THE NEED FOR CATECHIZING GOD’S PEOPLE

The evangelist Luke describes to us, my beloved, the first days of the life of the Church, after Pentecost. And he writes, as we heard in today’s Epistle reading which is from Acts: “Those who were scattered by the suffering which happened over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch” (Acts 11:19). That is, after the stoning of Stephen, fear fell upon the city of Jerusalem. Many people left, they “scattered”, he says, and they began to preach Christ in the countryside. And we see here that the preaching of the Gospel had already reached Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. When the Apostles learned of it (they had remained in the city) they acted accordingly.

But how exactly was the Gospel spread? By anonymous people. Luke writes: “Some of these men, who were from Cyprus and Cyrene, having entered Antioch, spoke to the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus” (20). There had been a breakthrough, for sure, and the Gospel spread much farther than they had expected. Those who were spreading the Gospel were amazed. As I said, they were anonymous people. Luke notes a very characteristic little phrase: “And the hand of the Lord was with them” (Acts 11:21). This is a Hebrew expression which means “help from heaven”.

You may have noticed that many times in our Iconography, in an icon of a Saint or some Saints, there is a hand entering from a corner of the frame of the icon, usually from the upper left, but it can also be on the upper right, and the hand is blessing. This is the Lord’s hand which is giving the blessing. Iconographically, this is how it is depicted.

Preaching, then, was a holy missionary effort, and it had every blessing of God. In other words, as we clearly see, their preaching also began to evangelize the world, the world of nations. This is one reason (not the only one) why God allowed the dispersion of the Christians from Jerusalem after the stoning of Stephen, precisely because they had remained in Jerusalem, despite the Lord telling them to go out after Pentecost. You see, when God wills something, after commanding it to us [and we don’t act], He then creates a violent way [to implement it]. Do not be frightened. This violent way is in God’s plan, to shake us up, or, as we would say today, to wake us up, so that we will realize a few things. The Lord had said to His disciples, on the day of His Ascension: “Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to do all that I commanded you” (Mt. 28:19). This, then, is how the preaching of Christ begins, with much fruit-bearing and with many blessings. I remind you, “And the hand of the Lord was with them.”

But the question is posed: Has this blessing of the spreading of the Gospel been maintained with the same fervor throughout the twenty following centuries? Unfortunately not. It is known that no one in the first 3-4 centuries [who was an outsider] was allowed [to be present] in the Church – in the sense of participating in the Divine Liturgy, to receive Holy Communion. We see in the Divine Liturgy something preserved from those days: “The doors! The doors!” [Τάς θύρας! Τάς θύρας!]1 This was a command. “Close the doors, doorkeepers! Close the doors! Let no uninitiated, no catechumens, remain inside!” Only the faithful were allowed to remain in the church. So we see here that there was some austerity applied in this matter. No one who had not been baptized was allowed to remain in the church.

Yet in order to be baptized it was necessary to receive a catechism. In those days, Baptism usually followed catechism, and after one had received enough catechism, the bishop would test them. He would say, “Tell me this, tell me that”, and if someone had not learned the catechism well enough, his baptism was postponed until the next time, because it was still possible that they might be “held back” (as we say with schoolchildren), after a long catechesis which might last months or years – yes, even years. (It is well known that baptisms were administered about once or twice a year, on Christmas or Theophany and on Pascha, and this is why on these days we chant “Those of you who have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ” instead of the Trisagion hymn; it is in their honor).

So there was austerity, and this is why great Christians were produced. It is said that the Catechumens entered “through the door” when they were baptized in the Church, because they had received an extensive, rich catechism. If you would like to see a sample of what these Catechumens would learn, please take a look at the Catechisms of St. Cyril [of Jerusalem] from 350 A.D., and read what he was requiring them to learn. A small portion of this Catechism is also found in The Apostolic Constitutions. There were lessons on dogmas, that is, God is Triune, that He is this and He is that, etc., but there were also lessons on morality, for example, that you cannot be immoral, and you had to learn why. This was the beginning of our Church, and it shined. Because, as I mentioned, those who were baptized entered “through the door” since they had received a rich catechism. It is also said that “they exited through the other door of the Church, as martyrs”.

