In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

It is a special joy for me to have the possibility to come today, the last day of Bright Week, to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. It’s very important for us to remember the words of today’s Gospel, because most particularly when it comes to what the Prophet, and Forerunner, John, was saying, those words apply to us and to our daily life in Christ. The Forerunner said that “Jesus Christ has to increase, but I have to decrease”. That means that even in those early days of the revelation of who is Jesus Christ, His cousin, the Prophet, and Forerunner, John, already understood very well WHO HE IS, and what is necessary. People came to him, and said: You are baptising here, but Jesus the Christ is baptising over there, and everyone is going to Him. In the world, that would, in fact, start a competition, apart from Christ. People would say (to paraphrase): These people belong to me. These are mine. They would form a party, and start arguing about who belongs to whom, and who is better than whom. This is not the way in Christ. This is not the Orthodox Christian way. Even though we fall into the temptation sometimes, it is not our way.

The way for us is the way of the Forerunner. The Forerunner expressed his great joy that so many people went to Christ to be baptised because he knew that Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom. Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom, and we cannot have anything except joy that the Bridegroom is amongst us, and that people respond to the Bridegroom. We are the Church, the Bride of Christ. We are responding to the Bridegroom with love, and affection, recognising Him, and uniting ourselves to Him. The Prophet, and Forerunner expressed this joy, and he said: “He must increase, but I must decrease”. The way of the Christian, the way of the Orthodox Christian, is exactly like the way of the Prophet, and Forerunner. Everything has to point to Jesus Christ in our lives in exactly the same way as in the icon of the Mother of God, who is the image of our Church. She is holding Jesus Christ in her arms in this icon, and she is pointing to Him. It doesn’t matter exactly what form the icon of the Mother of God takes, whether it’s exactly this expression or not; nevertheless, the Mother of God is always pointing to her Son. Everything about her life pointed, and does point to her Son. Even in these days, when sometimes the Mother of God will appear to one person or another, one group of persons or another, she is always directing us to her Son.

This is how our life must be as Orthodox Christians. The way we live our lives; the things we do; the things we say; the way we react in difficult times; the way we react when we are in trouble, when we are attacked – this always must be pointing to Jesus Christ, and involving Jesus Christ. In Orthodox ancestral countries, we see this just in the way people talk. People are always saying: “Glory to You, O Lord”, “Glory to God”. They are always saying things like: Help me. Help me, Christ. Help me, Lord. Save me, Lord. People are always saying these things. They always bring the blessing of Christ upon themselves when there is difficulty. When they want to do anything, when they want to drive a car, when they want to leave the house, they make the sign of the Cross, and bring Christ’s blessing with them. When we go to the grocery store, or wherever else we are going in any given day, we are taking Jesus Christ with us.

In certain parts of the Slavic world (mostly in western Ukraine, and Carpatho-Rus’), people won’t talk to each other until first they have said: “Glory be to Jesus Christ”. The answer is: “Glory be forever”. If you can’t glorify Jesus Christ in the conversation, no conversation is going to happen. That is not everywhere in the Orthodox world, but that is an extreme of this idea that Jesus Christ must be in every conversation. In case you wonder where they got that from, those western Ukrainians and those Carpatho-Rusyns got it from monks, I believe. If you’re in a monastery, and you’re going to try to talk to a monk, or a nun, you have to knock on the door, and say: “Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us, and save us”. The answer inside has to be: “Amen”. Then the conversation can begin. I’m quite sure those western Ukrainians got it from being around monks a long, long, long time ago.

Even if we don’t talk just like that, and behave just like that, our life as Orthodox Christians needs to grow into this. We have just sung “As many as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ”. We carry Christ with us. Our life, like the Mother of God, must point to Jesus Christ, so that when people encounter us, they should be able to feel love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, long-suffering, and all those other fruits of the presence of the Holy Spirit that the Apostle Paul talks about. When we have this about us – love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, long-suffering – it is evident that Jesus Christ is alive, and active in our hearts, and we are being like Him. That is to say, we are being servants like Him, and our love works like His.

Brothers, and sisters, let us pray that Grace will come from our Saviour, Jesus Christ to help us to live in the love of Jesus Christ, and to glorify Him single-heartedly, single-mindedly, putting Him above everything, so that like St Seraphim, our whole life will proclaim with love: “Christ is risen”.

† Archdiocese of Canada - Orthodox Church in America