The Way of Life and the Way of Death

Sermon from October 23, 2022Luke 7: 11 – 16; John 17: 1- 13
Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, Commemoration of Optina Elders
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
In today’s Sunday reading from Luke, Christ stops the funeral possession and raises a young boy - the only son of a widow - from death to life. This miracle speaks of the Lord’s essential purpose in coming to this earth, which is the valley of the shadow of death. He comes here to give life. This concept of the division between the way of life and the way of death already existed in the culture of the Old Testament as well as in the culture of the early Church. Similarly, today’s saints in whose honour the second Gospel reading from John was read, the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical council and the elders of Optina, speak of these same two things: the way of life and the way of death.
 
The Seventh Ecumenical Council defended the veneration of icons against the iconoclasts. They pointed out that the Church believes in the reality of the incarnation of the Son of God, the Word becoming flesh, and so the Son of God in Jesus Christ was visible and tangible here on Earth. Therefore, our iconography emphasises our belief in the reality of the incarnation. Faith weakens and dissipates in those who fight against the image like the iconoclasts did. We confirm that Christ is Emmanuel: God with Us. And His divine humanity conducts that divine humanity to us, and we are sanctified and deified by it.
 
The Optina Elders were a dynasty of prophets. Prophets are known in the Old Testament, and appeared in the early Church, and the Church has continued to have prophets right through the centuries. This dynasty of elders in Russia lasted about a hundred years from the early 19th century to early 20th century. The Optina Elders also spoke both to individuals and collectively about the way of life and the way of death. In their instructions, they warn to not die spiritually. There is a rich treasury of books about the Elders, and their writings inspire us to follow them. Orthodox culture is rich in books which we need to read. Otherwise, it is like having a treasure chest and never bothering to open it.
 
The young boy of today’s Gospel reading was raised from the dead when Christ came up and touched the bier in which he was being carried in the funeral procession. To rise and live with Christ, we need to stay in touch with Him. We say in the Lord’s Prayer, Give us this day our daily bread. As I explained recently in our fortnightly Gospel studies, the word “bread” should more precisely be translated as “essential bread”. It speaks about the Eucharist. This is the bread that makes us alive. Let us not stay away from the Church because this is where we get sanctification. This is where we receive the essential bread of life that gives us divine life. Let us not choose that life of the body which inevitably will end. We need to begin living eternal life now. There is no point thinking we Christians can live life how we want now and expect eternal life at the end. Eternal life must start now. We must be in touch with this eternal life, otherwise it will just burn out within us. Unfortunately, in the last few years the whole culture of covid has made people complacent about coming to church. For those of you at home watching this transmission on Youtube, you should be here! This is where it happens! Eternal life is not going to happen over live-streaming! That’s the deal, Brothers and Sisters. If we begin to live eternal life now it continues, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
 

 
Sermon from Sunday October 16.
Luke 6:31-36 The Golden Rule
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
The Gospel passage that we just heard begins with the golden rule, the altruistic principle which is the principle of treating others as one wants to be treated. The Lord Jesus Christ, though, turns it around to present it positively; instead of saying “Do not do unto others, as you would not have them do unto you”, he says Do to others as you would have them do to you. Instead of saying to stop doing bad things, He says, Do good. Be an initiator of goodness and love in the world. And the beginning of this passage is the key to today’s reading. It’s the key to all real Christianity. We should remind ourselves of these words as often as possible.
 
Take for instance, the life of St Paul, the great apostle. He was shipwrecked. He was stoned and left for dead. He received 39 lashes, five times. Can you even imagine what that would be like? Jim Caviezel, during the filming of The Passion of Christ, was accidentally hit once and lost consciousness. St Paul received five times 39 lashes! And yet, his letters are full of joy, because a real Christian gives. A real Christian is a shining star that gives joyously from the heart. A real Christian doesn’t moan and groan. A real Christian begins prayer with praise to the Lord and thanking God, then asking forgiveness for our sins, and only at the end asking things from God. We often work the other way! We often think prayer is about asking for things. But a Christian is not a black hole that sucks everything in. A Christian is not an emotional vampire! But we often behave like that! We want to suck blood out of our neighbours.
 
