Saint Herman Summer Pilgrimage, 1978

ELDER NEKTARY'S ANNIVERSARY
1928-1978

JUST FIFTY YEARS AGO, on April 29/May 12, 1928, there reposed one of the great spiritual leaders of the true Orthodox Christians of Russia during the first frightful period of persecution after the Russian Revolution — Elder Nektary of Optina Monastery To mark this anniversary of a spiritual giant of our century who is still almost unknown to most Orthodox Christians, the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood asked Bishop Nektary of Seattle to preside at a summer pilgrimage at the St. Herman Monastery. Bishop Nektary is the last surviving spiritual son of Elder Nektary.

The pilgrimage, celebrated in connection with the summer anniversary of St. Herman's canonization in 1970 (July 27/August 9), lasted for three days and was attended by sixty pilgrims. On the eve of the feast it was announced that the Wonderworking Icon of the Kursk Mother of God would arrive the next day for the celebration, and that Archbishop Anthony of San Francisco would be able to come to lead the celebration, accompanied by other clergy.

All the appointed services for the eve of a great feast were celebrated: Small Vespers, Compline with the reading of the rule of preparation for receiving Holy Communion, followed (after the evening meal) by the All-night Vigil.

The next morning the Kursk Icon was greeted with the ringing of bells, and the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by the two hierarchs, assisted by the monastery elder Archimandrite Spiridon, two hieromonks, a priest and deacon, and many acolytes. Almost all the pilgrims present received Holy Communion. After the procession around the church, a traditional monastic meal of cabbage soup, kasha and kvas was served, with most of the pilgrims seated at tables outside the refectory; during the meal the Life of St. Herman was read.

Early in the afternoon, on the site of the future monastery library building, the pilgrims gathered for lectures. Unfortunately, due to the extraordinary heat and the failing health of Bishop Nektary, he was unable to give a lecture. Instead, Hieromonk Herman opened the series of lectures with a brief account of the life and historic significance of Elder Nektary, incidentally revealing that Archbishop Andrew of New Diveyevo, another spiritual son of Elder Nektary, just before his own death a few months before the present pilgrimage had received from the Soviet Union the manuscript of a life of Elder Nektary, which he regarded as a reliable work by another of the Elder's spiritual children. This manuscript he had sent on to the St. Herman Brotherhood with permission to print it.

Now that Archbishop Andrew has reposed in the Lord, it was possible for Father Herman to present some incidents of his contact with Elder Nektary which the Archbishop had forbidden to be revealed before his death. These incidents showed the sanctity and clairvoyance of Elder Nektary, and in particular how Archbishop Andrew, then a young priest, had seen his beloved Elder shining in dazzling Divine light. Some incidents from Bishop Nektary's contact with the Elder were also mentioned — he himself being present as a living witness of the Elder's sanctity. Archbishop Anthony, also present, is another living link with Optina, being a disciple of the Optina disciple, the "young elder" Ambrose of Milkovo, where Archbishop John Maximovitch was tonsured a monk.

"CONTEMPORARY SIGNS OF THE END OF THE WORLD"

The next lecture was by Hieromonk Seraphim, on "Contemporary Signs of the End of the World." Father Seraphim began his talk with an introduction on the apocalyptic mood of our present times: the mood so widespread today of expecting some great crisis or even the end of the world, a mood that increases with the approach of the "millenial" year of 2000. Not only religious leaders of various sects and cults think in this way; even very secular thinkers speak openly of the great crisis of civilization approaching and even of the literal end of life on earth. To take one example: Alexander Solzhenitsyn, not a "mystical" or "vague" thinker, but a down-to-earth realist, in his Harvard address a few months before, had told Americans frankly that their humanistic civilization was collapsing from within and coming to an end, being in imminent danger of conquest by world Communism. Solzhenitsyn spoke further of the physical signs of the possible end of human civilization — the exhaustion of the earth's resources, the pollution of air and water and land (much worse in the Soviet Union than in America), the overpopulation of the world, the increasing shortage of food, and the development of weapons capable of destroying the world. But Solzhenitsyn's profoundest words concerned the impossibility for men to live long without deep spiritual roots — the lack of these roots in the West being a chief sign of the approaching end of Western civilization.

