Transcript
GORDON: Well, I'm just going to continue. We've done a switch; Bishop Basil has had to go off and get some his accoutrements; and I'll be filling in -- I'll be switching positions. And the subject that's very much on my heart is the matter of the church and the triumph of the Christian faith. You've heard about the thousand years of Christianity in [Kievan Rus'?], but really what we are remembering today is
the continuous struggle of the church in the world, a struggle that has gone on for 2,000 years, a struggle that has gone on for 1,000 years, a struggle that has gone on in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe for 71 years. And the important thing that we have to remember is that the struggle is going on, that it is continuing, and it will continue until Christ's
kingdom is established, if not here, then at least in glory. As you know, our mass media has made a great deal of fuss about the openness of Gorbachev, and perhaps attributed to him qualities of benevolence which may be premature; I think he's a brilliant man, I think he's a splendid propagandist. I think he's achieved so much of what he's been aiming at, including
a 400 percent increase in donations from the banks of the West. Last year, he only got 2.3 billion. This year, because of his visit -- and a splendid visit -- he was a master of propaganda. He's even actually getting royalties from his propaganda from Harper and Row in New York, that's how brilliant he is. We could do with a few more like him on our
side, rather than on his side. And but we have to remember that our work isn't finished, and that the struggle continues. And what we have at the present moment is a glorious opportunity to further the work of Christ's Kingdom on earth; not only in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Third World or whatever it may be, but also in our own country. For what happens behind the Iron Curtain and in the Third World is of tremendous
significance to us. While others have been struggling with persecution, we've been struggling with affluence. When I came to this country, at first, people thought I was slightly crazy because I spoke of the Church and its development and its growth through persecution and suffering, and I was reminded, really, that the faith of people in this country
had brought about great success. It reminded me of a critique of Solzhenitsyn's Harvard address of '78. There many, many criticisms. The criticisms based on his criticism of the secularization of Western civilization. And one very learned professor from a department of Russian studies in this country wrote saying, "The tragedy of Solzhenitsyn
is that his faith has been hammered out on the anvil of suffering." But we, we in this blessed country have learned to live with luxury and affluence, and so we are ahead of Solzhenitsyn, and this is something that Solzhenitsyn has failed to realize. But there is no ease in Zion, and as I've said so often, Christ never promised us
a Cadillac; He promised us a cross. And it's up to us to bear that cross. I think it's very important that Gorbachev has recognized the importance of the Christian faith in the fact that he has realized that he cannot destroy it. But remember, that Stalin did the very same thing; he recognized that he could
not destroy the Christian faith, he could destroy the structures, but he couldn't destroy the Christian faith in the hearts of people. At the height of Stalin's mass slaughter, he realized that while he could destroy the physical aspects of the church, its establishment, its hierarchy, its libraries and seminaries, its charitable organizations, its religious institutions and sanctuaries,
he could not, in fact, destroy the faith of Christ in the hearts of believers. And as you know, Christianity refused to die out with the grandmothers, as Lenin and Stalin believed. Twenty years of destructive effort by execution, death camps, compulsory mass migration and expensive atheistic propaganda failed, and
failed miserably. I think it was his recognition of this failure that caused him to go into hiding for at least eight days after the forces of the Third Reich had crossed the Soviet boarder in June, 1941. Did he expect the Russian people to respond to Hitler's promise of religious freedom by laying down their arms? Probably so. One of the many ironies
of history, however, is that it was a hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, namely Metropolitan Sergii, who rallied the people of Russia to the defense of the Holy Fatherland, and not that of the Soviet Union. The participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the war effort as you have heard related (inaudible), convinced Stalin of the fact that if he couldn't destroy the Christian faith,
he could at least control the Church establishment and use it for his propaganda purposes. With this in mind, he permitted the elevation of Metropolitan Sergii to the patriarchy, a position he held, as you may recall, for only a few months in 1943. Almost at the same time, Stalin initiated two new ministries to supervise the activities of the
Russian Orthodox Church, and those of other denominations. Both of those ministries or councils were later merged into the present Council of Religious Affairs, now presided over by Constantine [Harchev?]. For its purpose of control, this council, as you know, has the benefit of the laws of religious association dating back to 1939. So far as the articles
of this suppressive law, so far they haven't been abrogated; they're still in existence, although there is a change in the air. And remember that Article 16 of the 1977 version of the constitution has not been changed, which states that the communist party is the nucleus of the political system.
