20081221 St. Nicholas, Ukraine, and the Armor of God

20081221 St. Nicholas, Ukraine, and the Armor of God
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org

Ephesians 6: 10-17. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

St. Luke 17: 12-19. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (One God). Amen.

I would like to begin by welcoming our newest altar server and parish guest: the seminarian Vasyl Dohan. At 19, he is the youngest of our seminarians. He is also the youngest of three brothers. But the most important thing to know about Vasyl is that he (like our other seminarians)is completely committed to serving Christ and the furthering the salvific mission of the Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Today we celebrate the life of Saint Nicholas. The iconography of our beautiful church gives you a sense of how important St. Nicholas is to us: he joins the Apostle Andrew, the Equals to the Apostles King Volodomyr and Queen-regent Ol’ha, and the monastic saints Anthony and Theodosius right here in the front of the nave. And I want to you to pause for a moment and notice just how special that is: by his location, he joins the founders of Orthodoxy in Ukraine. St. Andrew was the disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ who, during his missionary journeys after the Resurrection, came to the banks of the Dnepr river and prophesied that Ukraine would become a Christian nation. We refer to him in some of our prayers as “the founder of Christ’s Church in Ukraine”. Saints Ol’ha and Volodomyr were the rulers who converted to Christianity, with the later bringing his people to Christ, as well (as is depicted in the central icon on our southern wall). Saints Anthony and Theodosius were the founders of monasticism in Ukraine; the Monastery of the Caves which they built continues to serve as a spiritual foundation for us and all Orthodox believers.

And then we have St. Nicholas, standing there amongst them. Why? As far as I know, he never prophesied about the land or people of Rus’-Ukraine. He was the Bishop of Myra in Lycia, a land now controlled by Turkey; there is no record of him ever visiting Rus’-Ukraine. So why did the founders and benefactors of our God-Protected parish place him among Sts. Andrew, Volodomyr, Ol’ha, Anthony, and Theodosius? The answer to this does not jump out of the pages of history, but there are several hints.

One of the first churches built in Kyiv was established by St. Ol’ha on the grave of Prince Askold. The Viking prince Rurik had sent Askold to rule Kyiv. He became acquainted with the Byzantine Empire and Orthodoxy during his raids down the Dnepr, along the coast of the Black Sea, and even against Constantinople itself. One chronicle describes how members of Askold’s peace delegation after a certain successful attack against Constantinople was baptized, and about how he received baptism in Kyiv soon thereafter. This relates to St. Nicholas because Askold himself took the baptismal name of “Nicholas”, and the church that Saint Ol’ha built over his grave was dedicated to St. Nicholas and called by his name.

But this bit of history only begins to explain why we are so fond of St. Nicholas. Icons of him have long adorned the iconostasis and walls of our parishes and the icon corners of our homes. Why is this?

Another hint comes from the Cossacks. While the primary patron of the Zaporozhian Host was St. Michael, Saint Nicholas was their patron of the seas. Before going out on the water, they would hold a Moleban to him asking for his prayers and carry his icon as they travelled. One of the most popular iconographic types among the Cossacks is that of the Pokrova, or Protection of the Mother of God. You may find it interesting that one of the Zaporozhian icons of this type shows the Mother of God with her “veil of protection” standing over the Zaporozhian Host, and flanked by both Saint Nicholas and the Archangel Michael.

But even this cannot capture our devotion to Saint Nicholas. Understanding our history is vital for us, because if we lose contact with our roots, we will soon wither and blow from wind to wind like the tumbleweed. Hopefully, after hearing these brief historical anecdotes, you will begin to understand that Saint Nicholas and Ukrainian Orthodoxy are intimately and inseparably wound together. They are linked by more than historical circumstance, but by his and our selfless dedication to Orthodox Christianity, and to living out the implications of this faith. Like us, he has been persecuted for his commitment to the truth. He was put into jail for refusing to worship idols; our forbearers were persecuted for refusing to accept false union with Rome; we ourselves are willing to accept the derision of a secular and anti-clerical world for worshipping in the Orthodox manner; St. Nicholas gave everything he had to build up the church and support those less fortunate than himself; our forbearers gave incredible amounts of time, energy, and money to build this wonderful church building and community; we do the same to maintain and grow it. We also send missionaries and aid to those who languish in orphanages and offer charity to those who cannot make ends meet here in this area. And of course there is St. Nicholas’ great devotion to children, a devotion and love that we share with all the beautiful children here in this community.

