Columbia ^^nitiem'tp 
 
 THE LIBRARIES 
 
PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN 
 CHURCH 
 
 LECTUEES AND SEKMONS BY A PKIEST 
 OF THE HOLY OETHODOX CHURCH 
 
 BY 
 
 SEBASTIAN DABOVICH 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
 
 CUBEKY AND COMPANY, PUBL] 
 1899 
 

 COPYRIGHT, 1899, 
 
 BY 
 
 SEBASTIAN DABOVICH. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
 57505D 
 
To THE Parish Priests 
 
 AND TO 
 
 Their Assistants, the School Teachers of the 
 
 Church in America, 
 
 This Volume is Kespectfully Dedicated 
 
 . by their brother,one who knows their labor 
 
 in the tilling of the soil and the 
 
 sowing of the seed. 
 
Speaking the truth in love. (Ephesians iv : 15.) 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 TN*this book I offer to the English-speaking public in 
 -■- general, and to the American in particular, a historic, 
 theological, and moral review of the Orthodox Eastern 
 Apostolic Church, commonly called the Greek-Russian 
 Church, in the form of lectures and sermons, thus en- 
 abling them to see the actual practice and teaching of a 
 Church which is making herself at home m the West, 
 notwithstanding her birth in the East, and which knows 
 none other head but Jesus Christ. 
 
 Now and then people are told, chiefly through small 
 journalism, that the Emperor of Eussia is the head of 
 the Orthodox Church. There are some who accept this 
 view, and these belong to two classes : the uninformed 
 and the prejudiced. It must be made clear that the 
 Orthodox Church has three of her Patriarchs residing 
 in the Turkish Empire, while about 6,000,000 of her 
 members are the subjects of the Emperor of Austria, 
 besides which we have to count the Kingdom of Greece 
 the Church in Egypt, and three independent branches 
 of the Church in the Balkan States. We simply men- 
 tion the purely characteristic Orthodox Church in 
 Japan, the missions in China, America, and elsewhere, 
 together with the Church's congregations in all the 
 countries of Europe, which, though peculiarly original 
 in regard to their local premises, are, nevertheless, in 
 spiritual relationship with the Great Church of Holy 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 Russia, relyiDg npon her for the larger portion of their 
 support. And the Russian Church, enjoying in complete 
 measure the sympathy of the Orthodox and highly pious 
 Ruler of the Empire, does not begrudge Orthodox mis- 
 sions her support, which is so often made the subject for 
 taunting with suspicions by outsiders who are strangers 
 to the Christian spirit of toleration. Thus it is clear 
 that the Orthodox Church has no Pope-head ; she is not 
 a monarchy, but as the Church of Christ she is Catholic 
 and Apostolic. Indeed, it would seem strange to say 
 that in this country Queen Victoria is the head of the 
 Episcopal Church, because the Anglican and Episcopal 
 Churches are in close communion. 
 
 Readily do we acknowledge, and sometimes too hastily 
 adopt, the results of the great achievements of the 
 Western mind and spirit in the affairs of this world; 
 but in matters of faith the Eastern is, as it has ever been, 
 the source and cradle of everything that is purest, high- 
 est, and heavenly. Humiliating though it might appear 
 to the haughty spirit of the West, it will at last, and of 
 necessity, turn its eyes towards the East and realize the 
 saying : Ex Oriente lux! 
 
 SEBASTIAN DABOVICH, 
 A priest of the Holy Orthodox Church. 
 San Francisco, on the day of our Lady of Kazan, 1899. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Immortality of the Soul . . 9 
 The Necessity for Divine Revelation, 
 AND THE Indications of a Revealed 
 
 Religion 23 
 
 The Authenticity and Truthfulness of 
 
 THE Gospel 37 
 
 The True Church of Christ . . .64 
 The Education of Children . . .78 
 Sermon on New Year's Day . . .85 
 Thoughts on Fast and Temperance . 95 
 Sermon on the Gospel of the Prodigal 103 
 Sermon Preached on Orthodox Sunday 108 
 Sermon Preached on the Third Sunday 
 
 OF Great Lent 115 
 
 Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Great 
 
 Lent 122 
 
 Thoughts for Good Friday at the Pas- 
 sions AND Burial of Christ . . 128 
 
8 contents. 
 
 Sermon on the Gospel Kelating to the 
 
 Impotent 133 
 
 Sermon for the Sunday when the Gospel 
 
 OF the Blind is Eead . . . 143 
 Sermon on the Feast of the Ascension 148 
 Sermon Preached on Trinity Sunday . 153 
 The Condition of Society . . . 160 
 Sermon to Those Preparing for Holy 
 
 Communion 165 
 
 Address on Christmas Day . . . 169 
 
THE IMMOETALITY OF THE SOUL. 
 
 God is not the God of the dead, hut of the living: for all 
 live unto Him. (Luke xx. 38.) 
 
 THERE are many proofs testifying to the 
 immortality of the soul, and they differ by 
 degrees of strength, and the source from whence 
 they proceed. There are proofs of supposition, 
 then positive ones, and, finally, decisive i)roofs. 
 We have some in visible nature, others are had 
 from the attributes of God's being, and from the 
 nature of our soul, and then there are open and 
 experimental proofs. 
 
 What do we see in nature? A change of one 
 and the same being from one condition to another 
 higher form of existence. This is observed more 
 clearly, especially, in the world of insects. Take, 
 for an instance, the creeping worm and the flying 
 butterfly, etc. In the same manner does man 
 here on earth undergo two principal forms of 
 life, to say nothing of his ages. 
 
 First he is formed and lives unconsciously in 
 his mother's womb, then, on being born into the 
 
10 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHUECH. 
 
 world, he lives on the earth. This life is incom- 
 paratively higher than the first, yet here the days 
 for man are exchanged by dark nights; after days 
 of good fortune there come days of misfortune. 
 It is natural for him to await a third and better 
 life, when he will freely move in the space over 
 the earth, where it is eternal day, and where 
 there is no sorrow nor sighing. 
 
 Of course this proof is suppositional, but it 
 contains no small degree of convincing power. 
 The Lord himself has implanted in our nature 
 types and foretellings of the better life which is 
 to come. 
 
 We also see that the animal kingdom, and man 
 as well, are gifted with a generic immortality. 
 By transmitting life from generation to genera- 
 tion, they will last as long as the earth continues 
 in its present condition. And why cannot God 
 give to the highest of all creatures, and to 
 him who rules over all animals — i. e., to man — 
 besides a generical also a personal immortality? 
 The Lord is all-powerful. He can create ever- 
 lasting beings. He is all-good, and the best 
 good is a life which has no end and knows no 
 grief. 
 
 The highest being on earth,— i.e., man, — 
 were he not destined everlastingly to glorify the 
 
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 11 
 
 eternal God, and were he not immortal, the earth 
 would be a sorrowful spectacle of the all-destroy- 
 ing and all-devouring death, and God would be 
 only the God of the dead, and not of the living 
 upon earth. 
 
 There are yet other proofs of the immortality 
 of the soul, which rest upon two principles com- 
 bined: First, the existence and attributes of 
 God; second, upon the nature of the soul. 
 
 The first positive and clear proof of this kind 
 is the following: Without a doubt there is a 
 God; because He reveals Himself to man, not 
 only in his soul, but in visible nature, and by a 
 direct manifestation of Himself. He is a being 
 all-just, all-holy. In the nature of man's soul 
 he has implanted the aspiration for good deeds, 
 and the aversion for evil; and there are many 
 people who try to do right and accomplish holy 
 deeds, while at the same time they bear heavy 
 trials of self-renouncement. Yet we see on earth 
 that sinners often enjoy good fortune and suc- 
 cess, and the just suffer till death, and mostly at 
 the hands of sinners. 
 
 If there was no other life for people, in which 
 there must be a reward according to actions, 
 then God would not be all-just and holy. He 
 would not be merciful to the good, while show- 
 
12 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 ing mercy to the unjust ones, and this cannot be 
 conceived of God. Therefore, as God is holy, 
 there will be another life, in which the sinners 
 and the righteous will receive their just reward. 
 
 Another proof of the immortality of the soul 
 is like this, but wider in its contents. In the 
 mind of man God has implanted a desire for the 
 truth, in his will a striving for the good, in his 
 heart an inspiration for happiness; but the mind 
 of man does not become satisfied with the knowl- 
 edge obtained on earth. He sees that it is not, 
 by far, complete and perfect. His will meets 
 with much resistance in growing in the good. 
 Although man labors much for the good while 
 on earth, yet he finds himself, by far, undevel- 
 oped in a moral sense; he feels the burden of 
 sin; his heart finds no true blessedness on earth. 
 The thought of eternity and the everlasting is 
 rooted in our soul. It is not only that the soul 
 possesses the idea of the infinite and most high 
 Being, but with the heart and will itself it 
 yearns to approach Him. 
 
 Furthermore, what meaning is there in the 
 fact that people, by different ways, endeavor to 
 perpetuate their name upon the earth, desiring 
 to be remembered as long as possible after their 
 death? 
 
THE IMMOllTALITY OF THE SOUL. 13 
 
 All mankind, with the exception of a few indi- 
 viduals, believe in the future life. AVhy should 
 the Creator implant in the spirit of man such 
 lofty aspirations, if they were not to be realized, 
 if such hopes were not fulfilled and desires not 
 satisfied, — i. e., if there were no better, everlast- 
 ing existence? It would not be according to the 
 goodness, and the wisdom, and the holiness of 
 the Almighty, of which we know. 
 
 Therefore, as it is beyond doubt that there is 
 an eternal and all-perfect God, it is also beyond 
 doubt that there will be a life without end for 
 man, in which the longings of his spirit, or soul, 
 will be satisfied. 
 
 Also, many uncommon manifestations of the 
 powers of the soul prove its non-materialistic 
 and everlasting qualities. Such are: Predictions 
 of events in the future; visions of what is going 
 on in another part of the earth, at a great dis- 
 tance; and distinct foresight of the future, some- 
 times at a very long period in advance, and most 
 often in images, not only in sleep, but also in a 
 wakeful condition. 
 
 The most definite and decisive proofs of the 
 immortality of the soul are the theological ones 
 which we have from Divine revelation, and also 
 experimental ones, in the appearance of the 
 souls of people who are dead. 
 
14 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 God has many times revealed Himself to 
 people, in different ways, and he still does so, 
 through His saints, chiefly in prophecies, signs, 
 and miracles. But why has He revealed Him- 
 self to people, and does so still? He has and 
 yet does so in order to prepare us for the next 
 blessed life. 
 
 God has not only revealed Himself to man- 
 kind, but he has shown us the way and the 
 means by which to attain the better, heavenly 
 life. 
 
 The Lord, in his revelation, says that the soul 
 will live eternally, that it will never die, and that 
 man, in his very body, after the resurrection of 
 the dead, cannot die. (Luke xx. 36.) 
 
 It would fill a large book to relate all the 
 appearances of the soul known of in the ancient 
 world. And since the time of Christianity you 
 have read or heard of the miracles in the lives 
 of the saints. 
 
 If we were to gather authentic facts pertain- 
 ing to visions from the spirit world in a period 
 nearer to our day, why, they would make up 
 several volumes. Not only saints have appeared, 
 but sinners, and the souls of common people 
 were revealed on earth for the knowledge and 
 the assuring of the living in the existence of a 
 future life. 
 
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 15 
 
 x-Vltliough it is forbidden Christians to thrust 
 themselves, of their own accord, reaching out 
 for still more evidence, into the spirit world, as 
 well as it is strictly condemned by the Church 
 systematically to practice the occult sciences, 
 yet, on an occasion like this one, we may, for 
 your proper information, relate, of the many, at 
 least a few such instances. 
 
 When the Queen of Sweden, Ulrica, had died 
 in the castle of Gripsholm, her body was laid in 
 a coffin, and in the front room a company of the 
 Royal Guards were on duty. Punctually at 
 noon-time there appeared in the parlor the 
 Countess Stenbok, from the capital of Stock- 
 holm, whom the Queen had loved, and the com- 
 mander of the Guards led her to the body of 
 the Queen, and left her there. 
 
 As she did not soon return, the Captain opened 
 the door, but, struck with horror, he fell back. 
 On running to his aid, the officers then present 
 saw, through the open door, the Queen, who was 
 standing in her coffin, and embracing the Count- 
 ess Steinbok. The vision seemed to float, and 
 then changed into a heavy mist. When it soon 
 cleared off, the body of the Queen was lying 
 in the coffin, and the Countess Stenbok was 
 nowhere to be found in the castle. 
 
16 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 At once a messenger was dispatched with 
 information of this incident to Stockholm, but 
 word came back, that the Countess had not left 
 the capital, and that she died at the time when 
 they saw her in the embrace of the Queen. 
 
 Immediately a statement of the facts was writ- 
 ten down, and signed by all who saw this vision.* 
 
 Much has been written of the appearances 
 of the ivhite woman, at different times, in the 
 palaces and castles of Germany, foretelling the 
 death of a member of the royal family. Judging 
 from a portrait which was found, she proved to 
 be the Princess Bertha von Rozenberg, who 
 lived in the fifteenth century. 
 
 In December, 1628, she went through the 
 apartments and halls of the Berlin mansion, 
 and distinctly pronounced these words : " Come, 
 thou Judge of the living and the dead. There 
 is yet hope of a judgment for me." During 
 the present century she appeared to the Queen 
 Louise twice, and later on, — on other occasions, 
 which you may remember, having read. of it in 
 the newspapers. 
 
 Leaving these narratives, of which there are 
 many in the histories of all nations, we shall 
 now take up some facts, which are more appeal- 
 
 * See the second edition of Dr. Shalberg's book, p. 63. 
 
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 17 
 
 ing and pleasant, for tlie reason that they con- 
 cern persons who are especially dear to us, being 
 members of the Orthodox Church of Christ. 
 
 In 1855 there lived in the town of Epiphany, 
 in the Russian province of Tula, a merchant, by 
 name Basil Ivanov R., who held the office of 
 church-warden at the cathedral. His family 
 consisted of himself, his wife, two sons, — Nich- 
 olas, 23 years of age, and married; John, 17 
 years old, — and three daughters, — Catherine, 
 13 years; Eaisa, 11; and Alexandra, 6 years. 
 
 On the 10th of April, 1855, which was on the 
 eve of the Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-bearing 
 Women, Raisa, from fright, was suddenly taken 
 with strong convulsions, while at the same time 
 she evoked curses against God and His saints, 
 but especially against St. Sergius. Medical aid 
 afforded no relief to the unfortunate child. 
 
 Two months after the disease began, on the 
 11th and 12th of June, Raisa was taken with 
 still more terrible convulsions. Becoming con- 
 scious, she said that St. Sergius appeared to her, 
 that he talked with her, and brought her a church 
 loaf, which she ate. It seemed as though she 
 ate, her relations said, but they could not see 
 the prosphora^ and attributed this to her sick- 
 ness. The unbelief of her oldest brother, Nich- 
 olas, was especially painful to the girl. 
 
18 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHUECH. 
 
 In response to the instructions of St. Sergiu«, 
 she requested all in the house to repeat the 
 prayer, May God arise, and to make the sign 
 of the cross. With great difficulty the mother 
 set her fingers and made the sign of the cross 
 upon her. It appeared to her that evil spirits 
 were leaving h^r, as she saw, on making the 
 form of the cross. 
 
 By another intimation from St. Sergius, an 
 image of himself was found in the corner behind 
 the sacred pictures, and this was put upon her. 
 
 Desiring to convince her brother of the fact 
 of the appearance of the holy man with a church 
 loaf, she asked for a glass of clean water, and 
 taking some of the water into her mouth, she let 
 it out again. Then could be seen crumbs of 
 white bread in the water, which no one had 
 given her. 
 
 After this she announced that the saint would 
 come to her on the 13th date. At eleven o'clock 
 in the evening of the appointed day, another 
 spasm most frightfully shook her. In half an 
 hour after, she arose and said, " Here comes St. 
 Sergi," and then went to the window. Having 
 opened the window, she let out her arms and 
 began talking to some one. After this she 
 turned to her brother, and giving him something 
 
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 19 
 
 in a paper, tells him to hold it with reverence, 
 as something holy. Then was given her, from 
 below the window, a cross made of white rib- 
 bons. After showing it, she said that she was 
 told to return it. At this her face became bright. 
 Her parents and the home folk at the same time 
 felt a happiness and reverent fear. 
 
 Notwithstanding all their requests to give 
 them the cross, she let it down in her hand out 
 of the window, and it disappeared. The family 
 ran out of the house, which was a one-story 
 building, began to look for the cross under the 
 window, but could not find it. 
 
 After this she requested her brother to show 
 what he held in his hand. There was found in 
 the paper a corner-formed particle of a church 
 loaf, and some pieces of incense. Upon the 
 paper these words were written: "It is Thou, 
 O Lord." 
 
 On being questioned by her relations, she 
 said that St. Sergius came to her in company 
 with a beautiful lad who was girdled with a 
 deacon's stole. The holy man took out from 
 under his cloak a napkin, out of which he gave 
 her the paper and the cross. The paper with 
 the prosphora and incense he ordered to be 
 kept, but the cross to be returned. He also 
 
20 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 gave instructions that the girl's relations should 
 belieye, especially the brother Nicholas. Con- 
 cerning the lad who appeared with him, he said : 
 "He will guard you." 
 
 After this the sick girl became entirely well. 
 The next year, in June, 1856, she traveled with 
 her mother and sister to the Troitsa Monastery, 
 or Lavra of St. Sergi, near Moscow, and her 
 mother told the superiors of all that happened. 
 The particle of church bread, which she brought 
 with her, proved to be the baking of the Monas- 
 tery. 
 
 These events were written down, and as facts 
 they were attested to by the signatures of the 
 girl's father, mother, and brother, and then by 
 the archpriest, the priest, and the deacon of the 
 St. Nicholas Cathedral in Epiphany, by each 
 separately. Still this occurence was not pub- 
 lished in print for six years, only after six years, 
 when it was learned that Raisa still continued in 
 good health, it was published with the consent 
 of Metropolitan Philaret in the journal of the 
 Theological Academy of Moscow, This appear- 
 ance of St. Sergius occurred 464 years after his 
 death. 
 
 In 1812, when Napoleon entered Moscow, 
 Prince Eugene, the Viceroy of Italy, with a 
 
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 21 
 
 division of warriors left Moscow for Zveniqorod 
 to pursue the Kussian partisans. The Prince 
 occupied rooms in the Monastery of St. Sawa, 
 who was a pupil of St. Sergius of Radonej. 
 About ten o'clock the Prince, without undressing, 
 lay down and fell asleep. In the meantime he 
 sees a man in a long black habit — whether asleep 
 now or awake, he did not know ; by the light of 
 the moon he could see the man walk close up to 
 him ; he was old, with a grey beard. Then the 
 visitor said to him : " Give thy men orders not 
 to plunder the monastery; especially see that 
 they take nothing from out the church. If thou 
 compliest with my wish, then God will have 
 mercy upon thee, and thou shalt return to thy 
 fatherland well and in safety." 
 
 Next morning the prince gave command that 
 the division should return to Moscow ; first, on 
 going into the church, he saw by the tomb of St. 
 Sabbas a picture of the man who appeared to 
 him, and recognizing the image he reverently 
 knelt before the relics of the saint and then took 
 down in his diary a note of all that happened. 
 All the marshals of Napoleon came to their 
 end unfortunately, but Eugene remained safe 
 and was nowhere wounded in a battle after this. 
 He expressed his will to his son Maximilian 
 
22 PKEACHING IN THE EUSSIAN CHUKCH. 
 
 that, should he ever visit Eussia, to go and offer 
 his veneration at the tomb of St. Sabbas. The 
 son came to Russia in 1839, during the reign of 
 Emperor Nicholai Pavlovich, and after the mili- 
 tary maneuvers on the field of Borodina, in 
 memory of the battle of 1812, he inquired of the 
 whereabouts of the monastery of St. Sawa, 
 went there with guides, and knelt before the 
 grave of the holy man. This event is so well 
 known in history that there can be no doubt. 
 
 And so, this earth is a place for our temporal 
 residence. It is the nursery of reasonable beings 
 for other worlds. Thus, we will, and may be 
 soon, taken from the earth. Let us pray the Lord, 
 that He give us strength to leave our sins, which 
 bring us down into the dark spaces of the uni- 
 verse, and that He help us to accomplish deeds 
 which take us up into the high, eternally bright 
 mansions of heaven. Amen. 
 
THE NECESSITY FOB DIVINE REVE- 
 LATION, AND THE INDICATIONS OF 
 A REVEALED RELIGION. 
 
 As you believe not me, believe the works which I do, that 
 ye may knoiv and understand that the Father is in me, and 
 I in the Father, saith our Lord to the unbelieving Jews. 
 (John, x. 38.) 
 
 THERE are many religions in the world, 
 and each people separately seem to be con- 
 vinced that they hold the true faith, which was 
 established by God. Why is it that the different 
 races of mankind consider their faith to be the 
 one Divinely revealed? It is because God has 
 revealed Himself to the first people created by 
 Him; then, during the course of time. He re- 
 vealed Himself to the better people, informing 
 them, and others through them, of His holy will. 
 Fifteen centuries before the birth of Christ, dur- 
 ing the time of Moses, God made known His 
 holy will, through Balaam the prophet, who lived 
 in the midst of pagans. About this time, or 
 somewhat earlier, God appeared — for his pres- 
 
24 PKEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 ence individually may be revealed — to Job and 
 his friends. But sooner than this, when nations 
 began to leave God, and corrupted, by injurious 
 notions, the revealed religion, — then it was that 
 evil spirits commenced to deceive them with 
 their revelations. Finally, there were persons, 
 also, who, abusing the confidence and belief of 
 others in Divine revelation, falsely, but craftily, 
 set up themselves as messengers from God. 
 
 Why did God, from the beginning, reveal 
 himself to people? Because, as we have said, 
 the natural knowledge of the human mind con- 
 cerning God, even before the fall of man, has 
 not the strength, the precision, and the complete- 
 ness ; yet man is responsible for his actions : he 
 is obliged to answer for his attitude toward God, 
 to other people, and to himself. Therefore all 
 people in general believe only in a revealed reli- 
 gion. Some people foolishly say, God has given 
 man a mind, and that is enough for him. But 
 has not man, even besides his mind, many other 
 teachers, in the persons of his parents, teachers, 
 and guardians ? Why should it be against rea- 
 son to have as our teacher God Himself in those 
 things which pertain to God? 
 
 Further, experience shows that mankind is in 
 a disordered condition, out of which it cannot 
 
NECESSITY FOll DIVINE REVELATION. 25 
 
 help itself. Is it natural that people, who are 
 considered educated, while not believing in Di- 
 vine revelation, should, in matters of knowledge 
 concerning the Divine, separate into parties 
 which are opposed to ane another? 
 
 1. A certain party, in defiance of sound rea- 
 son, says that God, and His law given to people, 
 do not exist ; but they suppose that matter, with 
 its invisible power, (nevertheless, it is supposed 
 by them that matter has its invisible power and 
 law, ) has existed forever, and that the world and 
 our living is not controlled by a reasonable Law- 
 giver. 
 
 2. There are some which say that everything 
 in the world is God; all the things which we can 
 see, they say, is the expression of the invisible 
 soul of the world, which is unconscious, and gets 
 to know itself by an evolution in the different 
 forms of life. These so-called theosophists 
 thereby ascribe to God Himself all the failures, 
 defects, and crimes which proceed from people's 
 abuse of liberty. Other faults of these false 
 teachings have been pointed out before. 
 