Father Seraphim then turned to our Orthodox Christian attitude about the end of the world, and our watching for the spiritual signs of it The Orthodox attitude is based upon Holy Scripture (Matthew, ch. 24, Hebrews 10:37, I John 2:18, I Peter 4:7, II Peter 3:8-13, etc.). Fervent Christians from apostolic times to our own day are always expecting the nearness of the end: first one's own death, then the dissolving of this world, watching for signs of it and preparing for it. But there is also a false kind of waiting for the end: chiliasm, the supposed reign of Christ on earth before the end of the world, a reign of universal peace and prosperity on earth; this teaching is based on a misinterpretation of the Apocalypse, and it is widespread in historical times of uncertainty and crisis. The real reign of Christ with His saints is now in the Church, in the life of grace. Chiliasm is the basis of many sects, as well as contemporary Communism. Chiliastic belief has existed before, but never has it been more widespread than today, among both religious and political leaders.

Then the speaker turned to the spiritual signs in today's world of the nearness of the end. First he gave an Orthodox interpretation of Antichrist, and how the apostasy is to precede the final and greatest Antichrist; this apostasy seems to be one of the chief signs of our own times. The lecturer gave a brief historical account of the progress of the apostasy or falling away from the Orthodox Church, beginning with the schism of Rome in the 11th century, and greatly accelerating in the 20th century with the fall of the Orthodox empire; the "mystery of lawlessness" is obviously at work (II Thes. 2:7) in contemporary art and music, moral life, and Communism — the latter understood not as a political and economic system (where its failures are now evident to all) but as an extreme example of lawlessness, a sign of the end of civilization as we know it, as a spiritual sickness that fills the vacuum left by Christianity as it retreats before the apostasy. At its present rate of progress, Communism will conquer the world in a few more years; but it is not Antichrist, is not the end of history — it has nothing positive to inspire men with; it rather has the purpose of destroying man's links with the past and with Christianity, thus preparing mankind for the "religious" empire of Antichrist.

The speaker continued with brief discussions of other political forces in today's world which are imbued with Communism's chiliastic philosophy: the United Nations and the Popes of Rome.

Another sign of our times which points to the nearness of the end is the present state of the Jews in Israel and the city of Jerusalem; for according to the Patristic interpretation of Scripture, Jerusalem will be the world capital of Antichrist and he will build the Temple there, where he will be worshipped as God. In our days the Jews have returned to Palestine for the first time since their dispersal in the first century, and since 1967 they have had the site of the Temple of Solomon. If you were to ask the world's political leaders and leading citizens where the capital of a world state should be — the majority, even today, would doubtless choose Jerusalem. Another sign among Jews is the increasing interest of young Jews in Christianity, leading often to their conversion (usually to evangelical sects of Protestantism). This seems to be a sign of the future conversion of the faithful remnant of Jews to Orthodoxy before the end of the world.

One of the chief characteristics of Antichrist will be his many false miracles — "signs and lying wonders . . . strong delusion" ( II Thes. 2:9-11). Such signs and wonders are precisely characteristic of religious movements especially in the last decade or so: satanism (the open existence of which was unheard of before); Eastern religions with gurus, swamis, and Zen masters offering a "spiritual" alternative to the dead Christianity of the West; and studies and experiments in parapsychology, which bring men into contact with fallen spirits. Here the speaker quoted the Orthodox teaching as set forth by Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov concerning man's contact with these fallen spirits and the opening of the "doors of perception" into this fallen realm. Examples were given of contacts with demons in UFO encounters, and in "out of body" and some "after death" experiences — the experiences themselves are real enough, but those having them are totally unprepared to distinguish between what is from God and what is from deceiving spirits.

He further discussed the charismatic movement as another source, for would-be Christians, of the "signs and wonders" of the last times; the charismatic belief that we are living in a time of a great outpouring of the Holy spirit, a new age of the Holy Spirit — is the exact opposite of Scriptural prophecy and clearly a preparation for Antichrist.

After all these negative signs of the times — for the times are indeed very dark — the speaker ended with several of the positive signs of the end. First, there is the beginning of the movement of Jews towards Christ, mentioned above, even with Jewish converts to Orthodoxy; for St. Paul said: if the rejection of the Jews was the gaining of the Gentiles, what will the acceptance of the Jews be but life from the dead? (Rom. 11:15).

