Sunday of All Saints of Russia and America

              On this second Sunday after Pentecost, the Holy Church commemorates those saints who shone forth in the various local regions where the seeds of Orthodoxy took root… in Greece, Romania, Serbia, Georgia, and whatever region the particular church might honor as its legacy and inheritance.

                       Today, our Russian Orthodox Church commemorates all the saints of the Russian land – a land which surely holds a rich spiritual heritage of holy men and women who have been filled with the grace of God. Monks, nuns, bishops, priests, and lay men and women… all infused with the grace of God as poured out through His holy church throughout the centuries. Such luminaries and Sts Cyril and Methodius, St Sergius of Radonezh, St Seraphim of Sarov, Sts Antony and Theodosius of the Kiev Caves, the holy Elders of Optina, St John of Kronstadt, St Xenia and St Matrona, and many others who have illumined the Russian land like the stars in the sky. If you are not familiar with their lives, I highly encourage you to get to know them… you will find that they are inspiring and wonderful company.

                       In the stichera for Vespers for this feast, we heard the following: ‘Come, ye assemblies of Russia,/ let us praise the saints that are in our land./ The venerable, the holy hierarchs, the right-believing princes, the martyrs, hieromartyrs,/ the fools for Christ’s sake, and the company of holy women./ Both those known by name and those unknown;/ for truly by their deeds and words, and their manifold ways of life,/ and through the gifts of God, they became saints,/ and God hath glorified even their graves with miracles./ And now, standing directly before Christ Who hath glorified them,// they pray fervently in behalf of us who celebrate their splendid festival with love.’

                       What a beautiful tribute to these holy ones who shone forth in the land of Russia.

                       I must say that one of things that struck me most strongly when I was a young man first encountering the Orthodox Church, was a certain ‘tone’ I detected among the Russian Orthodox Christians that I met and that I read about in the lives of saints. How might I describe that ‘tone’?

                       It was a tone of depth and sobriety, of patience and trust-filled acceptance in the face of suffering. It was a tone of faith and hope and love. A tone which reflected the words of the Holy Apostle Paul when he wrote to the Romans that: ‘we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.’

                       Our Lord Himself forewarned us that: ‘in this world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.’

                       Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is an unavoidable fact that we will experience various degrees of suffering in this life as we navigate ourselves through this broken world and through our own brokenness. This suffering will either break us or make us, depending on how we react to it and depending upon where we place our trust and our hope. St. Mark the Ascetic, guides us very succinctly in saying that we are to ‘endure pain of heart in the spirit of devotion’.

                       I believe one of the key treasures that we can inherit from our forefathers and foremothers of the Russian Orthodox Church is this salvific understanding of the virtue and the value of suffering born in the spirit of devotion to Christ. It is a manifestation of the answer to the call of Christ to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and to follow Him.

              Today’s Gospel reading recounts for us the call of God to the first apostles. Our Lord called out to Peter and to Andrew, ‘Follow Me’, and they responded to this call of God – immediately dropping their nets and following Him. All these righteous ones whom we celebrate today, be they from the lands of Russia, of Romania, of America – these are the ones we call ‘saints’ precisely because they heard the call of God and they responded by following Him.

                       What is the call of God for you in your life? Perhaps God is calling you to some specific service, but let’s talk for a moment about the universal call of God which beckons to each and every one of us. The Apostle Paul spoke of it this morning in the Epistle reading… It is the call of God in our conscience. It is that ‘still small voice’ that knows what’s right and what’s wrong. Do we listen to our conscience? Do we heed this call of God and drop our nets to follow Him?

                       Never underestimate the drama and challenge involved in something so unglamorous as simply being honest in all of our interactions, being patient and kind with one another, denying our tendencies toward selfishness, listening to that voice of our conscience and choosing to do the right thing at every step of our lives. If we make a wholehearted and sincere effort toward these seemingly ‘little things’, we will find ourselves engaged in a spiritual battle of epic proportions!

                       Remaining attuned and attentive to the call of God in our life is heroic work. It is the call of God to each and every one of us. When we awake in the morning, God is calling to us to take a moment and begin our day with Him in prayer. As we go about our day at work or at school, God is calling to us to work diligently, honestly, and to conduct ourselves in a manner befitting an Orthodox Christian. In our family life, God is calling to us to be kind and gentle and forgiving with one another – to make the home a safe haven for each other.

                       Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that He stands at the door of our heart and knocks. This is the call of God in our lives each and every day. How do we respond? Isn’t it interesting that the Gospel speaks about the Apostles ‘dropping their nets’ to respond to the call of God? Ask yourself, what are the nets in your life that tangle you up and prevent you from following Christ? Let each of us take stock of what these nets might be and let us be prepared to drop them in order to follow Jesus Christ our Lord.

                       Today we glorify all those men and women who heard the call of God, who responded by dropping their nets and opening the door of their hearts to let Christ in. All these holy ones who adorned the lands of Russia and of America deserve our praise and our gratitude. They show us through their lives how God can transform us, they fill us with inspiration and hope. Through the prayers of all the saints of Russia and of America and of all the lands where the light of Orthodoxy has shone, may God grant us the wisdom and the courage to listen for and to respond to His call.