And when Gorbachev is speaking about reconstruction, he is speaking about reconstruction within the communist party, a democratization within the communist party. As recently as 1986, the 27th Party Congress spelled out the obligation of party members to engage in the struggle against religious prejudices and other views and customs
which are foreign to the socialist way of life. I think it's important to realize two things; first, that the registered churches, with all the restrictions imposed upon them by the state nevertheless represent the triumph of the Christian faith. This evidence has been clearly seen in the heroic witness of priests such as Father Dmitri Dudko, Father Gleb Yakunin
and Deacon Vladimir Ruzich. And I remind you that it is within the ambience of the Russian Orthodox Church that that very significant movement of the '70s, namely the Christian seminar, has been nurtured. Even at its worst, the Russian Orthodox Church has preserved a Christian lifestyle, a Christian culture,
and that is evidenced in its high artistic expressions through the icons that you've heard about, and through its music, through its liturgy and through its great literature, much of which, of course, has been repressed. But second, we must remember that there is the danger of the register churches like our own denominational churches in this country, there is a danger of them losing the uniqueness of the
distinctive witness in their efforts to maintain their bureaucracies in compliance with the requirements of the state. In this respect, I am mindful of St. Paul's advice to the church in Corinth; therefore, seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy, we [faint?] not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness or handling the word of God deceitfully, but by
manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We're troubled in every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted,
organized by external forces, and yet we continue on our way. And it's interesting to remember that there were two celebrations that took place during the celebrations of a thousand years in Kiev Rus;
one reflected the pageantry and power of the state, and so crowded was it with the representative of all the Western denominations that there was no space left for the lowly Russian believers. The other reflected the lost treasure that is written about in Paul's letter. The other, that treasure of
treasure of the spirit, that treasure of the living Word of God. And as you know, Western delegates had been invited to attend that celebration of what I would call the spiritual continuation of the early church, the primitive church; but they preferred the other celebration, the celebration of heart. Surely, the celebration of the earthen vessel, but even worse the subrogation
of the Church to the atheistic state. I think we're in a time of transition. New opportunities are being granted to us, but it is up to us in the conviction of our faith to take advantage of the opportunities that God is providing to us. To read the New York Times is like reading the book of Revelation. The
sinful events of our times surely challenge all of us; the apparent peace movement may be good in many ways, but it can never assure us of that peace of the heart which brings peace to the world. And so in the apparent peace of the present moment, and there is an apparent peace breaking out all over, we ought to remember the first verse
of 8th Chapter of the book of Revelation. "And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour. And so it may be that we are existing in this half hour of silence." The question is, what do we who are Christians, what do we do in this half hour of God's time allotted to us? We know that the Church of
the martyrs will be serving the living God in eternity, but what about the Church still existing in space and time in the half hour of God's silence? The church of the martyrs has surely shown us what we may do. We may let the Church be the Church of Jesus Christ, and not the adjunct of the state, as Christ's Kingdom
is not of this world, neither is Christ's Church. It is in the world, but not to serve the world, except as a servant of Christ. And we remember, therefore, that the Church is Christ, and not the projection of a sinful society. And because she is God, she is one, she is holy, she is Catholic and she is apostolic, continuing the faith held by the apostles, because
she is God's Word is rightly proclaimed, the sacraments rightly administered and the Christian life rightly lived. As Paul reminds us in Galatians, love is -- faith is acted out in love. Faith is acted out in love. The Word of God is a living God word, as it was in the flesh in the days of our
Lord, so it is in the flesh of Christ's body, the Church, today. But above all, we are to remember that the closer we are to Christ, the closer we come to one another. And He knows no class, no cast, nor denomination, and those who have been in prison and in prison camps know that reality. The so-called dissidents in the
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are those who affirm the Lordship of Jesus Christ, just as the reformers in the present period of history did in the late Middle Ages. And I would remind you that the age of Constantine has ended. The age of Constantine has ended. He, you will recall, was a pagan emperor of Rome who was so impressed by the high moral conduct