Christians are children of God; this is what this passage is saying to us. The Lord is trying to teach us to give and not to expect anything in return, just as God gives to everyone, he gives to the good, bad and the ugly! We have come to the Eucharist.  The Eucharist teaches us this attitude to life. Think about what the word eucharist means – it means thanksgiving. We come to thank God. But more than that, we come to receive grace from God. The first part of the Liturgy, including the sermon, is about learning. The second part is about receiving God’s energy, His grace that allows us to be like Him. His grace transforms us so that we give without even noticing that we give. This is the response from the righteous, from the sheep in Christ’s picture of the Last Judgement. The righteous are terribly surprised when he tells them that you have done this or that. They say, What have we done, we’ve done nothing, just behaving normally! That’s eucharistic life. This is what we absorb here in this holy temple of God, His grace to transform us so that we can go out into the world, to our families, and not to behave like people who do not know God. So, Brothers and Sisters, as St Paul says to Thessalonian: rejoice always, pray without ceasing. For this is the will of God, in Jesus Christ, for you.
 

Sunday October 9, 2022
Luke 5:1-11; John 19:25-27,21:24-25
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff, (given at Vladimir Icon Parish, Queensland)
 
Brothers and Sisters, today we have two readings; the Sunday reading in Luke about the miraculous catch of fish, and the second was for the saint celebrated today, the Holy Evangelist, St John the Theologian. Both those readings speak about love. In actual fact, the great twentieth century Serbian theologian, Fr Justin Popovich, said the whole Gospel can be summed up in one word, love. And this is what both readings were about today. The miraculous catch described in the first reading is an image of the future catch of 153 fish, reported by St John towards the end of his gospel. In the Greco Roman world of ancient times there was a tradition that there were 153 nations in the world. The miraculous catch is a symbol that the apostles would draw all nations into their nets.
 
Today, though, I would like to focus more on the second reading and today’s saint, St John the Evangelist. His symbol is the eagle; each gospel writer has his own symbol. These symbols have come from the vision of Ezekiel, explained in the first chapter of Ezekiel. St John is the eagle because the eagle flies high and sees very far, representing him as a theologian with extraordinary vision. How it possible to gain that vision? It is possible through love. But to attain it, we first need purification. St John gave his whole life to Christ from the age of eighteen, and we might ask, surely this is enough for him to be purified? But he, like the Mother of God, is subjected or allowed by God to suffer the sword piercing his heart. These were the words said to the Mother of God by the elder Simeon, when she brough Christ to the temple on the fortieth day after his birth. The same thing happened to John as he was standing by the cross, looking at his beloved teacher and he was in deep shock, sorrow, and pain. It was not only his love for his teacher that was being subjected to the sword, but also his dream. He, as a Jew of those times, shared the culture that the messiah would be the earthly king, the King of Israel and Israel would rule the whole world. All of that was falling apart as he watched his bleeding teacher die on the cross.
 
Why was that pain necessary? It was necessary to achieve an even greater degree of purity because blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. This is the vision we are talking about, the vision of the eagle which comes from the purification of the heart. When we get rid of all the stuff that clutters our heart, that is so dear to us, then we make room for God’s grace and power. And then one of the great paradoxes of Christian faith comes to fruition; as the Lord Christ said to St Paul, my strength in perfected in weakness and love is indeed fragile and vulnerable. But at the same time, it cannot be powerful without being vulnerable and fragile because it is taking that risk and is having that courage to face the unknown, despite the risk of getting hurt. This is the way God wins, Christ wins, and He catches His flock into His nets. We need that clarity of vision that the eagle, like the great evangelist St John. St John gives us so much knowledge about God and about what love is. We need this especially because we are living in the times when the devil has such scope of action and attack, such complexity of temptation. Without this vision, everything around is contradictory and confusing. Human wisdom cannot give us this clarity and vision, because human wisdom works on the intellect, which is basically like a computer that calculates, like a game of chess. But we need to see, not calculate. The devil can beat us at this chess game any time. It is only if we are given the vision, akin to the vision of the eagle, that we can win. So, Brothers and Sisters, this is the lesson that is given today through the life and writings of the great evangelist, St John.Sermon from October 23, 2022Luke 7: 11 – 16; John 17: 1- 13
Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, Commemoration of Optina Elders
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
In today’s Sunday reading from Luke, Christ stops the funeral possession and raises a young boy - the only son of a widow - from death to life. This miracle speaks of the Lord’s essential purpose in coming to this earth, which is the valley of the shadow of death. He comes here to give life. This concept of the division between the way of life and the way of death already existed in the culture of the Old Testament as well as in the culture of the early Church. Similarly, today’s saints in whose honour the second Gospel reading from John was read, the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical council and the elders of Optina, speak of these same two things: the way of life and the way of death.
 
