Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Third Discovery of the Honorable Head of the Forerunner John
Kellia: Deuteronomy 9:7-17, 25-29 Apostle: Acts 21:26-32 Gospel: St. John 16:2-13
Deuteronomy 9:7-17, 25-29, especially vs. 26: "And I prayed to the Lord, 'O Lord God, destroy not Thy
people and Thy heritage, whom Thou hast redeemed through Thy greatness, whom Thou has brought out of Egypt with a
mighty hand.'" At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, in dismissing the Faithful, the Priest prays: " May He Who rose
again from the dead, Christ our true God, have mercy upon us and save us, forasmuch as He is good and loveth mankind."
However, note: additional language of this prayer qualifies this basic petition by adding these phrases: "through the
intercessions of His all-immaculate and all-blameless holy Mother; by the might of the precious and life-giving Cross; by
the protection of the honorable bodiless powers of heaven; at the supplications of the honorable, glorious Prophet,
Forerunner and Baptist, John; of the holy, glorious and all-laudable Apostles; of our father among the saints, John
Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople; of the holy, glorious and right-victorious martyrs; of our venerable and God-bearing fathers; of [our patron saint]; of the holy and righteous ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna; of [the saint whose
memory we celebrate this day] and of all the saints: have mercy upon us and save us, etc...."
The People of God trust with great dependence on the intercessions of the holy ones of God for all necessities, especially
for obtaining God's mercy and for salvation. The tradition of relying on the intercessions of the Saints may be traced back
in the history of God's People over the long millennia that separate us from the righteous Noah who interceded for all
living things upon leaving the ark, for he "built an altar to the Lord....and offered burnt offerings" (Gen. 8:20). God
responded to Noah with this promise, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination of man's
heart is evil from his youth....While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and
night, shall not cease" (Gen. 8:21,22).
Observing the Prophet Moses as an intercessor in this reading, we see immediately that God reveals His People's sins, the
state of their souls, and of their many needs to His Saints. Here God directly tells Moses, "Arise, go down quickly from
here; for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly (Deut. 9:12). Thereby, Moses is alerted to a
serious situation needing prayer, and he hastens down the mountain to look for himself to see how the people "have turned
aside quickly out of the way which [God] commanded them" (vs. 12). Of course, there he discovers that they have cast a
golden statue of a calf and are worshiping it (Deut. 9:16; Ex. 32:4-6). He turns directly to intercession (Deut 9:18).
Note further that as the Lord informs the Prophet of the idolatry going on at the foot of the mountain, He refers to the
Israelites, to the ancient People of God, as "your people" (Deut. 9:12). The bond that exists between us and the Saints, as a
result of our common union in Christ, should always reassure the Faithful that the Saints not only know our necessities, but
that they also care for us and our welfare far more than we can imagine, for they are joined to us. After Moses observes for
himself what the people are doing, he knows exactly what is required in this circumstance. This is not something he thinks
about, but a godly motion welling up from his heart: he "lay prostrate before the Lord for...forty days and forty nights,
because the Lord had said He would destroy [them]. And [he] prayed to the Lord, "O Lord God, destroy not Thy people"
(vss. 25,26). Seek the Saints' intercession boldly for they are ready, willing, and earnest to intercede at all times with God
for our sake.
O protection of Christians, mediation unto the Creator most constant: be thou quick, O good one, to hasten to intercession
and speed thou to make supplications, O Theotokos.