 3. Yet there are others, who recognize God 
 as an infinite, perfect spirit^ the Creator of the 
 universe ; but they do not consider Him as the 
 
26 PKEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 provider of the world, claiming that God, hav- 
 ing created the world, gave it at the time, once 
 for always, wise laws, and that he does not any 
 longer concern Himself immediately about the 
 world, but, say they, it governs itself by the 
 laws given to it. 
 
 There have been, and there are such people 
 still, who worship, not one, but many gods, and, 
 at that, not only good ones, but also evil ones, 
 which are opposed one to another. To what in- 
 consistencies does not the fallen reason come, 
 when left to itself in matters which pertain to 
 the knowledge of God ! And it thus continues 
 for many thousand years, and it seems there 
 will be no end to the disputes, in deciding 
 the most important questions concerning God 
 and the world, among the wise ones of this 
 world ; because to the natural powers and mind 
 of man there is a fixed limit Take for in- 
 stance the natural sciences ; i. e., the different 
 studies about the visible world. 
 
 Let man perfect the instruments necessary 
 for examining the things of this earth ; let him 
 discover new powers and laws which were not 
 known to him before; let him enlarge the astro- 
 nomical lens, and see new starry worlds, — yet 
 
NECESSITY FOR DIVINE REVELATION. 27 
 
 in all this he will see only matter with force in 
 action, although according to wise laws, never- 
 theless according to laws of necessity; and one 
 learned man, such as Ne^vton, will pay homage 
 at the very name of the Creator, while another, 
 such as Leland, will sacrilegiously declare that 
 he did not see God, even through the telescope. 
 What do the sciences say of man? Should we 
 not take the words of Moses concerning the be- 
 ginning of the human race as Divinely revealed, 
 then, for the want of other historical monu- 
 ments, the beginning of mankind and the first 
 ages would be covered under darkness of the 
 perfectly unknown, and there would be no end 
 to the conjectures and disputes concerning the 
 beginning of people, the differences of race and 
 languages, etc. 
 
 Further, can the science of the soul explain 
 and decide these questions : How is the soul 
 born of the souls of parents? How does the 
 soul act upon the body ? and how is it that the 
 soul influences the body ? 
 
 God Himself, to ends which are most wise, 
 has ordered it so that the soul's action upon the 
 body, and that of the body upon the soul, and 
 the connection between them, should remain 
 beyond the reach of our self-conscience. If 
 
28 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 man does not know how it is that the soul influ- 
 ences the body, then how may he expound and 
 define the questions, How did the infinite, 
 Divine Spirit bring forth this visible, material 
 world? and how does He act upon it? There- 
 fore the sound reason of nations calls for a 
 faith, and demands a revealed religion; and 
 God actually revealed Himself to people, which 
 for them was and is necessary, as they cannot 
 attain to such knowledge by their own limited 
 powers. Amazingly much is the feebleness 
 of mind in defining the highest questions of 
 knowledge. No less feeble is the fallen will in 
 accomplishing good and unselfish works with- 
 out special help from God. This has always 
 been recognized by the best representatives of 
 mankind. St. Paul the Apostle has written: 
 For the good which I would, I do not; hut the 
 evil which I ivould not, that I practice. For I 
 delight in the law of God after the inward 
 man; hut I see a different law in my members, 
 warring against the law of my mind, and 
 hringing me into captivity under the laiv of 
 sin. (Rom. vii. 19, 22, 23.*) The philosopher 
 Seneca, who lived in the same age, asks, " What 
 does it mean? for when we desire one thing, we 
 are drawn by a something to another." Another 
 
NECESSITY FOR DIVINE RSyELATION. 29 
 
 learned pagan, Ovidius, of the same century, 
 has written: "We always strive after that which 
 is forbidden, desiring the prohibited. I see and 
 vahie the better, but I follow the worse." Thus, 
 as there is a God, it is beyond doubt, also, that 
 His revelation and help to man, in regard to 
 the knowledge of the Pivine, and in striving 
 to please God, is necessary, and we have strong 
 reasons to show that, of all religions, the Chris- 
 tian belief is the only one true faith, established 
 by God Himself for the salvation of people; and 
 the Christian may say with the holy apostle 
 Paul, I thank my God by Jesus Christ; the 
 law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has 
 liberated me from the law of sin and death. 
 (Rom. vii. 25; viii. 2.) 
 
 What are the proofs for the Divine character 
 of the Christian religion? They are of two 
 kinds. Some are contained in the investigation 
 of the qualities of the Christian religion. The 
 Christian doctrine is the purest and most ele- 
 vated in comparison with the teachings of other 
 beliefs. In other religions the ideas of God, and 
 His attributes, and His relations to the world, 
 are not consistent with sound reason, while 
 Christians believe in the Lord God as the most 
 supreme Spirit, with a nature which is most 
 
30 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 perfect, eternal, everywhere present, most wise, 
 all-knowing, all-powerful, most good, all-holy, 
 all-just, most blessed. Although there are mys- 
 teries in the Christian faith, such as are the two 
 principal ones, namely, the trinity of persons in 
 One, of the same Godhead, and the incarnation 
 of the Son of God, which are in most part incom- 
 prehensible to the mind; of course it is natural, 
 as God in His substance is incomprehensible; 
 yet they do not contain, in themselves, anything 
 which is contrary to sound reason, but have 
 sides that our mind understands. The Christian 
 doctrine of the future life and the resurrection 
 is also pure and elevated. 
 
 The moral law of the Christian religion is so 
 perfect and exalted, that nothing more could be 
 added to it. In regard to God, the law of Christ 
 commands a filial love, which may prompt even 
 the self-sacrifice of one's life for the glory of 
 God, if needs be. Jesus Christ has given us a 
 commandment, by which we are obliged to have 
 a complete love toward our neighbor : Love your 
 enemies^ bless those who curse you^ and proy 
 for those ivho do lorong to you and persecute 
 you, that you may he the children of your 
 heavenly Father. (Matt. v. 44, 45.) This is 
 my commandment, that you love one another, 
 
NECESSITY FOR DIVINE REVELATION. 31 
 
 as I have loved you, (John xv. 2.) And Christ 
 died for people, when they were sinners, — ene- 
 mies of God. Finally, in regard to themselves, 
 the law of Christ teaches that Christians must 
 be humble, patient, self-sacrificing. 
 
 Still, the proof of the truth of religion because 
 of its elevated teaching about God and the future 
 life, and because of the purity of its moral law, is 
 not yet the final decision, because even the most 
 exalted teaching may be taken as the invention 
 of man. 
 
 The most certain and definite proofs of the 
 Divine character of a faith are the immediate 
 testimonies of God Himself that the belief is 
 true. The testimonies, therefore, must be reve- 
 lations of a supernatural order, such as the 
 manifestation of the Deity, prophecies, and gen- 
 uine miracles. When God Himself appears to 
 mankind, saying that this faith is the true one, 
 or tests its truth by miracles, then, of course, we 
 may not doubt it. 
 
 But, in other pagan religions, there have been, 
 and yet may be, revelations, prophecies, and mir- 
 acles worked by evil spirits; therefore the reve- 
 lations of God, prophecies and miracles also, 
 may not be, as it appears, sure proofs. In this 
 instance, attention must be given to the power, 
 and majesty, and character of the miracles. 
 
62 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Not being able to deny the miracles of Christ, 
 the Pharisees — His enemies — said that He 
 worked miracles, and even cast out devils, by 
 the power of a higher evil spirit. But the Lord 
 answered them, that the kingdom which is 
 divided in itself cannot stand. He cast out thou- 
 sands, or legions, of demons at once. Moreover, 
 He worked such miracles which could not be 
 performed by evil spirits. 
 
 When he gave sight to him that was born 
 blind, the Jews, quarreling among themselves, 
 said: Can the Devil open the eyes of the blind ? 
 (John X. 21.) Some of the Pharisees themselves 
 said: A sinful man cannot work such miraclps. 
 
 Finally, the Lord resurrected the dead, and 
 He Himself rose from the dead and ascended 
 into heaven. 
 
 Secondly, where the evil spirits act, there the 
 teaching concerning God is impure, for it is 
 polytheism (like the pagans have) or pantheism, 
 and the moral teaching is defective. 
 
 The evil spirits have succeeded in bringing 
 people to deify sins and passions. The ancient 
 nations had gods of wine, adultery, theft, and 
 other hideous things. Therefore, two kinds of 
 witnesses together are necessary; a faith is true. 
 Divinely revealed, which, in the first place, is 
 
THE NECESSITY FOR DIVINE REVELATION. 33 
 
 holy, pure, and exalted, and opposed to evil 
 spirits, and which, secondly, is proved by reve- 
 lations and miracles, and by miracles noted for 
 their great power, and of which there are none 
 in other religions; moreover, such ones which 
 put the evil spirits to shame, being driven out of 
 places in which they have ruled. 
 
 But, as miracles chiefly demonstrate the truth- 
 fulness of a faith, as they serve as witnesses for 
 God Himself, and as unbelievers use all means 
 to overthrow them, it is necessary, therefore, to 
 set our attention upon them as proofs of the 
 Divine character of the Christian religion. 
 
 In regards to Divine testimonies or miracles, 
 no religion on earth may compare with Chris- 
 tianity. Miracles, witnessing to the heavenly 
 origin of the Christian faith, come from the 
 very beginning of the human race down to our 
 time. 
 
 During 5,500 years — the time of the Old Tes- 
 tament — mankind has been preparing — being 
 educated through supernatural revelations and 
 miracles — to receive the Divine Organizer of 
 our faith. Time will not permit to numerate 
 the miracles of ancient times. Just now we 
 regret that we cannot give, as we should, special 
 attention to the great number of Old Testament 
 
34 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHUECH. 
 
 prophecies concerning Jesus Christ, as applying 
 directly to His person. The miracles of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, which He worked Himself, 
 have been explained to you on many occasions, 
 and in the future, no doubt, they will continue 
 to be a live source for exhaustless themes of 
 instruction. 
 
 We hope to be granted the privilege to explain 
 for you, in a short while, other proofs, demon- 
 strating the truthfulness of the gospels, and 
 finally, with God's help, we will consider Ortho- 
 doxy as a sacred distinction in the midst of many 
 Christian professions. 
 
 There are such people among Christians who 
 are ashamed of miracles. Such Christians are 
 ashamed of and deny Christ Himself; and He 
 Himself will renounce them before His heavenly 
 Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ, during His life 
 on earth, has often pointed to miracles as to 
 clear and definite proofs of His Divine mission. 
 
 While John the Baptist was confined in 
 prison, he sent two of his disciples, for their as 
 well as our benefit, to question Jesus : Art thou 
 He that cometh, or look we for another? And 
 Jesus answered them, Go and tell John the 
 things which ye do hear and see: the blind 
 receive their sight, and the lame walk, the 
 
NECESSITY Foil DIVINE KEVELATION. 35 
 
 . lepers are cleansed, and the deaf Jiear, and 
 the dead are raised iip^ and the poor have 
 good tidings preached to them; and blessed 
 is he, whosoever shall find none occasion for 
 stumbling in me. (Matt. xi. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.) 
 
 At another time he said to the Jews, who 
 believed not in him, but among whom there 
 were many who recognized John the Baptist as 
 a saint: I have witness which is greater than 
 John''s; the works which the Father hath given 
 me to fulfill, these same works ivhich I do, bear 
 witness of me, that I was sent by the Father. 
 (John V. 36; x. 38.) 
 
 St. John, the Forerunner of Christ, was not 
 granted the power to work miracles, no doubt 
 because the light of Christ must shine for a 
 dark world the clearer of itself. 
 
 Many, says St. John the Apostle, caine to 
 Jesus and said, that John hath done no miracle. 
 (John X. 41.) 
 
 Of His followers our Lord said, in the last 
 conversation with His disciples: Believe me 
 that I am in the Father., and the Father in 
 me: or else believe me for the sake of the very 
 works. Verily., verily, I say unto you, he thai 
 believeth on me, the works that I do shall he 
 do (dsoj and greater ivorks than these shall 
 
36 PREACHING IN THE CUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 he do: because I go unio the Father. (John 
 xiv. 11, 12.) 
 
 And before His ascension into the heavens He 
 said to the apostles: These signs shall follow 
 them that believe: in my name shall they cast 
 Old devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 
 they shall take up serpents, and if they drink 
 any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; 
 they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall 
 recover. (Mark xvi. 17, 18.) 
 
 O Lord ! we are unworthy that Thy wonderful 
 powers be made manifest upon us, as they have 
 been and still do exhibit themselves through 
 Thy saintly followers. Increase our faith in 
 Thy works, which Thou hast performed for our 
 salvation, and in the miracles of Thy saints. 
 Set us aright, O Lord ! and save us. Amen. 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY AND TRUTHFUL- 
 NESS OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 AS YOU are aware, we have the gospel of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ in the four books 
 of the holy evangelists : Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
 and John. Whole libraries of books sprung 
 up, as it were, from under the pens of the most 
 eminent scholars of the world in defense of the 
 authenticity of our accepted gospel. Volume 
 upon volume may, and in fact are, still being 
 written, in proof of the truthfulness of the expo- 
 sition we have of the work and teaching of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ as laid down in the gospel. 
 Even the heathen with their dark histories and 
 mysterious traditions have contributed to ex- 
 plain from more than one side the hope of the 
 nations, the glory of Israel, the light of the 
 world. If you are truly educated and take inter- 
 est in this special line of study, you can freely 
 make these investigations for yourself. 
 
 Unfortunately some who are affected with un- 
 belief undertake the investigation of the gospel. 
 
38 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 and the narratives about the miracles of Jesus 
 Christ, with the express purpose, not of learn-, 
 ing the truth, but in order to denounce them. 
 These few persons, (whose minds in every case 
 were not intended by nature to be critical) are 
 predetermined and have their minds previously 
 biased with a false philosophy, so that, accord- 
 ing to their fixed logic, there can be no miracles; 
 therefore they must be overturned by all pos- 
 sible means, and they have used everything 
 within reach of their power against them, but 
 they could gain no results. 
 
 Some of the unbelievers in miracles acknowl- 
 edge that the gospels were written by the apostles 
 themselves, or from the words of the apostles, as 
 the church believes, while others contend that 
 the gospels, although they bear up the names of 
 the apostles and their disciples, were not written 
 by themselves, but by others, who lived later. 
 
 If the apostles themselves have written the 
 gospels and described the miracles of Jesus 
 Christ, then the unbelievers may yet have these 
 two explanations for doing away with miracles. 
 First — the apostles have agreed among them- 
 selves to preach and to write falsehood. But it 
 cannot be possible that the apostles should alone 
 agree to do such a thing, because many Chris- 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL. 39 
 
 tians who lived in their time would also have 
 to acknowledge and preach the untruth. They 
 could not attempt such a daring falsity, because 
 they would be accused by the contemporaries of 
 Jesus Christ; and why should they agree to such 
 a thing, when — for their i^reaching Christ — 
 nothing else but sorrow awaited them on earth? 
 Besides this God would punish them in the 
 future life for the falsehood — especially in such 
 an important matter. If we only in this life 
 hope in Christ, then we are the most unfortu- 
 nate of all people — thus writes St. Paul the 
 Apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. xv: 15. 19). 
 Secondly — some other unbelievers contended 
 that the apostles did not understand the works 
 of Jesus Christ, and that which was not miracu- 
 lous, but natural, yet remarkable, in the life of 
 Christ, they received as the miraculous. Never- 
 theless, the healing of the blind, the deaf, the 
 lame and other incurables, even at an invisible 
 distance, only by a word; the changing of the 
 water into wine, the walking upon the sea, the 
 feeding of five thousand people with five loaves, 
 the raising of the dead. His own resurrection, 
 and the ascension into heaven — these are such 
 deeds, which nohow can be explained in a natu- 
 ral way, and is it impossible to be mistaken in 
 
40 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 such like miracles. This "mistaken explana- 
 tion" has been cast aside by the unbelievers 
 themselves. 
 
 What has been mentioned thus far is not itself 
 the defense of the Gospel, for you must under- 
 stand that no human fortifications are necessary 
 to the Divine Truth of the Almighty. We have 
 been simply reminded that proofs of the authen- 
 ticity of the gospel do exist, and that they are 
 the expression of human thought and energy in 
 man's effort to collect his fellow beings and be 
 at one with Christ and God. Although the 
 Almighty mcikeih His angels spirits^ and His 
 servants a fiery flame ^ yet for our benefit in 
 His love He rewards our efforts with His assist- 
 ance, and bestows our outreaching arm with 
 the sanctity of Divine authority. It is in this 
 way that we have a most sure defense for Divine 
 things in our human arguments — when they are 
 set forth with love for the salvation of our 
 neighbor. 
 
 The proofs of the truthfulness of the Gospel 
 are these: 1. The large number of foretypes in 
 the Old Testament, and the prophecies of the 
 Patriarchs and Prophets during 5000 years be- 
 fore the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, both of 
 which are so distinct and connected with his- 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL. 41 
 
 torical facts well known to the whole world. 
 These apply directly to the person of Jesus 
 Christ the Messiah and also to our times, i. e. 
 of the New Testament. A careful examination 
 of the proofs under this single head is sufficient 
 to convince a sincere seeker of the truth to em- 
 brace the gospel and become a Christian. 
 
 2. Second come the testimonies contained in 
 all the books of the New Testament. Besides 
 the four Evangelists there were others who 
 labored in putting the Word of God into writ- 
 ing; namely, the Apostles Sts. James, Peter, 
 Jude and Paul. The harmony throughout these 
 Scriptures is indeed marvelous. It is the prac- 
 ticed reader alone who knows how to appreciate 
 the beauty of God's power operating in so many 
 different characters, at different places, in dif- 
 ferent times and under different circumstances. 
 
 3. This proof of the truthfulness of the gospel 
 is that influence, which only a subjective 
 analysis of the individual life can disclose. 
 You hear it in church in the hymns sung by 
 the choir. Sometimes children see it in the face 
 of their parents and feel it in the presence of 
 their teachers. The penitent criminal speaks of 
 it within the walls of a prison. The Christian 
 soldier glories in it while he falls bleeding. 
 
42 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Sometimes the ruler obeys its influence. The 
 mechanic, the merchant likewise pass by its 
 way. The poor widow puts her trust in it when 
 she reads the Bible while surrounded by her 
 hungry children. The dying sleep reposing in 
 the gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 4. Another proof in defense of our subject is 
 the history of the world. The history of each 
 civilized nation, every legal tribunal of justice, 
 all of the renowned universities of the earth, all 
 of the societies and communities which have a 
 strong hope for ultimate moral progress, the 
 present condition of the family, the advance- 
 ment of womanhood, the fine critical arguments 
 of the politician, the pride of universal litera- 
 ture, the axiom of science, the investigation of 
 the past, the examination of the present, the 
 cheerful hopefulness of the serious and busy 
 foundation builders of the future, even the glory 
 of music and art, in all this we see traces of the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ. Moreover it is acknowl- 
 edged by the world, as plain as black and white, 
 that the teaching of the New Testament is be- 
 coming rapidly more and more the inseparable 
 companion to sober, thinking mankind. Thus 
 we have a real objective evidence, moulding 
 history before our very eyes, to the proof of the 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL 43 
 
 truthfulness of the Gospel. Long hours of dis- 
 cussion might be devoted to each one of these 
 four witnesses of the Gospel separately. But 
 you cannot bear with them. If I should under- 
 take the gigantic task I would not be able to 
 finish it. 
 
 5. There is yet a fifth argument in favor of 
 Christians. Although the last, it is by no means 
 the least of them. This division contains the 
 testimony of eye-witnesses and their corre- 
 spondence with contemporaries, and other lit- 
 erary monuments of the first centuries of our 
 era. Upon such important evidence we shall 
 dwell now for a few moments. 
 
 In the libraries of Europe, as well as in the 
 libraries of the Eastern churches, such as Con- 
 stantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, 
 Syria, Egypt, Georgia, Armenia, Mt. Athos, 
 Servia, and also Russia, not a few of the manu- 
 script gospels of ancient times have been pre- 
 served to our day. Some of them belong to the 
 fourth century (i. e. They are almost 1600 years 
 old). They are the same gospel that we have 
 to-day. They describe the same miracles that 
 we know of, and as our sacred scriptures have 
 been coj)ied from these books, so have they been 
 in turn copied from books which were carefully 
 
44 PKEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHUECH. 
 
 and even jealously guarded — as we learn from 
 immutable history — of the third, then of the 
 second century, and the original books of the 
 holy Apostles and their celebrated companions. 
 The works of the renowned and learned Origen, 
 who wrote his commentaries on the gospels of 
 Matthew, Luke and John in the third century, 
 and in which the text of the same gospels is 
 almost completely contained. Origen flourished 
 in the first half of the third century, and be- 
 sides this we have the writings of many fathers 
 of the church and other Christian workers be- 
 longing to the third century, which contain a 
 great many quotations from the gospels that 
 agree with ours, and concerning the miracles of 
 Jesus Christ. Therefore there can be no doubt 
 that our Gospel is the same which was read in 
 the third century. 
 
 The same must be said of the second half of 
 the second century, after the birth of Christ. 
 We have such works and publications of fathers 
 and Christian writers belonging to this period, 
 in which we find many places of the gospels. 
 We will point to the ten books against heresy, 
 which belong to the reverend martyr Irenaeus, 
 the Bishop of Lyons. These books were written 
 150 years after the ascension of our Lord, and 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL. 45 
 
 the unbelievers themselves do not doubt that 
 Irenaeus is the author of them. In these books 
 there are 400 quotations taken from the four gos- 
 pels, and they come in the same order in which we 
 read them to-day. The texts mentioned refer to 
 the same miracles of Jesus Christ. There are 
 80 quotations taken from the gospel of St. John. 
 St. Irenaeus speaks of the evangelists by name, 
 and he gives historical information in regard to 
 the gospels, which they have written. He af- 
 firms that the church, which was spread widely 
 in his time, held no more nor less than the four 
 gospels, as there are four sides of the earth, four 
 winds, as the Lord appeared to the prophet 
 Hezekiel, sitting upon four cherubim. Many 
 places from the gospels are mentioned also by 
 contemporary writers, such as Tertulianus, 
 Clement, of Alexandria, and others, so that, upon 
 this literature, which has come down to us from 
 these Christian men of the second half of the 
 second century, and which belongs to them 
 without a doubt, the contents of the four 
 gospels known to us could be restored. It is 
 acknowledged by students that in the last half of 
 the second century there has been a translation 
 into the Syrian from the Greek language, not 
 only of the four gospels, but also of other books 
 fo the New Testament known to us. 
 
46 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 We have positive witness in the writings of 
 the disciples of the apostles or their contempo- 
 raries, who decidedly ascribe the gospels to the 
 authorship (of course from the human side) of 
 the apostles, or to the disciples of the apostles, 
 as is recognized by the whole church. 
 
