ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="doctitle" --> <title>The Voice Of Orthodoxy</title> <style type="text/css"> <!-- body { background-color: #ecedf2; } .style81 {color: #0C5ADC; font-weight: bold; } .style82 {font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; } --> </style></head> <BODY LEFTMARGIN=0 TOPMARGIN=0 MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0> <table width="784" height="111" border="0" align="center" bordercolor="#E9E9E9" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <tr> <td height="45" bgcolor="#9999FF"> <p align="center"><font size="+6" COLOR = #990000> THE VOICE OF ORTHODOXY</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td height="45" bgcolor="#9999FF" valign="top" > <p align="center"><b><font size="+2"> <i>A Bimonthly Conservative Journal To Defend The Apostolic Faith, Morals And Canons Of The Ancient Orthodox Church.</b></i> <strong> <table width="784" border="0" align="center"> <tr> <td align = "left">Volume : XIV</td> <td align = "center"> SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2011</td> <td align = "right">Issue : 5</td> </tr> </table> </strong> <marquee scrollamount="2" direction="left"><i>ORTHODOXY: THE TRUTH BEARER; FOR REQUESTS CALL: 773-480-7273</i></marquee> </p> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="784" height="758" border="0" align="center" bordercolor="#E9E9E9" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <tr> <td width="164" height="182" rowspan="2" valign="top" bgcolor="#9999FF"><br /> <table width="96%" height="75" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#9999FF"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="153" valign="top"> <table> <tr> <p><img src="../../images/st.mary.jpg" width="153" height="209" /></p> </tr> </table> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#eef5f9"> <td bgcolor="#ecedf2" height="14"><table cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" width="98%" align="center" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="15%" height="16"><div align="right"> <div align="justify"><font color="#333333" size="2"><width="8" height="9" /></font></div> </div></td> <td align="justify" width="85%"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#333333" size="2"><a href="../../default.html">Home</a></font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#eef5f9"> <td bgcolor="#ecedf2" height="14"><table cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" width="98%" align="center" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="15%" height="16"><div align="right"> <div align="justify"><font color="#333333" size="2"><width="8" height="9" /></font></div> </div></td> <td align="justify" width="85%"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#333333" size="2"><a href="../../current.html">Current Issue</a></font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#eef5f9"> <td bgcolor="#ecedf2" height="21"><table width="99%" height="18" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="15%"><div align="right"> <div align="justify"><font color="#333333" size="2"><width="8" height="9" /></font></div> </div></td> <td align="justify" width="85%"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#333333" size="2"><a href="../../archives.html">Archives</a></font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </br> <font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Sponsors &gt;&gt;</strong></font><br /> <table width="98%" height="159" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" bgcolor="#ecedf2"> <tbody> <tr bgcolor="#eef5f9"> <td width="149" bgcolor="#ecedf2" height="23"><table cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" width="100%" align="center" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td><div align="justify"></div> <font color="#333333" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="style45"><b>Coming Soon..</b></font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="EditRegion13" --> <table width="620" border="0" align="center"> <h1 align="center"><font size="6" face="Arial"><b>THE ORTHODOX APPROACH TO MISSION: TRANSFORMING THE HEART OF THE WORLD</b></font></h1><p align="center"><font size="4" face="Arial">Remarks Given at the XII All-Diaspora Youth Conference <br>Paris, 5th July 2011</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial"><b>Your Eminence, Your Grace, Reverend Fathers, Beloved Brothers and Sisters:</b></font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial"><b>In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: Amen.</b></font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">It is a joy for me to be giving what amounts to the first  formal lecture of this blessed conference, in which our whole aim is to explore mission and missionary work, especially in practical terms which you as the youth of our Church spread out as she is to every corner of the world might take up and live out when you return home.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">Given the timing of this talk here at the beginning of your reflections, I thought it best to take advantage of its position and to ask a few fundamental questions. I do this not only because it is good, as a general practice, to ask what we do and why we do it, before we engage in any activity that we hope will bear fruit; but also because the theme of missionary work, broadly speaking, is one that is very often marred by a drive for action that  skips over this very need to ask fundamental questions.