Second, there is the positive sign of Russia's religious revival. Of course, we should not have romantic illusions about this or overestimate it, but it is real, and the suffering in Russia has given Christians there the possibility for a firmer and stronger faith than in the spoiled West; Gulag (the prison system) has been a spiritual training which is totally lacking in the West. Fr. Dimitry Dudko speaks directly to the heart of Orthodox Christians, in West as well as East, as no one in the West is capable of doing. Also, the Russian experience of life in the catacombs gives us an example of how to survive even under totalitarian tyranny. While the rest of the world is falling to Communism, Russia in its soul has rejected it. Here the lecturer mentioned the prophesies of some recent righteous ones that just before the end of the world Orthodox Russia will be restored and give the light of true Christianity to the whole world — if the Russian people will show repentance for their sins.

Finally, the speaker noted a positive sign among Orthodox Christians in the free world, which is occurring even in the midst of the general apostasy and indifference of the Orthodox world itself: many Orthodox, especially among the young, are coming back to an awareness of their own faith, are finding contact with the saints of all ages and with sufferers for Christ today — the experience of true Orthodox Christianity which had become all but extinct under the influence of today's worldly life and the modernists and ecumenists who follow the "spirit of the times." This new awareness is similar to the rediscovery of their Orthodox Faith by young people in Russia, and in part is perhaps inspired by it. Further, the rapid spread of Orthodox missions in Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zaire, etc.) is another positive sign that the end may be near. Archbishop John Maximovitch, when asked if the prophecy concerning the preaching of the Gospel to all peoples before the end meant the preaching of any kind of Christian sect, said: "No, this means the preaching of Orthodoxy." In our days for the first time we are seeing the preaching of the Orthodox Gospel in many parts of the pagan countries of Africa, and the converts there are receiving it with an open-heartedness and simplicity often lacking in the more "sophisticated" converts of the West.

After this lecture, a brief talk was given by Fr. Stephen Pawlenko on "Orthodox Christians in Russia Today," with a strong plea to help the suffering Christians of the Soviet Union. Special emphasis was placed on helping the newly-imprisoned Igor Ogurtsov.

There followed a brief recess, when pilgrims were able to examine and buy books and icons in the monastery bookstore.

The final talk of the afternoon was given by Reader Alexey Young, editor of the missionary periodical Nikodemos and the new series of pocket-size books on the "Teachings of the Holy Fathers" on various subjects, brought together from the many Patristic sources now available in English. This talk was addressed to the younger people of the Pilgrimage, and is given (slightly abridged) below:

THE ORTHODOX MISSION TODAY — WHAT CAN WE DO?
By Reader Alexey Young

I would like to talk today especially to the young people who are present here, the teenagers sitting on the benches in back.

Our Saviour Jesus Christ said: Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Imagine that you went to a country where everything was just right: everyone had a job, everyone owned a beautiful home and had plenty of money. Everyone seemed very happy. But after a while you discovered that there was something very wrong in that country: When people reached the age of 70 they had to take a pill which would make them die. This country, you see, didn't want any old people around.

What would you think of such a country as that? You would think it was a terrible place, wouldn't you? You would think it was a very, very sick country. Imagine, to have so much of this world's goods, so many material things, and yet put all of the old people to sleep, as though they were cats or dogs that weren't wanted any more.

And you would wonder what had gone wrong with such a country, wouldn't you? You'd think to yourself, this isn't a Christian country. In fact, this country couldn't even believe in God at all, for no one who believes in God would do such a terrible thing to its older people. In fact, you'd think that this must be a pagan country altogether, wouldn't you? And you would want to try to teach the citizens of that country something about God and Christ.

Now imagine that you went to a country where people had many, many material goods, just like in the other country I described. Only in this country people were allowed to grow old without interference; but instead, people allowed young, unborn children to be murdered. Whenever someone didn't want to have a child, they just went to a special clinic and had the child murdered. Wouldn't you think that that country was very sick, that it was a terrible and very pagan country that didn't believe in God or know anything about Christianity? Of course you would.

What country am I describing? Of course — our own.

You see, we live in a very pagan and godless country. We live in a country where millions and millions of people do not believe in God. And millions more do not even know about the true Church of Christ — Orthodoxy. In fact, they've never even heard of it!

This can only mean one thing: our country needs missionaries. But what is a missionary? What does a missionary do?