 The first witness is St. Poly carp, the reverend 
 martyr, a disciple of St. John the Divine, and 
 other apostles. He was Bishop of Smyrna in 
 Asia. An epistle of St. Polycarp to the Philip- 
 pians has been handed down to our day. In it 
 he says: "Any one who does not confess that 
 Jesus Christ came in the flesh, he is antichrist. 
 In the epistle of John the apostle and evange- 
 list it is said: Every spirit which confesseth 
 not Jesus Christ as having come in the fleshy 
 the same is not of God, and the same is anti- 
 christ.'' Thus, in the first place, this disciple 
 of St. John the Divine speaks of him as the 
 evangelist, consequently John has written the 
 gospel; and, secondly, to quote literally from 
 the first general epistle of St. John, while this 
 epistle is perfectly alike in style and thought 
 with the fourth gospel, it is to verify the apostle 
 John as the writer of this gospel. We see in 
 the writings of St. Polycarp indications of the 
 gospel of Matthew and other books of the 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL. 47 
 
 apostles. The above mentioned epistle of St. 
 Polycarp to the Philippians is acknowledged as 
 originally belonging to him by the most reason- 
 able of learned investigators. That St. Poly- 
 carp has written this epistle to the Philippians, 
 to this his disciple testified, the above mentioned 
 reverend martyr Irenseus, and it is difiicult to 
 conceive how the genuine epistle of St. Poly- 
 carp could have been mutilated or lost and a 
 false one spread abroad in its place. The epistle 
 of St. Polycarp from the time since it was writ- 
 ten has been read in the churches of Asia at 
 divine service during the first centuries. It was 
 read even in the fourth century. 
 
 Not alone through his writings, but by his 
 long life and his death, which was that of a 
 martyr, does St. Polycarp still more testify to 
 the truth of the gospel. 
 
 By the act of God's providence, not only the 
 apostle John, but also some of the disciples of 
 the apostles, lived a long life. St. Irenseus, 
 that great pillar of the structure of proofs, point- 
 ing out the original gospels, testifies that John 
 the Evangelist lived to the time of the Emperor 
 Trajan, who ascended the throne in 98 A. D., 
 and died in 117, consequently this apostle either 
 died in the last two years of the first, or in the 
 
48 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 beginning of the second century after Christ. 
 This testimony of St. Irensens, most accurate in 
 itself, as he was the disciple of Polycarp, who 
 was a contemporary and disciple of St. John, 
 yet it is confirmed by many other ancient wit- 
 nesses, who set the date of the death of John the 
 Divine in the beginning of the second century. 
 
 The reverend martyr Polycarp, the disciple of 
 the apostles, and especially of St. John, lived to 
 be about 110 years. He died in 167 A. D. The 
 disciple of Polycarp, St. Irenseus, who was 
 bishop of Lyons, in the country now called 
 France, was put to death for preaching Christ 
 in 202. 
 
 The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke 
 could not be false and appear and be accepted 
 by all the churches before the close of the first 
 century, as some unbelievers say, and likewise 
 the same of the Gospel of John about the year 
 150, because the immediate disciples of the 
 apostles would not permit an error, and we 
 know that St. Polycarp was the leader of all the 
 churches in Asia until his martyrdom in 167. 
 It was about 160 A. D. when Polycarp went to 
 Kome, during the time of Bishop Anecetas, on 
 account of a dispute concerning the time of 
 celebrating Easter (or the resurrection of our 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL. 49 
 
 Lord), and therefore he knew the condition of 
 the churches of the west, as well as of the east. 
 If a difference of time in celebrating Easter 
 Sunday was the cause of such a warm dispute, 
 then what severe quarrels would take place if 
 some of the churches had perchance accepted 
 false gospels. 
 
 Yet there is not in all the works of the fathers 
 and the writers of the second and following 
 centuries so much as the hint of a doubt in 
 the christian churches, each independent of the 
 other, concerning the authenticity and correct- 
 ness of the four gospels. The disciple of Polycarp, 
 St. Irenseus, who had our four gospels, was also 
 acquainted with the condition of the churches 
 of both the east and west; for in the east he was 
 educated, and in the west he died a bishop. It 
 must be remembered that both men, St. Poly- 
 carp and St. Irengeus, ended their life by a 
 martyr's death for preaching Jesus Christ as 
 the Son of God and the Savior of the world. St. 
 Polycarp decided to be burned upon a pile 
 rather than to renounce Christ. 
 
 We repeat that St. John the Divine had other 
 disciples, but who of course did not live so long 
 as Polycarp. Nevertheless they could have pre- 
 vented during the first half of the second cen- 
 
50 PBEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 tury the spreading of any gospels of Jesus 
 Christ and His miracles, which might not have 
 agreed with the teachings of the apostles, and 
 particularly of St. John, with whom they have 
 been in close relations. History has deposited 
 for our sake a considerable portion of a letter 
 written by St. Irenaeus to his friend, one 
 Florinus, in which he says of a certain heresy: 
 "Thou has not been taught thus by the 
 Presbyters who preceded us, and who listened 
 to the apostles personally." From this we may 
 conclude that Irenseus and his contemporaries 
 have in their youth studied not alone by St. 
 Polycarp, but also by other disciples of the 
 apostles. 
 
 We may add more facts in connection with the 
 testimony of Irenseus. He was a co-laborer 
 with and in the episcopate a successor of the 
 revered martyr Pothinus, the Bishop of Lyons, 
 in the country of the Gauls, the present Franc^. 
 
 Who was St. Pothinus ? According to a most 
 ancient tradition of the Church of Lyons, he 
 was a native of Asia, a disciple of Polycarp, and 
 even of the apostles themselves. In the first 
 half of the second century he came to Lyons 
 and organized a church, for which he was or- 
 dained a bishop. Fifteen years after his arrival 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSrEL. 51 
 
 in Lyons, upon his request there were sent 
 to his assistance several men from the east, who 
 were qualified to preach the gospel, and among 
 whom was the learned St. Irenseus. St. Irenaeus 
 became a presbyter in Lyons. In 177 St. 
 Pothinus died in prison during a persecution of 
 the christians. The year of his death, 177 A. D., 
 and his age are clearly certified. In the accounts 
 of this age of martyrs, recorded by an eye- 
 witness and preserved in the history of Euse- 
 bius, it is said of him that he was more that 90 
 years old at the time of his death. Therefore 
 they concluded that he was born in 86 A. D., and 
 he could have seen the apostle John. There is 
 no doubt whatever that he was a contemporary, 
 not only of St. Polycarp, but also of many other 
 apostolic men, who were disciples of St. John 
 the Divine. 
 
 He could have known men who have seen 
 other apostles, that died earlier than St. John, 
 and who labored in preaching the Gospel in 
 Asia, for instance : St. Philip one of the twelve, 
 who suffered in Hieropolis during the time of 
 the Emperor Domitian (81-96) .Thus, Ireneeus 
 could have received in Lyons likewise — of St. 
 Pothinus, who was much older than him in age 
 — accurate information concerning the eastern 
 
52 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 apostolic churclies, also of the holy gospels, and 
 especially of the Gospel of St. John. 
 
 Another witness, like St. Polycarp, of the 
 truthfulness of the Gospel is Papius, the Bishop 
 of Hieropolis. He is known as the disciple of 
 the disciples of the Lord. He died about the 
 year 120, earlier than Polycarp. In his work 
 known as the Five Books of Explanaiions of 
 the Words of the Lord,^ part of which are 
 quoted by Eusebius, the historian, he says — on 
 the testimony of the apostles of Jesus Christ — 
 that the evangelist Matthew has written the 
 words of the Lord in the Hebrew language, and 
 Mark has written from the dictation of the 
 apostle Peter of what the Lord did and taught. 
 
 Later on another portion of the writings of 
 Papius has been discovered, which proves that 
 he was acquainted with the Gospel of John. 
 Besides this, the historian Eusebius, who had 
 read the writings of Papius, affirms that Papius 
 took as testimony, words from the first epistle 
 of John the Divine ; and as this epistle in word 
 and thought is exactly the same as the gospel 
 of John, it verifies the fact that John was the 
 writer of the gospel. 
 
 *These original documents have been ciscovered in 
 Mossoul. The Patriarch of Antioch has recently brought 
 them to Paris. 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL. 53 
 
 A contemporary of Poly carp and other apos- 
 tolic men was St. Justin, the martyr and phil- 
 ospher ; he was profoundly educated and had 
 written many works, but many of which, un- 
 fortunately, have not reached us. Two of his 
 works have come down to us ; they are apologies 
 in defense of persecuted christians, one of 
 w^hich was handed to the Koman Emperor 
 Antoninus Pius about 150 A. D., the other after 
 some time was presented to the senate of Rome. 
 The martyr Justin has also put to writing his 
 dialogue with the learned Jew Triphonus in 
 defense of Christianity. What is important for 
 us is the fact that the unbelievers could find 
 nothing to say against the authenticity of the 
 writings of St. Justin, the philosopher, and also 
 the fact that he quotes many places from the 
 gospels known to us ; from the gospel of 
 Matthew, beginning from the first chapter up 
 to the last, there are fifty quotations ; from the 
 gospel of Luke, about twenty ; from the gospel 
 of John, more than fifteen places, and he also 
 makes mention of another gospel (i. e. of Mark.) 
 He gives the proper name of evangelia to the 
 gospel, and also mentions them as the remem- 
 brances or memory notes of the apostles and 
 their companions. 
 
54 PEEACHING IN THE KUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 To return again to witness concerning the 
 evangelist John, it is stated as certain that he 
 spent the last years of his life in Ephesus ; 
 here he died and was buried, as Policratus, the 
 Bishop of Ephesus, who lived in the last part 
 of the second century, writes in his letters to 
 Victor, the Bishop of Borne ; ancient literature 
 has saved the contents of this letter. Moreover 
 the Church Universal has always recognized 
 this fact. 
 
 As St. Polycarp had for his disciple the 
 reverend-martyr Irenseus, a great witness for 
 the evangelical truth, so had the holy martyr 
 Justin a disciple in the person of Tacian, a wit- 
 ness of the four gospels. He was a learned 
 pagan, who studied ancient philosophy, but not 
 having found the truth, he turned himself to 
 the Christian Church. He was already a full 
 grown man when he became a pupil of St. 
 Justin in Bome, after which he continued in 
 close friendship with him. After the death of 
 Justin he went to the east, and in Syria, unfor- 
 tunately absorbed in meditation, he attached too 
 weighty importance to his own reasoning and 
 fell in heresy. He died about 175 A. D. Of 
 his many works there came down to us but one 
 oration, which is lengthy, and it is against the 
 
THE AUTHENTICIRY OF THE GOSPEL. 55 
 
 Hellenes or pagans, in defense of Christianity. 
 
 What is especially important, Tacian compiled 
 a summary on the ground of the four gospels, 
 and which he briefly named Of the Four (Dia- 
 tessaron). As this gospel was compiled liter- 
 ally according to the four gospels accepted by 
 the church, it was in use among a considerable 
 portion of orthodox christians in the east for a 
 long time for its briefness, and also for less 
 difficult labor in copying, it was preferred to the 
 complete four gospels. Theodoretos, the Bishop 
 of Cyra, during the first part of the fifth 
 century found more than 200 copies of this 
 gospel in his diocese. He found nothing in 
 them which did not agree with the universally 
 accepted gospels, only that Tacian has omitted 
 the geneology of Jesus Christ and the account 
 of his birth according to the flesh from the seed 
 of David. In its place Theodoretos distributed 
 the original four gospels, and thereby weakened 
 the memory of Tacian's sad case of heresy. 
 
 From all the above mentioned it is clear that 
 St. Justin, the teacher of Tacian, had accepted 
 the original four gospels, no more and no less, 
 as the church at first authorized, including of 
 course the gospel of St. John. This assertion 
 is strengthened by the canon of New Testament 
 
56 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 books, which has come down to us, and which 
 has been in use in the church of Kome during 
 the time of St. Justin. This canon was dis- 
 covered and published by the learned Muratori. 
 The first part and the end have been lost ; it 
 commences thus : " the third book is the gospel 
 according to Luke." Briefly commenting upon 
 this gospel, the writer of the canon continues : 
 "the fourth of the gospels is John's, one of the 
 disciples," and briefly telling about the writing 
 of this gospel by John the Divine, he goes on, 
 making mention of the book of the "Acts of the 
 Apostles," written by the holy evangelist Luke. 
 There is no doubt that the first two gospels in 
 the Koman church were those of Matthew and 
 Mark, which were known at the close of the 
 first century to the apostolic disciple, Papius, 
 the Bishop of Hieropolis. The Gospel of 
 Mark itself was written by him on the request 
 of the Eoman christians ; for this we have the 
 testimony of St. Clement of Alexandria, a 
 learned man of the second century ; a proof of 
 this is also the gospel itself, which contains a 
 considerable number of Roman words. 
 
 Soon after the death of Pius the first, during 
 the time of his successor. Bishop Anecetas, 
 about 160 A. D., as we have mentioned before, 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL. 57 
 
 the aged Polycarp, tlie Bishop of Smyrna, a 
 discii3le of St. John and other apostles, came to 
 Rome on account of a dispute concerning the 
 time of celebrating the day of the resurrection 
 of our Lord, which had arisen between the 
 churches. Aod, of course, it was necessary to 
 turu to the gospels while speaking about this 
 subject. If the Gospel of St. John, undoubtedly 
 held by the Roman church at the time, was not 
 authentic, St. Polycarp would surely bring the 
 case forward, and a dispute would have arisen 
 concerning this Gospel, or the Roman church 
 would have excluded it from the list of New 
 Testament books, but there was no such pro- 
 ceeding ; consequently, the gospel of John 
 belonged to the apostle himself. 
 
 It must be taken into consideration that in 
 all the works of the apostolical men and other 
 writers of the first and the earlier part of the 
 second century there is expressed a clear faith 
 in Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, who was 
 incarnate of the Most Holy Virgin on earth, 
 who worked great signs and miracles, who arose 
 from the dead and ascended into heaven, and it 
 is also clearly shown that the christians of this 
 period had known none other Christ, but Him 
 who is revealed in the Gospel. 
 
58 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 No less important for the proof of our sub- 
 ject, at least for these careful treasurers of the 
 truth in the early centuries, is the example of 
 holy life and also the tradition of the very first 
 christians, of whom there were more than 500 
 that had seen Jesus Christ. It was but the 
 tenth day after our Lord had ascended into 
 heaven, and when He sent down upon the 
 church power from the Almighty, that over 
 three thousand more were added to the fol- 
 lowers of Him, whom great multitudes of people 
 on many occasions followed when he walked 
 upon earth with his twelve, who were them- 
 selves in their first simplicity rather sceptical 
 believers of only the real — which could be seen 
 with the eyes and felt with the hands. 
 
 I hope you will bear cheerfully a moment or 
 two longer, while we bring these testimonies of 
 ancient literature to a close. Yet, I must admit, 
 it has been for your sakes, that this subject is 
 considerably abridged. 
 
 About 130 A. D. the holy martyr Codratus, 
 who was Bishop in Magnesia, was put to death 
 for his faith in Christ. He was a disciple of 
 the apostles and a prophet. The reverend- 
 martyr Codratus is known for his writing which 
 he handed to the Roman Emperor Adrian in 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSrEL. 59 
 
 126, in defense of the persecuted christians. 
 Although this apology has not reached our 
 times, yet it was read by Eusebius the historian, 
 wlio quotes from it the following : " The works 
 of our Savior (writes Codratus to the Emperor) 
 have always been manifest, because they Avere 
 truthful. Those whom He healed and resur- 
 rected from the dead were visible — not only 
 when He healed and resurrected them, but 
 always. They lived not only during His life 
 on earth, but remained considerably longer 
 after he left us ; some of them have lived to our 
 day," i. e. to the time between 80-90 A. D., 
 when Codratus was in the prime of life. 
 
 In support of this investigation we bring for- 
 ward historical facts, and when such come from 
 heretics or even unbelievers, they are the more 
 valuable, as the work is shown thereby to be 
 impartial, and the Divine to be above the need 
 of a human justification. 
 
 Thus, another heretic, Valentine by name, 
 boasted that he had received his teaching from 
 Theodala, a disciple of the apostle Paul. 
 Valentine preached in Egypt between 120-130. 
 He settled in Rome about 140 A. D. According 
 to the testimony of Irseneus and Tertullianus, 
 writers of the second century, Valentine had 
 
60 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 made use of the whole of Sacred Scriptures. 
 In the book of St. Irseneus against heresy, not 
 only many parts of the gospels are mentioned, 
 but also quotations from the holy apostle Paul, 
 which were perverted by the unorthodox ex- 
 planations of the Yalentinians. The reverend- 
 martyr Ippolitus ascribes to Valentine these 
 words : "all the prophets and the law speak 
 through Demiurgus, the god of non-reason." 
 Therefore the Savior saith : "all loho came before 
 me, the same were thieves and oidlaivs.'^ Now 
 this text is found only in the gospel of St. John. 
 It is known also that Heracleon, a disciple of 
 Valentine, had written a commentary on the 
 gospel of John, considerable parts of which 
 have been perserved in Origen's commentary 
 on the gospels. Heretics as well as others, 
 who lived in the second century, would not 
 have accepted of the church the gospel, more- 
 over a false one, if their founders and teachers 
 who lived in the time of the apostlic men, were 
 not firmly convinced of its authenticity. St. 
 Ireneus in the second half of the second 
 century wrote thus : '^Our gospels are strongly 
 established,^^ even heretics become their witness; 
 quoting from which they expect to uphold their 
 doctrine. Heresy, which began to show itself 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL. 61 
 
 SO early among christians, was the cause never- 
 theless why the first bishoi^s and other leaders 
 of the churches kept so diligent a watch over 
 the gospels in their original completeness, and 
 guarded them from any and all mutilation, 
 which some of the heretics attempted, but of 
 which they were accused in good season. 
 
 Only recently, in a responsible magazine 
 published in the eastern metropolis of America, 
 October 28, 1899, the profoundly learned Pro- 
 fessor AVilliam C. Winslow, D. D., D. C. L., 
 L. L. D. writes : "Among the papyri discov- 
 ered at Behnesa by the Egypt Exploration 
 Fund is a fragment of the Gospel of St. John, 
 which proves to be of the highest importance 
 and deepest interest. It antedates all our pre- 
 viously known texts by one hundred years or 
 more. Our associates have now completed 
 their critical study of the text, and a fac-simile 
 of it will appear in our volume about ready for 
 the press, with a great many documents of the 
 first century translated. The papyrus of the 
 first chapter of St. Matthew (A. D. 150), cor- 
 roborating our version of St. Matthew 1: 18-21, 
 and the Logia (New Sayings of Christ) were in 
 book form. This fragment of St. John is also 
 in book form. 
 
62 PREACHING IN THE EUSSIAN CHUECH. 
 
 It has been assumed that the form of writing 
 in a book or codex dated from the introduc- 
 tion of vellum ; but the foregoing and like dis- 
 coveries by the Fund show that such fashion 
 was in use for christian literature of the earliest 
 times. 
 
 The St. Matthew and Logia fragments are in 
 single leaves, but the papyrus of St. John is on 
 a sheet, and is written upon both sides. More- 
 over, the first leaf contains St. John I., and the 
 second leaf St. John XX. in part ; so that we 
 possess one of the outer sheets of a large quire 
 between which and chapter XX. were the in- 
 tervening eighteen chapters, now lost. This 
 book of the Gospel contained about fifty pages. 
 
 It is to be noted that the usual contractions 
 for theological words like God, Jesus, Christ, 
 and Spirit are used. If such contractions were 
 familiar in the second century, they must have 
 been introduced much earlier. Do they not 
 show the existence of a christian literature as 
 early as 100 A. D. ? 
 
 The text, a small uncial, resembles that of 
 the Codex Sinaiticus, to which variants of its 
 own are added. But the fac-simile will reveal 
 this and other characteristics to the scholar 
 who sees our coming volume, and the christian 
 
THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL. 63 
 
 public will be deeply interested in the publica- 
 tion of a text containing the statement, ^The 
 Word Was Made Flesh,^ which words were 
 accepted in the early morning of Christianity as 
 very truth. Old of Egypt have I called my 
 Son may be transliterated for to-day: 'Out of 
 Egypt comes the proofs for the Bible as God's 
 revelation to man.' " 
 
 Christianity is not so much in danger of a so- 
 called "learned unbelief," as it is of the "little 
 faith" and practical unbelief in active life, and 
 the spreading of unchristian habits and cus- 
 toms, and in danger from the life even of 
 christians, which is not according to the gospel. 
 Many, Oh many so-called christians of our 
 times are in need of having their hearts renewed, 
 and deeply impressed with the words of the 
 Savior ^^repent and believe in the gosj^eV 
 
THE TEUE CHUECH OF CHEIST * 
 
 WHAT is the Orthodox Church? The 
 Orthodox Church is a body or commu- 
 nity of people, who, 1 — correctly believe in divine 
 revelation; and 2 — who obey a lawful hierarchy 
 instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ himself, 
 through the holy apostles. In order to belong 
 to the Orthodox Church two principal con- 
 ditions are required: First — to accurately ac- 
 cept, rightly understand and truthfully confess 
 the divine teaching of faith; and secondly — 
 to acknowledge the lawful hierarchy or priest- 
 hood, to receive from it the holy mysteries or 
 sacraments, and generally to follow its precepts 
 in matters concerning salvation. 
 
 Let us now consider the question concerning 
 the true and divine doctrine of holy faith. 
 
 The divine teaching of our holy religion is 
 contained in the books of the holy scriptures of 
 the Old and the New Testaments, and in holy 
 Tradition. The principal dogma (these truths), 
 
 *Tbe author is indebted for assistance in compiling the 
 purely theological portions of these papers to the works 
 of the M. KevDr. Sergius, Archbishop of Yladimir,Russia. 
 
THE TKUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 05 
 
 i. e. the sacramental ones, ( which may also be un- 
 derstood as the theoretical) are laid down briefly 
 in the "creed," which commences with these 
 words: I believe in one God., the Father^ and 
 which was compiled by the holy fathers of the 
 first two universal councils in the fourth cen- 
 tury. The moral truths of the orthodox faith 
 are contained chiefly in the Ten Command- 
 ments given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai 
 which were completed and explained by our 
 Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel and especially in 
 the Lord's Sermon on the Mount. 
 
 The doctrine, which does not agree with the 
 true understanding of holy scripture and holy 
 tradition, which is preserved in the Orthodox 
 Catholic Church from the apostles time, is 
 termed heresy; translated from the Greek 
 language this word signifies separation. Cer- 
 tainly it is to be understood that such who sepa- 
 rate or draw others away from the body of the 
 church by false teaching, thereby they excom- 
 municate themselves from her fold. 
 
 Heresy, or injury to the teaching of Christ, 
 has begun as early as the times of the apostles. 
 St. Paul wrote to Titus, who was bishop on the 
 island of Crete: "A man that is a heretic after 
 a first and second admonition refuse, knowing 
 that such a one is perverted, and sinneth, being 
 
66 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 self condemned." (Titus iii: 10, 11). The holy 
 apostle Paul has written to the Corinthian 
 Christians thus: "For there must be also here- 
 sies among you, that they which are approved 
 may be made manifest among you." 1 Cor. ix: 
 19. The bishops, as the successors of the 
 apostles, endeavored from the earliest times to 
 transmit the teaching of Christ, which they re- 
 ceived from the apostles accurately. Thus our 
 faith was carefully, even to the letter, trans- 
 mitted by tradition. It is plainly understood 
 how holy tradition became a channel by which 
 truths were conveyed to rising generations, as 
 the first bishops themselves received the word 
 and also necessary instructions from the 
 apostles, not only in writing, but also orally; 
 i. e. by word, face to face; therefore it is clear 
 that this apostolic tradition was in itself an ex- 
 planation of the holy scriptures, as it were — a 
 supplement. In regard to holy writ the bishops 
 were careful that no false books be counted in 
 with the genuine collection, which was left by 
 the apostles, and also that the original writings 
 of the apostles themselves be not injured or 
 marred by heretics through the least addition or 
 omission to the text of holy scripture. And 
 if a false teacher be found his teachings was at 
 
THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. G7 
 
 once examined by the bishops, and they de- 
 clared before the Church universal that such and 
 such a doctrine was not known to them, that 
 they did not receive it from the apostles, and 
 that it did not agree with the doctrine of the 
 apostles. Heresy caused the gathering of local 
 and general councils, in which the false teach- 
 ing was compared with the holy scripture and 
 tradition and then rejected. In course of time 
 the apostolical tradition, which was transmitted 
 orally at first, was gradually, as the necessities 
 of the church demanded, committed to writing; 
 and it is found in the works of the holy fathers 
 and teachers of the first several centuries. 
 