But there is still a deeper truth that must be understood: St. Nicholas and this community are intimately connected not only through shared belief and common deeds: we are literally of the same body. We are literally of the same blood. We are one with all the saints who are depicted on these walls: the Saints of Ukraine, the Holy Fathers and Ecumenical Teachers, the Great Martyrs, the Apostles, and the Holy Mother of God herself; as well as those countless others who are not depicted here, but nonetheless make up the “great cloud of witnesses” that surround and join us in worship. We are all one because we are all baptized with one and the same Baptism, chrismated with one and the same Holy Spirit, and nourished with the very same Body and Blood of Christ. It is this that gives us more than a common history, it is this that makes us the same.

Saint Nicholas is an example to us because of his excellent manner of life, but the same processes that sanctified him are working within us, drawing us – to the extent we will allow it – into a deeper union with God.

St. Nicholas lived in perilous times, when the faith was under attack from several directions. He thrived despite the challenges because he had followed St. Paul’s advice. He had put on the breastplate of righteousness, shod his feet with the Gospel, buckled on the shield of faith, and put the helmet of salvation; and held firmly to the sword of truth. This whole armor of God allowed him to persevere against the principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness.

We, too, live in perilous times. For us, the attacks manifest themselves through radical secularism and financial challenges. They threaten to turn those we love away from the truth and to bring our very roof down around our heads. But the whole armor of God remains as strong for us as it was for him, as it was for the generations of Ukrainian Orthodox who have gone before us.

Through the prayers of St. Nicholas and all the saints, we, too will be able to thrive in battle to “withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”


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Introduction: thinking about the radical atheism of the Soviet Communists

The Soviet Communists were atheist totalitarians. They tried to create a system that would make both faith and the religious institutions that foster it seem silly and superfluous. Given the strength of Orthodoxy in the pre-revolutionary Russian Empire, they had to be very intentional about this. They combined an overt assault against the Church with more insidious long term strategies. These included trumped up charges against intransigent clergy, the creation of more progressive and supportive alternative religious institutions (e.g. the “Living Church”), and a whole series of administrative, educational, and legal measures that discriminated against believers and belief.

Their efforts never completely succeeded; both the public face of the Church and her underground arms outlived the government that persecuted her. But the communists still caused enormous damage that will take many years (and the work of the Holy Spirit) to repair. As a pastor, I wonder how many Soviets failed to develop a salvific relationship with Christ as a result of their government’s persecution of the Church. God will judge them according their own circumstances, but can there be any doubt that the Soviets would have been better off had the communists allowed for the free expression of religion?

Segue: what about the radical secularism popular here?

All this got me to thinking about what attacks against the traditional faith would look like here in the United States. Secularism and capitalism are insidious, and their hegemony is doing a better job than Communism ever did at making Orthodoxy seem like an old-fashioned waste of time. I have written elsewhere how our economic system makes selfish hedonism seem natural. But what about the government? What role is it playing? Marx was wrong about many things, but his observations (the implications of which were most ably worked out by Gramsci) about the role of the state are reasonable accurate: it does use its influence to reinforce the dominate cultural framework (aka “hegemony”). The list of blessings we enjoy here is very long. Near the top is our Constitution, and especially our Bill of Rights. It provides some protection of what I referred to last week as “private domains” (aka “civil society” in this context). But if Marx and Gramsci were correct, even the most entrenched set of protections will be removed, reinterpreted, or simply ignored if they go against the prevailing hegemony.