When our Lord called His Apostles to Him, He called simple and uneducated men — fishermen, mostly — and they came and followed Him. They gave up everything in order to do this. They didn't have college degrees. They didn't go to special schools for missionaries. They didn't have a degree in missionary work. But our Lord's holy love filled their hearts and they began to burn with a divine fire that enabled them to proclaim His teaching to the whole world.

This was the first Orthodox mission. It has never stopped from that day to this. It is still going on, wherever there are Orthodox Christians.

You are all members of the one true Church of Christ. This means that you have accepted the tidings of great joy: the news that God has sent His Only-begotten Son into this world to redeem us from our sins and to conquer death.

But is it not enough just to accept being a member of Christ's Church. You have a greater responsibility. You know, it wasn't enough for the Apostles just to confess their belief in Christ, either. After they believed, Christ said to them: Go, and teach all nations.

Have you ever heard of St. Cosmas Aitolos? He was a wonderful Greek saint of the 18th century. He began as a grammar school teacher. But he had it in his mind that there must be something more to life than just having a job, just earning a living.

He had a tremendous love for God and for Orthodoxy, and so eventually he became a monk so that he could begin to struggle to live the Angelic Life. Later he was also ordained a priest.

St. Cosmas prayed to God to know what was God's will for him. Since he had some teaching ability and experience he saw that he could put this into God's service. So he spent some time studying rhetoric — which is the art of speaking well — so that he would be able to effectively preach the Gospel of Christ. Then he received permission from those in authority to go out and preach the kingdom of God to ordinary people.

Of course, most of the people of his country were already Orthodox Christians — but in name only. Their life was so hard that they did not have time to study the great truths of their faith. They did not know many things about Orthodoxy and the way to save their souls.

And so, in a way, they needed a missionary who could come and "convert" them, someone who could teach them the things they needed to know in order to truly follow Christ. St. Cosmas was just the right kind of missionary for this work.

When St. Cosmas gave instruction to people, he did it with warmth, but also very calmly, quietly, and joyously, just like the Holy Apostles themselves. He travelled mostly on foot, up and down the countryside of Greece and neighboring countries as well, preaching to people wherever he went. As he went, he would send word ahead to those in the next village to prepare themselves by confessing their sins, fasting, and taking part in a vigil service. And then, when he arrived in the village, he would serve Divine Liturgy and preach. Sometimes there were as many as two or three thousand who would come to hear him, and they would have to meet in a large, open field, because the local village church was too small.

St. Cosmas established many schools in villages and towns so that people could learn to read and write. He talked rich people into buying prayer-ropes and crosses so that he could give these to poor Christians. He was a true apostle for Greece, and God also worked many miracles through him.

At that time, Greece was enslaved by the Turks, who were Moslems and hated and persecuted the Christians. Finally seven Turkish executioners came and got St. Cosmas because they were afraid that he would raise the people against the Turkish government. They took him to the bank of a large river, where they hanged him from a tree and then threw his body into the river, weighted down by a stone. But through God's grace, three days later some Christians saw his body floating in the water and rescued it so that it could be buried in a proper Christian way.

This great Christian missionary saint preached to people in a very simple way. He used simple examples when he was teaching — especially examples from nature. He used to tell his people that just as a swallow needs two wings in order to fly, so we poor humans need two things if we wish to fly to Paradise: the first wing we must have is love of God, and the second is love for our neighbor.

In his life, St. Cosmas shows us:

1. How he made good use of the talents God has given him. God gave him the gift to teach, and he put this gift into God's service by becoming a preaching missionary.

2. Secondly, St. Cosmas showed his love for his fellow men by telling them about God and His holy Church and the way of salvation. You know, if you truly love someone, you want to show your love by giving them something really special and wonderful. What greater gift is there than to give them the gift of knowing about Orthodoxy?

3. We can see from the life of St. Cosmas that it isn't necessary always to go off to some foreign pagan country in order to preach the Gospel and win souls to Christ. Sometimes this can be done right in our own country, just as St. Cosmas did in Greece, among his own people.

And the same is true for us here today: no matter what your situation in life, there are people you can think of that need to hear about Christ and His Church.

There are two other missionary saints I want to tell you about today. How many of you have heard about St. Innocent of Alaska? He was a great missionary saint, too. He came to Alaska and went out to preach to the Indians there. He learned their language so that he could teach them in their own language, and then he began to translate the Holy Scriptures and some of the Divine Services, too. These Indians didn't even have an alphabet of their own, and so he had to invent one for them!

