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

Today we are commemorating the memory of St Tikhon of Kostroma. This man was a soldier to begin with, and in due course, in the course of his military obedience, he went from Lithuania to Russia, and there became a monk in Kostroma. There, he faithfully gave up everything, and followed Christ. In Kostroma he worked with his hands, as all the monks in that monastery, and he contributed to the economy of the whole monastic family as is normally the case. Although every monastic community has its own way of life, some communities make their living in other ways than just working with their hands. However, that depends on where you live, what your environment is like, and what is possible. In Egypt, they made baskets, and so forth. It depends. In his case, it was turning wood on a lathe, and doing some other things. Apparently there is a very good manuscript about him.

He concentrated so much on following Christ that at the end of his life there was nothing of his own with which to be buried. The Archbishop, and the monastic community had to put together the things that were required, including the shroud, for his burial. Not everyone of us is called to follow Christ in quite that particular way, but we are all called to put Christ first in our lives, and to trust Him that everything will work out correctly, and well, even though we have all sorts of difficulties, and bumps in our lives.

It is the same Lord of our lives who heals the leprosy this morning. It’s the same Lord, who heals leprosy because of His loving compassion, that takes care of your life, and mine. This same loving compassion has never changed. He looked after St Tikhon in the same way.

When we look at the lives of people who have gone before us in this diocese in particular (because this is our context), we can see many examples of people who have been sustained by Christ, regardless of the difficulties. St Tikhon, the Patriarch of Moscow, was the one who incorporated this diocese. He consecrated many of the churches in this diocese. He consecrated also the churches that are no longer in this diocese. St Tikhon, when he came to North America, was faced with a very big challenge. He prepared the way for the mobilisation of our Church in North America through his establishment, and organisation of things. Through the blessings that he gave, our Church in North America took its character as a North American Church, and not just a ghetto.

When St Tikhon went back to St Petersburg, he very soon encountered the Revolution. It was he, an unlikely candidate, who in the face of various sorts of Church politics, was chosen by the Lord to lead the Church in Russia through the worst times of the Revolution. Again it was because of his love for the Lord, and the Lord’s protection of him, that he was able to survive, and make the Church survive all the attacks against it. He listened to the Lord. The Lord inspired him, and he acted accordingly. It was not just because St Tikhon was so smart a man that these things happened. It was because his heart was in tune with the Lord. That comes first for all of us, and it came first for St Tikhon. Because of that, he was able to make all of the decisions that were necessary for the Church in Russia to survive in the time to come. We are not so certain how he died. Some say he died of natural causes, and other people say that he died because they gave him glass in his food, which is likely enough. Regardless, he is definitely a martyr for the Church, and a strong intercessor for the Church there, and for the Church here.

It is also important for us to remember that although someone like he left North America, he never forgot his flock here. He continued to pray for them, and he still continues to pray for us. (It wasn’t because he wanted to go back. He went out of obedience. He was told that his time in North America was over, and he was to go back to Russia, and work there.) This is the same love that characterises our Saviour. He is always with us. He is always looking after us. He is always compassionate, and caring for us. It is that sort of love that you, and I need to try to imitate, to emulate, this sort of love that is not so particular, but embraces everyone. It’s not exclusive but inclusive love, love like the love of Jesus Christ, and love like the love of both the St Tikhons that I mentioned today. It is love that embraces everyone both together, and in particular. Just “particular” can be exclusive but “particular” within the inclusiveness is life-giving. It’s not exclusive. It brings people in, and enables people to grow. This is the love of Jesus Christ.

St Seraphim was talking about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. That included this sort of love, and this way of living life in the love of Jesus Christ, imitating Him, emulating Him, trying to be pleasing to Him, telling other people through this love how to find Him. Let us ask the Lord this morning to renew our love for Him, to quicken us in this love, and to help our hearts to hear Him when He speaks to us, to follow Him when He says: “Follow Me” (Luke 5:27). Let us do what He says to do when He asks us to do it, even if to do so is intimidating, even if it’s strange. He says: Do, Go. It is important to do, and to go as He says. He knows what He is doing with our lives, and He doesn’t tell us in advance what is going on. His love knows all, directs all, and gives life. We have to learn how to trust Him. This love is never deceptive, is never failing, is always right. Let us ask the same Lord to enlighten our hearts so that we can discern that it is He who is speaking to us, and follow Him, obey Him, and glorify Him all through our lives, together with His Father who is from everlasting, and His all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

† Archdiocese of Canada - Orthodox Church in America