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

Today when the Apostle Peter is confessing to Christ that he believes that He is truly the Christ, the Lord says: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven”. For us who are confessing that Jesus is the Christ, this is sometimes revealed to us by the Lord, more or less directly – some people have an experience a little bit like that of the Apostle Paul. However, the great majority of people have Christ revealed to them by Christian people. I’m saying that it’s possible that the Lord will reveal Himself to a person, and show Himself to be the Christ. A person can come to understand this sometimes by reading the Bible, sometimes under very many other circumstances. Those, however, are exceptional circumstances. The main way that people learn to confess that Jesus Christ is the Christ, the Messiah, the One who is anointed, the One who is sent for the redemption of the world, is through human beings, through the living witness of Christians.

This is how, for instance, Alaskan Aboriginals came to Christ in the time of St Herman. St Herman was an ordinary monk. He was not ordained to anything. He was just a monk. Recently, when I was in St Petersburg, we went to visit the Trinity Sergius Monastery in the area of Petrodvoretz. In this monastery, which was re-opened, and functioning, I found out that St Ignaty Brianchaninov had been Archimandrite there, a hundred and fifty years ago or more, and in this monastery St Herman was tonsured into monasticism even before he went to Valamo Monastery. Anyway, St Herman was just an ordinary monk. When he was living on Kodiak Island (and afterwards on Spruce Island), it is true that he was telling people about Christ, but mostly he was showing Christ by his life. He specialised in baking cookies for children. He saved the people from an earthquake by planting the icon of the Mother of God. He saved them from a tsunami by putting the icon of the Mother of God on the shore. He saved them from forest fires by planting the icon of the Mother of God, and saying that the fire would come no farther. In every case the Lord protected the people.

However, the importance of St Herman for us is not so much just that he was a wonder-worker (although these things confirmed it), it was his daily witness of love for Jesus Christ no matter how difficult the circumstances of life were. His circumstances of life were not pleasant very often because the Russian-American Company at that time liked to take Aboriginal people almost as slaves in order to do hunting, and trapping, in order to get fur. St Herman was protecting the Aboriginal people from the money-grubbing fur traders. The Russian-American Company was not so different from the Hudson Bay Company when it comes down to it, or from the North West Company of our own experience, and it’s sad to have to admit it – but that’s life. Human beings are human beings. St Herman, an ordinary person, lived the love of Jesus Christ. That love of Jesus Christ, that daily love of Jesus Christ, brought many, many of these Aboriginals to Christ. As a result of that conversion to Christ, over a long period of time after the sale of Alaska to the United States, when there was strong opposition to Orthodox Christians, and when there was a great difficulty supplying priests, these Aboriginals, remembering St Herman, and passing on the personal experience of Christ in St Herman from generation to generation after him, stayed faithful to Jesus Christ as Orthodox Christians, and did not budge.

It is important for you, and for me to pay attention to our lives in Christ, because other people are measuring Christ by how we behave, by how we live our lives. Whether they will become Christian or not, whether they will persevere in the Christian life or not, can very much depend on how you, and I live out the love of Jesus Christ in our daily lives. If our lives are filled with the love of Jesus Christ, and if people can see this stable love in us – our patience, our ability to persevere in the face of every kind of difficulty, our joy, which is the main characteristic of Christians everywhere, always – if they can see this joy, and the life which comes from Christ in us, they may, if they are already Christians, be encouraged to carry on even if they are severely tempted. If they are not Christians, they may very well decide to come to Christ because of our love. We, ourselves, confess with the Apostle Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One of God, the Messiah. He is the One who is sent to save us, who did save us, and who does save us.

It is also important for us to put this communion with Jesus Christ, and the renewing of this personal relationship of love in Jesus Christ as the first priority of every day. Orthodox Christians, historically, are not people who intellectualise Christ. There is much intellectual activity, but that is not first. The love of Jesus Christ comes first. This love is lived out, and nurtured in very practical, material ways, and not just in spiritual, non-physical realms (as Orthodox Christians are often supposed to be).

