Sat., May 21, 2005
CHRIST IS RISEN!
Constantine & Helen, Equals-to-the-Apostles
3rd Vespers Constantine & Helen: Isaiah 60:1-16 Apostle: Acts 26:1, 12-20 Gospel: St. John 10:1-9
St. John 10:1-9, especially vss. 4, 5: "...the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. Yet they
will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him...." By sure and certain steps, the Emperor Constantine turned
from the pagan heritage of his father, Constantius Chlorus, and heeded the voice of the Great Shepherd of the sheep, the
God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Him Who his mother Helena devoutly served. The Lord Jesus clearly spoke to Constantine
in his heart prior to the battle at the Milvian bridge in Rome; and, like others before him, Constantine "was not disobedient
to the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19). He obediently followed the sign of the Cross into battle that day in 312 AD, and he
did so thereafter.
In the contemporary world, secularism, neo-paganism, along with eastern spiritualities, abound in the market-place of
ideas, confusing many so that they neither hear nor heed the voice of the Lord. On every side, we find those who assert
"This Man is not from God" (Jn. 9:16), "this man is a sinner" (Jn. 9:24), or "we do not know where He is from" (Jn. 9:29).
Beloved of the Lord, let us flee from such strange voices and follow Christ Who "calls His own sheep by name and leads
them out" (Jn. 10:3). His promise upheld Constantine and it extends to us: "If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and
will go in and out and find pasture" (Jn. 10:9).
How may we confidently know the voice of the Great Shepherd? He enters openly, candidly, without deception, "through
the door" (vs. 2). The doorkeeper, the Church with her Holy Tradition, opens to Him (vs. 3). The sheep follow Him, for
they know His voice (vs. 4). The Lord Jesus comes openly and directly to the sheep, to the People of God, unlike other
secular and religious teachers or authorities. Those climb "up some other way" (vs. 1), like thieves and robbers. Instead,
the Lord calls upon Moses and all the Prophets as His witnesses (Jn. 5:39; Lk. 16:31). He rejects any approach to God
which makes "the commandment of God of no effect by" insinuating one's own ideas or traditions into the plain word of
God (Mt. 15:6). The true Shepherd commands all men to honor God from the heart, and not to teach "as doctrines the
commandments of men" (Mt. 15:9). "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to
destroy but to fulfill" (Mt. 5:17). The Lord is ever open and faithful. He never swerves from Divine precepts in His
teaching, nor does He expect outward compliance, but an inward response from a pure heart: "You have heard that it was
said to those of old, 'You shall not murder'....But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall
be in danger of the judgment" (Mt. 5:21,22). Let us heed Him with our hearts.
Second, let us be confident that Jesus is the true Shepherd for "to Him the doorkeeper opens" (Jn. 10:3). St. John
Chrysostom observes that "the door" alluded to in this instance is the Holy Scriptures: "for they bring us to God, and open
to us the knowledge of God, they make the sheep, they guard them, and suffer not the wolves to come in after them. For
Scripture, like some sure door barreth the passage against the heretics, placing us in a state of safety as to all that we desire
and not allowing us to wander." In this vein, St. John continues, "there is nothing to hinder thee from supposing Moses to
be the doorkeeper, for to him were intrusted the oracles of God," which the Lord so clearly and plainly opened for us in His
teaching.
Finally, as the Lord proves Himself to be the Good Shepherd, "the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice" (vs. 4).
They know that the One Who calls them, leads them, as no other ever has or ever will, to true salvation, to "find pasture"
(vs. 9). In others, one can discern the marks of rebellion and sin, those deadly evils that infect the race of Adam, but in
Christ is life!
Thou hast anointed my head with oil, and Thy cup which filleth me, how excellent it is!