2008 Sunday of the Cross
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
On this Sunday, the mid-point of the Great Lent we worship the great mystery of the Cross: Out of love for man, the Author of life tasted of death that He might raise up the fallen race of Adam.
The sight of the Cross should always be a source of joy for us. The Cross is the symbol of immortality and the victory over death that the Christ of God achieved during His earthly sojourn. The Cross is also a place of refuge and a defense. The Cross is, “the weapon of peace, the invincible trophy” as it says in the hymnology of the Church. In time of need and temptation the power of the Cross is made manifest, in that we make the sign of the Cross and drive away demonic influence.
Yet, in order to make the power of the Cross of our Savior effectual, we must bear our own cross.
Our Savior calls out to us through the Gospel and says, Come and follow me to the resurrection, come and follow me to joy and freedom, come and follow me and discover what mankind was really made for: participation in the Holy Spirit. In order to accomplish this you have to know yourself. You must struggle against sin and death, but I will show you the way, “Whosoever would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me” (Mark 8:34).
Our Savior did not use mere words, but He showed us the way by His works. All of the teachers of the Church in every generation have taught that there is no other way to the resurrection, except by the Cross.
When we first enter the Church at Holy Baptism, we, or if we were infants at the time, our sponsor was asked: Do you renounce Satan, and all his angels, and all his works, and all his service, and all his pride? Only after affirming this three times we are then asked, “Do you unite yourself unto Christ?” For the simple reason that we cannot be yoked to the error of Satan and united to Christ.
Especially today, in this world of compromise and error, we must patiently carry our cross when tempted by people who try to constrain us to accept religious-pluralism, that is, the notion that all doctrines are of equal value. Our Christ came in the spirit of co-suffering love and died for us in order to teach us the truth. Just before His voluntary Passion, standing before Pilate, our Savior said, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth” (John 18:37). –And Pilate replied, “What is truth?”
The bishops of local Churches that have accepted the New Calendar and Ecumenism have led their flocks into the camp of Pilate. Ecumenism’s motto is “What is truth?” Some individual priests or laymen may protest while they follow, but by remaining with their bishops they remain in the camp of Pilate.
The Cross is the Symbol of Victory for the Traditionalist Old Calendar Church and not for the New Calendarist-Ecumenists. How can I make that claim? I point to the miraculous appearance of the Cross in the sky during the vigil for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross at the Chapel of Saint John the Theologian on Mount Hymettos outside of Athens in 1925. The New Calendarists had already celebrated their feast of the Exaltation of the Cross 13 days before and the leaders of the State Church of Greece sent police to break up the service for the feast according to the Orthodox Calendar. When the police arrived they did nothing because they were greatly outnumbered. During the vigil at around 11:30 p.m. an enormous three bar cross of light was exalted in the sky for over a half an hour and the police that were sent to break up the service were on their knees with the faithful, humbly asking God for mercy.
Our Merciful God chose to miraculously display the Cross at that time in order to confirm the correctness of the Orthodox Calendar and all of the Traditions of our Church. This sign was a wordless admonition from our Savior, to the Traditionalist Orthodox Christians that to be a Christian, especially in these last times, we cannot compromise, we must take up our cross and confess the faith --there is no other way. The broad way of Ecumenist New Calendar compromise with all of the spiritual errors of the world is not the Way of Salvation, it is the way of Anti-Christ, that is, the way to something that usurps Christ.
It does not matter if those that tell you it is proper to compromise with ecumenism wear monastic garb and have long venerable beards or if they come from venerable places. Saint Paul told us that Satan can appear as an angel of light. Do not be confused by their false appearance of spirituality. Without the faith of the Holy Fathers, a man is not a holy father. Counterfeits resemble the real currency –but are without value. Our Savior Said, “…by their fruits ye shall know them” (John 7:20). That is, we will know what a man is by his deeds and doctrine.
Next in the same passage our Savior said, “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of the Heavens; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in the Heavens. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Thy name? and in Thy name cast out demons? and in Thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (John 7: 21-23).
In other words, there will be those that see mighty works yet will fail to be faithful to Christ, either in their way of life or in the faith, and because of this, they will be estranged from Him. There is nothing strange in this. Many false spiritual teachers of today reside by the relics of the saints or holy icons and miracles are worked and they attempt to reap notoriety for these miracles, yet they are deceived.
God demonstrates His mercy to all, both those in the Church and to those outside of the Church. There were 10 lepers healed in the gospel account and only one returned to Christ afterwards and became His disciple (Luke 17: 17). God has shown His mercy to various unbelievers through relics or icons out of love for man and to glorify the saints. For example, the Roman Catholic Uniates took the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God away from the Orthodox in the Ukraine from 1721 to 1832 and during those years the Holy Icon still continued to manifest miracles by the mercy of God despite the fact that it was in the hands of heretics. There is a church of Saint George in Cairo Egypt where, because of the fame of the miracles worked by Saint George Christians, Muslims and Jews put their requests on slips of paper and place them in the frame of his icon. Out of mercy Saint George works miracles for Christians and non-Christians.
God in His mercy sustains the world and, from time to time, He causes miracles of healing to take place, but membership in the Church requires more. Our Christ has ordained that in order to become a member of His Church and partake of His Body and Blood the correct faith and baptism are required, as He commanded the Apostles after His resurrection, “…teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt 28: 19-20).
Alas, the promoters and advocates of the modern day heresy of Ecumenism are ashamed of these words of our Savior and fall under the fearful condemnation of our Savior heard in today’s Gospel, “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy Angels” (Mark 8:39).
We are all sinners, but if we confess Christ, we can be saved. Let us not be deceived by those that attempt to coerce us to compromise the truth. With gladness we should carry the cross of confession of the truth to an unbelieving world.
Let us also remember the example of the good thief upon the Cross. He was found in that terrible affliction and took a good hard look at his past life and took ownership for all of the evil he had done. This brought forth a state of contrition and repentance. Grace overshadowed this man and in the midst of the tumult, the mockings and jeerings he looked over at his battered fellow sufferer and, in a way past telling, understood that this was the Lord of Glory. He made confession and said, “…Remember me O Lord, when Thou comest in Thy Kingdom” (Luke 23: 42).
May we imitate him and hear also from our Savior, “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). Amen.