Unity, not Conformity

This week brought an important and felicitous occasion in the life of the Parish, in the visit of Bishop Alan Gates for a meeting with the Vestry, Solemn Evensong, and Confirmations. Our warmest prayers go to all those confirmed, namely Fei Cao, Lindsey Gao, & Denise Huff. 

In the meeting with the Vestry, much appreciation was expressed on all sides of the greatly recovered relationship with the Bishop and the Diocese, after times that have, without question, been of considerable challenge. The Bishop expressed his deep sense of the care with which the recent Rector search had been undertaken and welcomed the unusual circumstance of it leading in the end not just to one, but rather two appointments (with the second one — whose arrival is warmly anticipated – awaiting the completion of his visa process which is currently underway).

There was mutual recognition of our shared desire to carry a good relationship with the Diocese into the future, and to build upon it with a spirit of good will on all sides as we welcome Bishop-elect Julia Whitworth into her new role. Once again, the importance of noting that unity does not have to entail uniformity was mentioned by Bishop Gates. In his Sermon at Evensong he spoke powerfully on this aspect of the history of the Russian church and of St. Sergius of Radonezh (1314-1392) who, in the words of one great historian, “transcends the boundaries of time,” as the significance of the task he undertook went far beyond the framework of his era. He also noted that it was this same Russian Orthodox faith that lay behind the recent witness to the point of death shown by the dissident Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny only just this year. 

On the one hand the life of St. Sergius exhibited a spirit of simplicity as a quiet recluse, a modest abbot, mentor and comforter, yet on the other, he changed the course of Russian history as skilled mediator and unifier at a time of fratricidal strife and harsh conflict . Yet it was ultimately as a teacher, an encourager, and peace-maker that he achieved all that he did.

“Worshipping the life-giving, consubstantial and indivisible Trinity, Who is the beginning, source and well-spring of life, (he) built a church to the All-holy Trinity”, according to his biographer Epiphanius, “so that by gazing constantly upon it, we might conquer the fear created by the hated divisions of the world.”  The extensive hospitality commanded by St. Sergius, ending with the healing of body and soul in contemplation of the Divine Trinity.

It was this spirit that led to his founding the great Monastry of hermits or Lavra, of the Trinity as the very prototype of Divine unity. And it was this very Lavra that was to become the spiritual center of Russian Orthodoxy which it remains to this day.

The Rev. Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff
Rector