Monday, August 30, 2004
Alexander Nevsky, Prince of Novgorod
1st of Vespers of Indiction: Isaiah 61:1-9 Epistle: 2 Corinthians 12:10-19
Gospel: St. Mark 4:10-23
Isaiah 61:1-9, especially vs. 1: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
because He has anointed Me; He has sent Me to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the
broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to declare
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompense; to comfort all that mourn...." The
first of September is an official New Year in the Church, a fact of our history explained by St.
Nikolai of Zica as follows: "the First Ecumenical Council decreed that the Church's year should
begin on September First. The month...was, for the Jews, the beginning of the civil year (see
Exodus 12:2)....It was at the time of this feast that the Lord Jesus went into the synagogue in
Nazareth, opened the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and read the words" [of this very lesson]. Also
the month of September is noteworthy in Christian history because during this month Constantine
the Great achieved a great victory over his rival, Maxentius, an avowed enemy of the Christian
faith. St. Nikolai adds that Constantine's victory was followed by "the granting of freedom of
confession of the Christian faith through the whole Roman Empire. For a long time, the civil
year in the Christian world was reckoned in the same way as the Church's year...."
Appropriately enough, the Lord Himself greets us on this day, with the reminder that the coming
year "acceptable" in His eyes. Furthermore, Christ Jesus is the Lord of this coming year. In all
the days and months ahead, recognized or not, His great evangelical work will be the number
one, leading, and predominant fact of life for everyone. Are you impoverished spiritually? Take
heart! Heed the Lord's message of good news for you, declared in these verses. Briefly stated:
His Kingdom of heaven is yours (Mt. 5:3).
What broke your heart last year? a death? the loss of a friendship? income reverses? crippling
illness? your moral failure or someone's close to you? lost meaning to life? Oh, beloved of the
Lord, let Christ Jesus heal you. Come and ask Him to touch that wound (Is. 61:1).
Remember: the Lord Jesus is in the liberation business (vs. 1), whether your bondage is drugs and
alcohol, fears, obsession with food, a craving for success or sex, or a mad drive to look good,
whatever. Surrender it all to Him. Come to confession. Let Him release you from those chains.
It begins with the words, "I have sinned, O Lord; forgive me, O God." Hear His Priest declare,
"Now having no further care for the sins which thou hast declared, depart in peace."
Are you groping around in the dark, wondering what it is all about? By Baptism, you are united
to the One God Who is Light (vs. 1). He opens the inner eyes of those who cry, "Illumine our
hearts, O Master Who loveth mankind, with the pure light of Thy Divine knowledge."
The year that is past, is past. It is over. The year ahead is intended, in the heart and mind of God,
to be a propitious season for you - propitious, advantageous, beneficial, auspicious, a time full of
promise from the One Who keeps His promises (vs. 2). Maybe the problem last year was that
you were looking for advantages and benefits in the wrong place. Christ our God yearns to
recompense you for all that you have lost because of your sins and the sins of others (vs. 2).
"Fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of Thy servants as may be most expedient for us,
granting us in this world, the knowledge of Thy truth, and in the age to come, life everlasting."
Put off the cumbersome, soiled and ill-fitting spiritual garment of heaviness, and put on "the
garment of glory" from your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (vs. 3). He will help you "build the
old waste places...and renew the desert cities" (vs. 4). New Year's greetings from the Lord!
O God of all, Creator and Master of the ages, bless the crown of this year, saving all who
worship Thee, and who cry unto Thee in fear: Grant to all, O Redeemer, an acceptable year.