Something very interesting about St. Innocent is that he had a real talent as a carpenter and woodcarver. This was a talent from God, just like St. Cosmas' talent for teaching. And so, St. Innocent put this talent into God's service; he set up workshops where he taught the Indians how to make furniture and carve wood, so they could have enough money to support the mission and their own families.

Also, and most important of all, of course, he peacefully presented the teachings of Christ to these Indians. He taught them with all love and meekness, and he also taught them by his own godly example. In this way he imitated the holy, shining example of that other great missionary to Alaska who is also the patron saint of America. Do you know who I'm talking about? — Yes, it is St. Herman of Alaska.

You know, we can learn a lot about saints by reading the services to them. The whole point of St. Herman's life is summed up in this sticheron from his service:

"Having one desire, to bring unbelieving people to the One God, thou wast all things to all men, teaching the Holy Scripture and a life in accordance with it, instructing in handicrafts, and being intercessor before the authorities, nursing men in everything like children, that thus thou mightest bring them to God; and do not leave us who sing to thee."

Can you see from this how St. Innocent was very much like St. Herman? His whole desire was to bring an unbelieving people to the One God. He taught them the message of the Gospel and also how to live in accordance with the Gospel.

When he first came to Alaska, St. Innocent was a missionary priest. But later on, after his wife reposed, the Church authorities back in Russia consecrated him bishop of Alaska. This meant that he had to travel even more than before. In those days, travelling around Alaska was a tremendous labor. St. Innocent had to travel by open dog sled in winter temperatures that were often 30 degrees below zero. His diocese was the wildest, coldest, and probably the most dangerous country on earth. When the weather was good, St. Innocent journeyed up and down the rivers of Alaska by boat, stopping at every town and village on the river in order to preach to whoever came down to the shore to see him. In this way, he completely gave himself for his flock, just as our Lord gave Himself for all of us when He died on the cross.

Now, what is the point of this? What do these three missionary saints have to do with us today?

Maybe you've heard this saying: "Hell is built of hard hearts." The world we live in today is filled with people who have hard hearts towards each other and even towards members of their own family. Maybe even some of you have cold, hard hearts towards people in your own family.

People are doing terrible things today. Remember the example of abortion that I mentioned earlier? Do you realize that since abortion was legalized in this country just a few years ago, millions of unborn children have been murdered? Imagine what a terrible judgment this country is building up for herself because of this. And why is it happening? Why are abortions now an everyday thing?

Because love is dying out in the world. And when real love for God and love for neighbor starts to die out, people begin to do awful things and behave like criminals and madmen.

Because love is dying out, people are becoming very hungry for God. They don't realize that it's God they want in their lives, but it is. They are searching everywhere for God. Some search in different Protestant churches or in the Catholic church; some of them go to far eastern religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, or transcendental meditation and yoga — which of course open people up to the activity of demons.

And most people, when they don't find God, just start living for themselves, living as if there isn't any God at all. They become very selfish; nothing matters except what appeals to them personally. And life without God is so terrible, and so cold, and so lonely and frightening, that people try to forget this pain by escaping into alcohol, drugs, and sex. These things become their God!

And this is why America is a very pagan, un-Christian land. Can you begin to see now why our country needs real missionaries desperately?

Where are these missionaries going to come from? They are going to come from people like you. Some of you — even most of you — will have to be missionaries, so that the people in this country who are starving to know what the truth is, can learn. If you don't do it, who will?

To be a missionary doesn't mean going to a missionary school and getting some special kind of "degree." But it does mean that you must have a conscious faith. You must know the basics of our Orthodox faith and you must strive with all your might to live an Orthodox way of life.

You know, the world around us keeps trying to force its own ideas on us. And these ideas are very pagan. T.V., pop music, movies, our friends, sometimes even our teachers, try to get us to spend our time on worthless and selfish things that make us forget about Christ and His All-pure Mother and the saints. And most of us do live as though we didn't know anything about Christ and Orthodoxy, don't we?

It takes a lot of courage to turn away from the things of this world and be a conscious Orthodox Christian. But God helps us to walk along this way.

Do you remember how in Scripture Christ says that He is the Vine and we are the branches? If you look up at a tree you see that all of the branches are alive and bear some kind of fruit or berries or flowers in season because they are joined to the main trunk of the tree. The trunk sends sap into the branches, so that they remain alive and continue to put forth green leaves.