The Seventh Ecumenical Council defended the veneration of icons against the iconoclasts. They pointed out that the Church believes in the reality of the incarnation of the Son of God, the Word becoming flesh, and so the Son of God in Jesus Christ was visible and tangible here on Earth. Therefore, our iconography emphasises our belief in the reality of the incarnation. Faith weakens and dissipates in those who fight against the image like the iconoclasts did. We confirm that Christ is Emmanuel: God with Us. And His divine humanity conducts that divine humanity to us, and we are sanctified and deified by it.
 
The Optina Elders were a dynasty of prophets. Prophets are known in the Old Testament, and appeared in the early Church, and the Church has continued to have prophets right through the centuries. This dynasty of elders in Russia lasted about a hundred years from the early 19th century to early 20th century. The Optina Elders also spoke both to individuals and collectively about the way of life and the way of death. In their instructions, they warn to not die spiritually. There is a rich treasury of books about the Elders, and their writings inspire us to follow them. Orthodox culture is rich in books which we need to read. Otherwise, it is like having a treasure chest and never bothering to open it.
 
The young boy of today’s Gospel reading was raised from the dead when Christ came up and touched the bier in which he was being carried in the funeral procession. To rise and live with Christ, we need to stay in touch with Him. We say in the Lord’s Prayer, Give us this day our daily bread. As I explained recently in our fortnightly Gospel studies, the word “bread” should more precisely be translated as “essential bread”. It speaks about the Eucharist. This is the bread that makes us alive. Let us not stay away from the Church because this is where we get sanctification. This is where we receive the essential bread of life that gives us divine life. Let us not choose that life of the body which inevitably will end. We need to begin living eternal life now. There is no point thinking we Christians can live life how we want now and expect eternal life at the end. Eternal life must start now. We must be in touch with this eternal life, otherwise it will just burn out within us. Unfortunately, in the last few years the whole culture of covid has made people complacent about coming to church. For those of you at home watching this transmission on Youtube, you should be here! This is where it happens! Eternal life is not going to happen over live-streaming! That’s the deal, Brothers and Sisters. If we begin to live eternal life now it continues, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
 

 
Sermon from Sunday October 16.
Luke 6:31-36 The Golden Rule
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
The Gospel passage that we just heard begins with the golden rule, the altruistic principle which is the principle of treating others as one wants to be treated. The Lord Jesus Christ, though, turns it around to present it positively; instead of saying “Do not do unto others, as you would not have them do unto you”, he says Do to others as you would have them do to you. Instead of saying to stop doing bad things, He says, Do good. Be an initiator of goodness and love in the world. And the beginning of this passage is the key to today’s reading. It’s the key to all real Christianity. We should remind ourselves of these words as often as possible.
 
Take for instance, the life of St Paul, the great apostle. He was shipwrecked. He was stoned and left for dead. He received 39 lashes, five times. Can you even imagine what that would be like? Jim Caviezel, during the filming of The Passion of Christ, was accidentally hit once and lost consciousness. St Paul received five times 39 lashes! And yet, his letters are full of joy, because a real Christian gives. A real Christian is a shining star that gives joyously from the heart. A real Christian doesn’t moan and groan. A real Christian begins prayer with praise to the Lord and thanking God, then asking forgiveness for our sins, and only at the end asking things from God. We often work the other way! We often think prayer is about asking for things. But a Christian is not a black hole that sucks everything in. A Christian is not an emotional vampire! But we often behave like that! We want to suck blood out of our neighbours.
 
