4TH Sunday OF MATTHEW.

Saint John Maximovitch, Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco

(1896 – 1966)

In 1934 it was decided to raise Hiermonk John to the rank of bishop. As for Vladika him-self, nothing was farther from his mind. A lady who knew him relates how she met him at this time on a streetcar in Belgrade. He told her that he was in town by mistake, having been sent for in place of some other Hiermonk John who was to be consecrated bishop! When she saw him the next day he informed her that the situation was worse than he had thought: it was him they wished to make bishop! When he had protested that this was out of the question since he had a speech defect and could not enunciate clearly, he had only been told that the prophet Moses had the same difficulty. The consecration occurred on the 28th May 1934, Vladika was the last bishop of the very many to be consecrated by Metropolitan Anthony, and the extraordinarily high esteem in which that venerable hierarch held the new bishop is indicated in a letter which he sent to Archbishop Dimitry in the Far East. Himself declining an invitation to retire to China, he wrote: But in place of myself, as my soul, as my heart, I am sending you Vladika Bishop John. This little frail man, looking almost like a child, is actually a miracle of ascetic firmness and strictness in our time of total spiritual enfeeblement. Vladika was assigned to the diocese of Shanghai.
During the Japanese occupation it was extremely dangerous to walk on the streets at night, and most people took care to be home by dark. Vladyka, however, paying no heed to the danger, continued to visit the sick and needy at any hour of the night, and he was never touched. In Shanghai, a voice teacher, Anna Petrovna Lushnikova, taught Vladyka the proper method of breathing and pronunciation of words, thus helping him to better his diction. At the end of each lesson Vladyka paid her 20 dollars. In 1945, during the war, she was gravely wounded and happened to be in a French hospital. On a very stormy night, feeling that she might die, Anna Petrovna began asking the nurses to call Vladyka John, who was in France, so that he would give her Communion. The nurses refused since the hospital was locked up during the night due to war-time conditions. Anna Petrovna was beside herself and kept calling upon Vladyka. Suddenly, around eleven o’clock in the evening, Vladyka appeared in the ward. Unable to believe her eyes, Anna Petrovna asked Vladyka, weather this was a dream or did he really come to her. Vladyka smiled, prayed and administered communion to her. Following this she calmed down and slept. The next morning she felt cured. No one believed Anna Petrovna that Vladyka visited her that night since the hospital was tightly secured. However, her ward neighbor substantiated the fact that she also saw Vladyka. The greatest surprise was that under Anna Petrovna’s pillow was found a 20 dollar bill. Thus Vladyka left a material evidence of his visit.
Blessed Archbishop John of Shanghai and San Francisco was canonized as a Saint by the Rus-sian Church on July 2 1994. “The Life of St. John Maximovitch”

The Gospel passage of the Divine Liturgy. (Matthew 8:5-13)

The Lord, is in the city of Capernaum of Galilee. From the Holy Gospels we know the receptivity that the inhabitants of Capernaum had shown to the divine grace. That is why the Lord performed many miracles there. From the Gospel passage today we learn about the miracle of the healing of the centurion's servant.
A centurion was an officer in the Roman army. He had a hundred soldiers under his command. That's where its title comes from. It is, of course, about a pagan but with faith in Jesus Christ. The evangelist Luke mentions that the centurion asked the elders, we would say today the respected men and lords of the place, to visit the Lord and submit on his behalf a request for the healing of his servant.
According to what the evangelist Luke quotes, the centurion avoided approaching the Lord personally and asking him for a visit, because he did not consider himself worthy of such an honor. He even added that he believed that even one word from the Lord was enough to restore his servant's health.
One can formulate the question: Why did the centurion not go personally to the Lord? From what the elders said to the Lord about the person of the centurion, it seems that he was a cultured man, enriched with delicate feelings, religious nature but at the same time timid.
The elders with fervent entreaties tried to convince the Lord to take an interest in the dying servant of the centurion. Thus they emphasized that the centurion nurtured a rich love for the Jewish people and even contributed so that they could acquire a pri-vately owned place of prayer and worship of God, that is, he built them their Syna-gogue.
While the Lord seems to be proceeding in the direction of the centurion's house, then other friends of his arrive and ask the Lord not to be disturbed and not to bother to go home. The centurion believed that just as he directed his people with a single word, so the Lord could so simply and quickly restore the health of his own servant.
The Lord was quite near. After hearing the centurion's words, he praised his great faith and immediately and from a distance healed his servant. Here we can notice the attitude of the Lord and his interest in proposing to go near a man, who at that time, as a slave, did not stand so high in society. The evangelist Luke mentions that this servant was an honest person. Consequently, his boss held him in high esteem.
For the Lord, however, every human being is worth more than the rest of the world. Let us learn, then, to have personal sensitivity, a corresponding appreciation and special interest in the circumstances of the Lord's brothers, our fellow human beings. To care about their pain and sorrows and to share in their joys.

 

The Apostle Reading

(Of the Mother of God)
Prokhimenon. Tone 3. [Luke 1]
Verse: My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Verse: For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden.
The reading is from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews.
Hebrews 9:1-7

Brethren, the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. For a tent was prepared, the outer one, in which were the lamp stand and the table and the bread of the Presence; it is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain stood a tent called the Holy of Holies, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, which contained a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go continually into the outer tent, performing their ritual duties; but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people.

The Gospel Reading

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew

Matthew 8: 5-13

At that time, as Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came for-ward to him, beseeching him and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress." And he said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion answered him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth." And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; be it done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed at that very moment.