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July 23, 2011
Wayne, WV: Parishioners of Washington’s St. John the Baptist
Cathedral carried out a pilgrimage to Holy Cross Monastery
On
Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th of July, 52 pilgrims from St.
John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC, led by cathedral
cleric Priest John Johnson, made their way across the mountains of
the Virginias to
Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, WV. As they arrived at the
monastery in late afternoon, all arrived safely, despite the fact
that a chartered tour bus has never attempted to drive the narrow
and winding roads to the monastery, including the steep uphill climb
at the end. Upon arrival to the monastery, the pilgrims visited the
main monastery church, where they venerated the icons and lit
candles. The deputy abbot of the monastery, Abbot Seraphim (Voepel),
greeted the pilgrims on behalf of His Grace, Bishop George, abbot of
the monastery, and the Brotherhood. Hieromonk Alexander (Frizzell)
spoke to the pilgrims, introducing them to the life and history of
the monastery and the background behind various icons and relics of
special significance in the monastery church.
The excellent meals were prepared beforehand by the pilgrims at the
parish kitchen, and dinner was served in an overflowing refectory,
where a sound system had been installed to broadcast the meal
prayers and monastic readings to those seated outside. After a short
break, the Vigil for Sunday and the Holy Royal Martyrs of Russia was
served in a likewise overflowing church, with speakers,
candlestands, and icons installed outside under a tent, while
confessions were heard by multiple priests throughout the service.
On Sunday morning, the Hours and Divine Liturgy were concelebrated
by monastery clergy and visiting priests Fr. John Johnson and
Hieromonk Cyprian (Alexandrou; cleric of Holy Trinity Monastery in
Jordanville). A prayerful spirit reigned in the church as the
Liturgy was sung by the monastery choir, and a large number of
worshippers communed of the Holy Mysteries.
After the meal in the monastery refectory, the pilgrims separated
into three groups for a full tour of the monastery grounds, farm,
and workshops. The pilgrims learned about the daily routine at the
monastery’s livestock farm, and the processes for the production of
incense, soap, and candles. After the tour and some time in the
monastery’s gift shop, everyone assembled back in the church for a
final moleben to the Holy Royal Martyrs of Russia and the Holy Great
Martyr and Healer Panteleimon, the monastery’s heavenly intercessor.
After all of the brethren and pilgrims were anointed with oil from
the lamp of the monastery’s shrine to St. Panteleimon. The pilgrims
then boarded the bus to return to the nation’s capital.
We are pleased to offer our readers a sermon by one of the
monastery clerics on the feast of the Royal Martyrs:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, speaks to his apostles in today’s
gospel, which we read in honor and memory of the Royal
Passion-Bearers, with these words:
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you.
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because
ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you.
These words certainly apply to the saints whose memory we celebrate
today. The Royal Family, Tsar Nicholas II, Tsaritsa Alexandra, the
Crown Prince Alexis, and the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria,
and Anastasia, are some of the most misunderstood and vilified
people in modern history. For many people, both in Russia and here
in the West, this can be partially understood by ignorance and
misinformation coming from the media and academia. But for many
others, from the tsar’s own family and the Russian intelligentsia,
to those in the West in high finance, the press, and academia, there
was (and still is!) a vicious hatred, even a demonic hatred, for the
God-crowned Tsar and his most pious family. The Tsar’s grandfather,
Alexander II, was murdered by revolutionaries; Tsar Nicholas’
father, Alexander III, was nearly killed several times by
revolutionary terrorist attacks. Tsar Nicholas II knew almost the
entire time that he reigned as emperor that his life would be a
sacrifice for Russia, that it would most likely end in bloodshed,
his own blood being spilled by those whose hatred was stirred up
against him. This was prophesied by both St. Seraphim of Sarov and
Blessed Parasceva of Diveevo long before that terrible night in July
of 1918, when they were gunned down and bayoneted by the Bolsheviks.
There have been many books and articles in recent decades, written
by Orthodox writers, that have set the record straight on the piety
of the Royal family, on the love and care that the Tsar and Tsaritsa
had for their country and for the Orthodox Church, of the close
family bond that united them to their dying day, and of their
sacrifices for their beloved Russia. These writings give us a more
accurate perspective of what a saintly family this was and how so
much of the slander hurled against them simply wasn’t true.