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">Driven by the desire to do <i>something, anything</i>, missionary work is too often based purely on a vision of <i>action</i>. And yet, as Orthodox Christians all our actions are to be grounded in truth the Truth that is Christ Himself; and without a knowledge of this truth, our actions are shallow, and the fruit they bear is scant and small.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">So if we are to seek  practical guidance on Orthodox mission, and if we are to seek it in a genuinely Orthodox manner, we must start by recognising that<i>it is not authentic to the  practicality of Orthodoxy simply to  go out and do something . </i>An Orthodox approach begins with a heart turning to God, seeking understanding.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">And so we must ask ourselves the most basic question of all, as it relates to our conference here: just what, precisely, is  mission in the mind of the Orthodox Church?</font></p><p align="center"><font size="4" face="Arial"><b>What is  mission in the mind of the Orthodox Church?</b></font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">Before we attempt to focus ourselves too precisely on how to exercise it, how to accomplish it, we must took at the very concept itself. What is our  mission as Orthodox Christians? And what does it mean to be a  missionary in our contemporary world?</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">Often, when we hear these terms we instinctively, automatically, begin to think in the framework provided for us by outside influences. There are many religions that engage in what they call  missionary work , and they are often quite visible in this; and so our understanding of what it means to be missionary, and what mission itself might mean, is regularly influenced by what we see and hear in these others. And in their examples,  mission often means  telling other people what we believe , and  trying to get them to believe as we do . In effect, the idea of  mission is combined with another, that of <i>proselytism</i>, which is the technical term for the work of drawing other people into one s own religion or belief system.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">But is this what we mean, as Orthodox Christians? Can it be that our  mission is, as such examples would suggest, to create more Orthodox Christians to cause more people to convert?</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">As tempting as such a vision might be, the true testimony of the Church is that the answer must be  no . Creating converts is not our mission, and it cannot be our aim as missionaries in the modern world. But what, then, is?</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">For this, we must not look toward our contemporary society, with its norms and expectations even in religious terms. Our mission must not be defined by what the world expects; it must be defined by what the world <i>needs</i>, and what God offers to it in that need.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">Our source for understanding mission, then, is not in popular  action plans or Christian marketing strategies, however pious they might be. Our source is in our past, in our heritage which is vibrant and alive in our present. Our source is in our Fathers, who convey to us the truth of ourselves, of the world, of God and of His Church. It is by looking to what we receive from our Fathers in the faith, that we will learn what is our true mission as Christians, and in what our true missionary work might consist.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">And so we must ask ourselves, what do these divine sources tell us?</font></p><p align="center"><font size="4" face="Arial"><b>The Mission of the Orthodox Christian: The Salvation of the Soul</b></font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">The  mission and aim of the Christian life is the salvation of our souls and bodies, and the attainment of the Kingdom of God. This is first and foremost, and above all else.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">It is for this that the Father sent His only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, into the world; it is for this that He offered Himself and sent the life-creating Spirit that we who are fallen and broken, suffering and crippled by sin and death, might rise up by His power and attain to the life He has fashioned for us, abiding eternally with Him in His heavenly Kingdom.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">We must not forget this! Yet one of the things I feel it important to remind you of today is that the work of Christian mission <i>does </i>often forget this, and we and you as Orthodox Christians must stalwartly resist this tendency to forget what is truly the purpose of our every Christian activity, <i>especially </i>our missionary work.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">Our aim is not to help the people around us find a more fulfilling life; it is not to help them discover better worship; it is not to help them locate and become part of a more satisfying community. <i>Our mission is to help them find the Kingdom of God</i>, to overcome their sin by His power, to be transformed into the life of His blessedness.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial"><i>This </i>is our mission as Orthodox Christians; and for this reason, it is neither a popular or easy one in the world today. I want you to recognise this. To be a missionary requires struggle, and a confident boldness.