Some recent news items show that this process is well under way here. The fact that these attacks on religious liberty seem justified to most of our people (and especially our elite) may well be an indicator that the proverbial pot of frogs is already at a boil. Let me share a couple of items that will help make my point:

Item One: taxing of churches that get too political.
The old way of looking at the separation of church and state comes from a literal interpretation of First Amendment to the Constitution. It proclaimed that the state could make no law “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. Taxation (i.e. legal expropriation of funds) has long been recognized as the most useful tool the government has for affecting behavior, and religious institutions have been rightly protected from it by its tax-exempt status. But in 1954, the government resorted to its favorite tool to keep preachers from endorsing candidates from the pulpit. Thenceforth, those that failed to censor their sermons according to the government’s desire would be subject to taxation.

Given how tight church budgets are, the imposition of taxes could force intransigent parishes to close their doors. Public opinion in support of this kind of unconstitutional tyranny suggests that the policy is having its desired effect. There is nothing in the Constitution suggesting that the non-interference of the state into religion - i.e. the so called “separation of church and state” - is supposed to be mutual; and everything in Christian theology to suggest otherwise. Salvation requires the opening up every aspect of the believer’s life to God’s influence. Now that politics have been effectively removed from formal moral consideration, it is only a matter of time until other things are similarly proscribed (e.g. laws against “hate speech” and a relativistic culture will make the traditional notion of “sin” increasingly problematic).

Item Two: enforcement of aggressive zoning codes.

Zoning Case One. Here in Rhode Island, a tragic fire at a night club led to large-scale changes in zoning requirements and enforcement. While the requirements for religious institutions are not as strict as those for night clubs (for instance, they do not require worship spaces to have sprinkler systems), compliance with the new regulations will be expensive and impose a large burden on many parishes. For example, our parish must install emergency lighting and exit signs in our sanctuary. This will cost us several thousand dollars that we simply do not have. There are many other communities in the same boat. I trust God will provide - but what that means about our continued use of our sanctuary, I cannot guess.

The irony is that the fire marshall himself (who, btw, is very professional and working with us as much as possible to minimize the impact of the changes) told me that injuries from church fires are extremely rare. Somehow churches have made it all these many thousands of years without emergency lighting and exit signs. Again, the fact that such regulations seem necessary and “fair” demonstrates the seriousness of the problem. I hope that you are charitable enough to realize that I am neither reckless nor against keeping my parishioners safe. I like having professional inspectors from our insurance company, fire extinguisher company, and fire marshall's office come in regularly to help us identify, reduce, and manage risk. But do not doubt for a second that this kind of regulation will end up forcing churches to close their doors, and it will do so without making anyone noticeably safer.

Zoning Case Two. Churches that want to build new buildings or use existing buildings for worship often have to have their plans ratified by political zoning boards. This is about as arbitrary as it gets. Hostile, or even apathetic boards can make building and renovating church buildings neigh impossible. I got to see this first-hand in Charlottesville, Virginia and Cranston, Rhode Island. In both cases, it took a great deal of time and effort (from volunteers!) to find and negotiate all the regulatory hoops. Given the number of veto points, antagonistic bureaucrats and lobbyists can grind the approval process to a halt. This really takes its toll on faith communities. In both of the cases above, the parishes were able to adjust their plans enough to eventually get approval. While it wasn’t always pretty, nothing matched the hostility of this zoning board member in South Carolina or the aggressive secularism of this inspector in Pennsylvania.

In America everyone supports zoning just like everyone (reluctantly) supports taxes: they are part of the sacrifices we make in order to best maintain our “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness”. But we have to be wary that they are not also used to undermine our freedom of religion.

Conclusion: acquiring an Orthodox phronema
Whether the result of radical atheism in the USSR or aggressive secularism here in the United States; whether intentional or unintentional; we have to recognize the damage that government policies can do to us and the practice of our faith. It is true that persecution can be a blessing for the Church; but we do not embrace it until it is all but inevitable. We must fight to keep our Churches open and our worship free from government regulation. But first we must see the danger as it really is. This requires the development of “true sight”, and the gradual removal of the cataracts a lifetime of secular acculturation has caused. Barring that, we will join the Soviet Christians of the previous century in deciding whether to worship in a compromised “approved” church, to meet secretly in our homes, or to simply get used to the prevailing notion that it’s all a lot of useless nonsense anyway.