But what if you take an axe and cut a branch from the tree? What will happen? That branch will start to shrivel up and die. It will never produce more green leaves, or flowers, or fruit, or berries, or anything at all. It will be useless for anything except to be thrown on a fire.

It's exactly the same for us Orthodox Christians. As long as we are joined to Christ through the sacraments and an Orthodox way of life, we can be spiritually alive: Christ sends His life-giving grace into our souls, just as the tree sends sap into the branches. And as long as we stay united to Christ through His Holy Orthodox Church, we can bring forth green leaves and some kind of spiritual fruit.

But if we ever cut ourselves off from the Church, our souls begin to wither and die, just like the branch, and we will never be able to produce any spiritual fruit. And we will be good for nothing, Christ says, except to be thrown on a fire, just like a dead branch is!

Of course, it is God Who decides what kind of spiritual fruit He wants us to produce. Remember how St. Cosmas put to use the talent God had given him for teaching? Remember how St. Herman and St. Innocent produced such wonderful fruit in the example of their unselfish and loving lives?

Perhaps you don't as yet know what your particular talent is, but in time you will. Perhaps God will want you to bear a very special spiritual fruit, such as being a priest or that most wonderful thing of all, being a monk or nun.

Blessed Theophan the Recluse said that Orthodoxy is "an entirely different world." And it's our Orthodox mission in this country today to open a door upon this holy world of Orthodoxy so that those who are hungry to know about God can catch a glimpse of what is on the other side and want to come in when we invite them.

How do we open a door on the world of God for other people to see?

We do this by our own lives, our own example. Think about St. Cosmas, and St. Herman, and St. Innocent — think about how they tried to actually live what they believed, and how they became more and more like Christ in their lives. This is what inspired so many people to want to also live in the same way, living for God.

Now, if your friends at school look at you, and the way you live, do they say to themselves: I wouldn't want to be like him! He's a selfish, self-centered person who lives according to the ways of the world. He never tries to do anything for others. He has no respect for his parents or teachers. He smokes, and drinks, and swears just like the rest of us do. He says he's an Orthodox Christian, but that can't be anything very special if this is the way he lives!

But if someone looks at the way you live and thinks: what is this special thing in his life? I see how he is so loving towards other people. He's always putting himself out for others and sacrificing himself both at home and outside the home. He tries to lead a clean life. He goes to church regularly and he even fasts! I wonder what this Orthodox Church he goes to is like? Maybe it's something that I should know about, too.

So you see, in your everyday life you are already a missionary and you don't even know it! By the way that you act and talk and the things you do, you are already teaching people about Orthodoxy — just by your example. In fact, your own example probably teaches them more about what kind of faith you have than if you were to preach to them!

Now the question you must ask yourself is: What kind of missionary am I? When I meet people do I plant seeds of love for Christ and His Church in their hearts, or do I plant seeds of hatred or contempt or indifference?

Ask yourself this question, right now! What kind of missionary am I? What kind of example am I giving to my friends? If someone is secretly hungry to know about God, what kind of spiritual food will I be able to give them?

And then ask yourself: What more can I do to be a good missionary?

Well, first you can try to live an Orthodox way of life as much as possible. This doesn't mean just in external things, although those are also important. It means first of all struggling with your sins and sinful habits and asking God and His Most Holy Mother and your patron saint to help you in this struggle.

And then there are some other important things you can do: start today to learn more about Orthodoxy. Read the lives of saints, especially — not just books or essays about theology — because the saints are a living theology, a theology in action, and their example can teach us so much.

You know, young people are always wanting to be "free" — free of pressures, free of parental restrictions, free of rules, free of school, free! But the most important freedom of all — in fact, the only real freedom — is to be free of one's sins!

You can be free of your family, and school, and responsibilities, but as long as you are not free of your sins, you are a slave — a slave to your own sins. And this means that you are not really free at all in any way, even though you may think that you are.

The lives of saints teach us how to become free of our sins. What a wonderful, God-pleasing thing this kind of freedom is! And how many of your non-Orthodox friends know about that kind of freedom? You could teach them! You can teach them by the example of your own life, first of all. And then there are some other things you can do:

Invite a friend to come to church with you sometime so that he can see for himself how very beautiful Orthodox Church services are, and he can see how this is "heaven on earth."

