Sermon of His Grace Bishop JOHN Yazigi

All Hallows Church – London

Sunday 18^th August 2002

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Beloved,

We celebrate on the 15^th of August of each year the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. The Virgin Mary has a special place in the life of the church. To her we chant and say: “More honourable than the cherubim, and incomparably more glorious than the seraphim, thou who without corruption didst bring forth God the Word, and art indeed Mother of God, thee do we magnify”.

The Virgin Mary committed her life to the Lord “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38), and therefore was elected by God to be the girl from whom Christ took flesh. The power of the Highest overshadowed her, the Holy Spirit came and abode in her and Christ sanctified her womb. She who took in her arms the baby Jesus and looked after Him. She who took care of Jesus and accompanied His life in the flesh.

We, as believers, magnify the Theotokos and we bring her our respects. We read in the Gospel: “For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). We consider and teach that the Virgin Mary is a bearer of every virtue. We put her icon next to the icon of our Lord in the church, the same in our houses and around our necks. We ask for her intercessions in our prayers. We celebrate her feasts (as her Annunciation, nativity and dormition) and we fast especially for Her. We pray for Her in special services such as “The Small and Long Supplication” and “The Akathist Hymn”.

We have much to say about the Virgin Mary: Her role in the dispensation of Christ for our salvation, Her place in the life of the faithful, Her support and help for them, Her uniqueness etc. But I will remind you today of one thing that we can learn from Her, that is her humility. That which we hear in the epistle’s passage which is read at the feast of the Dormition of Theotokos: “(Christ Jesus) made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name” (Phi 2:7-9).

Our Fathers took this passage to be read at the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos because they considered the Virgin Mary to be the clearest example and type to teach us the way of self-emptying, self-denial, and humility, guiding us on the way of our Lord when He became obedient to His Father unto death, even the death of the cross.

Our Lord did not give us abstract ideas and He did not teach us things far from our daily life. He came and made Himself the living and true Prototype for us, therefore we can imitate Him “learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Mat 11:29). Hence the Apostle Paul said: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (Cor 11:1).

Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray and say: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mat 6:9-12). This means that when we ask His will we take away our will. This is humility and self-emptying.

Our Lord Jesus Christ showed us the way of emptying ourselves and taught us how we can achieve it by His submission to the Father’s will and His complete obedience to Him even unto death: “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done”(Luke 22:42).

Three aspects of which I would like to remind you are self-emptying, submission and obedience to God and holiness.

Ø Self-emptying:

That means to take away or to deny our will. Man had fallen from his beauty when he had disobeyed God; thus he became enslaved to sin, knew corruption and lived attracted by his every whim. Therefore man who likes to enjoy the church, the body of Christ, and lives according to the will of Christ has, first of all, to refuse the devil and all his works. The baptized man turns to the west, which symbolizes the darkness; the priest asks him: “Do you reject the devil and all his works and worthless pomp?”; and he answers: “Yes, I reject the devil and all his works and worthless pomp”. This means that man refuses to be enslaved to sin or to obey evil. He then takes off the old man, the old Adam, who was corrupted by sin when he went away from God.

Ø Obedience to God:

The Christian knows that to take away his will and to take off the old Adam is not enough, but he must stick to Christ, the new Adam. The baptized man turns to the east, which symbolizes the light; the priest asks him: “Dost thou unite thyself unto Christ?”; and he answers: “I do”. If man empties himself of sin and he does not fill the void with virtues he becomes worthless. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first” (Mat 12:43-45). Hence man goes away from sin and sticks to virtue, puts off the old Adam and puts on the new Adam, who is in the image of his Creator. A Christian knows very well that he lives this truth by imitating Christ, obeying Him and carrying out His commandments: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments”(1 John 5:3).

Ø Holiness:

God gives the man who humbles himself, who obeys the will of God and lives according to His commandments streams of the true life and makes him abide in the mystery of the Cross. The cross in its first aspect is death. Hence man dies to his will, to sin and all the temptations of this world. The cross is the way of pain and struggle which shows man as awfully weak, but man believes that this way is the way of triumph and this is the second aspect of the cross which is the resurrection.

Man humbles himself not because he is powerless, but because he asks Christ to abide in him. Man accepts to be weak or despised because he looks to Christ who was nailed to the cross and He had no regard for His divine honor.

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him (Christ), and given him a name which is above every name” (Phi 2:9). After all the Lord said in the Gospel “whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Mat 23:13). Yes, that is the truth: the man who humbles himself and obeys God shall be exalted and God gives him His peace which is not of this world, therefore man is sanctified and illuminated by the grace “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Mat 5:8). This man tests the beauty of the life with God and sees unspeakable things “And I knew such a man, whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Cor 12:3-4).

This is the way of triumph, and this is what we learned today from our Virgin Mary, who has committed herself to God and therefore has been exalted by God’s grace. We ask for her intercession that God may strengthen us to pass along this way which lifts us up to heaven. Hence we experience the beauty of His light with the all saints, Who is glorified and sanctified for ever, amen.