Christians are children of God; this is what this passage is saying to us. The Lord is trying to teach us to give and not to expect anything in return, just as God gives to everyone, he gives to the good, bad and the ugly! We have come to the Eucharist.  The Eucharist teaches us this attitude to life. Think about what the word eucharist means – it means thanksgiving. We come to thank God. But more than that, we come to receive grace from God. The first part of the Liturgy, including the sermon, is about learning. The second part is about receiving God’s energy, His grace that allows us to be like Him. His grace transforms us so that we give without even noticing that we give. This is the response from the righteous, from the sheep in Christ’s picture of the Last Judgement. The righteous are terribly surprised when he tells them that you have done this or that. They say, What have we done, we’ve done nothing, just behaving normally! That’s eucharistic life. This is what we absorb here in this holy temple of God, His grace to transform us so that we can go out into the world, to our families, and not to behave like people who do not know God. So, Brothers and Sisters, as St Paul says to Thessalonian: rejoice always, pray without ceasing. For this is the will of God, in Jesus Christ, for you.
 

Sunday October 9, 2022
Luke 5:1-11; John 19:25-27,21:24-25
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff, (given at Vladimir Icon Parish, Queensland)
 
Brothers and Sisters, today we have two readings; the Sunday reading in Luke about the miraculous catch of fish, and the second was for the saint celebrated today, the Holy Evangelist, St John the Theologian. Both those readings speak about love. In actual fact, the great twentieth century Serbian theologian, Fr Justin Popovich, said the whole Gospel can be summed up in one word, love. And this is what both readings were about today. The miraculous catch described in the first reading is an image of the future catch of 153 fish, reported by St John towards the end of his gospel. In the Greco Roman world of ancient times there was a tradition that there were 153 nations in the world. The miraculous catch is a symbol that the apostles would draw all nations into their nets.
 
Today, though, I would like to focus more on the second reading and today’s saint, St John the Evangelist. His symbol is the eagle; each gospel writer has his own symbol. These symbols have come from the vision of Ezekiel, explained in the first chapter of Ezekiel. St John is the eagle because the eagle flies high and sees very far, representing him as a theologian with extraordinary vision. How it possible to gain that vision? It is possible through love. But to attain it, we first need purification. St John gave his whole life to Christ from the age of eighteen, and we might ask, surely this is enough for him to be purified? But he, like the Mother of God, is subjected or allowed by God to suffer the sword piercing his heart. These were the words said to the Mother of God by the elder Simeon, when she brought Christ to the temple on the fortieth day after his birth. The same thing happened to John as he was standing by the cross, looking at his beloved teacher and he was in deep shock, sorrow, and pain. It was not only his love for his teacher that was being subjected to the sword, but also his dream. He, as a Jew of those times, shared the culture that the messiah would be the earthly king, the King of Israel and Israel would rule the whole world. All of that was falling apart as he watched his bleeding teacher die on the cross.
 
Why was that pain necessary? It was necessary to achieve an even greater degree of purity because blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. This is the vision we are talking about, the vision of the eagle which comes from the purification of the heart. When we get rid of all the stuff that clutters our heart, that is so dear to us, then we make room for God’s grace and power. And then one of the great paradoxes of Christian faith comes to fruition; as the Lord Christ said to St Paul, my strength in perfected in weakness and love is indeed fragile and vulnerable. But at the same time, it cannot be powerful without being vulnerable and fragile because it is taking that risk and is having that courage to face the unknown, despite the risk of getting hurt. This is the way God wins, Christ wins, and He catches His flock into His nets. We need that clarity of vision that the eagle, like the great evangelist St John. St John gives us so much knowledge about God and about what love is. We need this especially because we are living in the times when the devil has such scope of action and attack, such complexity of temptation. Without this vision, everything around is contradictory and confusing. Human wisdom cannot give us this clarity and vision, because human wisdom works on the intellect, which is basically like a computer that calculates, like a game of chess. But we need to see, not calculate. The devil can beat us at this chess game any time. It is only if we are given the vision, akin to the vision of the eagle, that we can win. So, Brothers and Sisters, this is the lesson that is given today through the life and writings of the great evangelist, St John.