St James the Brother of the Lord

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Today, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we have gathered in this Holy church to glorify with our prayers St James, the Patron of this Holy temple and this parish.
On this significant day I want to address you all with a word on the most important subject that is essential for the life of our church.
Through sin and hatred devil brought to the world severance between God and man, and later on – severance among people. But Jesus Christ through love, holiness and Self-Sacrifice presented to our separated and disjunctive world the holy remedy: He gave us the Integrity and Unity of His Church, in which His disciples became spiritually united with God and with each other. As once Saint Abba Dorotheus put it: the closer people become to God, the closer they become to each other.
This unity of the faithful is so important, that Jesus Christ Himself before His death was praying to His Heavenly Father about it in the Garden of Gethsemane: «I pray for them also that believe on me… that they may all be one» (John. 17:20-21). He was praying about us because He knew how hard it would be for us, among the temptations and trials of this world, to preserve our Faith and a child’s trust. That is why any attempt to destroy this unity was for the Disciples of Jesus Christ deeply painful.
«Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them that are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which ye learned: and turn away from them» (Rom.16:17) – says Apostle Paul. Let us also remember another teaching of Saint Paul, by which he is protecting us from the sin of arrogance and pride: «I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them» (Acts of the Apostles. 20.29, 30). Let us not allow such thing happen to us!
Saint Martyr Clement, the Bishop of Rome, writes to the Corinthians: «Your division corrupted many, and many were plunged into gloom; many others started to doubt, and we all became very sorrowful…».
Through all epistles of another Saint – Martyr Ignatius Theophorus, the Bishop of Antioch, – goes the concern for the integrity of the Churches, perturbed by the sowers of discord and false teaching: «Especially try to avoid disunions, for they are the beginning of all woes…» (The letter to the Christians of Smyrna) Saint Ignatius opposes those tumults by his call to the unanimity and consensus in true Faith and Godly love.
«Be all together with one undivided heart»; «make up a choir – all and every one of you – in order to, being agreeably tuned in concord and having started to sing a song to God in harmony, continue chanting it to Our Heavenly Father and His Son – Our Lord Jesus Christ – by one unchanged and unified voice…». Through His Cross and His sufferings Jesus Christ calls us to Him. The head cannot exist without the other parts of the body…God promised us the Unity with Him, and in order to maintain this agreement with God, we, first of all, ought to be joint together, as Our Church is always joint to Christ, and as Christ Himself is joint to Our Heavenly Father. The unity of faith and love is the expression of the inner essence of our Church; it is the most elevated blessing: nothing exists higher than that…
Today Saint Apostle James, the brother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the 4th Chapter of his Epistle also calls us to establish peace and to quench feud from among us: «From whence come wars and fightings among you? Do they not come even from your lusts that war in your members?… Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world – is the enemy of God. But He giveth more grace; therefore, He saith, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. But now ye rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore, to him that knoweth how to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin». And further on: «Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to those who love Him» (James 1.12)!
If we overcome disagreements and resentment, joy and peace will return into our life, as the warmth of spring returns to the land after a cold winter!
May our Lord Jesus Christ send His blessing upon each one who came today to glorify with love and prayer St. Apostle James, and the blessing of the Lord be upon all of you for today and forever. Amen.
St. Jacob’s Orthodox Church, Mundare. (Nov.,4,2012).