Sharing Our Faith

We are called to be evangelists for the faith

As Orthodox Christians, we are duty bound to share our faith with others. Christ is for everyone, but with all the bad press Christianity has been getting during the past decade, it is especially important that we approach evangelism in light of the historic Church. The missionary mind of the Orthodox Church must be rekindled in our time. Parishes must not remain enclaves of Greeks, Russians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Palestinians, or Serbs. The doors of the churches must be opened wide, welcoming all.

Having unlocked doors is worthless if a visitor is greeted with a frown upon entering the temple. I’ve lost count at how many people have shared their experience at having been ignored by other worshipers, upon entering an Orthodox parish for the first time. Numerous people have told me about being confronted with the question, “are you Greek”, followed by, “then why are you here”. Others have shared their sadness at having been ignored in the parish hall, because they did not speak Russian, or Arabic.

A Roman Catholic friar once told me he’d gone to an Orthodox church to attend his first Divine Liturgy. The first service had concluded, and as the clergy walked down the steps, they looked right through him, as though he were invisible, even though he was wearing his Franciscan habit. He’d felt so unwelcome, he turned and left, and was deprived of his first experience of Orthodox worship. What kind of witness was this? Have we reduced Orthodoxy to the status of a private club? Do we see the Church only in ethnic terms? What if Saints Cyril and Methodius had treated the Slavs in such a manner? What if the Jewish Christians of the first century had treated the gentiles in such a manner?

Orthodox clergy must remember that we are the first line of witness for the Faith, and if we hold ourselves aloof while wearing our cassocks and crosses in public, we are in essence slamming the door in the faces of potential converts to our faith. And, as priests belonging to different jurisdictions, we must cooperate in the foundation of new missions, so we don’t undermine the ability of any one mission to support a full time priest, and raise the necessary funds to construct a permanent church. Having numerous little mission parishes without proper facilities, and a full time priest, is counterproductive to the overall goal of a mission, because the witness it gives to the community at large is one of disunity among the Orthodox, and the promotion of the commonly held view that we are multiple denominations.

As faithful Orthodox Christians, we need to live our Orthodoxy with a joyful demeanor, and an openness that draws others to our faith. Those whom we encounter must see in us an authenticity that tells them our faith is real. When we do this, we are authentically living our Orthodoxy in a way shows our faith is real, that makes others what what we have. If our living out of our faith is done in a mean spirited fashion, and is only based in external liturgical practices, we will give witness to nothing but a dead religion, and others will want nothing of what we think we have.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Photo: Brother Peter, my Capuchin-Franciscan friend of over thirty years, joined me in walking the University of California Berkeley campus, witnessing to our love of Christ, by our joyful demeanor among the students. It was an uplifting experience for us, and brought delight to the many students who engaged us in conversation.

Thursday April 26, 2018 / April 13, 2018
Third Week of Pascha. Tone two.

Hieromartyr Artemon, presbyter of Laodicea in Syria (303).
New Hieromartyr Stephen (Bekh) bishop of Izhevsk (1933).
Virgin-martyr Martha (1941).
Martyr Crescens of Myra in Lycia.
Martyr Thomais of Alexandria (476).
Martyr Demetrius of the Peloponnesus who suffered at Tripoli (1803).
Martyr Eleutherius of Persia (4th c.).
Martyr Zoilus of Rome (4th c.).
Venerable Martins, abbot, of Clermont (Gaul).
St. Martin the Confessor, pope of Rome (655) (Greek).
Martyrs Maximus (286), Dada and Quinctilian at Dorostolum in Moesia.
St. Martyrius, archbishop of Jerusalem (486).
St. Guinoch of Buchan.
Martyr Theodosius (Greek).

The Scripture Readings

Acts 8:26-39

Christ Is Preached to an Ethiopian

26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”

30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this:

“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”

34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”

37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”

And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.

John 6:40-44

40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Rejected by His Own

41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.