Sermon by Archimandrite Luke

On the feast of St. Job

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ

Today we celebrate the memory of the great struggler and confessor of the Russian land, St. Job  of Pochaev. St Job acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit and was sanctified. But as is understood by all Orthodox Christians  there is no sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit outside the church. St.  Job lived during the dangerous time of an assault by Roman Catholics on Orthodox Christians  in the region of Galicia and Volynia.  St. Job with his whole soul began by preaching, printing books, and participating in church councils to save Orthodox  Christians from the terrible sin of apostasy. The temptation was hidden but insidious. It was easy for Orthodox Christians to be deceived. Initially the Roman  Catholics only demanded that the Orthodox  commemorate  the Pope  of Rome at their church services, but the struggler understood  that this was enough for the damnation of the soul.

St. Job heroically resisted this temptation. The Russian Church Abroad  from its inception considered St.  Job the patron of its missionary activities. Especially here in our monastery St.  Job is glorified were we strive to worthily venerated him and follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately much of the Orthodox  world now does not reacted to temptation like St.  Job.

Now Orthodox  leaders seek a false reconciliation with heresy. Scandalous documents allure Orthodox   Christians where they write that the Orthodox and heretics have the same faith, the same baptism and the same Lord. If this is true then St.  Job was mistaken. But this cannot be so. For him, true love for one's neighbor meant union with the Church and to save Orthodox Christians from apostasy, but never to reconcile them with heresy.

We cannot act contrary to the legacy of St.  Job,  if we truly seek salvation. Let St. Job be forever an example for us of true love for one's neighbor and a firm stance in the Orthodox faith!

Amen