FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT 2015 The Very Rev. Steven J. Belonick 2015 I. During the Sundays of Great Lent, my friends, I decided to share with you some stories of saints not the saints on the icons around us who have been officially recognized and canonized, but rather, stories of everyday saints that is, Orthodox Christians like you and me who have striven to live a life in Christ. What made them unique is that they had had a taste of another world what we can call the presence of God. Because they knew another world existed, they become sensitive to it and they took every opportunity to connect with it. Though they were just like you and me, their hunger for the other world made them righteous saintly. II. [HOLD UP BOOK] I m taking these stories from a wonderful book that I m currently reading, called Everyday Saints, written by Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) who is the Abbot of 1
the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow. I believe these stories of everyday people who have tried to live a life in Christ will inspire us and encourage us during this season of Great Lent. III. Let me begin with the story of a very unassuming man, with an extremely kind face, whom I actually had the privilege to know. His name was Bishop Basil Rodzyanko, and he once celebrated Christmas Divine Liturgy with me in my first mission parish in Pearl River, NY. This was a great blessing for me. He happened to be in the area visiting with one of my parishioners, a close relative of his. And whenever he visited her, I always took the opportunity to invite him to give a retreat, which he never refused. And you will understand why shortly. IV. Bishop Basil was born with the name Vladimir Rodzyanko in 1915 in Ukraine. His aristocratic family was forced to escape to Serbia because of the Russian Revolution. There, in Belgrade, he matured, received his 2
education, married, was ordained to the priesthood, and served a few parishes. However, during the reign of Joseph Tito and the communist party, in 1949, Father Vladimir was sentenced to a concentration camp for eight years, because of his Christian beliefs and his rank as a priest. As he entered the camp, his beard was shorn and his cassock was ripped off him. V. During his time in the concentration camp, Father Vladimir acted as pastor to all the inmates, both to believers and non-believers alike, and all the prisoners loved him. So, when the Feast of Epiphany approached, and the Orthodox Christian prisoners wanted to celebrate the feast of the blessing of waters in this communist prison, all the prisoners agreed to follow a plan worked out by Father Vladimir to make that possible. X. The plan was this: Every day the prisoners were taken outside into a quadrangle for an exercise period. For exercise, 3
the prisoners marched around the four walls under the open sky in concentric circles. On the Day of Epiphany, as usual, the guards were positioned along the outer walls of the quadrangle. In the outer circle nearest the guards the non-believers and the non- Orthodox Christians secretly agreed to march; while in the inner circle, away from the guards eyes, Father Vladimir and all the Orthodox Christians marched, softly singing the troparion of the feast in muffled tones: "When Thou, O Lord, wast baptized in the Jordan, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest " VI. As the snow fell lightly on the prisoners, Father Vladimir called down "the blessing of Jordan upon these waters." And so, he blessed the water, which fell in the form of snowflakes on each and every prisoner, as well as the guards, without the guards being wise to the plan. In that little comer of the world, the grace of the Holy Trinity became manifest in the lives of those men and their captors, and once again 4
creation was renewed by the blessing of waters. This, my friends, was an example of unwavering faith, and unwavering faithfulness to God even in what seemed to be impossible conditions. VII. Let me share one more story, one that demonstrates Father Vladimir s obedience to God. After his wife died, Father Vladimir was asked to become a bishop, which required that he also become a monk. He gladly accepted the monastic vows of chastity and poverty, but he questioned his spiritual father as to how, as a bishop, he would be able to fulfill the vow of obedience. After all, bishops are figures of authority, so whom would he himself obey? VIII. After some thought, his spiritual father answered: You will be in obedience to everyone and anyone who you meet on your journey through life, as long as that person s request will be within your power to grant it and not in contradiction with the Scripture. Bishop Basil followed 5
this counsel all of his life and it led to some very trying, very amusing, and sometimes very amazing circumstances. IX. One day as he was visiting Moscow and walking down a city street, Bishop Basil was approached by a young priest who asked him to visit his parish. Without hesitation, and without knowing the distance, Bishop Basil accepted. The parish turned out to be hundreds of miles away and was located within the Russian forest! As they travelled on the worst of roads to get there, they came upon an auto accident, in which an old man had just been killed. Bishop Basil asked his own driver to stop, and as he approached the other demolished car, he realized that there was also a survivor, the son of the newly killed old man. X. Bishop Basil asked the son if the father had been a believer. And the son answered that his father was, but that he didn t go to church because there were none close enough to attend. He added, however, that 6
his father had a spiritual father. Bishop Basil asked the son how it was possible to have a spiritual father and yet not belong to a church. The son answered: For many years my father used to listen to religious broadcasts on the radio. The broadcasts were made by some bishop named Bishop Basil Rodzyanko. My father considered this bishop his spiritual father, even though he never saw him once in his life. Bishop Basil fell to his knees, sobbed and wept before his spiritual son the old man who had just been killed and by God s grace, he prayed the prayers for the repose of his soul. XI. There are many other details of the life of Bishop Basil in this book. One more, however, is vital for us to hear today. When his wife died, Father Vladimir BECAME inconsolable. He began to drink, to the point of becoming an alcoholic. No one could get through to him, and his life was spiraling downward. But one night, his departed wife, Maria, appeared to him, and scolded him harshly for his way 7
of life. Father Vladimir never took a drink again, but instead went on to live a life open to the presence of God. XII. So, you see, my brothers and sisters, Bishop Basil was an EVERYDAY SAINT, a person with failings, just like you and me! Let us heed the two things that were possible for him, and that are possible for us: his faith in God under tremendously difficult circumstances and his unwavering obedience and humility before others. Finally, let us remember that if we are likewise faithful and obedient to our Lord Jesus Christ, He will guide our everyday moments in extraordinary ways. 8