of Christians under the terrible persecution of Diocletian that he wanted to impart the virtues of Christianity to the structure of his decadent and dying empire. I regret to say that there were those at that time who were so delighted to have his approval that they elevated him to apostolic rank. And perhaps the Caesar Papacism of the
Soviet Union is but the last expression of that mood of political absolutism which has dominated the Church for far too long. In God's half hour of silence, the Church may be set free to be the Church as she was in the first three centuries. The expansion of the Church in those days was achieved through the excitingly good news of God's infinite love, revealed in the Godman,
Jesus, and through the persecution of his followers. The place of the church's origin was Jerusalem, or more correctly, Golgotha, when all the disciples except John fled. The revolutionary who was being crucified with Jesus turned to him to say, "Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your Kingdom." Jesus' reply was, "Today shalt
thou be with Me in paradise" -- paradise or paradise. That rebel was the first member of Christ's church, and all the rest of us line up behind him. And we, like him, are unrighteous who are in our unrighteousness plead the mercy of the crucified Christ. Very soon, there came
a time in Jerusalem when the growth of the church angered the supporters of the status quo. Stephen, one of the seven Deacons, was arrested and sentenced to death by stoning. His ultimate blasphemy in the minds of his accusers was his final witness when he said, "Behold, I see the Heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." He had that vision of the victorious
Christ which he shared with those who were stoning him to death. And so as the stones came hurtling at him, he completed his witness to the Christ-like way by saying, "Lord, lay not their sin to their charge." An official witness to the execution was greatly troubled by that witness, his name was Saul.
After his Damascus Road experience, you remember, he became Paul; he who was the persecutor of the Church became the persecuted who shared in the suffering of the Church that he had once persecuted. And as Paul, the one born out of (inaudible) as by an abortion as it were, was the one who led the expansion of the Church in the
Gentile world. Because of the persecution in Jerusalem, the church was scattered throughout the world of the Mediterranean. No sooner was a new center established than its members were persecuted. Once again, they went their way until the known world of that time was evangelized. The dynamic of expansion was witness and persecution. Witness
and persecution, persecution and witness -- they went together. I have touched upon the nature of the Church as being a divine creation, in the hope that by doing so, we may clear our minds of the confusion created by too many silly efforts to make the church sound as though she is merely like the world; I think the world Church of our present time has made the mistake
of bringing the world into the Church, instead of bringing the Church into the world. And in doing so, I hope that we will be able to distinguish between Church and culture, because the Church is in the world; she has given to the world those great moral principles essential for an authentic democracy. We mustn't make the mistake, therefore, of believing that rejection
of Christian culture means the end of Christ's Church; it doesn't. We are back at square one at Golgotha, Jerusalem and Antioch to mention but a few of the places where Christ and his church faced challenge and defeated the worldly powers. By recovering the Church for Christ, we become instrumental in recovering
the world for Christ. Never let us forget that He died for it, and He died for it on the cross of Golgotha. It is His world, His world by creation, His world by redemption and suffering. And here I shall court the words contained in a sermon, preached by Deacon Vladimir Ruzich in March, 1982.
"Our Church was glorified and affirmed by many thousands of martyrs. As Christians, we, too, cannot avoid the cup which is prepared for us as the children of God. We, for the most part, have not been tested as the martyrs have been tested, and he has, as you know, been tested. Therefore, it is all the more vital that we be willing to be one with those who suffer for Christ's sake, and recognize their wounds as though
they were our own. By the accident of grace, CREED was initiated as a witness to the persecuted Church. Our attempts to do this have committed us more deeply to the recovery of the Church, and to the renewal of the modal heritage of Western civilization. And by such a commitment, we are in fellowship with the persecuted church of the faithful. Thus, in similar vein,
Father Gleb Yakunin addressed a group of Americans at the American ambassador's residence in Moscow early June, as you have heard Father Vladimir say. And one of the statements he made was as follows: "Faith in Russia has stood its ground. Today, faith is a primary source of spiritual joy and optimism. The blood of the martyrs is a life-giving force of the Church. Religion
is like salt, which protects humanity from decomposition and disintegration. Any attempt to banish it from social life invariably leads to degradation of society. And so the struggle continues. And we're all involved in that struggle, but the victory is [assured?].