 Although all heretics, whoever they be, do not 
 belong to the church, yet, judging from the 
 character of their false teaching, some are nearer 
 to her, while others are greatly separated from 
 her, and therefore the church receives into her 
 communion the repentant heretics differently; 
 namely — by three distinct offices during public 
 worship. These offices were formulated in the 
 time of the general councils. If we are spared 
 we shall in some future time explain these of- 
 fices, and also what differences and contradic- 
 tions there are in the heresies themselves. Now 
 we continue to briefly review the orthodox faith. 
 
68 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 The principal dogma of our religion are these : 
 1 — The doctrine of God as He is in His being; 
 one God in substance, but in three persons; the 
 trinity consubstantial and undivided; the Father 
 unoriginate; the Son begotten of the Father be- 
 fore all ages; and the Holy Ghost, who proceeds 
 from the Father. 2— The doctrine of the Son 
 of God, as the Savior of the human race; the 
 second person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Son 
 of God, who was incarnate for our salvation of 
 the Most Holy Virgin Mary, who suffered and 
 died in the flesh, arose again; ascended into the 
 heavens, and he shall come again to judge the 
 living and the dead. 3 — The doctrine of the 
 Holy Ghost, as the sanctifier and perfecter of 
 the salvation of mankind; that He is sent on 
 earth by the Father for the merits of Jesus 
 Christ, and abides in the holy, Catholic and 
 apostolic church, preserves in her the orthodox 
 teaching of faith unimpaired and saves the faith- 
 ful chiefly by means of the holy mysteries (or 
 sacraments), regenerating, enlightening, edify- 
 ing and strengthening in the spiritual life. 
 Upon these truths are founded also the other 
 dogma of the christian religion; viz: That of 
 the Mother of God,* the veneration of the 
 
 * See the author's Eitual, Services and Sacraments of 
 the Eastern Apostolic Church, 
 
THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 69 
 
 saints of God, sacred images, the administra- 
 tion of the church, etc. 
 
 AVe have already learned that the true con- 
 fession of faith by itself is not sufficient for 
 salvation. Of necessity another condition is 
 required to belong to the Orthodox Church, and 
 that is the recognition of a lawful hierarchy 
 (or priesthood), the reception of sacraments 
 from the same hierarchy, and obedience to it in 
 matters concerning salvation. In a com- 
 munity of christians in which there is no law- 
 ful bishop, who is the dispenser of the gifts of 
 saving grace,there are no sacramental gifts of the 
 Holy Ghost, there can be no mystery of the body 
 and blood of Christ, and where the Holy Ghost 
 and Christ are not present, who sacramentally 
 abide in christians, there, of course, can be no 
 church. Sacred scripture testifies to this very 
 decidedly. 
 
 Let us turn our attention to the eighth chap- 
 ter of the Acts of the Apostles. AYhat do we 
 read there? At the time when a great persecu- 
 tion arose against the church in Jerusalem and 
 the holy archdeacon Stephen was stoned to 
 death, then the christians, excepting the 
 apostles, scattered in different places of Judea 
 and Samaria. The deacon Philip, who came 
 
70 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 into the city of Samaria, preached Christ there. 
 The people with one heart gave heed to what 
 Philip said, seeing the miracles which he 
 worked; for the unclean spirits came out of 
 many; some they left with wild cries, and many 
 who were impotent and lamed beeame whole. 
 And there was great joy in that city. There 
 was a man in that place, one Simon by name, 
 who before this practiced sorcery and con- 
 founded the people of Samaria, giving himself 
 out as some one great. Many followed him, 
 saying that he had the power of God. But 
 when they believed Philip, who spoke to them 
 of the good tidings of the kingdom of God and 
 of the name of Jesus Christ, they received bap- 
 tism of him, both men and women. And so did 
 Simon believe, and after being baptized he re- 
 mained with Philip, and, seeing the great 
 powers and signs which were manifested, he 
 wondered. The apostles, who were in Jerusa- 
 lem, having heard that Samaria received the 
 word of God, sent to them Peter and John, who, 
 having come, prayed over them that they might 
 receive the Holy Ghost, and laying their hands 
 upon them they received the Holy Ghost. 
 Upon seeing that, by the laying on of the 
 apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given, 
 
THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 71 
 
 Simon brought them money, saying: Give me 
 this power, that upon whomsever I lay my 
 hands the same will receive the Holy Ghost. 
 But Peter said unto him : Thy silver perish 
 with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain 
 the gift of God with money. Thou has neither 
 part nor lot in this matter. 
 
 From this history it can be seen that during the 
 time of the apostles there were grades in the 
 hierarchy. Philip, who was one of the seven dea- 
 cons, notwithstanding that he received grace 
 for the office of a deacon from the apostles, not- 
 withstanding that by the Holy Ghost, who was 
 with him, he performed many great works, yet 
 he could not bring down the Holy Ghost upon 
 the Samaritans, whom he had baptized. But 
 when the apostles Peter and John had come 
 they prayed and laid their hands upon them. 
 Then the Holy Ghost came down upon them 
 and was manifested in signs and miracles. The 
 apostles transmitted the power of conferring 
 the Holy Ghost only to the bishops. In other 
 parts of the same book of the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, and in the epistles of St. Paul to Timothy, 
 the Bishop of Ephesus, and to Titus, the Bishop 
 of Crete, there are plain statements pertaining 
 to the grade or office of presbyter, which is a 
 
72 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 middle one, between the episcopate and dia- 
 conate. 
 
 Which hierarchy is the true and lawful one? 
 It is the priesthood which had retained, and 
 continued to follow these conditions. 
 
 1 — In the first place such a hierarchy is true, 
 which received the grace of the Holy Ghost 
 from the apostles themselves in an unbroken 
 line of succession from one to another. If, for 
 instance, in a certain locality the bishops and 
 priests were found to be wanting, the succes- 
 sion being broken, and in their absence the 
 laity elected new ones and lay their hands upon 
 them, and proclaimed them to be bishops and 
 presbyters, such a hierarchy would be unlaw- 
 ful and without grace, as the laity cannot 
 transmit that which they do not possess them- 
 selves — the grace of the priesthood. In the 
 time when the erring church of Kome was the 
 cause of the Protestant separation in the six- 
 teenth century, there was not a bishop in any of 
 the countries that sided with them, excepting in 
 England alone,* where protestantism appeared 
 later than in Germany. The Protestants com- 
 menced to elect and establish presbyters them- 
 
 * Individually we have not the power to assert that 
 the Church of England has retained all the conditions 
 whereby she may not be an erring branch of the Catholic 
 Church. 
 
THE TRUE CHUECH OF CHRIST. 73 
 
 selves, and these ministers not only baptize, 
 but they officiate at a so-called communion 
 service, which of course is not a valid sacra- 
 ment, as the ministers have no apostolic ordi- 
 nation, and they are not presbyters. 
 
 As we learn from history, it is only such a 
 hierarchy which is authentic — that received 
 the grace of the priesthood from the Lord 
 Jesus Christ's apostles themselves, through an 
 unbroken succession of the lawful heirs of this 
 sacrament. And this is necessary. As the 
 inclination to sin is transmitted successively 
 from one to another by inheritance in the con- 
 ception and birth of the body, thus also grace, 
 that is the power of God, which wipes away sin 
 and gives strength in struggle with it, for the 
 merits of the new Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 being bestowed, it is transmitted uninter- 
 ruptedly by the laying on of episcopal hands in 
 the priesthood, by anointing all christians with 
 holy chrism, and also through sacred acts and 
 visible forms in other sacraments. 
 
 2. Secondly, an authentic hierarchy is such, 
 which confesses all the truths of holy religion, 
 for there are heresies which entirely deprive 
 bishops and priests of the ministerial grace. 
 
 3. Thirdly, a priesthood to be lawful must 
 
74 PEEACHING IN THE KUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 administer the sacraments orderly, according 
 to the rules of the holy church Catholic, not 
 changing essential actions, as there are acts and 
 conditions in the rites of mysteries that are es- 
 sential, without which a certain sacrament may 
 not be valid. Should a sacred minister violate 
 an essential rule he is subject to degradation, if 
 the violation has been iotentional, or, at least, 
 the mystery is void of power. The seventh 
 rule of the apostolic canon enjoins: "Should 
 any one, bishop or presbyter, administer not 
 three immersions in baptism in commemoration 
 of the death of the Lord, but one, let him be cast 
 out." And those who were baptized by one 
 immersion, it was ordered that they should be 
 rebaptized. If a priest should consecrate 
 chrism himself, and anoint the newly baptized 
 with it, such an act would not be the mystery of 
 unction with chrism, because it would be the 
 usurpation of the rights and the power of a 
 bishop, and such a thing is forbidden presby- 
 ters by the sixth rule of the Council of Carth- 
 age. Should a bishop or priests use only water 
 in place of wine in the mystery of communion, 
 as some heretics do, such an offering would not 
 be a true sacrament. 
 4. Fourthly, to be a lawful and true hierarchy 
 
THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 75 
 
 the same must be governed and must govern 
 its spiritual charge according to the rules of the 
 holy apostles, the seven ecumenical councils 
 and other laws which are accepted by the 
 Orthodox Church in general. Having aposto- 
 tized from these universal or Catholic church 
 regulations, the Boman church invented a 
 doctrine concerning the supremacy of the 
 Bishop of Rome over all the christian churches. 
 This has been one of the chief causes of the 
 Romish schism or separation from the Ortho - 
 dox Catholic church. 
 
 5. A fifth condition necessary for proving the 
 lawfulness of the priesthood is its unity with 
 the Orthodox Church in the spirit of peace and 
 love. Whoever destroys the unity, except for 
 a genuine and important cause, and the bishops 
 and priests together with christians who follow 
 them, that separate themselves from the higher 
 church authorities, are excommunicated from 
 the church, according to the rules of the 
 apostles and the canons of the councils. 
 
 The Orthodox Church, which is one, is one 
 spiritual body, animated only by the Holy 
 Ghost, having only one head — the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 The Orthodox Church is holy, not having 
 
76 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 spot or wrinkle or any such thing (Ephes. v: 
 27). She sanctifies sinners by her teaching 
 and sacraments. 
 
 The Orthodox Church is Catholic, i. e. col- 
 lective, because she was organized by the Lord 
 Jesus Christ for the salvation of all people in 
 the whole world, and she is the gathering of all 
 true believers in all places, times and peoples. 
 
 The Orthodox Church will continue on earth 
 until the second coming of Christ, imperishable 
 and not conquered hy any powers of hell. In 
 regard to holy doctrine, she is blameless and 
 will ever remain unchangeable, as she has 
 abiding in her the Holy Ghost, the spirit of truth, 
 therefore she is, according to the apostle, a 
 pillar and the foundation of ti^uth (ITim 3: 15). 
 The existence of the lawful hierarchy and the 
 administration of the holy mysteries will never 
 cease in the church. 
 
 The Lord Jesus Christ himself had said: I 
 will build my churchy and the gates of hell will 
 not prevail against her, and again: Behold I 
 am ivith you alway, even unto the end of ages. 
 Therefore, it is the duty of the christian to 
 obey the church, for, outside of her, there is no 
 salvation. If thy brother Jieglect to hear the 
 church, let him be to thee as an heathen man 
 
THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 77 
 
 and a publican (Matt, xviii: 17), saith the 
 Lord. 
 
 May God, who is glorified in the Trinity, 
 help us by His grace to become, through our 
 membership in the church militant on earth, 
 members of the church triumphant in heaven, 
 that we may glorify His all-honorable and 
 majestic name with the angels and saints for- 
 ever, without end. Amen. 
 
THE EDUCATION OP CHILDREN. 
 
 WE DESIRE to tell you of some thing, 
 which is of the utmost importance. We 
 find it necessary, unfortunately, to repeat in a 
 measure what has been told you several times. 
 We speak plainly, without a flourish of words, 
 because we feel our responsibility before God — 
 if we be misunderstood. We desire to remind 
 you of our parish or church- school. To learn 
 to read and write you send your children to 
 school. You know that you must do it. But 
 how many of you think of the serious obligation 
 of rightly and thoroughly preparing your 
 children for the life which they must live after 
 only a few years ? Some, indeed, give their 
 attention to what they call a decent education 
 for their children, for which and for whom they 
 would not fall back of any one, but be as good 
 and as nice as other people in town. If you 
 send your children to school to study grammar 
 and arithmetic, (the future mainstay of the 
 "home" are often compelled to leave their homes 
 
THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 79 
 
 to learn even cooking and dancing), why will 
 you not be just as eager to send them to school 
 where they will study religion ? If you are 
 truly interested in the welfare of your children, 
 why do you not watch as strictly, but once a week, 
 how they attend to their lessons in the study of 
 the Law of God, as you do in some home-work, 
 which the children seemed to be forced to have 
 prepared within the next twelve hours for their 
 public school ? You must obey God, above the 
 public and all other masters, or lose your souls 
 for the responsibility which rests upon you for 
 the present and future welfare of your children. 
 Where there is intellect, there always will be 
 knowledge. Still, you must educate the child. 
 Teach the boy and girl geography and history ; 
 but if you do not train the child's will, in order 
 not only to please you, its parents, but to bend 
 before the holy will of Him, who is the only 
 just rewarder of good and evil, then you are a 
 failure as a christian. Where there is no dis- 
 cipline, there is no constancy. Where there is 
 no law, there is no order, no peace, no everlast- 
 ing happiness. If no tender sympathies re-echo 
 in the heart of the young, away have been cast 
 the time and labor in teaching — be it botany or 
 music. 
 
80 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 What a pity ! we see young children at the 
 age of ten, whose very brains seem to be rattling 
 with numerical problems, while they have not 
 the good manners to step out of the way of an 
 old person, or even the common human feeling 
 of a desire to aid in distress. I have seen even 
 young men and young women stand gazing on 
 one of their company, who was fainting from 
 exhaustion, without the offer of the most simple 
 service — to fetch a cup of cold water. 
 
 However regular athletic exercises are at- 
 tended to, no matter how carefully the lessons 
 in physiology are prepared, little indeed, will 
 they profit your children, if they know not the 
 steps, up which they must climb to seek the 
 Highest. If you, fathers and mothers, are 
 christians, then we ministers of the Word may 
 rest in the quiet hope that your children have 
 been taught dutifully and rightly to praise the 
 All-majestic Creator at morn, likewise in midday, 
 confessing each themselves before God^ and 
 openly before all men, confessing God, while at 
 night they humbly implore His mercy. But if 
 your children do not invoke their Guardian- 
 Angel, if they do not bless the most pure 
 Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and fall 
 down in humble devotion, supplicating for the 
 
THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 81 
 
 grace of our Heavenly Father, then you are not 
 christians. 
 
 It is a sad fact, which must be recorded in 
 this earthly judgment seat of God, and the 
 trath of this fact is as bitter for me, as it is for 
 you. Nevertheless, we acknowledge and accept 
 the truthful bitterness with the hope, that it 
 will prove to be a healing remedy, which will 
 bring peaceful and sweet results. 
 
 There are parents belonging to our congrega- 
 tion in San Francisco, who go to the matinee 
 with their children, not giving a thought before 
 hand to the character of the play ; they teach 
 the little ladies and gentlemen, i. e. the future 
 men and women of a christian land, to buy and 
 select wearing apparel, which is pleasing to the 
 eyes of the world, whether it be healthful and 
 sensible, or not. Yes, they are "up to the 
 times," they visit the classes of the public 
 schools ; they receive and fix their signatures 
 to monthly school reports. Ah! if they would 
 but fix the character of the school itself. If 
 their children are tardy for five minutes they may 
 not go to school without a written excuse. Yet 
 it is in the power of the citizens of this country 
 to have laws enacted, which would protect their 
 young from being crammed with "ologies" and 
 
82 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 "isms," and insure their healthful growth and 
 the teaching of good sense. 
 
 How is it with our church schools? All our 
 children do not attend, and their friends and 
 christian neighbors do not take interest enough to 
 invite them to go with their children. The par- 
 ents do not visit our school, but once a year, and 
 then — when we are not at work. What is our 
 home-work for the children? Only a little of 
 that which is the greatest. A very little, once or 
 twice a week, of the commandments of God and 
 the gospel of his Son, Jesus Christ. And no 
 one to think about it ; no one at home to see 
 that the life-work of the family is done! Dur- 
 ing the short hour that we manage to collect a 
 few unruly children, we must study and repeat, 
 for even prayers are not learned in the home. 
 
 Beloved christians! we need your co-opera- 
 tion. We may sow the seed, but — remember — 
 the influence of your home is the sunshine 
 which heats the ground. So then ask your- 
 selves, is not the wind too chilly, and the sun 
 too low to strike its rays direct? We may trim 
 the plant, but it is your duty to keep watering it. 
 Oh ! if you would but water the precious plants 
 of your gardens with prayerful tears! We 
 invite you to visit our school, from time to time, 
 
THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 83 
 
 during lesson hours. If we were asked, liow 
 mauy of us pray together with children, the 
 consciontous would answer, a very, very few ; 
 only several in a congregation of three hundred 
 souls. Generally, of an evening, the children 
 are sent to bed ; and sometimes some one calls 
 out, say your prayers first. And from time to 
 time there is a prayer, but more often there is 
 only the ''saying." Must I explain that christian 
 children should be followed to their night's 
 rest; in most cases they should be "put" into 
 bed. 
 
 It is the duty especially of parents to see that 
 their children pray correctly, and also to pray 
 with them in an audible voice themselves. Let 
 this not be an act of routine. Do not for a 
 moment think that it will become a daily 
 routine. This reasonable discipline, when 
 you kneel by the side of tender childhood 
 and see the little ones pray, will lighten 
 in your own heart — at the same time 
 that it does in theirs — the fire of heavenly love. 
 Moreover, your prayers must be the prayers of 
 the Orthodox Church of Christ. Our Mother 
 church has but one infallible model of prayer — 
 given to her by our Lord Jesus Christ. It is an 
 invocation, petitions, and a doxology ; in other 
 
84 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 words, a call, a request, and a praise. If you 
 will concentrate your minds upon the subject 
 of each one of these divisions, then your prayer 
 will not be a "saying," but an "offering." 
 Again we ask you to give us your dutiful atten- 
 tion and assistance in the work of teaching our 
 children. If not for the sake of your own com- 
 fort in old age and sickness, let us for the sake 
 of their Almighty Father in Heaven, and our 
 Judge, awaken in their hearts the love for that 
 which is holy and truly beautiful. Amen. 
 
T 
 
 SEEMON ON NEW YEAK'S DAY. 
 
 Thy Kingdom Come. (Matt, vi: 10). 
 
 HE first day of a new year may not be kept 
 as a holy day and a day of quiet by every 
 one, as the Church enjoins that it should be, yet 
 it is a day, nevertheless, peculiarly distinguished 
 from other days by every thinking man and 
 woman. New Year's Day is looked upon by 
 some with that awe, which is always respectful 
 before the mysterious. For some it has a 
 strong fascination, which is expressed in their 
 holiday-making, often bordering on senseless 
 hilarity. For others it is a short day into 
 which they vainly strive to encompass eternity, 
 or even the one year which it represents. 
 
 The merry callers, together with the pleasant 
 entertainers, and the busy crowd of elders, to- 
 gether with tlie happy ones of new and young 
 fortune, cannot hide from us even on New 
 Year's Day in the great congregation of human 
 kind those faces that look on us with serious 
 mien, those eyes of careful thought, that wist- 
 ful gaze of longing, those eyes that burn with 
 
86 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 a desire. Some of these last named are those 
 who were, so to illustrate, moulded into an 
 image of melancholy composure, whom painful 
 anxiety could not conquer and make of their 
 rich natures absolute pessimists, by robbing 
 them of their last hope; and some are those 
 who have force, power, hidden away down in 
 their souls, who persevere, quietly abiding their 
 time, when they may openly and fully cherish 
 their own desires, satisfy their secret aspira- 
 tions, and gain the end of their passion — strong 
 ambition. Some again are the ones who very 
 nicely put on their hack the sheep's skin, but 
 inwardly they are the ferocious ivolf. They take 
 you with their soft hand, but nothing is left 
 you; sweetly they look upon you with quiet 
 eyes, but you find yourself to be lost; they kiss 
 you, and you are betrayed by Judas. Still we 
 find among the last mentioned, i. e. of those 
 with serious and longing mien, such characters 
 as cannot be influenced aside from the path they 
 chose for their life walk, either by wealth or by 
 social happiness, nor can poverty or misery eat 
 and destroy their individuality. Fame, position, 
 science, art, comfort and society's opinion call 
 out to them: To you icill I give all this author- 
 ity, and the glory of them. . . . if you will 
 
SERMON ON KEW YEAR'S DAY. 87 
 
 hui worship me, it shall he yours. No, to the 
 mighty ones of this world answer they; is it 
 right to hearken unto you, rather than unto 
 God? This little flock of the chosen ones go 
 steadily along the narrow path. Praising the 
 Almighty Creator they draw near, and before 
 the awful presence of the Supreme Being they 
 pray, without condemnation and with boldness 
 they dare to say: Father, our Father, who art 
 in heaven! hallowed he Thy name, Thy king- 
 dom come, preserve us from the taint of the 
 world, so that the evil spirit with his passions 
 and servants may not rule over us; teach us to 
 worship Thee in the spirit and in the truth, 
 so that the changing etiquette of a vanishing 
 sphere, and the vain philosophy of time servers 
 may not harm nor forbid us to call to Thee: 
 "Lord, Thy kingdom come." 
 
 "I wish you a happy new year." Such is the 
 universal greeting on this day among friends. 
 Man salutes man on the first day of a new 
 year and expresses the hope that the new year 
 may be a happy one for each. Ah! and so it is 
 happiness, the aim and end of all, which is the 
 one thing most desired. That is what chris- 
 tians ask for when they pray to God: Thy 
 kingdom come. And it is just for this purpose 
 
88 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 that this altar was built for us. That was the 
 desire of our fathers, who contemplated over 
 thirty years ago to organize a parish and have 
 a house of prayer in this city, and which they 
 realized, thanks to the christian sympathy of 
 the holy synod of the Russian church. 
 
 Happiness — that was the mission object of 
 the apostles, who walked the earth. It was for 
 our happiness that Jesus Christ came and com- 
 menced for the whole world and all time a 
 new and everlasting year. Did not even the 
 heavens and their spiritual ministers proclaim 
 it? Yea, face to face and heart in heart, did 
 Mary encompass it. To Joseph it was in a 
 dream. It was gloriously indicated to the 
 learned magicians by a moving star. But for 
 the peasant on the fields the angels sang. Yes, 
 for this gift to humankind, for this happiness 
 of the new year to the world the spiritual 
 powers of heaven thanked the Lord. They 
 sang: Glory to God in ihe Highest, and on 
 earth peace, good will toward men. 
 
