In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
“I will develop arguments,” I say to myself, “I will find words to persuade and debate: that the Church is true, that Christ is risen, that all should join the Orthodox Church.” And I come out with these clever sayings—put downs to atheists, ridicules towards those of different faiths, derision towards agnostics—so that all may see the truth, my truth, which I am delivering as the universal spokesman for Orthodoxy. And with this I will bore my friends, accost people in the street, make divisive social media content that I may be glorified, that my preaching may become known, that all may recognise me as the teacher of Orthodoxy.
At that time, as Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’
And the Lord shows me the errors of my ways. I want to persuade, to argue, to justify: He walks by me and says, “Follow Me.” He offers no compulsion, no threat, no clever arguments nor moralistic judgements, simply “Follow Me.” And when I want to debate, to reason, to influence, he says to me, “Follow Me.”
“Follow Me,” he says to us, “and I will show you your true purpose; Follow Me and I will deliver you from the power of death, sin and idols; Follow Me and I will lead you to Truth, true reality and meaning. Follow Me.”
And I stand at a cross-roads: my choice is stark. I can continue my path as “true defender of Orthodoxy,”—quarrelling, squabbling, beguiling—or I can repent, turn to the living God, and follow Him. If I continue upon my current trajectory, despite the trappings of Orthodoxy, I would be walking away from Him for I would be trying to bring glory to myself, yet the Lord “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” (First Timothy 2:4) even me!
Brothers and sisters, the Lord does not require of us the conversion of others, He says to you and He says to me, “Follow Me.” But in following Him we acquire the Holy Spirit, the Grace of God, the blessing of the Almighty, and by magnetism we draw all the more to Christ—not by persuasion but by love, not by debate but by humility, not by worldly power but by Christ. For as St Seraphim of Sarov says, starting by quoting St Anthony the Great,
‘Many monks and virgins have no idea of the different kinds of will which act in man, and they do not know that we are influenced by three wills: the first is God’s all-perfect and all-saving will; the second is our own human will which, if not destructive, neither is it saving; and the third will is the devil’s will—wholly destructive.’ This third will of the enemy prompts man to do any no good deeds, or to do them good out of vanity, or merely for virtue’s sake rather than for Christ’s sake. The second, our own will, prompts us to do everything to flatter our passions, or else it teaches us like the enemy, to do good for the sake of good and not care for the grace which is acquired by it. But the first, God’s all-saving will, consists in doing good solely to acquire the Holy Spirit, as an eternal, inexhaustible treasure which is priceless. The acquisition of the Holy Spirit is, in a manner of speaking, the oil, which the foolish virgins lacked. [see Matthew 25:1–13] They were called foolish just because they had forgotten the necessary fruit of virtue, the grace of the Holy Spirit, without which no one is or can be saved, for: ‘Through the Holy Spirit every soul is quickened and through purification is exalted and illumined by the Triune Unity in a Holy mystery.’ [First Antiphon, Anabathmoi (Hymns of Ascent), Fourth Mode]
— St Seraphim of Sarov, ‘On the Acquisition of the Holy Spirit.’
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is saying to each of us, “Follow Me.” And in following Him, in acquiring the Holy Spirit, we come to true Faith, true worship, truly glorification of the God of All. We follow Him not with eloquence nor sophistries, not with flattering words nor savage insults, but with repentance and with humility, bearing our crosses that we may offer the glory to God and be received by Him into the heavenly Paradise. Our world does not need new arguments, it needs saints, bearers of God, not carrying information about God in our heads but carrying Him in our hearts, that we may be worthy to be called Christians and inherit eternal Life.
That we may offer true praise, honour and worship to our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Whom we are called to follow truly in all the days of our lives, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
In those days, those apostles who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to none except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned to the Lord. News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a large company was added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church, and taught a large company of people; and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians. Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabos stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world; and this took place in the days of Claudius. And the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brethren who lived in Judea, and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
— Acts 11:19–30
At that time, as Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left their boat and their father, and followed him. And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.
— Matthew 4:18–23