Normally, in the morning, every day, Orthodox Christian families take a piece of prosphora that they have brought home from church from the last Liturgy, and, making the sign of the Cross, they eat it. Some people also take a sip of Holy Water first thing in the morning to go with it, making the sign of the Cross, saying their prayers before the icons, asking the Lord to bless the day that is coming. In the course of the day, with the sign of the Cross, they bring Christ’s blessing on everything that is happening. It is traditional, for instance, when parents are sending their children out of the house in the morning to go to school or to play or whatever, to send them with the sign of the Cross first. When they go out themselves, they make the sign of the Cross. They bless the door when they close it, asking God to protect the house. When they get in the car, they make the sign of the Cross, and ask God to bless the journey, and give them protection. Every time something is happening, Orthodox Christians normally bring Christ’s blessing upon everything. How many times have I seen that a loaf of bread is signed with the sign of the Cross with the knife that is going to cut it. But before that, how many times have I seen, and heard in my life how people who are making bread, or making anything also, bless with the sign of the Cross everything that is going to be done. This is just the normal Orthodox way of living: bringing the blessing of Christ upon everything, giving thanks to God, calling to Him for help, always referring everything about every day of life to Him. In North America, this is not done very much.

North American society used to know something about this way of life, but whatever was known is mostly gone by this time. It’s hard for Orthodox Christians in North America to keep up these very good, and life-giving habits. Many people lose them because the environment is a bit critical, and people are shy; they don’t want to stick out. However, if we are going to be Orthodox Christians, we have to be faithful to Christ, and honest. We can’t be ashamed of Christ. He said that if we are ashamed of Him here, He will be ashamed of us in the Kingdom of Heaven. We can’t be ashamed of Him. We love Him. He loves us. He is our life. Our way of life is important for us, even if people think it’s funny. Really, it’s no funnier or stranger than wearing a turban. What’s different? Sikhs are very happy to show who they are by wearing a turban. That’s a sign of their faith. So why should we, in this country that is supposed to let everyone be free, why should we who are Christians, be ashamed of our faith? We’re not criticising the Sikhs (or anyone else), by making the sign of the Cross, but we are being faithful to Jesus Christ. I still remember a few years ago on a CBC program, that there was an interview of a Sikh elder at Christmas-time. The question was whether talk about Christmas was offensive to the Sikhs. This Sikh elder said: If you’re Christians, why shouldn’t you talk about it? It’s normal for you to talk about it. Just don’t force me. That’s just the normal Canadian way.

Being who we are is not forcing anyone else to be who we are. You can’t force anyone to be a Christian – not honestly. You can only love them into Christ. This is the only way. In order to be able to be seen, and understood, we have to allow ourselves to make the sign of the Cross when it’s normal, and natural to do so. This is our way: blessing ourselves, people, things, the environment, everything, blessing with Christ’s love, honestly, uprightly, with love, with joy, blessing everyone, and everything. In fact, I could have gotten myself accidentally into “hot water” when I was in Suzdal, because I wasn’t thinking about it at all. There were some men working on a roof in a monastery doing all sorts of repairs. As I was walking by, I blessed them, and they didn’t seem to object, although the guide said: Oh, they’re Muslim. They were from Kazakhstan. Well, anyway, they didn’t object. I think in fact, many Muslim don’t object so much as all that, as long as what is offered is offered in love.

Let’s you, and I do our best, like the Apostle Peter, to confess Christ in everything in our lives. Let’s ask Him to help us because we are weak, and it’s difficult, and we’re shy. Sometimes we’re afraid – it’s true. Let’s ask Him to give us strength, and send His Guardian Angels even more often to remind us, to keep us on the right way, being faithful to Jesus Christ, showing His love by how we live, by what we do. Let’s ask Him to give us the strength so that in every part of our lives, referring everything, always, to Him, we may glorify Him, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, 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