Learn to stand alone and proclaim our faith not in words: words no longer convince, people have heard too many deceptive, beautiful words, but by living God’s way as their own people of Christ.
- The feat of St. Olga, and the fate of Russia
- St. Princess Olga is a link in the Golden chain of Holiness
- Holy equal to the apostles Princess Olga
- Metropolitan Anthony Of Sourozh. About the war
- Metropolitan Anthony Of Sourozh. Three words of the venerable Sergius
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy spirit.
We live in a time when Christians are all decreasing minority, and this minority we Orthodox make up a small congregation, both among Christians and among secularized world. And as we are timid, timid as we declare ourselves what we are, how little we are determined to stand in his Christian as the face of the world, alien to us and alien to Christ our God, our Savior, our Lord and brother of humanity!
How are we hesitant to Express our faith as we feel embarrassed to live according to the clear dictates of the gospel and to show forth not only in words, but all of our lives that we – and the world and not of the world that we are the harbingers of the Kingdom of God, the people, sent into the world to subdue him to God: but by force, and giving his life for the world.
The life of St. Olga, whose memory we honor today must be for us and the court, and inspiration. Olga was a Christian for two generations before the baptism of Russia; she was a Christian alone among the courtiers of her husband, who despised Christianity as a religion of the weak, made fun of him and his peers ridiculed and Princess Olga and her faith.
And she was standing alone, and never hesitated; she was not afraid to Express who she is, she proclaimed her faith in only one God, the Lord of lords and King of kings, but also the Savior of the world.
What is the lesson for us! We live in a world that sometimes mocks us, who lives as if the gospel values has lost all meaning, but the real danger does not threaten us. And now there are countries where a Christian can be dangerous; not so long ago to declare myself a Christian in Russia could be dangerous and could spell disaster for himself and for family and for friends; and yet the people stood still, and believed. And, following the example of Saint Olga, survived women: women saved the Church in Russia, his heroism and his willingness to accept suffering and to give his life for the Church, for God.
We should seriously think about their apprehension over their fears and ask ourselves the question: why is this so? Because we are all fearful, because fear is so deeply ingrained in our flesh and in our blood? Or we still do not understand? Or we forget who is for us the Lord Jesus Christ, and place Him only on the margins of our lives, but not in the core of her, and He reigns as Lord and God in our hearts and minds, and in our whole life? We must ask ourselves what He means to us, if we are so afraid from the smile, from sarcastic remarks, from neglect – because nothing is more dangerous with us will not happen in those conditions in which we live.
Is that the way we treat the people we really love when they mock, when they malign, abuse? Do we then keep quiet, unless we assent to the crowd, leaving the stand alone ones we love? Do we allow the name of our mother, bride, husband or wife or dearest friend uttered with a sneer and was accompanied by obscene, degrading joke? No, we wouldn’t carry this, at least, I hope none of us would tolerate that! And at the same time we easily and safely carry it when we are talking about Christ, about God and His truth, to live God’s way! Does it mean that so many people and so many things for us is infinitely greater than the God Who so loved us that he called into being to give Himself to us in hand; and when we turned away from Him, each of us, and we are all together, together – came into the world to share our fate, to live and die for us and with us?..
Think about it, because here stands before us and stands a full-length image of Saint Olga, alone in a sea of Gentiles – not in a society which, like ours, already carries the gospel leaven and where we have so much in common with the pagans. She stood alone and should not be moved; and because she survived, she was able to pass on to his grandson Vladimir a vision that never faded, and gave him no rest until he found the answer. She revealed to him a new dimension of humanity and awakened in him a hunger for the things of greater, truer, more Holy than the false gods whom revered his father and his entourage. And because she was able to stand among the courtiers ridicule of her husband, her grandson opened to God in Christ and his appeal has opened the hearts of millions of people and vast lands of the Russian domination and the establishment in it of Christ the Savior.
Learn from this woman, fragile and stronger than all men, – as the mother of God, the former is stronger than any fear and hesitation. Learn to stand alone and proclaim our faith not in words: words no longer convince, people have heard too many deceptive, beautiful words, but by living God’s way as their own people of Christ. Amen!
Text provided by E. Board
July 24, 1988