Stojanche Andov
The sermon was delivered at St. John the Baptist' Church (ROCOR)
in Washington DC
March 28, 2015
We
have none other help, we have none other hope, but thee, O Pure
Mother of God – help us! In thee we hope, and of thee we boast, for
we are thy slaves. Let us not be put to shame. (Kontakion).
Dear
brothers and sisters,
At
this point in Great Lent, the Orthodox Church has instituted this day
to be a Laudation to the Mother of God. We entreat Her, so that She
can console our souls and give us joy while we struggle in Lent.
Yesterday evening, we sang the Akathist to our Most Holy Theotokos.
We sang to Her “Rejoice...” because in that blessed evening, the
Most Holy Heavenly Queen, our Mother, has embraced Her children. It
is not something new for a mother to take her child in her arms, and
hug her child with love. The Mother of God does the same to us. What
a great mercy from the Heavenly Queen!
The
Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church tell us the following: there
was a holy Father who had a vision. He was taken by an angel to the
Heavens. There, he saw many of the Saints. He was glad to see them,
but he did not see the Holiest of all the Saints, and asked the
angel: “I saw almost all the Saints, but I did not see the
Theotokos. Where is She?” The angel answered him: “Most of the
time She is down, on the earth, helping people.” Is this not a
confirmation that Mother of God indeed inrerceeds for us at all
times? Often we are not aware of how much She helps us, but She does.
Now,
let us say a few words about the origins of the celebration of this
day. In the seventh century, in the Byzantine Empire, there was a
period wherein there where many struggles because of the attacks of
the enemies from all sides. It was almost hopeless, and the situation
was uncertain for Constantinople. So, Patriarch Sergious blessed to
have a procession around the city that was besieged. He himself and
others took the wonderworking Hodigitria Icon of the Mother of God
around the city. Along with the Icon, the Robe of the Most Holy
Theotokos was taken for the procession as well. What happened next?
When the procession came to the waters of the Bosporus, the clergy
touched the holy objects, and a miracle took place. The sea, which
was calm, all of a sudden became turbulent, and swallowed the fleet
of the enemies. By the protection of the Mother of God, the city was
saved. After this, the people gave thanks to the Heavenly Queen in
the church of Blachernae, serving an all night Vigil. There are also
a few more similar cases of deliverance of the city by the
intercession of the Theotokos. Therefore, the Orthodox Church
established a day of laudation to the Mother of God for Her constant
protection of the Christian race.
Yesterday
an Akathist was served to Her, let us now ask Her not to despise our
humble laudation, but accept it as our thanksgiving to Her!
The
Mother of God has a higher place than even the Cherubim and the
Seraphim. She willingly agreed to give birth to the Saviour of the
world, our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, She has
special magnification among the angelic world and the
Saints. If She did not give birth to our Savior, the redemption
of fallen man would not have been fulfilled, and our life would
have been in vain. Through the birth of her Son and Our God, She
opened the doors of salvation for each soul who desires to be saved.
Even after Her blessed dormition, She stayed connected with people as
we sing in the troparion on that Feast: In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos... And by your prayers, you deliver our souls from death. These words tell us that She is always with us. One of our contemporary Athonite Saints, venerable Silouan has said: If it hadn't been for the Mother of God, I would have perished in my sins. These words can be looked at in two ways. One is that through Her giving birth to Christ, salvation came to this world, and the other being that She is an intercessor for us to Her Son to be merciful to us.
Who
is the Mother of God according to the Holy Fathers, and how have they
understood Her?
St.
Dionysius the Areopagite, Bishop of Athens visited the Mother of God,
and wrote to St. Paul:
It
is impossible for the human mind to grasp what I have seen not only
with the eyes of my soul, but with my
bodily eyes, too. I have seen with my own eyes the most beautiful and
holy Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ...That time was
for me a time of supreme happiness, I thank the most high and most gracious God, and the Divine Virgin.
St.
Ignatius the God bearer, a disciple of the Apostle John wrote:
If
it is made possible, I intend to come to you in order to see the
faithful gathered in Jerusalem, and especially the Mother of Jesus: they say of her that she is
honorable, affable, and arouses wonder in all, and all wish to see her. But who would not wish
to see the Virgin and to converse with
her who bore the true God? With us she is glorified as the Mother of
God and Virgin full of grace and virtue.
They say of her she is joyful in troubles and persecutions, does not
grieve in poverty and
want, and not only does not get angry with those who offend her, but
does good to to them still more...
All who see her are delighted.
My
beloved, the Mother of God, through Her obedience corrected the
disobedience of Eve. It has been said: Christ is the New Adam, and
the Theotokos is the New Eve, whose obedient submission to the will
of God counterbalanced Eve's disobedience in Paradise.
I
would like to share with you something that I heard a few years ago.
It was the period of the Dormition fast. In one particular monastery,
the abbot of the convent told the nuns that they are going to have
All-night Vigil to the Theotokos. This Vigil was to last twelve
hours. The nuns were filled with joy, and exclaimed to the abbot: “we
are going to have All-Night Vigil to our Mama.” My dear ones,
doesn't this sound sweet to our ears? These words are touching even
to the bottom of our hearts. Personally, I was very touched, when I
heard these words, and until now, when I thinks of some celebrations
to the Theotokos, I say to myself: “We are going to glorify our
Mama.”
When
we pray in our sacred place, which is our room, and in our
private prayers, it is nice to address to Her with the word
“Mama,” for She is indeed Mother to all of us.
Mothers
can pray to Her because She is the Mother of Jesus Christ our God.
She knows what motherly sacrifice is, and what maternal pain
is. Ask Her to protect your children from the nets in this world.
Fathers,
kneel down in prayer to the Theotokos and ask Her to bless your
family and to pray to God for your children, that they become good
Orthodox Christians that steadfastly hold to all that is moral and
good, living as true champions of the virtues.
Children
and youth, when you have temptations or feel sad about something, ask
your Heavenly Mother to deliver you from the evil one and cover you
and protect you with Her Omophorion. You are young, and many times do
not know which way to go in your lives. Pray to Her to help you. If
you ask Her, She will hear your supplication and will guide you.
Let
us all today and throughout our lives, give praise to our most pure
Lady, the Mother of God for Her motherly love towards us and for Her
protection to those who love God.
My
dear brothers and sisters, I love the Theotokos very much, and I am
sure you all do as well. She is our Mama, who never leaves us. We are
Her little infants who are under Her protection. She is the light of
our darkened souls after Christ, She is our hope, protection, refuge,
consolation, and our joy.
Therefore,
let us all cry out to Her with the following words: All my hope I place in thee, O Mother of God: keep me under thy protection.
O
most holy Theotokos, save us!
Amen!
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