In today’s Gospel for the Sunday of the Saints of North America and the Holy Apostles, Christ calls His first disciples: the two sons of Zebedee, Andrew and then, his brother Peter. Immediately, they leave their nets and follow Christ. You can almost see their willing heart to sacrifice everything to follow Christ and become the “fishers of men” that Christ has called them to be. Their response is astonishing, childlike in its innocence, manly in its ready and courageous response. They left the security of their father, their homes and families, their livelihood as fishermen, everything, to follow Christ. Often, they didn’t even know where their next meal would come from or where they would lay their heads. After Christ’s resurrection, all the Apostles were imprisoned, persecuted, tortured, and, eventually martyred or exiled for sharing the Gospel, the Good News that Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, had come to give mankind new life—eternal life—to all willing to repent and put on Christ.
In other words, in calling His Disciples to be “fishers of men,” evangelists, from the Greek word, evangellion (English = Gospel, Good News), Christ God wasn’t calling them to a life of ease or even of physical safety, and certainly not to comfort, but rather, a dying to self and a living for God—even at the cost of their earthly lives. Dying to this life, they attained to Christ and His eternal Kingdom and, through their faithful witness, enable others to attain to eternal life as well. Christ says, “… Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:25) and we certainly see this modeled by the Holy Apostles. Christ called them, as He calls us even now, to put Him and His holy Church, the life of the Gospel, above all else. In doing so, Christ was preparing them to take up their cross to spread the Gospel, the Good News of mankind’s return to Eden, to a transformed life with Christ God.
We often think of missions, missionaries, and evangelists as something that only a select few are called to—something that’s the job of the Apostles and the bishops and priests who are their successors, but not for the rest. The reality is, though, that by virtue of one’s baptism into Christ, ALL are called as missionaries, ministers and witnesses of the Gospel—loving God and caring about the salvation of others, more than one fears their rejection or mocking.
St. Tikhon the Confessor and Enlightener of North America, whose memory we keep this day, together with the other North American Saints, has this to say to us on evangelism: “The spread of Christ’s Faith ought to be near and precious to the heart of every Orthodox Christian.” And Christ, in His own words, says, “you are the salt of the earth…you are the light of the world” (Mt. 5:13-14). His commandment to “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Holy Trinity (Mt. 28:19) and teaching them to observe all things He’s commanded, is the calling of every baptized Orthodox Christian to uphold and not an“extra”in the life in Christ. And that goes for the teachings of the Orthodox Faith that conflict with our culture too.
This calling means that we need to be willing to give up some of the “creature comforts” our society tells us we need; it means we need to love God and His revealed truth over what our culture tells us to believe as truth. This calling to be “fishers of men” means that we live out the Gospel in a sacrificial way, supporting the Church and her ministries, even as we seek out ways to share the Gospel, the Good News with others that there is freedom and healing from sin and joy and peace in Christ, following the Way that leads to eternal life.
This is the part most people find so hard—we’re called to witness to the truth of Christ, the new life in Him, in a world (or even in a family) that tells you to keep your faith to yourself, that constantly presents a way of life contrary to the Gospel and Orthodox Faith. Through their communion with and love for God, the disciples also grew in love for their fellow man. This is the natural fruit born from a growing relationship and communion with God. At great cost to themselves, they brought the world to the knowledge and love of Christ and His salvation through their authentic and true witness of the new life offered to all in Jesus Christ.
We see this same example of selfless and Christ-centered love in the Saints of North America. who risked their physical lives on this continent to bring the life-saving Gospel and Orthodox Faith, the very presence of Christ, to this spiritually barren and hostile land (we remember that St. Juvenaly and Peter the Aleut were both martyred). They all suffered, just as the Apostles did, to preach and witness the timeless truth of Christ for love of a people they didn’t even know. Why would they do this? Because they loved God and His Truth so greatly.
Later, as the number of Orthodox increased through conversion and immigration, they reassured their scattered, uncertain flock of their identity in Christ in His Church, that they (and we) find our true home—beyond any ethnic or national identities, in Christ and His Church. These Saints came to make men and women true Christians. Two of them went from being missionaries in America to become two of the greatest hierarchs of modern Russia. St. John Kochurov, who served here, became the first priest martyred by the Bolsheviks. The persecution in Russia and Romania, and other Orthodox lands, has filled the Church in America with their Confessors. We remember Fr. George Calciu the Confessor and Fr. Roman Braga today as well, priests who have profoundly impacted the Orthodox Church in America.
We celebrate their legacy of love, courage, and zeal for the Gospel this day as their spiritual progeny in this land. We ask for their prayers in our own efforts to carry on their work—with all its challenges wrought by the aggressive humanism, secularism, and spiritual lethargy that surrounds us—to grow in courage and love to share the Gospel and the Orthodox Faith in this spiritually dry and thirsty land that is in such great need of Christ and the fulness of His Church.
The Lord calls us this day to be “fishers of men” in our homes, businesses, at the grocery store, at school, in the midst of the challenges of being an Orthodox Christian, not just on Sundays but 24/7, to serve and evangelizein His name for the love of Christ despite the costs. Wherever you and I go, we are called to be conscious of striving to bring Christ with us—to be ready to stand up to identify ourselves as Orthodox Christians, worshipers of the One truth God.
Keep and share the Faith once delivered to the Saints, which is life for us and all those who receive it! We are assured True love for others covers a multitude of sins, (I Peter 4:8). Love enough to not water down or confuse the Gospel with the culture’s false ‘gospel’.
If we want to see our church grow, our region and country changed into a God-loving, God-fearing place, more reflective of God’s Kingdom, if we want to see others experience the new life in Christ we have found, if we want to see strong families and children growing confidently in their identity in Christ rather than the false and transitory identity and labels of the world, if we ourselves want to be obedient, growing in Christ and being deified, thenwe come to see ourselves as “fishers of men,” missionaries, Christ’s evangelists, living this life for God’s glory above all else. Pray for such love to be true fishers of men. Holy Saints of North America, of, Romania, Russia, Georgia, and the other Orthodox lands that have suffered for Christ, pray for us that we too may be fishers of men, drawing others into Christ’s net.
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Holy Apostles, All Saints of North America, Romania, Russia Fishers of Men V
Epistle: Hebrews 11:33-12:2 (Saints); Romans 2:10-16
Gospel: Matthew 4:25-5:12 (Saints); 4:18-23