This good start of the Church slackened, however, after Christianity emerged as the official state religion (this is how catechism ended up following Baptism). But then catechizing began to be neglected, and there was nothing to give them a push forward other than Baptism. This situation created a laxity in both morality and faith in the Church members. The catechesis had, of course, focused on knowledge of dogma, but it also addressed correction of life (and what kind of world did Christianity find? The world of nations as we know it today ­– idolaters – with many faults, vices and passions which needed to be corrected). However, by setting aside catechism, there was corresponding fruit – ignorance of dogma and lax living.

About this, Blessed [Panagiotis] Trembelas wrote, in his Catechism: “Into a very large cauldron of boiling water, a large amount of cold water was suddenly poured in and the boiling stopped.” This is what happened. We see how this happened in Russia, for example 2 (which was introduced to the Orthodox faith, but were catechized very crudely. The whole nation ran to the rivers to be baptized, masses and masses of people. No time was given to catechism. The same happened with our Greek nation.3 So then, these people, since they were not given a catechism, neither corrected how they lived nor acquired knowledge of the Faith, and the boiling stopped, that is, the fervor, the enthusiasm, that “I am a Christian” (because one paid a price to be a Christian).4

Today catechising is done after Baptism, in the form of lessons, if it is done at all. We say, “We have catechetical schools. The children need to go to catechetical school.” How many children go to elementary school, middle school and high-school? They all go. But how many of them go to catechetical school? So then, all those children who are not catechised never will be catechized 5 (and wherever the catechism is taught, how frequent is it? An hour, once a week?) … The implications of not catechizing are grave. Our Orthodox people live, unfortunately, in gross ignorance. And the morality? O, the morality… It is something to shed many tears over. It is profoundly worldly.

So we see that our Christians today have a secular mindset, and it is a fact that the secularized way of life does not save. Pay attention to this. We cannot be saved by it. Out of all the secular Orthodox Christians of ours, a number of them, precisely because they have no foundation or knowledge, are led astray, and they join heretical groups, but also worldly religions. Today you see Greek Orthodox Christians turning to Hinduism and other worldly religions. Why do we call them “worldly”? Because all of these religions place God within the world, which, in the final analysis, is pantheism.

As for the Jewish religion (which was a preparatory religion; it no longer exists; it was simply the preamble of Christianity), people are accustomed to saying, “God is one, and since God is one it is the same religion as Christianity.” The God of Israel, the Holy One of Israel, is indeed the God of the New Testament. There is no doubt about it. But the Jews wanted to separate. In fact, they wanted to separate more [than the Christians did], because they did not accept the New Testament. Yet still, people say “the religion is the same” and “there is only one God”.

And we also have the poor copy [of Christianity] which was made sometime in the 8th century A.D. from elements of Judaism, Christianity and the local Arabic traditions, notorious Islam. In Europe, not the least in Greece, people are beginning to join Islam. Does this surprise you? (A few years ago, not too long ago, a Greek translation of the Koran was presented to the “Parnassos” philological institution of Athens, an event attended by the Archbishop of Athens, and this translation was funded by some [Greek] ship magnate. Did you hear that? On another score, he lives the largest life, with not a care in the world. He makes his cross, a poor imitation, with no prospect of improvement. These people have no clue about what Christianity is…)

And finally, Satanism needs to be addressed, the worship of Satan especially by our younger generation and its social implications. Shall I say that what is to come will be very unpleasant? That God will lift His hand. We are witnesses, and everyone knows [what is happening].

What needs to happen? The good works of catechism and preaching. Preaching must be catechism; it must be a lesson. From being a dormant Christian, I will learn and grow. The homily should not be a few flowery words which we only say on feast days, only for a few minutes, just long enough for us to cover the most rudimentary things about the feast, if it is at a Liturgy for a feast with an artoklasia service (and they never fail to mention that there will be an artoklasia service for the feast – and this during the few minutes left for the homily – which is usually something secular, nothing more). Ah, my people! You have a microphone in your hand, and you speak the Word of God from somewhere, wherever the feast is, in Athens or wherever, and you say nothing of substance? What excuse will you give?