 As we to-day commence another period by 
 which we measure that which we call time, and 
 as we feel that this time is gliding past us, 
 flowing swifting beyond our reach, and strip- 
 ping us, too, of that which we sometimes think 
 
SERMON ON NEW YEAR'S DAY. 89 
 
 belongs to our person, we surely ought give 
 serious thought to the one thing so needful, to 
 the happiness we wish our friends from year to 
 year, to the great boon our spirits yearn for, 
 even though it be on our part sometimes un- 
 knowingly. Let us renew within us the 
 faculties of our soul, so overburdened with a 
 generally prevailing materialism. Let us re- 
 new within us our hearts, and prepare a clean 
 habitation for this great gift. Let us strengthen 
 our desire, once elevated, and let us reach out, 
 and accept, and follow this great happiness of 
 God in man! O God, save us from the rule 
 which our own severally different, irreligious 
 and selfish opinions create, and from the king- 
 dom of darkness, and let The kingdom come! 
 
 It is often just so with the life of a man as 
 the traveler of great deserts experiences. He 
 now is under the hot sun with no water, and 
 then the cold atmosphere of the night finds him 
 without a roof. With sore foot and tired eye 
 he goes along until he comes to an oasis ; the 
 fresh scene dispels the monotony; his heavy 
 heart is gladdened. Such an oasis we find even 
 in the barren hearts of all men of the world; 
 but not so often, not so fruitful and so refresh- 
 ing as in the life of an humble and obedient 
 
90 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 believer iu the Allguiding Providence of God. 
 Oh, christians! watch for those bright moments 
 in your life. Prosper in the real happiness 
 and shine forth in the darkness of a sinful 
 world — a light to others. Stop on these green 
 and fresh pastures. Eest. Look over the past 
 and examine the way. Consider the different 
 kinds of temptations you underwent. Know 
 thyself; where were you the weakest? Which 
 place on the road was it the most difficult to 
 pass? How have you come out of the battle? 
 What is it you have lost? Did you gain any- 
 thing? If so, is it good for your salvation? 
 Can your neighbor profit by it? 
 
 Let us hear Solomon, the wisest of all earthly 
 born, the richest and greatest king of his time; 
 let us hear what he says in one of those bright 
 moments of his life, when he was most fit and 
 capable to rightly diagnose his selfrexamination. 
 He says : "7 /lare seen all the icorks that are 
 done under' the sun; and, behold, all is vanity 
 and vexation of Spirit. 1 communed ivith my 
 own hearty saying^ Lo, I am come unto great 
 estate, and have gotten more ivisdom than all 
 they that have been before me in Jerusalem; 
 yea, my heart hath great experience of ivisdom 
 and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know 
 
SERMON ON NEW YEAR's DAY, 91 
 
 wisdom, and fo knoto madness, and folly : I per- 
 ceived that this also is vexation of spirit. I 
 made me great icorks, I huilded me houses, I 
 planted me vineyards. All kinds of trees and 
 floivers I had in my gardens. I made me pools 
 of loater. I got me servants and maid servants. 
 I gathered me also silver and gold. I was 
 great. Also my ivisdom remained ivith me. 
 Then I looked on all the loorks that my hands 
 had luroughi, and on the labor thai I had 
 labored to do, and, behold, all was vanity and 
 vexation of sjnrit, and there icas no profit 
 under the sun * * * AVlien we read farther 
 on and come to the close of Solomon's repent- 
 ant confession, he says: "Xe/ us hear the con- 
 clusion of the IV hole matter, fear God and keep 
 His commandments, for this is the whole duty 
 of man. For God shall bring every loork into 
 judgment, ivith every secret thing, ivhether it be 
 good, or ivhether it be evil.''^ 
 
 On this New Year's Day, when we look over 
 the past and see our mistakes, our weakness, 
 our folly, and our sins, and when from to-day 
 we look to the future with renewed hope, wish- 
 ing as much as ever before — a happy new 
 year, our good resolutions must be carried out 
 with a strong will. When we learn to seek our 
 
92 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 happiness in that one iliing above all needful; 
 when we learn to bend our wills to the pleasures 
 of that Supreme Will, which rules all, then we 
 will have found the good portion^ ivhich shall 
 not he taken aivay from us. The Kingdom of 
 God will have come. 
 
 But to some I know this appears to be a hard 
 saying. It is well to talk about such high 
 things, but how can we practice a heavenly life 
 upon earth, they question. Certainly the 
 thought about earthly things is indispensable to 
 our earthly life. Do but observe how we 
 abandon things heavenly, for things earthly, 
 and we shall find it not so difficult to put aside 
 earthly things for things heavenly. We limit 
 the time we employ in works of charity and 
 religious practice, in order to have more time 
 for worldly things. Some times we go into the 
 Church of God, and at the same time we are 
 thinking of that which engages our minds at 
 home and at our business. And some times, 
 even, while standing bodily in the house of 
 prayer, our thoughts are attracted elsewhere, 
 by our worldly affections, or by the passions 
 which rule in us; even the very prayer of some 
 is tainted by flitting worldly thoughts! Now do 
 the very reverse. Do that which is necessary 
 
93 
 
 for your earthly existence, but endeavor not to 
 extend it beyond the necessary, and strive to 
 liberate yourself as much as possible from such 
 labor, in order to have more time and freedom 
 for works o£ piety. Restrain your thoughts 
 from earthly things, not only when standing 
 before God in His temple, but wherever you 
 may be, when obliged to busy yourself with 
 earthly things, occasionally turn away your 
 thoughts and especially your desires for them, 
 and lift up your heart unto heaven and God. 
 When you set about worldly affairs, remember 
 God, and ask for His blessing and assistance; 
 when you go to rest, remember God and give 
 thanks unto Him for His assistance in your 
 labors, and for the gift of rest. 
 
 Thus we may unite every earthly work, not 
 contrary to the law of God, with a love of things 
 above, and, so to say, change earthly and visible 
 things, into things heavenly and spiritual. 
 When thou lookest upon the sun, said once a 
 saint, seek the true sun, for thou art blind. 
 When thou turnest thy gaze upon light, turn 
 towards thy soul, and see whether thou hast 
 there the true and blessed light, which is the 
 Lord. 
 
 May the light of our Lord Jusus Christ illu- 
 
94 PKEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN* CHURCH. 
 
 mine, may His Spirit strengthen each of us, 
 and may our walking according to His Word 
 and His Life, lead us all here upon earth to set 
 our affections on things above, and thereby con- 
 duct us to the blessed contemplation of Him in 
 heaven, where reigneth supreme the happiness 
 of all sincere seekers of the true new year. 
 Amen. 
 
THOUGHTS ON FAST AND TEM- 
 PERANCE. 
 
 MAN, having received his present being, 
 consisting of a visible body and intel- 
 lectual, immaterial soul, is a being complex. 
 But the nature and worth of both the just 
 named parts are not of equal value. The body- 
 is made as an instrument that is moved by the 
 order of a ruler; the soul is designed to govern 
 and command it, as the superior of an inferior. 
 The soul, receiving from the intellect and rea- 
 son the means by which it makes distinctions, 
 may, possessing such a quality of distinction, 
 separate the truly beautiful from its common 
 imitation; it may perceive God as the Creator 
 and Designer, not only of that which is under- 
 neath our feet and received by our senses, but 
 that, also, which is hidden from the eyes, and 
 of which the immaterial mind may contemplate, 
 having the power of imagination at its command. 
 Practicing, as the godly one, in righteousness 
 and virtue, she aspires unto divine wisdom, and, 
 
96 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 obeying its laws and commands, withdraws as 
 much as possible from the desires of the flesh, 
 comes nearer to God, and strives by all its 
 strength to ally itself with the good. The 
 particular and most important object of this 
 sacred philosophy is temperance; as it is the 
 mind, which is not disturbed, but free of all in- 
 fluences of pollution, arising from the stomach 
 or other senses, that has a continual action and 
 contemplates the heavenly, the things pertain- 
 ing to its own sphere. 
 
 And so it behooves us, the lovers of all things 
 pure, the lovers of the word of God, yea — even 
 christians, to love the present time, which our 
 holy church has set apart for a special oppor- 
 tunity of obtaining greater grace in the sight 
 of God. We should hail with joy such an op- 
 portunity! The time I refer to is the Advent 
 Lent. We should love this fast as the teacher 
 of sobriety, the mother of virtue, the educator 
 of the children of God, the guardian of the 
 unruly, the quiet of the soul, the staff of life, the 
 peace that is firm and serene. Its importance 
 and strictness pacifies the passions, puts out 
 the fire of anger and wrath, cools and quiets the 
 agitation produced by over-eating. And, as in 
 summer time, when the sweltering heat of the 
 
THOUGHTS ON FAST AND TEMPERANCE. 97 
 
 suu hangs over the ground, the northern breeze 
 proves a blessing to the sufferers, scattering the 
 closeness by its pleasant coolness, so does like- 
 wise fast, destroying the overabundance of heat 
 in the body, which is caused by gluttony. Prov- 
 ing to be of so much benefit to the sou], Lent 
 brings the body no less benefit. It refines the 
 coarseness of matter, releases the body of part 
 of its burden, lightens the blood vessels that 
 are often ready to burst with an overflow of 
 blood, and prevents them becoming clogged, 
 which may happen as easily as it occurs with a 
 water pipe, that, when being forced to maintain 
 the abundance of water pressed into it by a 
 powerful machine, bursts from the pressure. 
 And the head feels light and clear when the 
 blood-vessels do not nervously beat, and the 
 brain does not become clouded by the spreading 
 of evaporations. Abstinence gives the stomach 
 ease, which relieves it from a forced con- 
 dition of slavery, and from boiling like a boiler, 
 working with a sickly effort to cook the food it 
 contains. The eyes look clear and undimmed, 
 without the haze that generally shadows the 
 vision of a glutton. The activity of the limbs 
 is stable, that of the hand firm; the breath is 
 regular and even, and not burdened by pent-up 
 
98 PEEACHING IN THE EUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 organs. The speech of him who fasts is plain 
 and distinct; the mind is pure, and then it is 
 that the mind shows forth its true image of 
 God, when, as if in an immaterial body, it 
 quietly and undisturbedly exercises the func- 
 tions belonging to it. The sleep is quiet and 
 free from all apparitions. Not to extend 
 unnecessarily, we may sum up by saying that 
 fast is the common peace of the soul and body. 
 Such are the beneficent results of a temperate 
 life; and such are the precepts of a christian 
 life. It is a law of the Holy Church, which 
 prescribes that we should fast during the Lenten 
 season. 
 
 Do you not know that angels are the constant 
 watchers and guardians of those that fast, just 
 as the demons, those very friends of greasy 
 stuffs, those lovers of blood and companions of 
 drunkards, are the associates of those that give 
 themselves up to debauchery and orgies during 
 such a holy time as lent. The angels and saints, 
 as also the evil spirits, ally themselves with 
 those they love, they become related with that, 
 which is pleasing to them. Every day in our 
 life God points out a lesson to us concerning 
 the eternal life, but we very seldom heed "it; 
 in a word, we generally don't care! Oh, is this 
 
THOUGHTS ON FAST AND TEMPERANCE. 99 
 
 not terrible to think of? And yet no one man 
 will deliberately, so to speak, attempt to slight 
 the Almighty Creator, no one who is capable of 
 using his understanding in the very least de- 
 gree. But yet, beloved brethren, we do it! 
 we, day after day, in our worldly habits uncon- 
 sciously say: "I don't care!" Have we a right 
 to do anything at all unconsciously, when He, 
 in whose hand the very breath of our life 
 flutters as a very weak, little thing, Avhen He, 
 I say, bestowed upon us this conscience? Over 
 and over again we dare to directly disobey 
 God's commands. It is a terrible thing to fall 
 into the hands of the Living God. But the 
 Lord of Hosts is long-suffering, and to repent- 
 ant christians He is the Father of Mercies. 
 Yet it behooves us, christians, to zealously 
 watch every step we take, to be sure that we are 
 w Iking in the path, that our Holy Church not 
 only pointed out, but, as it were, even cut out 
 for us by the stream of martyr's blood, by the 
 wisdom of the Holy Ghost abiding in the 
 sainted bishops of the universal councils, the 
 night labor of praying and fasting fathers, and 
 a host of pure, self-sacrificing, obedient women, 
 such as Mary, Thekla, Barbara, Makrina. The 
 church says that in time of Lent we must fast, 
 
100 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 and we should not disobey, because our Holy 
 Churcli is the Church of God, and she tells us 
 what God Himself wills that we should do. If 
 we have all the learning of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, it will appear as a blank before the simple 
 words of the church, spoken in the power of the 
 Spirit of God. AVe can not, and we have no 
 right (for who gave us such a privilege), to 
 excuse ourselves. We are with good inten- 
 tion, in simplicity of heart to obey the com- 
 mandments of the church, and not worry about 
 adapting ourselves to the ways of the church, 
 for when we obey with our whole heart, with a 
 strong desire to fulfill the holy command- 
 ments, then our Holy Mother Church adapts 
 herself to the weakness of her faithful children. 
 But let us turn back to the lesson pointed out 
 for us. We may every day learn a new lesson 
 about the next life, which is of so much im- 
 portance, that the examples in this life are in- 
 exhaustible. Look around and observe. In this 
 instance look into the kingdom of animals and 
 birds. See the clean dove hovering over places 
 that are clean, over the grain field, gathering 
 seed for its young. Now look at the unsatiated 
 raven, flapping its heavy wings around the meat 
 market. And so we must strive to love a 
 
THOUGHTS ON FAST AND TEMPERANCE. 101 
 
 temperate life, that we may be beloved by 
 angels, and hate all unnecessary luxury, bo as 
 not to fall with it into communion with de- 
 mons. 
 
 Let us return with our memory to the com- 
 mencement of our race, and experience will 
 testify to that which we sometimes make light 
 of. The law of fasting would not be given to 
 us, had not the law of the first abstinence been 
 transgressed. The stomach would not be 
 named as an evil-minded thing, had not the 
 pretext for pleasure entailed after it such con- 
 sequences of sin. There would be no need of 
 the plow and the laboring oxen, the planting of 
 seed, the watering shower, the mutual change of 
 the seasons of the year, the winter binding in 
 fetters and the summer opening up all things. 
 In a word there would be no need of such 
 periodically repeating toil, had not we, through 
 the mistaken pleasure of our first parents, con- 
 demned ourselves to this round of labor. Yet 
 we were on the way of leading another kind 
 of life, in comparison with what we see now, 
 and which we hope to regain once more, when 
 we are liberated from this life of passion by 
 the resurrection. Such is the mercy of God's 
 condescension towards us, that we should be 
 
102 PEE ACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 again restored to the former dignity, which we 
 had enjoyed through His love to man, and 
 which mercy we did not carefully keep. Fast 
 is a type of the future life, an imitation of the 
 incorruptible existence. There are no feast- 
 ings and sensual gratifications over there. 
 
 Do not flee from the difficulty of fast, but set 
 up hope against the trial, and you will obtain 
 the desired abstinence from food. Repeat to 
 yourself the words of the pious: "Fast is 
 bitter, but paradise is sweet; thirst is torment- 
 ing, but the spring, from which he who drinks 
 will thirst never again, is at hand." The body 
 is importunate, but the immaterial soul is 
 much stronger — strength is dead, but nigh is 
 the resurrection. Let us say to our much crav- 
 ing stomach what the Lord said to the tempter : 
 Mem shall noi live hy bread alone, hid hy every 
 loord of God. Fast is not hunger, but a little 
 abstinence from food, not an inevitable punish- 
 ment, but a voluntary continence, not a servile 
 necessity, but a free selection of the wise. 
 Pray and you will be strengthened; call, and a 
 prompt helper will come to your assistance. 
 
SEKMON ON THE GOSPEL OF THE 
 PKODIGAL. 
 
 (First read: Luke xv. 11-32.) 
 
 YOU HAVE heard to-day's gospel. The 
 parable of the "prodigal son" is not a thing 
 new to you. You have heard of, you have seen 
 the prodigal sin, and fall low, down, deep into 
 all the consequential miseries of iniquity. If 
 you do not know, you have heard of the bound- 
 less mercy of a pitying God. You may under- 
 stand how a good father takes back to his heart 
 his beloved child, once lost, but found again. 
 You know the parable of the prodigal son. 
 Then why is it that the church, year after year, 
 recalls to our memory this parable? She does 
 so in order to strengthen us in the way of salva- 
 tion. Until we have passed the final limit, and 
 receive our sentence at the hands of the Divine 
 Judge, we belong to the Church Militant, i. e. 
 while we are on earth, we are obliged to continu- 
 ally struggle for the good. 
 
 In order to obtain conscientious peace, love, 
 
104 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 spiritual prosperity, and holiness, we must 
 always battle with the evil. The more high 
 and purely spiritual the condition is, which we 
 strive to attain, the more fierce is the fight, and 
 our warfare must be constant with wrong, iufi- 
 delity, superstition, prejudice, and corruption, 
 ludeed, we must overcome ourselves, we must 
 get the better of self. 
 
 You, no doubt, have seen men and women 
 wasting their living in the most hideous visible 
 form of sin, but dare you stand in the awful 
 presence of the Most Pure Being and Creator, 
 and say that yoti are not a prodigal? Do you 
 not wish to come back to God — the Heavenly 
 Father? Sinners, yes, we are sinners! One of 
 the greatest meditators on the ways of Divine 
 Providence — the Prophet-King David- -in his 
 confession to God, says: ^'Thy commandment 
 is very broad.'' And, in this light, there is not 
 a commandment, or a law, which we have not 
 transgressed. 
 
 Surely my time was not spent with harlots, 
 some might say, but did you make careful use 
 of your time, which is not yours, for it belongs 
 to Him who gave it, and did you without westing, 
 treasure it so that it now bears a hundred fold 
 of profit, pleasing to the Receiver of virtue in 
 
SEEMON ON GOSrEL OF THE TRODIGAL. 105 
 
 abundance? I bad never lost control of myself, 
 so tliat, by unawares, my table prove to be a 
 scanty board of husks, and my companions a 
 herd of swine. Yet, you may not assert that 
 you beautified your soul with a holy character, 
 nor did you enrich your intellect with an ever- 
 lasting wisdom; and your heart, is it clean, does 
 it expand so that the Holy Ghost freely makes 
 His abode there? Does it know the needy and 
 the deserving? Does it go out toward its neigh- 
 bor, yearning to share with its very existence — 
 giving up all self-interest, and even the com- 
 forts of an earthly life? 
 
 ^Ye, all of us, make up one household. We 
 are members of one and the same family. And 
 you will never taste of true happiness, nor 
 know what it is to be blessed, until you have 
 learned this lesson. You may be a younger 
 son or daughter, but if you be the prodigal, 
 remember, that in your Father's House there is 
 bread enough, and to spare] come to yourself; 
 consider your life, remember the free and con- 
 fiding innocence of your first youth, now that 
 you are firmly fastened, and yet lost, look within 
 and find yourself. And when you have found 
 yourself, you will easily find God. He will see 
 you, while you are coming, yet far off^ your 
 
106 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Father, and He ivill be moved wiih compassion, 
 Heicillfold you in His arms and Mss you. 
 
 If you are not a younger member of the 
 family, may you not be the elder son of the 
 Father? You may not be a lavish spendthrift, 
 nor a wanderer, and you may enjoy the quiet 
 of home, but are you secure? The enemy may 
 SOU) fares in ihe field of your heari^ ivhile you 
 are comforiahly asleep. You may live in your 
 father's house faithfully and continually, you 
 may have the oversee of all the work, and the 
 servants, yet are you secure? No, if you do not 
 give yourself concern of the whereabouts of 
 your younger brother, you are not secure for 
 all time. You may be the oldest, you may 
 know all the secrets of the household, the keys 
 of all chests and doors may be in your posses- 
 sion, you may live in the Grace of God, and 
 enjoy the light of your Heavenly Father's 
 countenance, still, remember the elder son in the 
 parable! For the want of charity for : n erring 
 one, a sinner, an inexperienced one, for one 
 who labored under a wrong opinion, he — the 
 heir and first-born— came in danger of losing 
 all at the end. He was the cause of much 
 anxiety to his father icho came out and en- 
 treated him. This one's pride (a false pride it 
 
SERMON ON GOSPEL OF THE PEODIGAL. 107 
 
 was) that suffered. The father had to reason 
 with his son, who thought his sense of justice 
 was being injured. In the absence of virtue, 
 and charity — the principal one — we see the 
 ekier sou blind to his own condition, for he 
 dared to assert his rights, while justice belonged 
 to the real owner, his loving Father. 
 
 And now, my brethren, if we be the elder 
 members of God's family, let us think of the 
 responsibility, and not fall from Grace, but con- 
 tinue in His House. To the young, and to the 
 prodigal, if their conscience be not yet lost, the 
 Divine voice calls, come to your Father, and 
 tell Him all, He waits with open heart. Amen. 
 
SEKMON PREACHED ON OETHODOX 
 SUNDAY. 
 
 Who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God 
 that alone doest wonders. 
 
 ON THIS first Sunday m Lent, the Church, 
 in memory and in thanksgiving for her vic- 
 tory in the struggles and labors in protecticg 
 the true Faith against the contentions of evil- 
 minded heretics, celebrates the "Triumph of 
 Orthodox Christianity," and for this reason we 
 call this day " Orthodox Sunday." 
 
 It was in 787 A. D. that the Church, in Uni- 
 versal Council assembled, decreed, among other 
 resolutions and canonical acts, that it was lawful 
 for Christians to use in their private and public 
 worship sacred images, i. e., pictures of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, His Holy Mother, of the 
 Saints, and sacred events in Biblical and Chris- 
 tian history, but, of course, when divine ador- 
 ation was ascribed to God alone, and when rev- 
 erence is offered in honor of His works — the 
 objects which these cherished pictures represent 
 to us. 
 
SERMON PREACHED ORTHODOX SUNDAY. 109 
 
 The Christian doctrine necessary for our sal- 
 vation, as revealed in Sacred Scripture and 
 Tradition, has been expounded and delivered 
 for us from all mixture of human and heretical 
 interpretation by the Seven Great Councils. 
 The one mentioned before was the last, namely, 
 the Seventh Ecumenical Council. These coun- 
 cils defined the teaching concerning the Persons 
 of the Most Holy Trinity in the one God-head, 
 the advent in the world of the Son of God, the 
 relations between ourselves and our Saviour, 
 the relations between the Church Militant on 
 earth and the Church Triumphant in heaven, 
 the Providence of God in our reward and in 
 our punishment, the Apostolic Succession and 
 Hierarchical Economy as necessary for the con- 
 tinuance of Christ's work in the world, the seven 
 Sacraments, etc. 
 
 It was not long, however, when again heresy 
 began to show itself in some of the branches of 
 the Church, and when some ambitious people 
 would impose upon the Church their personal 
 and fallible opinions. To ward off the false 
 shoots and upstarts, and to remind the Chris- 
 tians of the binding rules and canons of the 
 Seven General Councils, a large assembly of 
 Holy Fathers and teachers gathered in Con- 
 
110 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHUECH. 
 
 stantinople in 842 A. D., under the protection 
 of the good Empress Theodora, and, mindful of 
 the Divine Judgment pronounced of the Holy 
 Ghost though it was by the condescendingly 
 lovable Apostle St. Paul that if any man love 
 not the Lord Jesus Christ let him he Anathema 
 Maranatha, they declared: " To those who re- 
 ject the councils of the Holy Fathers and their 
 traditions which are agreeable to Divine Reve- 
 lation, and which the Orthodox Catholic Church 
 piously maintains, anathema" ! 
 
