3 August, 2005

We, who are Orthodox, have received something very precious which has to do with our knowledge of Who is Jesus Christ. We have inherited the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth about Who is Jesus Christ from our parents, our friends, our ancestors for two thousand years. People have lived, and died in order to make sure that we have been able to receive this purity of Truth. People even in this last century died because people wanted them to deny Christ, and they did not; people wanted them to deny the Truth, and they did not. In Russia, and Ukraine, for instance, they’re estimating nowadays that something like 110 to 115,000,000 people were killed since the Revolution. The biggest majority of people died because they were Orthodox, and they would not give up Christ. In Russia (the former Soviet Union) they would say: If you don’t deny Christ, if you don’t give up that silly Orthodoxy, then you will go to a concentration camp, and you’ll die. And a lot of people did.

We, in North America, have a very difficult time because the pressure not to be Orthodox in North America is very subtle. In North America, people will say all kinds of things: Orthodoxy is nice, and old-fashioned, and it’s like a museum. However, it doesn’t connect with modern life, and so why do you bother with that? They also say that Orthodoxy has nothing to do with what North America is all about (which is making money, and making lots of money), so why bother with that? The fact is that Orthodoxy is for everyone, everywhere, always. It doesn’t matter what culture you happen to live in. Jesus Christ is He who created all of us. Jesus Christ is He who loves us. It’s for Jesus Christ that we are here. It’s because of Jesus Christ that we have any sense of meaning, and direction in our life.

People talk about how horrible communism was, and how good capitalism is. Mother Dorofea, who died last year, said it very well, I think. She was quoting someone else, I forget who, but I think it’s a very good way of putting it: What is the difference between communism, and capitalism? The answer is: In communism man oppresses man; in capitalism, it’s the opposite. It’s just a different face of the same thing. When you look at how we, westerners, behave towards the whole world, how is it different? We think we are the best, but the communists thought they were the best, too.

DISCUSSION:

Comment: We don’t kill 115,000,000 people.

Bishop SERAPHIM: Maybe not 115,000,000 yet, but we’re doing not a bad job. How are we killing people, for instance? How are we, in the west, killing people?

Comment: Cutting off their assets; allowing them live in poverty, die of illness, and other natural causes.

Bishop SERAPHIM: One hundred per cent: A+. Exactly. It’s because we, in North America, are so greedy – especially we, in North America. Western Europe is not far behind. We, in North America, use up almost the whole world’s resources on ourselves, and we throw stuff away, as though there’s a never-ending supply of everything. Because we’re living like this, all kinds of people in the rest of the world are dying. They don’t have anything to eat. They don’t have medicine. We have all these medicines that will heal diseases. Do we give them for free to the people in the third world? No. We make them pay for it. We have all kinds of extra food. Do we give it to the people in the third world who are starving to death? No. We make them pay for it. They can’t pay for it, so they starve to death. So, how we’re killing people is maybe even worse than what the Soviets were doing, I would say. We pretend that we’re not responsible for it at all. Then, of course, we exporting wars around the world, too, which kill lots of people. We don’t talk about that. Especially when you go to the United States, you never hear about that on the news. We hear about how people are attacking the United States. People are afraid.

In North America, people have no sense of real purpose in their lives. You will see this in every part of your lives. People just make money, try to be comfortable, and try to protect themselves from everyone else. What’s the big thing about living like this? That’s why I, myself, have been grateful to God that early in my life, people who were believers helped me to know Who is Jesus Christ. They, because of their prayers, because of their example, because of their love, because of their care for me, taught me Who is Jesus Christ. It was not by teaching me lessons about Who is Jesus Christ (although you have to understand something about what you believe about Who is Jesus Christ).

They introduced me to Jesus Christ as a Person because they showed me His love: how deep His love is for me. They showed me by how they lived how Jesus Christ cares for me, and how He is concerned about every part of my life. They helped me to understand how everything in my life is connected with Him – not just going to church on Sundays. They helped me to understand that everything that I am, and everything that I do is involved with Him, and that He cares about what’s going on with me. I have been very stupid a lot of times in my life, and very ignorant many times in my life up until now. I have found that whereas people are very unreliable, Jesus Christ is the only One who is completely reliable in His love for me, in His patience with me, and His involvement in keeping me on some kind of level path in my life.

It’s because of the love of other people, and their faithfulness to Jesus Christ that I came to understand really what St Paul means when he talks about the fruits of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. Those are the real characteristics of how a Christian lives life. You show love to everyone, and everything – not just to people, but to everything. Joy: your life is full of joy because of the love of Jesus Christ. You have a sense of purpose, and a sense of direction. The Lord is warming your heart towards other people. You have patience because the Lord shows you how you can survive all kinds of difficult things in your life. Even though people are betraying you, as they always do (even people who love you will betray you by accident), Jesus Christ never does. He teaches us how to be patient with other people who make all their mistakes. He shows us what is good in other people (with all their mistakes, and with all their fallenness), and He shows us how we can, ourselves, encourage what is good in other people, and help them to discover our joy, to participate in our joy.

We can have hope because we know that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). His love never changes. He is always the same Person. He is not a philosophical idea. He is a real Person who loves us, and who cares about us, and who never changes. Because of this I can have hope that my life has a purpose, and it has meaning for someone else, and that I am not a duplication of anyone else. The Lord in His love made you, and me completely unique. There’s no-one else exactly like us. There might be people who look like us (and people have said that I look like Farley Mowat), but I am not Farley Mowat, and he is not me. We are very different people, although I think perhaps I have a cracked sense of humour like he does. Maybe that’s why, apart from other things, we might be similar.

Why be Orthodox? It’s the only living way to live. It’s difficult, but it’s whole, integrated, balanced. The real Orthodox Christian is not one-sided. The real Orthodox Christian is holistic. The real Orthodox Christian is not simply a linear thinker. The real Orthodox Christian can perceive a lot more than just the straight line. He/she can perceive the whole situation around where this straight line is going. We have balance in life. We have understanding of people. We have understanding of God’s creation, and how we fit into God’s creation. We can understand the real purpose behind re-cycling, and re-using things. We can understand how to treat God’s creation well. Actually, it’s appropriate to be here on this particular farm when I say this particular thing. Here we are on a farm where animals are treated in a respectful way, where there really is re-cycling, and where there is harmony with creation in the Orthodox way. It’s a kind of concrete experience of traditional Orthodox life in a way that we have a hard time experiencing in the city.

Everything is Jesus Christ. Our responsibility is to know Him, and to grow in love for Him. Everything in our life is connected with that, and everything is about that.

† Archdiocese of Canada - Orthodox Church in America