“O Lord, O Lord, look down from heaven and behold, and visit this vineyard which You have established with Your right hand”.
We exclaimed these words during today’s hierarchical Divine Liturgy. In actuality, they are the words of the Old Testament Psalmist (Ps.79:16). Namely, he speaks in regards to the vineyard that the Lord transplanted from Egypt, uprooting the pagans who inhabited Canaan, and establishing this vineyard. He established the path before it, implanting its roots and permeating the land with it. Its shadow covered the mountains, and its boughs (vines) the cedars of God. And this vineyard spread its branches unto the sea, and its sprouts to the rivers. But what happened? The vineyard collapsed. The Lord toppled its hedge, and all who passed along the way, entered into it (Ps. 79:9-14).
We find a similar narrative by the holy Prophet Isaiah in his song about the vineyard (Is. 5:1-7). Today’s Holy Gospel also speaks to us about a vineyard, but also about the evil vine-dressers (Mt. 21:33-42). What is the vineyard of the Lord? It is the entire visible and invisible world, from the blade of grass in the field, to the pearls in the sea. It encompasses the angelic world, and man as the crown of all that has been created. In him is seen the Wisdom of God (Rom. 1:20). Or as someone has beautifully stated: Nature is a enigmatic Gospel. Metaphorically speaking, the vineyard is God’s Church that encompasses all. Originally, it was in the Old Testament, and it was composed of the Chosen People. However, as they failed to maintain the vineyard, God’s field, God’s cultivation, God then expelled them. God could not behold and see the hedge around the vineyard uprooted and wild animals trampling upon it. Thus, He established a new vineyard in which, as the Vine-dresser, He planed a new Vine, His Only-begotten Son (Jn. 15:1) from Whom have sprouted new branches - the Holy Apostles. Not all branches bear fruit; not because of the Vine but because of unfaithfulness. The Heavenly Father will cut off such fruitless branches and cast them aside. But those who bear fruit, He will prune, so that they bear yet more fruit (Jn. 15:2). In this vineyard nothing transpires without the Son: “For without Me you can do nothing” (Jn.15:6). As we have heard, the evil vine-dressers received neither His servants, nor His Son, nor even the Lord Himself. They knew that they were not the owners of the land, nor those who planted the vineyard. But they avariciously desired to acquire it. It is as though we are listening to the greedy Ahab and Jezebel who, in order to acquire the vineyard of Naboth, had him killed (1Kings 21:1-19). And after all that they did - killing his servants and, finally, even his son, what remained for the Lord of the vineyard to do, but to punish those evil-doers with death, and to give the vineyard to other who will give Him the fruits in their season (Mt. 21:43)?
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
From these words of the Savior we derive that God will not allow His vineyard to be razed nor destroyed. He will find new laborers for His vineyard. God will not allow His Church to be destroyed. And who can destroy it? No one! She is founded on Christ, the rock not cut by hands (Dan. 2:45), and the gates of Hell will not prevail against It (Mt. 16:18). For He is the head and the foundation of the Church.
Many times, throughout the two thousand year history of the Church of Christ, it appeared that the vineyard had been burrowed and eradicated; sometimes due to enemies, but also due to the inattentiveness of its servants. But it will never cease to be the vineyard of God where new wine will be poured, the New and heavenly drink, which is His Holy and All-pure blood. It is not men who give the Vine and branches strength and sap, but God.
And this wonderful and broad land of Canada is His vineyard and His handiwork. The Serbian Orthodox Diocese оf Canada is His vineyard. That is why it will be my duty, together with the brethren clergy and the faithful people, to hedge, furrow, and weed this vineyard. To break off all excess germinations, to cut off all dry branches, and to safeguard it from all ruination, both visible and invisible. Namely, that I continue the labors of my diligent predecessors, both Bishops and priests. But only with God’s aid, always conscious of the words of St. Paul the Apostle: “I planted, Apollos irrigated, but God made it to grow” (1Cor. 3:6). In other words, let us continue the endeavors of the Holy Apostles, the Holy Fathers аnd Martyrs, who shed their blood for that vineyard (Lk. 13:34; Mt. 23:34-35), following our Lord Who acquired His Church by His Blood (Acts 20:28).
Let us hear what one Church melodist asserts for one holy father: “Good and faithful servant, labourer of the vineyard of Christ, you endured the daily toil, you increased the entrusted talent, and you did not envy those who came after you…”
Dear brethren clergy,
Let us guard the vineyard entrusted to us. Let us guard our souls and bodies, those miniture vineyards, for they are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Let us guard the souls of the faithful entrusted to us. For each one of them we will have to give and answer. Let us guard the vineyard of parishes, the monastery, the Diocese; of our entire Serbian Orthodox Church. Let us safeguard her unity. For we are all limbs of the one body (Eph. 5:30). There is no more perfect unity than that of Christ’s Church. It is paradise, and we need not seek another. The unity, with Christ as the head and we as the limbs, and the unity of Christ with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and with us through Him, is the mystery above all mysteries. Such a unity is not to be found in any religion. And this unity is not maintained by the letter of the Law, by courts of law, by legal systems, but by love. If we possess it, then we need not fear schisms, divisions. When we begin to feel that we are all limbs of the one body, this will be perfection. Only in this way will the Lord receive us into the heavenly Jerusalem. In such manner He received the greatest of sinners, for Christ came to save not the righteous, but sinners (Mk. 2:17; Lk. 5:32). Let us not be envious of those who will come after us, even if they come at the eleventh hour to work in the vineyard. For the Lord of the vineyard rewards according to endeavor and devotion, as opposed to the length of time that someone works (Mt. 20: 1-16; 1Cor.3:8). “Only an egoist can envy. An egoist does not enter into the grace of God”, as one great spiritual father and ascetic of our time has said. Our Orthodox people has been concerned, and is concerned, about his vineyard-Church, and her servants, as here so also in the old country. The evidence for this are the churches and monasteries. Even if it should be that some do not love us, we are obligated to love them. As St. Maximus the Confessor has said: “We must feel such love towards all so that we are ready, for their sake, to sacrifice our lives”. If men differ according to their conventions and conduct, this should not surprise us. All are necessary for the Church; both those who are of a coarse nature and those who are of a gentle nature, just as a person has need for both sweet and salty food. The one fulfills the other. In buildings, we have both rough and finely sculpted stones. In all our troubles, it will be beneficial for us to always remember the words of St. Moses the Prophet, who for 40 years endured, and who knows how, perhaps two million rebellious people. But, again, what did he say: “But forgive them their sins: if You will not, erase me from the book that You have composed” (Exodus 32:32). Or St. Paul the Apostle. How many misfortunes he had with the Christians in Corinth, Galatia and so on, but nonetheless he would rather that he be cut off from Christ for the sake of his brethren, his relatives according to the flesh (Rom. 9:2).
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
God’s commandment is: “Obey your hierarchs and submit to them, for they keep vigil over your souls, as they will answer for them…that they do so with joy, and not with sorrow” (Heb.13:17; 1Thess. 5:12-13). May God grant that through all anguish through which our people have passed, and are still passing through, be for their salvation. Or as the Venerable Paisius of the Holy Mountain has said: “The benevolent God is first concerned for our second (eternal) life, and then for this one.”. May the Holy Prophet Zacharias, who shed his righteous blood for the Old Testament vineyard (Lk. 11:51), help us in all things, as well as the Righteous Elizabeth with her son, the Prophet and Martyr John the Baptist, the greatest born of women (Mt. 11:11). May our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, safeguard this vineyard both now and forever. AMEN!