Be prepared to answer his questions about what he sees. For him, Orthodox services will seem strangely wonderful and beautiful, and then you will be surprised at how you've taken these things for granted all these years, just because you've grown up in them.

Be sure that you have icons in your room at home. When friends come to visit, make sure that you can answer any questions they might have about the icons. Of course, that means that you will have to know something about icons and what they are and why they are painted in a certain way that is different from the art that the rest of the world uses.

But most important of all: make your friends see that your Orthodox Faith is the greatest and richest treasure you possess, the most precious thing on earth.

Now, perhaps this kind of missionary work, among your own friends, doesn't sound very important to you. But really, it is the most important kind of missionary work possible or needed today. We don't need to go off to some foreign country to convert pagan tribes to Orthodoxy. The whole of the United States is a pagan tribe that needs to know about Christ and how to save the soul!

You are already living in a pagan country! And so the missionary work that needs to be done is right here, all around us, every single day, right in our own circles of friends at school or at home.

One thing you should keep in mind. When you die, and you stand before the throne of judgment. God may say to you: "Well, little Christian soul, I put you on the earth in the midst of a sea of unbelieving, ungodly people. And I gave you the gift of My Truth, the Orthodox Faith. Tell me now, Christian soul, what did you do with that Faith I gave you? Did you protect it and also share it with others? Or did you ignore it? Where is your spiritual fruit? Open your hands and show me if they are empty or if they are full of spiritual fruit. Show me what you have done to save souls!"

And what will you say? And when you open your hands before the Almighty God, will they be empty?

Let us make a resolution right now to begin to live an Orthodox way of life as completely as we can and therefore be a missionary to other people by our own example. Let us ask God and His saints to help us to start producing spiritual fruit that will be pleasing in the sight of God to Whom be all honor, glory, and worship, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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By the end of this talk it was late afternoon, and the pilgrims were conducted to a panoramic hillock some half-mile west of the main monastery buildings, the so-called "St. Elias Skete" overlooking a deep gorge and the mountain wilderness beyond. Here, before the Kursk Icon and with Archbishop Anthony present, Vespers was served for the feast day to follow, the commemoration of another historic Russian Wonderworking Icon, the Smolensk Mother of God, which is the chief icon of the Mother of God in the monastery church.

The evening ended with a full-length color motion picture, "Pascha in the Holy Land."

Most of the pilgrims were young Orthodox people, mostly from far away (there being few Orthodox Christians in this part of California), and many of them stayed overnight in the forest in sleeping bags, the men within the monastery itself, and the women outside the gate near the small monastery guesthouse.

The next morning, the third day of the Pilgrimage, a new series of lectures was given.

"BLESSED YOUTH PETER MICHURIN" was a translation of the life and an introductory explanation about a remarkable young man of early 19th-century Russia, given by Seminarian Gregory Dobrow.

"THE LIFE'S PATH OF ARCHBISHOP JOHN" was the title of a talk by Archimandrite Spiridon, who had known Archbishop John (Maximovich) well from his school days in Yugoslavia, having been tonsured and ordained by him. "In every place of His dominion, bless the Lord, O my soul! Our Vladika John travelled much, both geographically and figuratively, so that his soul unceasingly blessed the Lord in every place" — thus Fr. Spiridon began his reminiscences of Archbishop John.

"THE RESTORATION OF THE ORTHODOX WAY OF LIFE" was Hieromonk Herman's lecture on the life of a righteous man of our own times, the newly-reposed Archbishop Andrew of New Diveyevo.

In the evening there was a lecture with slides by Miss Marina D. Ilyin on the history and present state of Fort Ross, the 19th-century Russian settlement on the Northern California coast.

The whole Pilgrimage was oriented towards helping the pilgrims to lead a serious and conscientious Orthodox spiritual life, centered around devout preparation for and reception of Holy Communion, and it was noticeable that the pilgrims approached the services and talks very seriously. Some were able to stay for another week of special courses at the monastery in church history, music, etc., for which the Pilgrimage served as an introduction.

Although not too much could be crowded into the course of a few days, it was obvious from the interest shown that there is a great hunger among Orthodox young people and potential converts for true Orthodox enlightenment in the age-old tradition of the past. The pilgrims brought back fond memories of these days in the California mountains far from the distractions of today's cities, and many seeds were sown for further labors in Christ's vineyard.