Sermon of His Grace Bishop JOHN Yazigi

In the occasion of the Consecration of the Holy Archangel Michael’s Church – Audly - UK on Sunday 11^th August 2002

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

Beloved,

I greatly rejoice in seeing you again in this beautiful parish and in this holy church. First I would like to relay to you the blessing and love of His Eminence, beloved brother, Metropolitan Gabriel who wishes you all prosperity and well-being.

We meet today to consecrate this church. We offer this space to God. We consecrate it to Him, asking for His sanctification so that we may accomplish our "reasonable service".

As you have noticed, the service of Consecration is twofold:

First, placing the alter-table, washing it, blessing it with holy water, anointing it with Holy Chrism, and covering it with new altar-clothes.

Second, processing with the holy relics of martyred saints and placing them in the altar table.

We desire to offer only the best of what we have to God, a pure, chaste and holy offering. Therefore, after we put the altar-board on the columns, we wash it as a sign of purification. Also, we sprinkle it with holy water to sanctify it and bless it by Divine Grace. Then we anoint it with Holy Chrism. The holy table is the altar in front of which the priest stands to offer the gifts in his name and in the name of the people, so that the Holy Spirit descends upon them, sanctifying them and sanctifying us.

Today, then, we consecrate this holy altar to the Almighty, so that we may assemble and offer glory and thanksgiving to the Lord, humbly asking for sanctification and grace. We declare today that the Lord is the Master of our life, and we humble ourselves, proclaiming Him to be the Fountain of all good, asking for His mercy and care. We also ask Him to sanctify our life and give the world peace.

We declare today that we, as human beings, are weak. We lift up our eyes towards heaven, realizing that our real home is above and not here.

The real cornerstone is Christ. That's why we read the Gospel passage in which Christ asked His disciples, "Who do people say I am?" Peter answered, “You are Christ the Son of the living God". Christ is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. He is the true priest, the One "who offers and is offered, who accepts and is distributed". And "we commit all our life unto Christ our God."

We offer today this house and we consecrate it as God's house. In it, we lift up our prayers and present our gifts. We also place in the altar-table the relics of saints after the procession. We do this to remember that the real altar of the Lord is not stone, wood, metal, or any other material. The real altar is Man.

Every one of us desires to offer things to God. One gives money. Another gives incense, oil, or other things to the Church. The truest and greatest offering, however, is the offering of man himself. It is good and beautiful to offer from our belongings to God, but what is most beautiful is to offer all of oneself to God. It is to make one's heart a throne of the Lord, and make one's being His abode. In this way one is transfigured and transformed into a living altar to the Lord. For this reason, we place holy relics in the alter to express this truth by remembering that we ought to give all our life unto Christ. For this, we offer the gifts on the altar of our Lord. The true altar is man who sacrifices himself out of his love to God. We place the relics of Hieromartyr Phocas, Bishop of Sinope whose memory we celebrate on the 22^nd of September.

I ask the holy Master to bless you, give you abundant blessings, and make you prosper in all your doings, so that you may grow in grace and stature for the glory of His name. May this newly consecrated church be a house in which you gather as children of God to receive His heavenly gifts; Him Who is blessed and glorified forever. Amen.