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">To fulfill <i>this </i>mission, we must proclaim boldly and without hesitation:</font></p><ul type="DISC"> <li><font size="4" face="Arial"><i>that there is but one God</i>, not the many Gods, ideologies and spiritualities that the world likes to foster today;</font></li> <li><font size="4" face="Arial"><i>that this one God is our God</i>, who  does great and wonderful things , and He alone is true and the Truth, and not that endless variety of truths and wisdoms the world embraces around us;</font></li> <li><font size="4" face="Arial"><i>that there is such a thing as sin</i>, that there is right and there is wrong, there is good and there is bad and it can and should be identified as such even if the world might call this  judgemental ;</font></li> <li><font size="4" face="Arial">and, perhaps most importantly: <i>that there is a way out of sin </i>namely, the Life in Christ that is the mystery of His Church.</font></li></ul><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">Our mission is to attain the Kingdom of God, and to draw all those around us even the whole world into that same Kingdom. To be  missionary , then, is to live our lives in such a manner that these two things are possible, and more than simply possible: that they actually take place.</font></p><p align="center"><font size="4" face="Arial"><b>How Are We To Do This?</b></font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">I should like to spend the remainder of my short time with you this morning exploring, in practical terms, what this properly Orthodox understanding of mission might mean for each of you as the youth of the Church. And your status as the Church s youth makes this important, for ahead of you is a whole life shaped by the Church. We are often told that  the future of the Church is our youth ; but this is of course quite wrong. It is the other way around. As others have said before, <i>the future of our youth is the Church </i>as it is indeed the future of the whole world.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">Here are the main  practical points I would like to consider together today:</font></p><ul type="DISC"> <li><font size="4" face="Arial">(1) Developing a burning love through repentance and the mystical life.</font></li> <li><font size="4" face="Arial">(2) Living a distinctly different manner of life.</font></li> <li><font size="4" face="Arial">(3) Responding to the true needs of the world.</font></li></ul><p align="center"><font size="4" face="Arial"><b>(1) Developing a burning love through repentance and the mystical life</b></font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">At the foundation of our missionary work in the world is the missionary work that must take place in our own heart. A fundamental teaching of the Fathers is that we cannot share with others that which we do not possess ourselves; and thus it is a non-starter to believe we can share with the world the way into the Kingdom, if we are not working with all our energy to receive it in our own hearts.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">The foundation of practical missionary work, then, begins in the heart in your heart, in mine. It begins with repentance. Our hearts must see their brokenness, and turn from our sin towards redemption in Christ. Without this, we seek to share with the world what we do not have, and we seek to point the world toward a Kingdom that we are not ourselves moving toward or living within.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">This can never work. If we attempt it, we are like the foolish man attempting to build his house upon the sand (cf. Matthew 7.24-27; Luke 6.46-49). As our Lord Himself told us, this house will surely fall.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">But, you might ask, how is this understanding of mission beginning in the heart, a  practical step towards the missionary calling that you all share? And I answer: it is practical in as much as it <i>defines for us a clear starting point </i>for a life of true missionary zeal and impact.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial"><i>Missionary work begins in the Holy Mysteries</i>, in confession and the communion in the holy Body and Blood of Christ. It does not begin in a plan for travel, or an outline for catechesis, or a useful translation of the sacred writings or a manual for encounters. Nor does it begin with an idea for a good Christian bookstore or coffee-shop discussion groups. It begins with an epitrachilion laid across our head, our heart laid open by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the sins which bind us to death and darkness defeated by the power of God. It begins when, through this sacred Mystery, we are freed of the burden of sin, and are made ready to draw near to Christ Himself in the Divine Liturgy, receiving in soul and body Him who shows us His Father s Kingdom.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">In this way the truth proclaimed by St Isaac is made clear, that  the Kingdom of God is within you ; and then, only then, are we able to share with the world the truth of that Kingdom. Only then can we not only say, but <i>show </i>the world what it means to attain this Kingdom and live a life wholly shaped by it.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">This means that if you as the youth of the Church, and all of us as her members in Christ s Body, wish indeed to attain our mission and be genuine missionaries in the world, we must begin by whole-heartedly embracing repentance repentance not as an obligation, not as a requirement, but as a joyful and joy-creating foundation for a truly spiritual life.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">We must foster in our hearts a burning love for the Life in Christ that the Church gives us. <i>If you wish to be fruitful missionaries, begin by rushing with full zeal, eagerness and seriousness to confession, often and with full devotion</i>. Open your heart there wholly and completely to God, holding back nothing from Him, so that no corner of your life remains divided from Him, rebellious towards Him. Run eagerly, as if it were as important as your own breath, to that Mystery by which His power might conquer your sin and draw you out of darkness towards the true Sun of Righteousness.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">If this is how we make a practical beginning to our missionary calling, then we will have with us something far greater than a plan for spreading the word or offering just the right counsel<i>. We will have hearts that burn with God s grace</i>. We will have within us that which was promised by our Saviour and delivered upon the Holy Pentecost which we have so recently celebrated: the Holy Spirit Himself, alive in our hearts, filling our lives and words and actions in the same way He filled the lives, words and actions of the great missionary saints of all generations past. This is the Spirit who draws all of creation to the Son, who in turn presents it to His Father. This is the Spirit who enables the journey into the Kingdom of God; and if we begin with repentance, confession, communion, then we bear in ourselves this Spirit, who in us can find a willing partner for the work of drawing all the world to the Kingdom.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">We must remember one of the greatest missionary saints of the past century, St Seraphim of Sarov, and his famous saying:  Acquire the Spirit of peace within you, and a thousand around you shall be saved. We cannot assist others in finding their saving way into the Kingdom, unless our hearts so burn with the Spirit of Truth.</font></p><p align="center"><font size="4" face="Arial"><b>(2) Living a distinctly different manner of life</b></font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">This second key  ingredient of a genuinely missionary life is intrinsically tied together with the first, for unless we are given life by the Spirit and freed from the bonds of sin by the Mysteries of the Church, our life will always be defined by the world. We will live the life others live, even if in this way or that we might give it our own  flavour , our own twists. If we dwell first and foremost in the world, if we are shaped above all by the world, then all we can ever show the world is itself, no matter how often we might speak of God or other things.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">If, however, we are given the grace through repentance to live as those  in the world but not of it , then we are able, by our lives, to show the world something different. Something strikingly, unexpectedly different but only if we are committed to <i>living the truly  other life of the Gospel</i>.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">As an example of this, I would like to call upon an episode from the era of the Apostolic Fathers, who were the immediate successors to the Holy Apostles and who lived and wrote in what were still the first generations of the Church. At this time, the Church was, in human terms, still young and new, and few people in society yet knew of her. Those who had heard of her, rarely knew what she really was, what she actually believed; and there were no convenient  Introductions to Orthodoxy to be read even the Creed had yet to be written. The only way to learn of the Church was to see her, to behold her, to gaze upon the Christians themselves and thus behold the Body of Christ.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">And what did people see, when they looked at the life of the Church in those early days? We have an anonymous text from the time, which offers us a characterisation of what one person saw when he beheld the Christian manner of life and how he chose to characterise it to another, and it is perhaps one of the most beautiful texts ever written:</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial"> Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind either in locality or in speech or in customs. For they dwell not somewhere in cities of their own, neither do they use some different language, nor practise an extraordinary kind of life. Nor again do they possess any invention discovered by any intelligence or study of ingenious men, nor are they masters of any human dogma as some are. But while they dwell in cities of Greeks and barbarians as the lot of each is cast, and follow the native customs in dress and food and the other arrangements of life, <i>yet the constitution of their own citizenship, which they set forth, is marvellously distinct and confessedly contradicts expectation.</i></font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial"> They dwell in their own countries, but only as sojourners; they bear their share in all things as citizens, and they endure all hardships as strangers. Every foreign country is a fatherland to them, and every fatherland is foreign. They marry like all other men and they beget children; but they do not cast away their offspring. They have their meals in common, but not their wives. They find themselves in the flesh, and yet they live not after the flesh. Their existence is on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, yet they surpass the laws in their own lives. They love all men, even as they are persecuted by all. They are ignored, and yet they are condemned.