 This council sat in convention during the first 
 week of Great Lent. While fasting and pray- 
 ing they collected all the decisions of the Seven 
 General Councils. When Sunday came they 
 marched in solemn procession, bearing the holy 
 cross, sacred images of our Lord, the Blessed 
 Virgin and the Saints, being followed by a mul- 
 titude of Christians devoutly chanting under 
 the leadership of the learned monk well known 
 by the name of St. Theodore the Studious^ his 
 newly composed hymn which you have heard 
 to-day and which translated reads thus : " To 
 Thy most pure Icon (image) we bow down, 
 O Blessed One, praying for forgiveness of our 
 sins, Christ our God; for, of thine own will, 
 thou didst condescend to ascend the cross in 
 
SERMON PREACHED ORTHODOX SUNDAY. Ill 
 
 flesh, and thereby to deliver thy creatures from 
 the yoke of the enemy. Therefore, we thank- 
 fully cry unto thee, Thou hast filled all things 
 with joy, O our Saviour, thou who earnest to 
 save the world." 
 
 Having come inti^ the cathedral of St. Sophia 
 this religious and noted assemblage offered the 
 most impressive praise service, or "Te Deum," 
 ever known in the grand liturgies of the Holy 
 Orthodox Church. We have in the words of 
 the Psalmist David the key-note which re-echoed 
 in the thunder of anathemas and resounded in 
 the peals of praise of this complete and uni- 
 versal thanksgiving service : Who is so great a 
 God as our God? Thou art the God that alone 
 doesi wonders! Here were recounted all the 
 false teachings condemned by the Ecumenical 
 Councils, and even persons were anathematized 
 for willfully adhering to heresy, who did not 
 repent of their sins, and earnestly seek the truth 
 by their return to membership in the Church of 
 Christ. Among such were those "who deny 
 the existence of God, and unreasonably main- 
 tain that the world existeth of itself, and that 
 all things happen through fate and without the 
 providence of God; those who insolently dare 
 to say that the All-pure Virgin Mary, before her 
 bringing forth, in her bringing forth, and after 
 
112 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 her bringing forth, was not a virgin ; those who 
 believe not that the Holy Ghost gave wisdom 
 to the Prophets and Apostles, and through them 
 proclaimed to us the true way to everlasting 
 salvation, and that He confirmed them by won- 
 ders, nor believe that now He dwelleth in the 
 hearts of the faithful and true Christians, lead- 
 ing them into all truth; those who deny the 
 immortality of the soul, who reject the councils 
 of the Holy Fathers, and the traditions unani- 
 mous with the divine revelation which the Orth- 
 odox Catholic Church with veneration preserv- 
 eth; those who defame and blaspheme the holy 
 icons which the Holy Church useth to remem- 
 ber the works of God and of His Saints, so that 
 they who look upon the same may be incited to 
 fear God and to imitate what they see; and 
 those who say the icons are idols." 
 
 It may be necessary before we proceed to ex- 
 plain the word anathema; it means condemn- 
 ation and excommunication until restored after 
 sincere repentance. In some cases it may not 
 be only a temporal ban, but a curse. Indeed, 
 there are some members of the Church to-day. 
 Christians, who do not fully realize that the 
 Church of Christ is a living organism, which, 
 through the supernatural indwelling of the 
 Holy Spirit, exists as a moral being, empowered 
 
SERMON PREACHED ORTHODOX SUNDAY. 113 
 
 within her sphera not only to bless, but also to 
 curse. Such ones of course do not read the 
 Bible. Those who studied the Epistles of the 
 Apostles know that it was required of the Cor- 
 inthians ti 2Jut aivay from among themselves 
 that loicked person (1 Cor. v: 13). Likewise the 
 command was given to Titus, hear: A man that 
 is an heretic after the first and second admoni- 
 tion reject (Tit. iii: 10). Did not our Lord 
 Jesus Christ say: If thy brother neglect to hear 
 the Church, let him he to thee as an heathen 
 man and a publican'^ (Matt, xviii: 17.) And 
 again our Lord speaks: Whatsoever ye shall 
 bind on earth shall be bound in heacenj and 
 whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be 
 loosed in heaven (Matt, xviii: 18). 
 
 Since the time of this council which we have 
 just now been considering, the Church, annually, 
 until our day "has celebrated the triumph of 
 Truth over heresy, and blessed the memory of, 
 as well as commended the work of all them that 
 by words, writings, teachings, and sufferings, as 
 also by a life well-pleasing to God, have con- 
 tended for Orthodoxy as her defenders and 
 helpers." Among tiiose now living are named: 
 The Royal and Imperial Benefactors, the Ortho- 
 dox Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, 
 Antioch,and Jerusalem, the Holy Synods of the 
 
114 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Russian and other Orthodox Churches, the Most 
 Reverend Bishops, the Reverend Clergy, all 
 right-believing Christians who, through saving 
 faith and good works, are expecting everlasting 
 blessedness. Thus the Church to-day in most 
 of the Diocesan cathedrals throughout the 
 world, while joyfully praising aud honoring 
 them that suhmitted their understanding to the 
 obedience of the Divine revelcdion^ and have 
 contended for the same by following the Holy 
 Scriptures and holding fast the traditions of the 
 primitive Church, at the same time " humbly 
 supplicates Almighty God for those who, by 
 heresy or by schism, have set themselves against 
 His evangelical truth that He may soften their 
 hearts, open their ears that they may recognize 
 His voice, heal their corruptions and deliver 
 them out of error." 
 
 When we see how the Lord of creation and 
 the Shepherd of His elect flock has preserved 
 His Church undefiled and whole through long 
 ages of the most terrible temptations, and when 
 we hear the prophet cry out that God luills 
 no one to he lost, but that all may come to re- 
 pentance and to the understanding of truth, we 
 can not else but cry out: Who is so great a 
 God as our God f Thou art the God that alone 
 doest wonders. 
 
SERMON PREACHED ON THE THIRD 
 SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT. 
 
 Who.'foever will come after me, let him deny himself, and 
 take up his cross and follow me. (Mark viii. 34). 
 
 THIS third Sunday of Great Lent is the first 
 day of the Holy Cross week. In tlie midst 
 of this holy season the Church allows her chil- 
 dren to taste of the sweetness of the tree. In 
 the course of his forty days' journey over the 
 solitary wilderness of penance, the weary way- 
 farer comes to a tree, its shade inviting, its fruit 
 beneficial. He throws off his burden, with com- 
 posure and confidence he nestles at the foot of 
 the wood, and is refreshed. And this is just 
 what the Church of God prepares for the sin- 
 cere followers of Jesus Christ. Were we capable 
 of understanding the Almighty's plan, carried 
 out by the Church for our salvation, what con- 
 solation and benefit, both spiritual and tem- 
 poral, would be ours. 
 
 Whosoever will come after me, lei him deny 
 himself, and take np his cross and follow me. 
 This is what Jesus said to the multitude that 
 
116 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 followed him. They followed Him, some from 
 curiosity, anxious to see a miracle performed, 
 others in earnest, eager to listen to the words 
 that came from the lips of Him, who ianqht as 
 one having the poiver, while there were thrse 
 which followed in humble obedience, grateful 
 tor the charity bestowed on them, or on their 
 loved ones, by the Prophet of Nazareth, and, 
 alas ! there v>^ere some that dogged every step of 
 this Good Shepherd^ who led his human flock 
 over the green hills of Galilee, or quenched 
 their thirst with living tvater down in the valley 
 of Jordon, spies — which were to take Him and 
 put Him to a horrible death — nailing Him hands 
 and feet to a crossed wood. As he turned to- 
 ward the people He addressed them, saying : 
 For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain 
 the tvhole icorld and lose his oicn soul. Who- 
 soever shall be ashamed of me and of my icords 
 in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him 
 also shall the So7i of Man he ashamed ivhen he 
 cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy 
 angels (Mark viii: 36, 38). 
 
 Jesus has nowadays many followers desirous 
 of consolation, but few of tribulation. All de- 
 sire to rejoice with Him, few are willing to 
 endure anything for Him. Many reverence His 
 
SERMON TREACHED ON THIRD SUNDAY. 117 
 
 miracles, few follow the i^nomiDy of His cross. 
 What cross is it which our Lord would have 
 us hear? Hardships, sickness, slander, perse- 
 cutions, poverty, desertion of friends, the heavy 
 cares of public responsibility, yea — and death 
 itself. We may for a time be forsaken of God; 
 sometimes we are troubled by our neighbors, 
 yea — and by those whom we love dearly; and 
 what is more, oftentimes we may even become 
 weary of ourselves. If Christ bore the cross 
 for all mankind, Christians are expected to help 
 carry the cross of at least some of their neigh- 
 bors. But how? By bearing in patience the 
 failings and weakness of our neighbor. By not 
 becoming ill-tempered when a brother or sister 
 sets forth his or her opinion as to this or that. 
 By hushing the serpent's hiss of envy, and 
 showing sympathy and gladness when one either 
 above or beneath us proves himself w^orthy of 
 public praise, though we ourselves may not be 
 so much as noticed. By denying ourselves the 
 wicked pleasure of making jest of a soul which 
 goes about acting strangely, and especially when 
 we do not understand nor see plainly the results 
 of such conduct. By denying ourselves the 
 luxuries which may supply the want of many 
 who suffer misery. 
 
118 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Whosoever ivill come after me, let him deny 
 himself, and take up his cross and folloic me 
 (Mark viii: 34). O how powerful is tbe pure 
 love of Jesus, which is mixed with no self- 
 interest, with no self-love ! Are not those to be 
 called mercenary who are ever seeking conso- 
 lations? The Holy Fathers of the Church tell 
 us that " such are lovers of themselves, but not 
 of Christ. Where shall one be found, the Holy 
 Fathers continue, who is willing to serve God 
 for naught?" In their great fervor to serve, in 
 their deep and vast love for God, the Holy 
 Fathers had not noticed how they themselves 
 were growing into perfection by following our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, in their persons and 
 lives we have many types and good examples 
 unto the salvation of our souls; yea, and unto 
 the salvation of the world. And so we must 
 lose all that which unites us to this world that 
 is passing away. If we link our life with and 
 make it one with that of the common animal, 
 subject our reason to vain pursuits and the bet- 
 ter qualities of our spirit to passions of the flesh, 
 then we lose our life, for dust ivill go to dust. 
 But lohosoever shall lose his life for the sake 
 of Christ and the Gospel, the same shall save it; 
 i. e., he who is dead to self, when one becomes 
 
SERMON PREACHED ON THIRD SUNDAY. 119 
 
 separated from tlie principles which make one 
 h)Dg for the pleasure and desire of this world's 
 life, in which there is no thought for eternity, 
 the same shall save his life, though he seem- 
 ingly perish in discomfort and suffer banish- 
 ment at the hands of a self-idolizing society, for 
 he lives through Christ and the Gospel with the 
 spiritual life which never grows old and is ever- 
 lasting. 
 
 Daring the whole of this week the Church is 
 continually reminding us of the cross. And 
 many a weary soul is sighing for rest. . , . 
 Shall my burden be lessened? There seems to 
 be for some no end to sickness. The cares of 
 duty are constant and heavy. There are those 
 which cannot find a friend who could under- 
 stand their inmost soul and soothe their troubled 
 conscience. Oh! that God would give me that 
 inward peace, they cry without faith and in de- 
 spair. Deny yourself all passions which are 
 prompted by selfish motives and by interests, 
 which will pass away as the light of day is lost 
 in the darkness of night; deny these passions 
 all gratification whatever. What a hard lot ! 
 you might say. The circumstances surround- 
 ing our lives are very pressing. . . . What will 
 people say? We must keep up with the rest of 
 the world. We are in a pitiable condition. No 
 
120 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 one should criticise us. We should be left to 
 do as we please. But the Church says we must 
 give up the pleasure of being even a little 
 ambitious. Yes, the Church of Christ says: 
 Forsake all false ambition. Christians, be not 
 discouraged. The Infinite Wisdom itself watches 
 over your salvation. In selfishly moping over 
 our own woes, over our little cross, have we for- 
 gotten the Cross of Christ? The Church, then, 
 will remind us of it. 
 
 This week is set aside for the w^orship of the 
 cross. Here is the tree of life. The cross that 
 our Lord Jesus Christ carried to Mount Calvary 
 and made it an altar, on which He offered him- 
 self up to God the Father as a sacrifice. Let us 
 come to the shade of this tree and rest. This wood 
 has been planted for our own benefit. Let us in 
 holy meditation bring to our mind the suffering 
 of that bleeding form outstretched above us, 
 although it is difficult and for some impossible 
 to feel for one moment the anguish of that 
 cross, borne all the weary way from Bethlehem; 
 then our little crosses, which we have merited 
 by our sins, will not be a yoke of thorns, but 
 an altar on which we may offer up to God our 
 love. Our course is not finished. The road lies 
 before. . . . Lent is still in season. Now, while 
 we enjoy the protection of the cross, let us also 
 
SERMON PREACHED ON THIRD SUNDAY. 121 
 
 supply ourselves with strength, i. e., the Grace 
 of God, for the journey is not finished and 
 the way is so uncertain. Let us refresh and 
 strengthen ourselves with a supply of the fruit 
 of the wood. The fruit is the flesh and blood 
 of our Saviour, who was sacrificed in order to 
 appease the righteous wrath of the Infinite God 
 for the sins of all mankind, beginning with the 
 disobedience of Adam. Shall not our Creator 
 receive us when we humbly and gratefully come 
 to Him together with His infinitely beloved, 
 His Only-begotten, as {he Light which is of 
 Light, His Son Jesus Christ? 
 
 Christians, ye who come to this tree, go not 
 away without tasting of its sweet fruit. Our 
 Holy Church brings us this week to the cross 
 to be refreshed by renewing our spirit, so that 
 our own cross be not a burden but a blessing. 
 Do we forget our duty towards our Mother 
 Church? Yes, unfortunately some do. May we 
 not let go unheeded the advice of the parent, 
 which has given us birth in baptism for a new 
 life, but come to the foot of the cross and cast 
 off our yoke of sins, be absolved of all that 
 which is impure and wicked, either in thought, 
 or in desire, or in deed, by confession, and in 
 holy communion with Jesus Christ be recon- 
 ciled to God. Amen. 
 
SERMON FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY 
 IN GREAT LENT. 
 
 For He {Jesus) taught His disciples, and said unto 
 them: the Son of Man is delivered up into the hands of 
 men, and they shall kill Him; and when He is killed, 
 after three days He shall rise again. (Mark ix: 31). 
 
 CHRIST the Saviour, having spoken the sor- 
 rowful word that ihey shall kill Him, adds 
 the joyful ones that He on the third day shall 
 rise again, concluding thus that we may know 
 that after sorrows there always follows happi- 
 ness. If there were no temptations there would 
 be no crown, no hardships, no rewards; were 
 there no conflicts, nor would there be any hon- 
 ors, no sorrows, no comforts; if there were no 
 winter there would be no summer. 
 
 And this we may observe not only in people, 
 yet also in the seeds which are thrown into the 
 earth; and here a heavy rain and much cold are 
 necessary, so that a stem spring up green, bear- 
 ing its ear of plenty. Let us sow also in the 
 time when spiritual misfortune visits us that we 
 may reap in the summer; let us sow tears that 
 
SERMON FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY. 123 
 
 we may reap happiness. According to the 
 Prophet of God : They that sow in tears shall 
 reap in joy (Ps. cxxiii: 5). Not so beneficial 
 is the rain which pours over the seeds as the 
 rain of tears, which gives the power of growth 
 and ripens the seed of piety. As the tiller of 
 the soil cuts deep into the earth with his plow, 
 preparing a safe place for the seed that they 
 may hide in the very bowels of the earth and 
 safely take root, thus also should we with mis- 
 fortune and sadness, as with a plow, touch the 
 depths of our heart. 
 
 The holy Prophet would convince us thus, 
 saying: Tear open your hearts hut not your 
 garments. Let us tear open our hearts so that, 
 if there be any evil plant or evil thought within 
 us, we may pluck it out with the root and cleanse 
 the field for seeds cf holy devotion. Lf we do 
 not renew the field now, if we do not sow now, 
 if we do not shed tears now, when it is Lent — 
 in this time of sorrow and fast — at what other 
 time, then, shall we be afilicted ? Can it be in 
 the time of ease and pleasure? No, it cannot 
 be then, for ease and pleasure lead to careless- 
 ness, while sorrow compels the soul, which is 
 beset with many attractions on all sides, to look 
 within itself. 
 
 The farmer having sown the seeds, which he 
 
124 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 gathered with much labor, prays for rain; and 
 one, not knowing the work, with amazement 
 looks upon all, and, perhaps, thinks so within 
 himself : "What is that man doing? He throws 
 away that which he gathered; but not that only, 
 he yet carefully mixes it with the earth; and 
 that is not all, for he prays that what he has 
 sown may decay." Quite contrarily does the 
 farmer when he sees the coming clouds over- 
 shadow the sky he rejoices, for he does not look 
 at the present, but to the future; he does not 
 tliiak of the thunder, but of the sheaves; not of 
 the decaying seeJ3,butof the yellow ripe stalks. 
 Thus should we look, not at the sorrow of the 
 present, but at the benefit which is derived from 
 it. If we be on our guard, we w^ill not only 
 suffer no evil from sorrow, but derive much con- 
 solation; but if we be careless, the very enjoy- 
 ment of quiet will turn to be hurtful for us. To 
 the careless one thing and another is evil, but 
 to the diligent one thing and another is profit- 
 able. As gold retains its brightness when it lies 
 in the water, and becomes still brighter when it 
 is cast into the furnace, so we see the very oppo- 
 site when if clay and straw are put into water; 
 the one dissolves, the other rots. Now this is 
 just the case with the righteous and the sinner; 
 the first living in quiet remains bright like the 
 
SERMON FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY. 125 
 
 gold which was put into the water, and being 
 afliicted with temptation becomes brighter still, 
 as the gold which passed through the fires of 
 the refinery. But the sinner, although enjoying 
 ease, dissolves and decays, as the straw and clay 
 thrown into water or the furnace, where it burns 
 and perishes. 
 
 Let us not be sad for present misfortune. If 
 you have any sins, they will be easily uprooted 
 by sorrow, xind if you are the possessor of a 
 virtue, it will become brighter for having under- 
 gone temptation. If you will continually watch, 
 you will be beyond the reach of harm, as the 
 cause of falling generally is not the kind of 
 a temptation, but the carelessness of those 
 tempted. And so, if you would enjoy quiet, do 
 not seek pleasure, but strive to make your soul 
 capable of being patient, because if this quality 
 is wanting in you, you will not only be con- 
 quered by temptation, but sooner fall a prey to 
 the spirit of desolation which ease will bring 
 upon you. As the storms of wind do not uproot 
 a strong wood with its roots, but on the contrary 
 from constant blowing on from all sides it be- 
 comes firmer, so does the holy soul, although 
 overwhelmed with afflictions, it bends not, but 
 becomes invigorated with a higher energy. How 
 might we, a generation of the New Covenant, 
 
126 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 become justified and forgiven when we with 
 difficulty overcome human temptations, while 
 Job, the much afflicted, outbore with such alac- 
 rity a most sore temptation in the days before 
 Grace, of the Old Dispensation? 
 
 Are you sad, beloved, because the Most Good 
 Provider through sorrowing brought you to the 
 thought of eternal salvation? God can put an 
 end to-day to all troubles; but He will not de- 
 stroy sorrow until He sees a change in us, until 
 repentance really and strongly works within us. 
 The goldsmith will not take the metal from the 
 fire before it is purified, and God will not with- 
 draw the tempest clouds before we are perfected 
 by corrections. He who sends the affliction 
 knows when the time comes to hold its stay. 
 A player of the cithern does not tighten too 
 much the strings, else they snap, nor does he 
 freely loosen them, else the harmony • »f sound 
 be lost. So does the Lord with our souls, which 
 He will not leave in continual ease, nor in ever- 
 lasting sorrow, ordering the one and the other 
 according to His wisdom. The Almighty does 
 not allow us to enjoy quiet without a change 
 that we may not become more careless; nor 
 does He keep us ever in sorrow that we may not 
 fall in despair. Since we are occupied with this 
 question, let us decide to wait for our Heavenly 
 
SERMON FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY. 127 
 
 Father's own time for putting an end to troubles, 
 while we ourselves will pray and lead a life of 
 devotion : because to turn to righteousness and 
 live in the faith belongs to our obligation, but 
 to quiet our sorrow is the work of God. God 
 who is mightier than you, who are afflicted in 
 temptation, desires to quench that fire, but He 
 waits for your salvation. Therefore, as sorrow 
 is begotten from ease, likewise we should wait 
 for sorrow to give us quiet. It is not always 
 winter, nor always summer ; the tempest does 
 not always blow, nor does the quiet always last; 
 it is not always night, nor all one day. Thus 
 also with us when we are sad, a change comes, 
 we feel lighter, our hope is stronger — if we pray 
 and in time of sorrow continually thank God. 
 
 And so let us enclose ourselves on all sides 
 with truly good and charitable works, and 
 thereby be saved from the anger of God. Let 
 us make the members of our body the organs 
 of righteousness ; let us teach the whole body 
 to serve only the cause of virtue. Then we will 
 be delivered from present dangers, appease the 
 Most High, and reach that inexpressible bliss, 
 of which may we all be made worthy by the 
 Grace and love for us of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 through Whom be glory to the Father with the 
 Holy Ghost, now, ever and forever. Amen. 
 
THOUGHTS FOE GOOD FRIDAY AT THE 
 PASSIONS AND BUEIAL OF CHEIST. 
 
 IT was our earnest desire to pursue the story 
 of our Saviour's trials and His crucifixion; 
 but when I looked on Him whom they pierced, 
 my spirit failed before the terrible sight ; I 
 could not watch tvith Him another hour, and yet 
 I could not leave the hallowed scene. It seemed 
 as though I saw Him brought back from Herod 
 where the soldiers mocked Him. I followed 
 Him through the streets again as the cruel 
 priests pushed through the wild crowd and 
 hastened Him back to Pilate's court. My ears 
 sounded with the cry : Crucify Him, crucify 
 Him! Give us Barahhas^ the rohher; let Bar ab- 
 bas go; but Christ, the Kifig of the Jews, Jesus, 
 the Saviour, He must die ! And there He stood, 
 ivho loved me and gave Himself for me, like a 
 lamb in the midst of wolves, with none to pity 
 and none to help Him. 
 
 As Jesus Christ hung apparently helpless 
 upon the cross, He had only to utter the word, 
 
THOUGHTS FOR GOOD FRIDAY. 129 
 
 and in a moment more than twelve legions of 
 angels (what an invincible force of energetic 
 beings ! ) would be ready to succor and defend. 
 But to have shunned all pain and anguish, to 
 have refused the cup which His Father had 
 given Him, to have rejected the cross — this 
 would have been to leave man to his doom; this 
 He could not do. And so, He saved others, 
 Himself He could not save. 
 