In thinking about the these Royal Martyrs, and how they maintained
and preserved their Orthodox piety in the midst of those
extraordinary times of revolution, godlessness, and attacks on the
Faith from all sides, it is helpful for us to look at them and
examine their lives, because we ourselves live in extraordinary
times. We live in an unprecedented time of revolution, godlessness,
and attacks on the Faith, like the world has never seen. You might
say, "How can that be? The times of Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, and Mao
are over. Things in the world are not good, but certainly they could
be much worse?!" True, the time of these worldwide dictators is
currently not the same as in those days, but now, our Enemy, the
Devil, prowling about like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, uses craftier and less
open methods of warfare against the Church of Christ. Father George
Calciu, the confessor from Romania who suffered for 22 years in
communist prisons, and nearly as many years later in the United
States, said, "I don’t think it is easier to be a Christian in
America than in Romania under the Communist regime. In America, we
don’t have to suffer imprisonment, torture, and so on, but
spiritually, it is very difficult to keep the true Faith here."
Our world, especially here in this country, is inundated with all
kinds of things that are attempting to draw our minds and hearts
away from Christ, from His Church, from a pious way of life, from
remembrance of death and the future life. What they teach in
schools, what we see and hear on the internet, in the movies and on
TV, the endless and ever-increasing amount of technological gadgets
that distract us and rule our lives without our being aware of it
and on and on, are making the temptations so subtle that we are numb
to their harmful effects and don’t realize how we gradually slip
away from God when we aren’t watchful and sober. C.S. Lewis
commented on this when he wrote, "Indeed the safest road to Hell is
the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden
turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
So what can we learn from the Royal Martyrs to inspire us on our
path to preserve the Faith in these difficult days? Let’s look at
one aspect or virtue of each member or group of the family and see
how it protected them from the hatred of the world, the world that
hates Christ and therefore hates those who are His.
One of the prominent virtues of Tsar Nicholas II was his
faithfulness to his calling as emperor, both to do everything to
protect and serve the Russian people, and to uphold and support the
Church. Faithfulness and integrity! These basic and most normal
virtues have become increasingly rare in our day and age! No matter
how much hatred the world had towards the Tsar, he was never bitter
or angry about it, and those who were closest to him marveled at his
patience and lack of vindictiveness. More saints were glorified
during his reign than any other Tsar before him, and oftentimes he
pushed for it when the Church was slow to act. St. Seraphim of Sarov
prophesied, "The Tsar who glorifies me ‒ him will I glorify." By
this, we can see the spiritual value and benefit of being faithful
to the Church and honoring the saints. Tsar Nicholas always honored
the saints, went to church and confessed and communed regularly,
embellished and established churches and monasteries all over Russia
and even here in America. This love for the Church is something so
basic, and yet so necessary if we are going to preserve our Orthodox
Faith. The world, the flesh, and the devil will try to use every
means to keep us away from the soul-saving grace of the Church, but
to love the Church, to pray, to give, to confess, to commune, to
serve within the bosom of the Holy Church, to make it the most
important thing in our lives ‒ by this we can be inspired in the
life of Tsar Nicholas, and see what spiritual benefit it brought to
him, both during his lifetime, in overcoming the world, and after
his martyric end, being glorified by the Russian Church and adorned
with a multitude of miracles.
Tsar Nicholas’ wife, the Tsaritsa Alexandra, was likely the victim
of gossip and slander even more than her husband. We must not
forget, those of us who converted to Orthodoxy, that Alexandra
herself, and also her sister, St. Elizabeth the New-Martyr, were
English-speaking converts to the Orthodox Faith. Both of them are
now glorified saints! This reason alone should inspire those of us
who are converts to emulate their good deeds and ask for their
intercessions. One of the primary virtues of the Tsaritsa that is
inspiring for us is how she preserved herself from worldly
distractions and entertainments. The Empress was often expected to
engage in many worldly activities, such as balls, operas, concerts,
the theater, and much more. Although sometimes attending because of
her royal duties, she mostly shunned attendance at such places where
triviality and amusement were the mainstay of high society, and she
was despised and slandered for this. At times, she grew despondent
and upset at how viciously the press and high society attacked and
slandered her, but she never despaired and always trusted in God to
get her through the difficult times. In this regard, we find
ourselves living in a world very much like Russian society at the
beginning of the 20th century. In our times, to be a normal Orthodox
Christian, to desire to live a pious life within the Church,
requires us to swim against the stream, to love neither the world,
nor the things that are in the world. To attend church on Saturday
nights, Sunday liturgies, and feast days, to keep the fasts, to make
pilgrimages to monasteries, to prefer prayer and spiritual reading
to hedonistic pleasures and worldly entertainments, is taking a bold
and courageous step in our day, and we must be ready to be scorned
and ridiculed for our Faith in God and love for the Church of
Christ. Tsaritsa Alexandra can inspire us, show us how she handled
herself and guided her children, and even the mistakes she made can
serve to make us mindful of our own weaknesses and passions that
blind us to the Truth and a virtuous way of life.
