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A Homily on St. Vladimir’s Day (1955)

  "According to your faith be it unto you."

   "Thou son of David, have mercy on us" – thus called out to the Lord two blind men, about whom today’s Gospel reading bears account, pleading that the Lord return to them that precious gift created by nature’s God: sight. They, tortured by their outward blindness, had spiritual sight – a burning faith that the Lord, by His divine omnipotence, could fulfill their request, and they, hearing the most sweet voice of the Savior: "According to your faith be it unto you" (Matt. 9:29), received that for which they had asked.

   It pleased the Lord to make a direct connection between His mercy and the faith of the blind men, which acted as an agent summoning divine mercy. And in many other instances, the Lord highlights the salvific power of holy faith, without which it is impossible to please God.

   And we now can and must, as though in the name of the two blind men, call to the Master of our life, the Lord Jesus: "Have mercy on us, O Jesus, Son of God."

   One of these blind men, in whose memory we lift up our prayers to God, is the great and long-suffering Russian people. He was blinded almost forty years ago by godless communism. In place of his spiritual sight, which guided the Russian people on its millennial path, communism blinded him with the darkness of its satanic teaching – that all life consists solely of the life of the body, and that there is no invisible spiritual world. This communism blinded the Russian people and converted him into a slave, bound and captive, robbed of his sight, doomed to slave labor and a wretched existence in exile, prison, and Egyptian bondage. The Russian people today have a burning desire for their spiritual sight and liberation from communist slavery, but are incapable of achieving it on their own, without God’s help.

   The second blind man is the Russian people scattered throughout the world, among them the many residing here, in this great and free county.

   Many of us, who have escaped communist imprisonment and today enjoy the blessed gift of freedom, are blinded, however, by the external culture of the world, and dedicate all the powers of our souls to the acquisition of the fruits of this illusory external culture, forgetting the immortal soul and that thing which is needful – the Kingdom of God.

   Many Russian people have been seduced by the gift of external freedom, became wild in a spiritual sense, and received that spiritual blindness, which is more terrible and dangerous than physical blindness. And we must call our brothers to spiritual reawakening, and in their names call unto the Lord: "Have mercy on us, O Jesus, Son of God."

   St. Vladimir Memorial Church, that citadel in which the bloodless sacrifice is now brought forth and prayer is lifted up to the Lord, is destined to be a lantern of faith for the Russian people, a lighthouse for its spiritual rebirth, a sign marking its millennial Christian path, a connecting link between the Russian people scattered throughout the world and the Russian people enslaved by godless communism. The Lord said to His disciples and through them to His whole Church: "whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16).

   It is clear that everyone who wishes to escape eternal judgment and who wishes to attain the resurrection of Holy Russia must improve himself and fortify his faith, without which it is impossible to attract God’s mercy.

   St. Vladimir Memorial Church, then, having a special meaning among the people, must become a mighty religious and social force, calling to life the sleeping spiritual strength of the people. The church must be a unifying national banner. So it was in ancient times, when Solomon’s Temple became the soul of God’s chosen people. So it was in Byzantium, when the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople became the banner of the God-inspired Byzantine Empire. So it was in Muscovite Russia, when Moscow’s Dormition Cathedral became the cradle of Holy Russia – that miracle of history – that Christian nation, spread across one sixth of the globe.

   And now, for the sake of the salvation and rebirth of that Christian nation, the Lord awaits our actionable faith. The Lord implanted the thought in the heart of our archpastor, father, and master, Archbishop Vitaly, of founding this holy church as an expression of our faith in the rebirth of the Russian people, and as a symbol of its spiritual renewal. And we, his helpers and collaborators, and all you Russian Orthodox people, whom he fervently loved with a father’s love, as his own dear children, must in short order raise up to the heavens the cupola of this church, to the glory of God and the adornment of America, which has granted us asylum.

   This holy church is not only a memorial to the Holy Equal-of-the-Apostles Great Prince Vladimir, but is also a memorial to our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and friends, and to ourselves, whose names are written on its walls for eternal commemoration. In order for this church to be completed, we must write about another 2,000 names on its walls for eternal commemoration.

   Can we really not achieve this? Truly, this is a trial of our faithfulness and loyalty to God, God’s Church, and the great Russian people and its millennial path.

   In the life of a people there are times, when after long and agonizing trials, that people must find an equal and opposite force, a creative idea, capable of becoming a connecting line for the many.

   Archbishop Vitaly, with his experience of long spiritual life and burning love for the people, offers that very salvific idea – the construction of St. Vladimir Memorial Church – and we must realize that idea as soon as possible.

   Can the construction of a church building really be a deciding factor in the direction of Church life?

   Yes, beloved brothers and sisters! If in order to enslave the Russian people with communism they had to destroy churches and mock holy icons and relics, make dark the faith and blind the soul, then it is clear that for liberation from communism and for regaining spiritual sight we need a fortification of faith, which we receive in the spiritual hospital – the house of God.

   The Lord first tries the faith, and then grants the request.

   Do we believe that the Lord can restore Holy Russia?

   Yea, Lord, we believe – the fruits of our belief must be this Church of St. Vladimir, and then we can hope to hear these sweetest words from the Lord:

   "According to your faith be it unto you."

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Eastern American Diocese | Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia