of Pochaev, and even of Archbishop Job, can be lamps that illumine us.
Indeed, this is the image of the Savior that John the Theologian saw in his revelation, God in the midst of the churches, in the midst of the elect who are called to sainthood:
in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle round his breast; his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters.
Reflecting on this vision, we recall the words of the Psalmist: “God is glorified in the council of the saints.”
However, this holy light is given to us not just so that we would marvel and admire, but so that we might struggle ourselves to become lamps, bearing the unfading light of Christ. As the Lord also said in today’s Gospel, “Take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”
Our brother Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine has pointed out that, in the spiritual life, there is no standing still: a person either moves forward or goes backward. We can’t just hold onto the light we have; either that light will grow dim and eventually be quenched, or it will blaze up more and more, providing more light and warmth for everyone around us.
The spiritual life, then, is ultimately a life without compromise. We must eventually belong totally to God, totally to his kingdom, making his light our own, or we must eventually belong totally to someone and something else.
Through the prayers and example of the saints and all those Christians who have gone before us and entered into the everlasting light of the kingdom, may we, as individuals, as parishes, as a diocese, and as a Church, truly commend ourselves, and each other, and all our life unto Christ our God, so that his light might fill our lives and hearts and shine out for the salvation of the world.
To him, the Giver of light, be all glory, honor, and adoration, together with the Father of lights and the most holy, radiant, and divine Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Saints Job of Pochaev and Demetrius of Rostov, pray to God for us!
May His Eminence Archbishop Job’s memory be eternal!