Preaching is a lesson. It is not catechism, but it is instructional. As it was done in the old days, this instruction, this catechesis, must be renewed periodically, because we will never be able to say that we know everything. In any case, preaching in the form of catechism must begin – correct teaching – if we wish to see better days for the Church.

The subject here, primarily, is love for Jesus Christ. If you love Christ, you will certainly transmit Christ to the one next to you. The Lord, appearing to the Apostle Peter after His Resurrection, said to him: “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these [other Disciples]?” (Jn. 21:15) And He received the reply: “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” What did the Lord say to him? “Feed my lambs”, which is to say, Be a shepherd, shepherd my lambs, the Christians. The question was repeated a second and third time, and to Peter’s affirmative answers, the Lord replied: “Feed my sheep” and “Feed my lambs”. Do you truly love Me? Then you will do the work of shepherding.

How is shepherding done? Through preaching, catechizing and administering the Sacraments of the Church. Notice that shepherding, the apostolic work, is bound to love of Christ. Do you love Christ? You will do the work of an apostle. If you love your neighbor, you will tell him the good news about Christ.

Today, however, the question is posed: Does such love even exist? Did it cool off? Did it freeze? Christ said: “In the last days the love of many will grow cold” (Mt. 24:12). The Apostle Paul, my beloved, writes: “If I preach the gospel, it is no reason to boast – I have been charged to! Woe to me if I do not evangelize!” (1 Cor. 9:16)

And the 58th canon of the Holy Apostles enjoins the following:

A bishop or a priest who is negligent in his duties, whether to the clergy or to the people, and does not instruct them in piety is to be excommunicated (that is, he is not to receive Holy Communion); but if he should persist in his negligence and laziness, he is to be deposed. 6

What would we say? If there are priests or bishops who prevent [εμποδίζουν] the Word of God from being heard in their town [let them be excommunicated]. Prevent! It is this other line which Christ said: “They themselves do not enter the Kingdom, and those who wish to enter it, they prevent” (Mt. 23:13).

In his interpretation to this canon, St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite adds a little phrase: “every day.”7 They are to teach every day, whether it is preaching from the pulpit, during Confession, in a Catechism class, or privately, it doesn’t matter how. (The Apostle Paul, in Ephesus, where he stayed for three years, also taught privately.)

But if the priest is obliged to teach, my beloved, the people and the individual must go where he teaches. This is only right. We care about you. How else will you hear? Do you come to hear? This is the only way a blessing of the Lord is bestowed on You. This is why the people must never be absent from where the Word of God is spoken. The Apostle Paul writes to the Hebrews: “Do not neglect to gather yourselves together, like others who are in this habit” (Heb 10:25), and regarding the negligence of the people, again, to the Hebrews he writes: “Though you have had so much instruction, and should be teachers by now, you need to be taught the basic teachings about God again; you have become like those who need milk, not solid food” (5:12).

There is something we must comment on. When the Apostles, who had stayed in Jerusalem, heard that the preaching of the Gospel had been accepted in Antioch, they sent Barnabas to see what was happening (he was a Cypriot). When he saw the movement in Antioch, he rejoiced. Listen to how Luke narrates it: “And when he saw the grace of God [at work], he rejoiced, and exhorted and encouraged them all to cleave to the Lord” (Acts 11:23). He rejoiced. Well done! Yes, with your heart, continue to cleave to the Lord! Do you see? He rejoiced. Why? Because the Gospel was advancing. And he was not envious (because envy exists in every age, and a worker of the Gospel can also be attacked. It usually happens. The Lord Himself was envied by the teachers of Israel. We mention this because we ourselves feel this envy intensely. When a worker of the Gospel envies, it usually means that he has not purified his heart, that he is not a sanctified man).