 Our Lord for a long time bore His cross, as 
 though He felt not its weight; even from the 
 time of the most helpless age of humanity, when 
 He was born in the smallest town of the smallest 
 kingdom on the earth, when there w^as no home, 
 no cradle for Him, and when, except His humble 
 mother with her guardian, none but a few shep- 
 herds took any interest in His birth. He bore 
 His cross till at length He was completely de- 
 livered up on it. We could not follow Jesus 
 throughout in His earthly life. During these 
 holy days we have but endeavored to follow Him 
 only through a few of the last scenes of His 
 entire sacrifice. In a measure we understand, 
 and we feel in His sufferings, as His body, in its 
 weight drooped, being sustained but by four 
 nails, as the cross was raised over the multitude 
 of people on the hill and then the shock as it 
 
130 PKEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 went down into its socket. Only a cliosen few, 
 and likewise in a small measure can they under- 
 stand how He — who prayed, Faiher forgive 
 them, for ihey knoiv noi ivhat they do — has 
 stretched out his arms on the wood in order to 
 embrace a sinful world. But no mortal knoweth 
 how fhe Word was with God, and the Word 
 icas God. The Word of God is not bound by 
 death. As a word from the lips dies not entirely 
 awa}^ at the moment its sound ceases, but rather 
 gathers new strength, and passing through the 
 senses penetrates the minds and hearts of the 
 hearers, so also the Hypostatical Word of God, 
 the Son of God, in His saving incarnation, 
 whilst dying in the flesh, ^ZZs all things ^iih. 
 His spirit and might. Thus when Christ waxeth 
 faint and becometh silent on the cross, then is it 
 that heaven and earth raise their voice unto Him, 
 and the dead preach the resurrection of the 
 crucified, and the very stones cry out. A^id the 
 sun icas darkened, and the veil of the temple 
 was rent in the midst; and the earth did qnake 
 and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened, 
 and many bodies of the saints ichich slept arose. 
 O sinful man, O nature, bereft of perfection. 
 O reason, a mind earthly winged, down low, 
 stoop thou under cover of repentant shame be- 
 
THOUGHTS FOR GOOD FRIDAY. 131 
 
 fore the light of this grave. Christian, there is 
 no other place for thee to-day but by the Cross 
 of Christ. " Broken and distributed is the Lamb 
 of God, which is broken, yet not severed, which 
 is ever eaten, yet never consumed, but sanctify- 
 ing those that participate." Therefore come, ye 
 sons of toil and ye daughters of Eve; come, 
 come, ye citizens of the easy-going wide world; 
 see, His side is now and forever opened for us. 
 O mother, sufferest thou for thy children ? Bring 
 them to the tomb of Jesus and quiet thyself in 
 the stillness of His silence. Brother, sister, 
 behold in the Saviour thy kinsman. And thou 
 poor, lonely wanderer, here He quietly lies in 
 one place that thou mayest find Jesus, thy only 
 Friend. We come, who labor in Thy infinite 
 sorrow for the sins of mankind, we who are 
 heavy laden with our infirmities, we come and 
 supplicate before Thy breathless form. 
 
 Uniting all things in one, grant that we all 
 may inseparably be one with Thee and Thy 
 Father, O Lord Jesus Christ ! Thou that recon- 
 cilest all, grant that all may be of one mind in 
 faith and in love toward Thee. Thou that bears 
 not with the envious and contentious, destroy all 
 wicked heresy and separations. O Jesus ! Thou 
 that lovest and pitiest, gather into one flock all 
 
132 PKEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 wandering sheep. Thou that givest peace to all, 
 still the voice of spite and dispute among those 
 who call upon Thy name. Thou who communi- 
 catest to us the very Body and very Blood of 
 Thyself, grant that we truly be flesh of Thy 
 flesh and bone of Thy bones. O Jesus, the God 
 of our hearts, unite us with Thee, now and for- 
 ever. Amen. 
 
SEKMON ON THE GOSPEL RELATING 
 TO THE IMPOTENT. 
 
 John v: 15. 
 
 JESUS went up to Jerusalem. These are the 
 words which begin the Gospel appointed to 
 be read at the Liturgy on this Sunday. How 
 many thousands must have hurried to those 
 feasts in honor of the One iriie God, in that 
 splendid city of types and symbols of things 
 not yet made clear, and to be manifested in the 
 midst of pagan and barbarous nations ! It must 
 have been a great multitude that almost continu- 
 ally icent up to Jerusalem. So did our Lord 
 Jesus Christ go with them. He was in the crowd, 
 sometimes known, but most often His own re- 
 ceived Him not. Those who went up to Jeru- 
 salem in those days went to the only one Temple, 
 where the only divinely authorized priesthood had 
 offered the one acceptable type of the all-avail- 
 able sacrifice. To be understood, in plainer lan- 
 guage, we may say of them that they went to 
 church. There is nothing extraordinary; the 
 going is a simple fact of going to church. But 
 
134 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 liow did they go? Absurd? Does it seem to 
 you so? Certainly, it seems that most people go 
 along in the same way. At the bottom of the 
 movement which makes people go somewhere, 
 there is an intention, and I think that when peo- 
 ple go to church they go with a fixed purpose. 
 If you ask how they go, with the purpose of 
 disclosing their one or several intentions, then I 
 answer with the word of God as recorded by 
 St. Paul : For ivho among men knoweth the 
 things of a man, save the spirit of the man, 
 which is in him? Even so the things of God 
 none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. But for 
 our edification and salvation on this as well as 
 on several other memorable occasions, we are per- 
 mitted to see and to learn how our Lord Jesus 
 Christ went up to Jerusalem, and consequently 
 how He went to Church. 
 
 He went to Jerusalem at the feasts in order to 
 give a larger number of people an opportunity 
 of seeing and hearing the Truth. He went to 
 the house of His Father, and openly manifested 
 His power as the Son of God. Before the doc- 
 tors and lawyers He testified to the Old Testa- 
 ment prophecies as the Messiah . He passed by the 
 way of sufferers so that He might help them, and 
 where He was not expected, there He was found. 
 
THE GOSrEL OF THE IMPOTENT MAN. 135 
 
 He gave courage to those who had lost hope, and 
 those who hoped on and long He rewarded with 
 His grace. AVhere an angel by stirring the 
 water cured a sick one in a year, He, the Lord 
 of Angels, heals both body and soul, be it of 
 one, or a hundred, or a thousand, and now as 
 He did then and ever will as long as one be 
 found who will surrender himself as others have 
 done : Lord, thou canst make me whole! 
 
 But let us return to Bethesda, not because it is 
 the public hospital where lay a multitude of the 
 needy, but because, as impotent folk ourselves, 
 we will find there on this occasion the bread of 
 life and the very source of the never-ending 
 stream of living water. Let us follow Christ 
 through the five porches, where a certain man 
 icas ichich had been thirty and eight years in 
 his infirmity. When Jesus saw him lying, and 
 knew that he had been now a long time in that 
 case, He saith unto him : Wouldst thou be made 
 whole? The sick man answered Him: Sir, I 
 have no man, ivhen the icater is troubled, to put 
 me into the pool; but ivhile I am coming another 
 steppeth doicn before me. 
 
 Why is it that Jesus passed by all the others 
 and stopped by this one ? He did so in order to 
 show His power and also His love for mankind : 
 
136 PKEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHUECH. 
 
 His power, because the disease had become in- 
 curable and the weakness of the sick one was 
 beyond hope ; His loye for mankind, because 
 the Provider and Merciful One, in preference to 
 others, looked upon such who were especially 
 worthy of pity and charity. Let us not quickly 
 pass by this place without giving our attention 
 to the thirty-eight years during which this sick 
 one continued in his weakness. Let all who 
 struggle with continual poverty, or pass their 
 lifetime in sickness, or those who find themselves 
 in difficult and threatening circumstances, or 
 cast down in the storm and tempest of sudden 
 troubles, let them all hear of it. No one can be 
 so faint-hearted, so mean and unfortunate as not 
 to bear all that happens to us manfully and 
 with all cheerfulness, when looking upon this 
 special one at the watering place of Bethesda. 
 If he suffered for twenty years, or ten, or only 
 five years, would they not be sufficient to break 
 the strength of his soul? But he remains in 
 that condition for thirty-eight years, and does 
 not break down in spirit, but shows great 
 p)atience. Hear his wisdom, for indeed a Chris- 
 tian may lend ear to this sick one's philosojDhiz- 
 ing. Jesus came up and said to him : Wouldst 
 ilion he made lohole? Who does not know such 
 
THE GOSPEL OF THE IMPOTENT MAN. 137 
 
 a thing? Why of course the impotent desired 
 to become well. Then for what reason does he 
 ask? Certainly not because of ignorance: for 
 Him who knows the secret thoughts of people, 
 that which was apparent and open to all w^as to 
 Him the more so simple. Why does He ask? 
 As He said to the centurion : I icill come and 
 heal him, not because He did not know at first 
 what his answer would be, but because foreseeing 
 and knowing well the answer He wished to 
 give the centurion the opportunity to disclose 
 before all his piety, which was concealed as 
 if under a shadow, and to say : Loi'd, I am 
 not ivorthy that Thou shouldst come under 
 my roof. So also this impotent, of the nature 
 of whose answer He knew, the Lord asks does 
 he wished to be healed, not because He knew 
 that not himself, but for the purpose of giving 
 the sick one a chance to speak out of his mis- 
 fortune and to become a teacher of patience. 
 If the Savior had healed this man silently, we 
 would have lost much by not learning of the 
 strength of his soul. 
 
 Christ does not rule the present only, but He 
 offers to the future also His condescending and 
 great care. In the impotent He showed us a 
 teacher of patience and courage for all times to 
 come, having put him to the necessity of answer- 
 
138 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 ing tlie question : Wouldsi thou he made loliole? 
 But what of him? The impotent was not 
 offended; he did not become angry; he said not 
 to the inquirer: Thou seest me infirm, thou 
 knowest that my sickness is of long standing, 
 and thou inquirest, do I desire to regain my 
 health? But did you come to laugh at my mis- 
 fortunes and to make light of other people's 
 troubles ? You know how faint-hearted the sick 
 become when they lay in bed even one year; but 
 whose sickness lasts for thirtj'-eight years, does 
 it not become natural for such a one to lose all 
 better knowledge, wasting away in the course of 
 so long a time? The impotent, however, said 
 nothing like this, nor even thought of it, but he 
 answered with much modesty : Sii% I have no 
 man, ivhen the ivater is troubled, to 2nd me into 
 the pool. See how many troubles unitedly 
 grieved this man : his disease, his poverty, and 
 the absence of a lifting, a helping hand. While 
 I am coming, another steppeth down before me. 
 This is that which is the saddest of all, and it 
 ought to have softened even a stone. Does it 
 not seem as if you can see this man each year 
 creeping along until he has crept up to the very 
 side of the pool, then stopping each year just 
 before the reach of a bright hope? And it is 
 the more burdensome, as he experienced this not 
 
THE GOSPEL OF THE IMPOTENT MAN. 139 
 
 for two, or three, or ten, but for tliirty-eiglit 
 years. He did everything in his power, but did 
 not obtain the result; the labor was accomplished, 
 but the reward for labor went to another one 
 during all these many years; and, what is more 
 burdensome, he saw others healed. 
 
 The good fortune of others around us compels 
 us to plainly see in the contrast our own mis- 
 fortune ; it was the same then with the imj^otent. 
 Nevertheless, for so long a time he struggled 
 with sickness, with poverty, and with loneliness, 
 seeing that others were healed, while he himself, 
 although he always tried, but never could reach 
 his desire, and not hoping in the future to liber- 
 ate himself of suffering, with all this against 
 him he did not retreat, but renewed his endeavor 
 each year. And we, if we once pray to God and 
 do not obtain what we have asked for, we imme- 
 diately become disappointed and fall into extreme 
 carelessness, so that we stop praying and lose 
 fervor. May we according to worth praise the 
 impotent, as we may in the same wa}^ condemn 
 our negligence? What justification and forgive- 
 ness may we expect when he was patient for 
 thirty-eight years, while we become despondent 
 so soon. To this one it has been said : Arisej 
 take up ihy bed and walk. And if we be or be 
 not infirm in body, or soul, mind, character, or 
 
14:0 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 condition, it is in every instance demanded of us 
 all to take up our cross and to follow Him, our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, after a faithful 
 following, w^e shall see ourselves gloriously resur- 
 rected. 
 
 Because Jesus did these things on the Sab- 
 bath the Jeios persecuted Him. When perse- 
 cuted for doing the works which proclaimed Him 
 to be the Redeemer of the world, did our Lord 
 justify Himself before His enemies and prove 
 the Divine right of His most exalted mission? 
 If He did not, then how could we, even to this 
 day, hope in our salvation? Let us see how 
 Jesus, on this occasion, has justil&ed Himself ; 
 for the manner in which He proves His inno- 
 cence shows us w^hether He belongs to the num- 
 ber of such who are ruled, or to the free, to 
 those who serve, or whether He is of those who 
 command. His action seemed to be a great 
 iniquity, a sin against the law ; for he who once 
 gathered wood on the Sabbath was according to 
 the law stoned to death for carrying a burden on 
 the Sabbath (Num. xv: 32, 36). Now Christ was 
 accused of the same crime, namely, that He did 
 not keep the Sabbath. Does He ask forgiveness 
 as a servant and as a man under subjection, or 
 does He appear as one who has power and inde- 
 pendence as a Master, who is above the law and 
 
THE GOSPEL OF THE IMPOTENT MAN. 141 
 
 who Himself giveth the commandments? How 
 does He justify Himself? My Father^ says He, 
 workefh even until now, and I work. Do you 
 see His might? If He was lower or lesser than 
 the Father, then what He had said would not be 
 counted in His acquittal, but it would be to a 
 greater accusation and to a greater condemna- 
 tion. If one does something which is lawful to 
 be done only by one who is above Him, and then 
 having been taken and given to judgment, he 
 says : as another higher one has done so, I also 
 have done so, he would not only free himself 
 from the charge in this way, but he would sub- 
 ject himself to a greater accusation and sentence, 
 because to take upon one's self that which is 
 above one's dignity can be done only by a self- 
 conceited and proud person. Therefore, if Christ 
 was lower than the Father, then what He had 
 said would not be to His justification, but to a 
 greater condemnation. But as He is equal wiih 
 the Father, there is no fault in the words of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 To understand the better what has been said, 
 let us remember that His disciples had once 
 broken the Sabbath in the field by pulling ears 
 of corn and eating them ; now He violated it 
 Himself ; the Jews accused them, and now they 
 accuse Him. We will now investigate as to how 
 
142 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 He clears them and how He justifies Himself, so 
 that we may learn from the difference between 
 one and the other of the superiority of His 
 justification. How did He justify His disciples ? 
 Have you not read ivhai David did when he 
 hungered? (Matt, xii: 3.) Defending creature- 
 servants, He calls to mind David, a fellow-serv- 
 ant like unto themselves, but justifying Himself 
 He reaches out with His speech to the Father : 
 My Father ivorkeih, and I ivork. Perhaps some 
 one might ask : What kind of ivork does Jesus 
 speak of, if after six days God rested from all 
 His iDorksf (Gen. ii : 2.) It is the everyday, the 
 continual guidance and providence, for God not 
 only made all nature, but He also keeps His 
 creation. Do you refer to the angels, the arch- 
 angels, or to the higher powers, and, in a word, 
 to all things visible and invisible? Yes, all are 
 under His providence, and if it would go outside 
 the realm of His activity, then it falls to pieces, 
 becomes destroyed and would perish. And so 
 our Lord, desiring to show that He is the pro- 
 vider and not the object of providence, the 
 worker and not the object of activity. He has 
 therefore said : My Father \forlceih, and I work, 
 thereby proving His equality with the Father, 
 and to whom with the Holy Ghost be all glory 
 now and to ages of ages. Amen. 
 
SERMON FOR THE SUNDAY AVHEN THE 
 GOSPEL OF THE BLIND IS READ. 
 
 ( Read first the ninth chapter of St. John. J 
 
 THIS is the Gospel for to-day. AVliat lesson 
 have we to learn on this day? We must 
 find the substance in these words, and feed on it, 
 for it is spiritual food. AVhen we have digested 
 this Divine food, it will be assimilated with our 
 natures, and our humanity will become purer, 
 brighter, stronger, yea — and perpetual, so long 
 as it lives with the Word of God, for hath not 
 the Savior Himself said when the devil tempted 
 Him who hungered in the wilderness : T/mt 
 man shall not live 6y bread alone, hut by every 
 loord that proceedeth out of the mouth of God? 
 So then, have we considered the Gospel while 
 being read? If so, we find that the principal 
 subject of it is the miracle which was worked by 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. Next, we observe the 
 man who was the object of the miracle, and 
 finally we get a perspective of the condition. 
 The circumstances which surrounded this mira- 
 cle were most unfavorable for the blind man's 
 
144 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 confirmation in the faith, although he succeeded 
 against such materialistic odds, and likewise for 
 an open manifestation of the glory of the Won- 
 der-worker Himself, yet the greatness of which 
 became the more conspicuous as passion-bound 
 opinions, systems and classes strived to over- 
 come or, in the least, to belittle it. 
 
 When 1 stop to meditate, it seems that I am 
 transported to the green hills of Judea, where 
 the common folk of both hill country and popu- 
 lous valley are all astir with lively discussions 
 in the midst of their every-day duties, as in their 
 homes they go about to and fro, and, mind you, 
 it is all about religion and politics; religion first 
 and politics after — insomuch as it is related mth 
 the proud nature of a people, who boasted of 
 being the chosen race of God, who expected His 
 messenger, and were to be ruled by none other 
 than the Messiah Himself, unto all ages. It 
 was a day of expectations, indeed. The intellect 
 of the masses had been sharpened to a turning 
 point. The very "times" themselves were full 
 with signs. Everybody was inquiring. The 
 people willingly divided themselves into two 
 sets: those that taught and those that were 
 taught. The nearer that some of them had got- 
 ten to the truth, the more danger there was of 
 
THE GOSPEL OF THE BLIND. 145 
 
 taking falsehood for the truth, and thereby more 
 danger of two blind men falling into one pi7. 
 Passions, although with a semblance of a higher 
 quality, yet human and materialistic, ruled the 
 hour. In such a midst Christ, the only true 
 teacher of men, had come. No one condemned 
 false doctrine so energetically as this teacher 
 had done, and no one had taught with such in- 
 vincible strength and power as He did. Now 
 the whole company of teachers arose against this 
 One, and, notwithstanding their divisions, they 
 knew how to agree in one and the same decision 
 which suited them all, and that was : That He led 
 the multitude astray (John vii: 12), He speak- 
 eth blasphemies (Luke v: 21), He perverteth 
 our nation (Luke xxiii: 2), and, at the end, for 
 His teaching said they : He is worthy of death 
 (Matt, xxvi: QQ). But they could not destroy 
 the work of Him, whom they hated, for the peo- 
 ple did see in Him The Great Prophet (Luke 
 vii: 16). Above His calling as a teacher, He 
 had the merits of a miracle worker. What now 
 could His angry enemies do or say against this ? 
 Now they would do as they have done at that 
 time, viz: murdered Him. But His works re- 
 main, and for that the glory of His resurrection 
 is the brighter. When the different conditions 
 
146 PKEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHUKCH. 
 
 of a changing world, together with the many 
 representatives of opinions have exhausted their 
 machinery, all their means, and wasted their fine 
 scholastical dialectics, while the simple facts, 
 told by him who had once been blind, remain as 
 simple facts, which he — w^ho now sees — will not 
 renounce, then society answers and says to the 
 followers of Jesus Christ: "You were altogether 
 born in sins, and do you teach us?" When Chris- 
 tians cannot be subdued, nor compelled to follow 
 the ways of politicians or the world in general, 
 then they are left all to themselves. Aiid iJiey 
 cast Him out. 
 
 The Son of God, manifesting His power in 
 miracles that w^e may desire Him alone and 
 thereby become strong in faith — this is the les- 
 son that we are to learn to-day. Now the learned 
 tell us that the nineteenth century (which hap- 
 pily is in its death-throes) requires "advanced 
 thought." I wish the nineteenth century was 
 over; we have heard it bragged about so much 
 that one actually gets sick with the nineteenth 
 century. We are told that this is too sensible a 
 century to need or accept the same Gospel as the 
 first, second and third centuries. Yet these were 
 the centuries of martj^rs and confessors, the cen- 
 turies of heroes, the centuries that conquered all 
 
THE GOSPEL OF THE BLIND. 147 
 
 the gods of Greece and Kome, the centuries of 
 holy glory, and all this because they were the 
 centuries of the Gospel. But now we are so 
 enlightened that our ears, strange to say, really 
 ache for something fresh, and under the influ- 
 ence of so-called refined literature (how about 
 ordinary novels?) our beliefs are dwindling 
 down from mountains to ant-hills, and we our- 
 selves from giants to pygmies. 
 
 By God's grace some of us abide by the 
 Orthodox Faith, and mean to preach the same 
 Gospel which the saints received at first. It is 
 a foundation which we dare not change. It must 
 be the same, world without end, for Jesus Christ 
 is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. Amen. 
 
SEEMON ON THE FEAST OF THE 
 ASCENSION* 
 
 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He 
 went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 
 which also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing 
 up into heaven f (Acts i: 10, 11). 
 
 THE " two men in white apparel," who imme- 
 diately after the ascension of the Lord ap- 
 peared to the Apostles and asked them why they 
 stood gazing up into heaven, were without doubt 
 themselves inhabitants of heaven; therefore it 
 is not to be supposed that this was displeasing 
 to them, or that they desired to direct the gaze of 
 those men of Galilee elsewhere. No. They de- 
 sire only to put an end to the inert amazement 
 of the Apostles when saying: Why stand ye 
 gazing up into heaven? Having aroused them 
 from their amazement, they draw them into medi- 
 tation, and teach them and us with what thoughts 
 we should gaze into heaven, following our Lord 
 Jesus who hath ascended thither. This same 
 
 * This sermon was written and delivered by the author 
 a few days after reading a most beautiful, but lengthy, 
 sermon in the Russian language by the celebrated Met- 
 ropolitan Philaret of Moscow. 
 
THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION. 149 
 
 Jesus, tliey added, which is taken up from you 
 info heaven, shall come in like manner as you 
 have seen Him go into heaven. 
 
 The disciples of the Savior then beheld the 
 exact fulfillment of His words which Mary 
 Magdalene had recounted to them: I ascend 
 unto my Father and your Father^ and to my 
 God and your God. They could not but con- 
 clude that those joyful visitations which He had 
 bestowed upon them during the forty days after 
 His resurrection from the dead, those instructive 
 conversations with Him, that palpable commun- 
 ion between them and His divine humanity, were 
 at that moment ended. When neither hand nor 
 voice could any longer reach Him, they followed 
 Him with their eyes, eager to detain Him; they 
 looked steadfastly toivard heaven as He icent 
 up. We can conceive what an immeasurable 
 bereavement the Apostles must have felt after 
 the ascension into heaven of Jesus, who was all 
 and everything in the world to them; and it is 
 this very bereavement for which the heavenly 
 powers hasten to console them when telling them 
 that this same Jesus . . . shall come. 
 