As for the Grand Duchesses, we don’t often hear of the virtues of
the daughters of the Royal Couple, but there is something we can
mine from their lives that can inspire us today. Like all older
children and especially teenagers, the world was very enticing to
them, and their mother noticed the tendency in them towards
"frivolity and extravagance." Most young girls or women in their
shoes would likely have felt the same temptations. In order to
subdue this tendency in them, the Tsaritsa drew their attention to
the sufferings of others. During World War I, she and the four grand
duchesses "became nurses; and hospitals were opened near the
family’s residence, where wounded soldiers were brought. They worked
long hours, diligently and tirelessly following the commandment of
Christ to visit the sick." Abba Dorotheos of Gaza writes that
nothing cures the passions and sins inside of us so much as tending
to the sick and the suffering. The Church is a hospital, and all of
us are in need of a spiritual physician. Yet many people also suffer
from physical ailments, and also from spiritual ailments and mental
illnesses. As Orthodox Christians, it is our duty, and should be our
joy, to minister to and to serve those who are suffering, whether
visiting those in prisons or in hospitals, giving food and clothing
to the needy and poor, or oftentimes, listening with hearts full of
pain and love to those who are having difficulties and need someone
with whom to talk. This brings consolation to the sufferer and gives
an abiding joy and spiritual grace to those who give of themselves
to help others. The Grand Duchesses had all the wealth and
extravagance of the world waiting for them if they had wanted it,
but they chose to serve those who were suffering and in the end, to
stay with their family and suffer at the hands of those who hated
them. Even in captivity towards the end of their lives, cruel and
barbaric guards were sent to keep watch over the family, but the
family’s purity of soul, their innocence and piety changed the
guard’s attitudes, and frequently they had to be rotated out to
bring in more cruel guards who would be more mean and brutal to the
Royal family, so profoundly did the piety of these sisters affect
the Communists sent to harass them.
Lastly, we come to Tsarevich Alexis. He is mostly remembered for the
illness from which he suffered: hemophilia. Hemophilia is a disease
where the blood will not clot properly, and the slightest scratch or
wound can cause intense bleeding and suffering. With this disease
and the worries and troubles it caused the Royal Family, one could
say that Alexis was not just a martyr for the type of death he met,
but that his entire life was martyrdom. Despite living the life of a
normal boy as much as he could, much of his time was spent in bed or
being guarded so that he didn’t injure himself. In our day, when
many young people curse God or even take their own life due to such
suffering, the young Tsarevich was always patient and tried to live
a normal life as much as he could. He never complained of injustice
and endured his suffering with patience, as Christ tells us, "In
your patience, possess ye your souls." When Alexis was only 13 years
old, after his father had abdicated from the throne and the family
was distraught, he wrote a letter to his sister Anastasia and said:
"I will pray fervently for you and Maria. With God everything will
pass. Be patient and pray." Imagine! A thirteen year old! What
strength of character at such a young age! Surely we can learn from
him and be inspired by him and pray to him for help in our own
sufferings. Handling our own sufferings with patience and trust in
God is one of the most fundamental and yet difficult things for us
to learn to do in our day. Science wants to find the cure for every
disease and eventually eradicate death, but if cures are found, new
diseases will surely surface. The illnesses that plague us today,
whether physical ailments, or mental and emotional suffering such as
depression, anxiety, fears, paranoia, and much more, are crosses
that we must bear with much patience and trust in God that these
thorns in the flesh are for our salvation, that without them perhaps
we would fall away from God and stop relying on him. The
child-martyr Alexis can inspire us to endure our momentary trials,
which will serve as a crown for us in the heavenly kingdom, if we
wait on the Lord and do not despair.
So we see several virtues in the Royal Family that can serve as a
guide to us as we struggle to maintain our Faith: 1) Faithfulness to
our work and especially to the Church; 2) preserving ourselves from
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life;
3) serving and caring for those around us who are suffering and in
need; and 4) patiently enduring the trials that God allows us to
have for our humility and our salvation. From the grand palaces in
Moscow and St. Petersburg to their death in the basement of the
Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas and his
family always remained steadfast in their faith and love for God,
for each other and for their enemies who hated them.
Shortly after the abdication of the Tsar in 1917, the Empress
Alexandra said: "Our sufferings are nothing. Look at the sufferings
of the Savior, how He suffered for us. If this is necessary for
Russia, we are ready to sacrifice our lives and everything."
Again, we remember what our Savior said in today’s Gospel:
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you.
If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because
ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you.
We must firmly believe that if our Savior suffered and was hated by
the world, then we too must be ready to do the same and not shrink
back due to fear. Let us strive to imitate our Savior, and also
those saints who emulated Him with their patience amidst sufferings,
and endured slander from those who hated them.
Christ tells us: In the world
ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the
world.
O Holy Royal Martyrs pray to God for us! Amen.
Media
Office of the Eastern American Diocese