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial"> They are put to death, and yet they are endued with life. They are poor and beg their bread, yet they make many rich. They are in want of all things, and yet they abound in everything. They are dishonoured, and yet they are glorified in their dishonour. They are spoken of as evil, and yet they are vindicated. They are reviled, and they bless; they are insulted, and they show respect. Doing good, they are punished as evil-doers; then, being punished, they rejoice as if they were thereby quickened unto life. War is waged against them as aliens by the Jews, and persecution is carried out against them by the Greeks, and yet those that hate them cannot identify a reason for their hostility. <i>In a word, what the soul is in a body, this the Christians are in the world.</i> 1</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">Think of how these early Christians must have lived their lives, that one could look upon them and say such things as these! And then we must ask ourselves: am I living my life in such a manner? Will the world look at me and say such things? Or will it look at me and see someone trying to  fit in , to be  acceptable to the norms and expectations of the world around me?</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">If we are to be genuine missionaries, we must not aim to  fit in to the world. We must live a distinctly different manner of life, so that the world might  look upon our good works, and glorify our Father who is in heaven (cf. Matthew 5.16).</font></p><p align="center"><font size="4" face="Arial"><b>(3) Responding to the true needs of the world</b></font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">This brings me to my third main point: the need for us to respond to the true needs of the world. It is only when we have a heart transfigured by God s power, when we live a truly Christian life and bear its witness in the world, that we can then see what the world <i>truly needs</i> and not simply what it thinks it needs, or what it wants. It is precisely in <i>seeing the difference</i>between the true life we live as Christians, and the life of the world, that we can point at this dimension or that like wise doctors and say  Aha! It is <i>that</i>which must be cured, if my patient is to be well! We see this through our lives, and the way our lives interact with those of the world.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">And <i>now</i>, now we have the right tools required to <i>act. </i>It is only now that we can say to ourselves, <i>with the wisdom that comes from the experience of Christian life and the needs of the world</i>, that this or that activity <i>will authentically meet the need of those around us</i>.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">This need may be for instruction in living the virtues. It may be in drawing in fellow young people to Church activities but not simply as a  social activity , but in direct response to the needs of these specific people.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">It may be in organising activities to give to the poor or reach out to suffering communities; but not simply as a generic  good activity , but as a concrete response to a need we see around us, and a means of helping such people<i>see and behold the life of the Kingdom</i>.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">Only in such a way will we construct missionary activities that actually aim to fulfil our Orthodox mission: <i>to draw the world around us into the Kingdom of God</i>.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">Sometimes our missionary work will be friendly, casual, even playful; at others it will be formal, even stark. Not all patients are treated in the same way, and the same medication does not work for every disease. And if we are true missionaries, then whatever our state in life, we are participants in the spiritual transformation the Church offers. We are helpers in the spiritual hospital, by which souls are saved.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial"><b>The Way Forward</b></font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">As we then move forward with our conference, with our discussions, workshops, seminars and discussions, let us strive to remember in every context the fundamental realities that must guide us as Orthodox Christians seeking to be missionaries in the modern world.</font></p><ul type="DISC"> <li><font size="4" face="Arial">(1) We must begin always in our own heart, seeking a burning love through repentance and the mystical life.</font></li> <li><font size="4" face="Arial">(2) We must always seek to live truly Orthodox lives, bearing witness to the world of a distinctly different manner of life.</font></li> <li><font size="4" face="Arial">(3) Then, in this wonderful life, we must turn to our fellow man, to the whole of God s world, and seek to respond to its needs, that it may join us in this God-given life of grace and transformation.</font></li></ul><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">The world does not need more generic missionaries. It does not need simply  Christian-flavoured social work. It does not need it, and it will reject it.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">But the world <i>desperately needs </i>to be shown the way into the Kingdom of Heaven. And each of us, each of you, may receive the power from God to help the suffering world, to join Christ in offering Himself  for the life of the world , and thus become true missionaries and lights to your fellow man.</font></p><p align="justify"><font size="4" face="Arial">May the Lord bless you in this work!</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Arial">Amen.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Arial"><i>Hieromonk Irinei</i></font></p> </table> <!-- InstanceEndEditable --></td> </tr> </table> </body> <!-- InstanceEnd --></html>