 In considering the circumstances of the ascen- 
 sion of Christ into heaven, we may first note the 
 blessing which He then gave to the Apostles, 
 
150 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHUECH. 
 
 and it come to pass, says the Evangelist Luke, 
 lohile He blessed them He was parted from 
 them and carried up into heaven. What an end- 
 less current of the grace of Christ is thus re- 
 vealed unto us, Christians ! The Lord begins a 
 blessing, and before its completion ascends into 
 heaven; for while He blessed them He was car- 
 ried up into heaven. Thus even after His ascen- 
 sion does He still continue invisibly to impart 
 His blessing. It flows and descends continu- 
 ously upon the Apostles; through them it is dif- 
 fused upon those whom they bless in the name 
 of Jesus Christ; those who have received the 
 blessing of Christ through the Apostles spread 
 it among others ; and thus do all who belong to 
 the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church become 
 partakers of the one blessing of Christ. As the 
 dew of Herman that descended upon the moun- 
 tain of Zion, so does this blessing of peace de- 
 scend upon every soul that riseth above passions 
 and lusts, above vanity and the cares of the 
 world; as an indelible seal does it stamp those 
 who are of Christ in such a manner that at the 
 end of the world He will by this very sign call 
 them forth from the midst of all mankind, say- 
 ing, Come ye blessed ! 
 
 And now, my brethren, let us consider how 
 
THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION. 151 
 
 needful it is for us to endeavor to gain now and 
 to preserve this blessing of the Ascended Lord, 
 which descends upon us also through the Apos- 
 tolic Church. If we have received and preserved 
 it, we shall, at the future advent of Jesus Christ, 
 be called together with the Apostles and the 
 saints to participate in His kingdom : Come ye 
 blessed ! But if, when He shall call ihe blessed 
 of His Father, this blessing either be not found 
 in us, or we be found in possession only of the 
 false blessing of men who themselves have not 
 inherited the blessing of the Heavenly Father 
 by grace and in the sacraments, then what will 
 become of us? Yea, I say, let us consider this 
 vital point before the opportunity be taken away. 
 The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the 
 night. From this same unexpectedness of His 
 second coming our Lord Himself draws for us 
 Christians a saving warning: Watch, therefore, 
 for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 
 Do not be led away by curiosity or credulity, 
 and beware of such ones who pretend to know 
 more than Christ hath granted them to know\ 
 Let us endeavor rather to know what failings we 
 have, to number our transgressions, and to seek 
 a limit to them in repentance. Let us take heed 
 lest the children of this world and our own pas- 
 
152 PKEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHUECH. 
 
 sions lull our spirits into sleep, till the approach 
 of that longed for, yet dreadful hour: When 
 the Lord come. 
 
 The blessing of the Lord come upon you by 
 His grace and love towards man, always, now, 
 and ever and unto the ages of the ages. 
 
SEKMON PREACHED ON TRINITY 
 SUNDAY. 
 
 There are three thai hear record in heaven, the Father^ 
 the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one. 
 (lJohnv:7). 
 
 THE Orthodox Faith is this, that we worship 
 One God in Trinity, and the Trinity in 
 Unity, neither confounding the persons (hypos- 
 tasis), nor dividing the substance (Symbol 
 d'Athanasius). What will it profit us when we 
 study deeply concerning the Trinity, if we be 
 found lacking in humility and thereby are dis- 
 pleasing to the Most Holy Trinity? It is not 
 for us to search into the incomprehensible mys- 
 tery of Divinity. If we would approach any 
 where within a reasonable approach to the Divine 
 Mind, we, who are of the lower ones, should 
 always endeavor to be pleasing companions to 
 those tvho are of the higher ones, so that we may 
 fervently glorify the thrice illumined Deity to- 
 gether with the angels, singing with that faith, 
 which is the assurance of things hoped for, the 
 e st of things not seen: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord 
 
154 PREACHING IN THE EUSSIAN CHUECH. 
 
 of Sabhaoih, heaven and earth are full of Thy 
 glory. 
 
 "Some may say," as St. Cyril of Jerusalem 
 lias long ago rightly surmised, " if the nature or 
 substance of God is infinite, then to what pur- 
 pose do we speak of it? But shall I abstain 
 from taking water out of the river for my use, 
 though a small measure, because I cannot drink 
 up the whole river? Is it because my eyes can- 
 not contain the whole of the sun himself, I should 
 not, as much as is necessary, make use of the 
 daylight? And if I were to enter some large 
 garden, the fruits of which I could not eat up, 
 would you, for this reason, have me leave the 
 garden altogether hungry?" Indeed we need 
 the water, we need the sunlight, and the fruits 
 of good endeavor and religious labor we enjoy. 
 Therefore we should, and it is our bounden duty 
 to learn of that knowledge, which the Creator 
 has been pleased to reveal of Himself to His 
 Church, without giving ourselves to vain specu- 
 lations^ and probing into mysteries not neces- 
 sary for our temporal v>^elfare, much less so for 
 our eternal salvation; and while not attainable 
 to our limited mind, sometimes because of the 
 presence of sinful pride, sometimes on account 
 of deceit and feeble support in false systems 
 
SERMON PREACHED TRINITY SUNDAY. 155 
 
 and individual schemes, but chiefly because a 
 drop does not contain the ocean, a particle of 
 creation cannot embrace the earth, the worlds, 
 and that wisdom and power which ordered the 
 universe and established the laws by which it is 
 preserved. 
 
 To learn of the Supreme Being and concern- 
 ing the Holy Trinity in the God-head, we need 
 not go far; the philosopher cannot make clearer 
 the light itself; we need not question the astron- 
 omer; and surely the majority of mankind only 
 become puzzled when they singly weigh the cor- 
 roborations of the geologist. Just look around 
 and you will see on the space of a few yards of 
 earth a great quantity of heterogeneous beings 
 and natures, existing in the same air and by the 
 same material food in substance as we do; yet 
 some are adapted to life in the air, some move 
 only in the water, and others are subjected to 
 several certain limited forms of existence upon 
 the land, while man, by his intellect and by his 
 will, adapts himself to his surroundings in such 
 a measure that he controls all other forms of 
 animal life, and even overcomes natural obstacles 
 by a force which is above nature. Thus we see 
 man is created in the likeness of the Most High 
 Creator. 
 
156 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 After all these ages we cannot find in the ad- 
 vanced theories of modern literature an hypoth- 
 esis that may compare with the plain statement 
 of facts by the Holy Fathers during the first 
 centuries of Christianity, as we have them con- 
 cisely epitomized by St. John of Damascus. He 
 says: "The Divinity is indescribable and in- 
 comprehensible. For no one knoweth ilie Son^ 
 hut the Father, and the Father no one knoweth 
 save the Son (Matt, xi: 27). And also the Holy 
 Ghost knoweth that which is of God, as the 
 spirit of man knoweth the things of a man 
 (1 Cor. ii: 11). Beside the first and blessed 
 Being no one ever knew God, unless God had 
 revealed Himself to some one ; no one, not only 
 of mankind, but no one of the celestial powers, 
 nor of the Cherubim and Seraphim. Yet God 
 has not left us entirely ignorant of Himself. 
 The very knowledge of the existence of God 
 the Creator has Himself implanted in our nature. 
 And creation itself, the government of nature 
 and its preservation proclaim the greatness of 
 God. Above this, first through the law and the 
 Prophets, then through His only begotten Son, 
 our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, God revealed 
 to us as much knowledge of Himself as we are 
 capable of containing. Therefore, all that has 
 
SERMON PREACHED TRINITY SUNDAY. 157 
 
 been given us by the law, the Prophets, the 
 Apostles, and the Evangelists, we accept, acknowl- 
 edge, and respect, and we seek nothing more. 
 Thus God, as the Omniscient One and the Pro- 
 vider of that which is profitable for each one of 
 us, has revealed all that is for our good, and kept 
 in silence that which we are not capable of con- 
 taining. Being satisfied thereby, we will keep 
 to this, not transfixing the borders of eternity 
 and not overstepping Divine tradition." 
 
 In the light of Divine revelation it becomes 
 clear to our reason that, excepting the one, true, 
 most perfect God, another cannot exist, because 
 the most wise, most powerful, the most High and 
 perfect Being must be only one, beside whom 
 there is no other. 
 
 The Christian Faith is the religion of the 
 Most Holy Trinity. And this is nowhere so 
 plainly demonstrated as it is in the books of the 
 New Testament. The preacher with the hearers 
 and doers of the Word would be unequal to the 
 task to take up at this moment for examination 
 the great number of testimonies we have in the 
 history of the New Testament concerning the 
 Orthodox Faith, in which we worship One God 
 in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity. But this is 
 not all. If you turn to the books of the Old 
 
158 PKEACHING IN THE KUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 Testament, it can be seen that the Patriarchs of 
 the nations and the saints of old had almost as 
 clear a conception of the nature of God as we 
 Christians, and believing in One God they at the 
 same time worshipped, more or less consciously, 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The 
 Most Holy Trinity, while distinct in Persons, is 
 of equal Divine Substance, and equal Majesty. 
 We do not belittle the awful magnitude of this 
 Truth when we follow the example of the Holy 
 Fathers by taking various illustrations from 
 created life to help us in some measure grasp 
 this doctrine of the Divine Three in One, and 
 One in Three. In man's soul the image of God 
 is more or less reflected. Take for instance the 
 memory which recalls the hour of Divine Lit- 
 urgy, the understanding which reasons upon the 
 duty of public prayer, or considers the excuses 
 that might be pleaded for staying at home, and 
 then the will which chooses one course or the 
 other. 
 
 And now let us remember that, although we 
 are among the weakest members of all creation, 
 ive mciy become, hy being faithful ChrisiianSy 
 partakers of the Divine Nature (2 Peter i: 4) 
 that by the grace of the Holy Ghost, who has 
 regenerated us, ive are all the children of the 
 
SERMON PREACHED TRINITX SUNDAY. 159 
 
 Heavenly Fdiher and brethren to His only he- 
 gotten Son (John i: 12, 13, Luke xiii: 21). Thus 
 we may come into the closest moral relations 
 with the Triune God Himself, if only, believing 
 in Him and earnestly drawing toward Him with 
 hope, we shall love Him with our tvhole heart, 
 ivifh our whole soul, arid ivith our whole mind 
 (Matt, xxii : 27). Then, without doubt, the promise 
 of the Savior wall be fulfilled for us. Jesus said : 
 If a man love me, he will keep my word, and 
 my FMer will love him, and ivill come uiito 
 him, and make our abode with him (John xiv: 13). 
 x4.nd then also we will understand the meaning 
 of these words of the Apostle : Know ye not 
 that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit 
 of God dwelleth in you? (1 Cor. iii: 16). Amen. 
 
THE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 
 
 HOW long will it thus go on ! When will 
 the baptized become active Christians, so 
 that the pastors may give their attention to the 
 conversion of the heathen? What a terrible 
 battle we must fight. Already the fire of hell 
 is in the world. Great cities are multiplying 
 throughout the land. The farmer, as the word 
 is defined in our dictionaries, is a thing of the 
 past. It is now the land-owner with a mansion 
 in the city, a yacht on the sea, and with a private 
 train across the continent. There are compara- 
 tively but a few laborers in the fields — too poor 
 to support families. The quiet country homes 
 are becoming few, shall I say precious? I fear 
 not so, because people are fast losing their 
 ability to rightly estimate the value of things. 
 Most of the cities in all the world are over- 
 crowded. The female portion of the population 
 is most conspicuous. A stupid craze after 
 unwholesome fashions is the one all-absorbing 
 passion of the majority of women. There is no 
 
THE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. IGl 
 
 room for gardens and yards ; most of the chil- 
 dren in San Francisco are actually brought up 
 in the streets. Oh, how few of them feel the 
 blessed influence of a Christian home ! Young 
 men and young women are continually " on the 
 go," as they say. And this " go " is a nervous, 
 unsteady rush to " keep up with the times." And 
 after all their hurry nothing is left but steam 
 and vapor, for they are empty, as empty as the 
 changing and vanishing world can be. Yet they 
 fret and inquire: "Where shall we go to and 
 what shall we see? What shall we do? Oh ! 
 what ccm we do?" If you promenade along the 
 broad avenue or pass through the narrow lane, 
 if you visit the meeting halls in the city or look 
 into the factories, everywhere you see that same 
 all-devouring gaze of the bold young woman, 
 who stares with a kind of artificial movement of 
 the eyes. And sometimes you hear even so- 
 called Christians say that it is a weakness of 
 character in one who has the downcast eyes of 
 modesty, the blush of innocence. Such people 
 do not know the live sense and fine impulse of a 
 pure conscience. When a young man puffs 
 tobacco smoke or shows his teeth with a dis- 
 approving smile in the presence of and at the 
 conversation of older people, then society is 
 
162 PEEACHING IN THE KUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 wrong; something is the matter with his family. 
 
 In view of all this, beloved, the preacher of 
 the Word of God is obliged by a terrible oath 
 he has given before he received the gift in 
 Apostolic succession at his ordination, to present 
 to you the whole of the Truth, not a part of it. 
 
 The number of unmarried people is increas- 
 ing. And there are some married people who 
 say: "We do not want children, because we 
 want to have as much pleasure as possible." 
 This is a false position, for in a Christian mar- 
 riage one kind of pleasure is not allowed con- 
 tinually. Christians marry for the sake of God 
 and His law as much as they do for themselves. 
 But Christians who remain single renounce 
 marriage and live holy for the sake of God and 
 Him alone. Thus we find that the family tie is 
 abused, as well as the single state. Courtship 
 of young people just out of school is not to be 
 advised, because it often leads to debauchery. 
 A courtship running through long years also 
 gives occasion to sin and a species of wTong- 
 doing to God, for the heart and its love are 
 stolen from God and thrown away on a man. 
 
 Throughout all the long centuries of Chris- 
 tianity there have been in the Church heroic 
 members, young people of both sexes, who by 
 
THE CONDITION OF SOCIETY. 163 
 
 the grace of God have kept their souls pure and 
 intact, and have dedicated to the honor of God 
 the noblest attribute of their human life, namely, 
 an untarnished purity of soul and body. Such 
 persons have had the courage and such un- 
 bounded confidence in God's assistance that, 
 although living in the world and its dangers, 
 though threatened by the cravings of their own 
 individual passions and by the temptations of 
 the devil, yet they have succeeded bravely in 
 preserving this treasure even in a frail earthen 
 vessel, have carried it uninjured through life's 
 long journey here below, and have finally pre- 
 sented it to their Lord. 
 
 Christian heroes and heroines, you who have 
 imitated or who still do imitate the sublime ex- 
 ample of the Most Blessed Virgin, the Church 
 admires your spirit of sacrifice as she does that 
 of the holy martyrs, who in a few hours finished 
 their contest and proved their fidelity to God 
 and their faith; because you have to combat, to 
 suffer, and to sacrifice your whole life through. 
 With joy and veneration do the angels look down 
 upon you, for you resemble themselves. With 
 motherly affection and with mighty power does 
 the Holy Virgin Mary when you earnestly pray 
 throw her sheltering omophorion around you, 
 
164 PREACHING IN THE EUSSIAN CHUECH. 
 
 for you are her pupils and imitators. With the 
 sweetness of divine love the heavenly Bridegroom 
 will fill your heart and more than compensate 
 you for the fleeting, transient, worldly love that 
 you have laid down at His feet. The eternal 
 Judge will find you waiting like the wise and 
 prudent virgins who all through life carry in 
 their hands the pure oblation of love and the 
 burning light of good example. Therefore, faith- 
 ful to the end, He will invite you to the eternal 
 wedding feast in heaven. Amen. 
 
SEKMON TO THOSE PEEPAKING FOR 
 HOLY COMMUNION. 
 
 Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that 
 bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eatet/i and 
 drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation unto 
 himself. (1 Cor. xi: 28, 29.) 
 
 THESE words of the Apostle are terrible, 
 and so are they as the truth unfailing. 
 Verily the judgment is heavy and the damnation 
 terrible for the one who receives the body and 
 blood of Christ without due honor and without 
 such a disposition of the spirit as is required. 
 A terrible judgment has befell that apostate 
 people who sentenced our Lord Jesus Christ to 
 be crucified, when they cried: His blood he on 
 us and on our children (Matt). But that unfor- 
 tunate people did not know the mystery of the 
 incarnation of the Son of God, and committed 
 that greatest crime in blindness and ignorance : 
 For had they knoivii, says St. Paul, they should 
 not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Of how 
 much sorer punishment^ suppose ye, shall be 
 worthy of such an one, who was born in Chris- 
 tianity, from childhood taught in the mysteries 
 of the faith, and notwithstanding all this, hath — 
 
166 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 by light-heartedness and carelessness — trodden 
 underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the 
 blood of the covenant, ivhereivith he was sancti- 
 fied, an unholy thing, and hath done despite 
 unto the spirit of grace (Heb. x: 29). 
 
 Hence the reason why the Church with such 
 care strives to prepare us for the reception of 
 the life-giving mysteries of Christ by fast, prayer, 
 repentance. After a few moments when the cup 
 of the covenant shall be brought out, unto which 
 we must approach in order to reanimate within 
 us, renew and strengthen our covenant with 
 Jesus Christ, we will hear the last call of the 
 Church which summons thus: With fear of 
 God and faith approach ye. In those sacred 
 moments let be hushed within us all other 
 thoughts, let be banished from our souls all 
 other feelings, besides those unto which the 
 Holy Church would elevate our spirits. Let us 
 draw near with fear of God, faith and love, 
 that we may he partakers of the life eternal. 
 
 That we may inspire within us that sacred 
 fear, let us consider: Where are we now? Be- 
 fore whom do we stand? Unto what do we ap- 
 proach? Where are we? Jfoses, Jfoses, called 
 God to His selected leader of Israel, draic not 
 nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, 
 for the place whereon thou standest is holy 
 
SERMON FOR HOLY COMMUNION. 1G7 
 
 ground (Ex. iii: 5). Since the place unto which 
 God once descended has become sanctified, and 
 to which the man who was called the friend of 
 God could not approach without care, then how 
 much holier is the place which is sanctified by 
 such often repeated descensions of the Holy 
 Ghost at the consecration of the terrible mys- 
 teries upon which even the angels look with 
 fear. 
 
 Before whom do we stand? It is the God of 
 unapproachable glory, from whose presence it 
 was once that Mt. Sinai blazed and trembled; 
 the God Almighty, who spake and it was done; 
 He commanded, and it stood fast; that which is 
 not, He nameth a thing existing; He maketh to 
 die and maketh to live; He lowereth unto hell 
 and raiseth up again; the God All-holy, who 
 bears not with iniquity and shuns unrighteous- 
 ness; the Lord, a jealous God, who exacts of 
 children the sins of fathers even unto the third 
 and fourth generations; the God All-righteous, 
 who came down to see the wickedness of the 
 citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, and which 
 cities the heavenly flame swallowed up. It is 
 true that God appears to us here in His body 
 and blood, without external grandeur and glory, 
 without terrible manifestations; for, were it 
 otherwise, we would say as the Israelites had 
 
168 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 said: Let not God specik with its, lest lue die. 
 (Exod). 
 
 Unto what do we approach? To the Divine 
 Bod}^, which Simeon, the saintly old man, had 
 once received in his hands with holy fear; to 
 the Divine Body, by the touch of which the sick 
 were healed, the leprous cleansed, and which 
 the demons feared; before the nakedness and 
 wounds of which the sun darkened, the earth 
 quaked, the rocks brake; to the most Glorious 
 Body, which ascended into the heavens and 
 upon which the Cherubim and the Seraphim 
 look with fear. True it is that it appears to us 
 in the form of common food, but were it other- 
 wise we would say with Peter : Depart from me, 
 for I am a sinful man, O Lord! (Matt, v: 8). 
 And so it is here we stand, such is the presence 
 we stand before, and such is that unto which we 
 approach. Great is the gift we receive from the 
 hand of the Lord. Holy is His most pure body, 
 holy is His life-creating blood, and therefore let 
 us approach the cup of the covenaut with greater 
 care and more fear that we may not be scorched 
 with its flame, that we may receive the flesh and 
 blood of Christ not unto judgment and con- 
 demnation, but unto the cleansing, the sanctifi- 
 cation, and the enlivening of our nature decay- 
 ing in sin. Amen. 
 
ADDKESS ON CHKISTMAS DAY. 
 
 THE Orthodox Catholic Church celebrates 
 to-day the nativity of our Lord and Savior 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Christmas day is generally observed as a holi- 
 day throughout the world. And verily it should 
 be a day of rejoicing. I say rejoice, for, glory 
 to God in the highest, we are now enabled to 
 obtain peace on earth, as the good will of our 
 Creator and Judge has been proclaimed to all 
 men. 
 
 Unfortunately we now often see in the world 
 a decline in religious celebrations of Christian 
 festivals,* just as in political and civil holidays 
 we now often notice a tendency to withdraw from 
 public scenes to one's own narrow sphere of 
 privacy, personal comfort, and individual satis- 
 faction. Such conditions are detrimental to so- 
 ciety at large. The first cause of it all is the 
 family — the home from which all men and 
 
 * The majority of churches in San Francisco (as is the 
 general rule in America) are closed and have no purely 
 religious services whatever on the 25th of December. 
 
170 PEEACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 women take into the world the form of their 
 future character. The nation which is devoid 
 of lessons in religion and patriotism in the 
 family — which is the fountain source of all 
 learning — such a nation is going to destruction. 
 Since we to-day magnify Christ, the giver of 
 life, who now was born in the flesh for our sake 
 of the unwedded and most pure Virgin Mary, 
 we may most appropriately, as duty bound, con- 
 sider the worth of our celebration. When we 
 hear the teaching of Him who to-day was a little 
 child seeking shelter with the cattle and sheep, 
 and remember that He said, I am the way, and 
 the life, and ihe truth, and also, the truth icill 
 make you free, we are impressed with the exalted 
 character of Him whose mission it was and is 
 to gather all mankind into the one fold of the 
 Only Shepherd. And our Lord says the truth 
 will save us. We must study the truth to the 
 full measure of our competency, and know our 
 Lord Jesus Christ the Savior. We must use 
 our God-given intellect and discern true doctrine 
 from falsehood. We must worship God with our 
 whole being, body and soul, consequently we 
 develop our reason (as our faith grows stronger) 
 and praise the Lord understandingly. For when 
 we worship with the inspiring feeling of our 
 
ADDRESS ON CHRISTMAS DAY. 171 
 
 heart only, we bring a half offering. The offer- 
 ing must be whole. 
 
 When we study the different forms of worship 
 of different people who are considered Christians, 
 we see that some bow in adoration with fervent 
 devotion, while others with exultant heart sing 
 loud praise, as if carried away in ecstasy, de- 
 priving the spirit of one of its faculties, i. e., 
 adoration. Now, this is according to science, 
 and those who have studied psychology know it. 
 True and complete science is always compatible 
 with religion. The Orthodox and Apostolic 
 Church has ever held that man must offer praise 
 from a warm heart while devoutly adoring the 
 Sublime both physically and spiritually, and at 
 the same time following truthful doctrine. Yes, 
 we must seek and study the truth. I do not say 
 we can at once perfectly know it, for we must 
 first comprehend God, who is the truth. When 
 we become Christ-like we know the truth, and 
 the truth makes us free. 
 
 The Church is the treasure house of God upon 
 earth. I offer these precious gems to you, hoping 
 you will take them away to your homes, safely 
 guarded in a grateful heart, and earnestly ponder 
 over them, seeking God in prayer accompanied 
 by a pure life. For only then we may enter 
 
172 PREACHING IN THE RUSSIAN CHURCH. 
 
 into the true spirit of this celebration and rightly 
 comprehend the hymn we sing : " Christ is born ! 
 Ye faithful, glorify! Christ from the heavens, 
 Oh come to greet Him ! Christ upon the earth, 
 be ye lifted on high! Sing to the Lord, all the 
 earth ! And in gladness praise him. O ye na- 
 tions! for he hath been glorified!" Amen. 
 
955.1 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 0035518880 
 
 
 BRimE DO NOT 
 
 PHOTOCOPY 
 
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