And Luke makes it clear that Barnabas felt no envy: “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith” (Acts 11:24). This was Barnabas. A good man, filled with the Spirit of God. How could he possibly be envious? Paul, however, was pained, “Some of you preach Christ out of envy and are contentious, while others preach Christ with good intentions. So be it. However it is done, whether pretext or true, Christ is preached…” (Phil. 1:18).8 In the end, why should I mind, he is saying. They are responsible for themselves. As for me, I have only one interest, that Christ is preached. “…and for this I rejoice, and I will be glad” (Phil. 1:15-18).

Beloved, today our people are found in the dark pit of ignorance of the Gospel. This is why we see many heresies being accepted, and also corrupt living. “Ignorance of the Scriptures,” says Saint John Chrysostom “has turned everything upside down.” And Paul writes to the bishop (he is a bishop) Timothy, in Ephesus: “You, then, my son … what you have heard from me before many witnesses, entrust these things to faithful men who will able to teach others also” (2 Tim 2:2). In other words, Paul is telling Timothy to make preachers of the Word of God.

And further down he notes to him: “Preach the word! Attend to it, in season and out of season!” Catechize at all times (2 Tim 4:2). And he gives a reason, prophetically: “For there will come a time when sound teaching will not be regarded, but people will acquire teachers for themselves who will cater to their own desires” (2 Tim 4:3). Their ears will be tickled, he is saying. These teachers will say beautiful things. And what is Islam doing? Tickling the ears. “People will turn away from listening to the truth and will wander off into myths” (2 Tim 4:4), and such a time is right now, par excellence, my beloved.

Whoever, then, loves the Lord Jesus Christ, let him begin to equip himself, in order to spread the Word of God further, and to contribute to the knowledge of God among our people. The pulpit is not the only place where preaching takes place; it also happens at the catechetical school, and at all places and at all times – all of these [opportunities] are what St. Paul means by the “opportune time” (εὐκαιρως ἀκαιρως) (2 Cor. 6:2), and it will be very quickly understood that the hand of the Lord blesses the work of the preacher. Whoever loves the Lord, let him consider this.

FOR THE GLORY OF THE HOLY TRIUNE GOD

1. Τὰς θύρας! Τὰς θύρας!, exclaimed by the priest before the Creed (see also The Heavenly Banquet p. 203-04).
2. When the icy water of Communism was poured over boiling water of Holy Orthodox Russia.
3. In the days of St. Paul.
4. Like when the tyrants would ask the Christians to state their name, and they would reply: “I am a Christian!”
5. For readers in the United States we might reword this paragraph as follows: “We say: “We have Sunday school; the children must attend Sunday school.” All of our children go to elementary school, middle school and high-school to receive an education, but how many of them attend Sunday School to be taught the Faith? Very few. Even if they do, Sunday School is only once a week for less than an hour. If these children are not being instructed now at church, or better, at their homes, they will never be taught the Faith.
6. The Rudder, Orthodox Christian Educational Society, Chicago, Brookfield, 1983. pp. 100-01.
7. ibid.
8. Saint John Chrysostom interprets this passage as follows (our paraphrase of this source):
   

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   Some indeed preach Christ out of envy and strife, and others with good intentions.

   What this means is worth inquiry. Since Paul was in prison, many of the unbelievers, wanting to stir up more violently the persecution enacted by the Emperor, also preached Christ, but so that the Emperor might become even more enraged that the Gospel was being spread, and so that all of his anger would fall on Paul’s head. From the time I was imprisoned, two parties of preachers have sprung up. One party was greatly encouraged by my imprisonment, while the other party which also preaches Christ is doing so only because they want to see me executed.

   Some out of envy.

   That is, They envy my good reputation and steadfastness, and it is because they want me killed, and have a warring spirit, that they work against me; and also so that they might be held in esteem and from the expectation that they might steal away for themselves some of my glory.

   And others with good intentions.

   That is, without hypocrisy, with all earnestness.