About Archbishop Mykhail on the Sunday of All Saints
Sunday of All Saints
Hebrews 11:33-40; 12:1-2
Matthew 10:32-33;37-38; 19:27-30
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.”
(Matthew 10:32).
On this Sunday, the first after the Sunday of the Holy Trinity, the Church of Christ honours not just all holy people, but especially all those saints whose names are not mentioned in lists, who are unknown to us by name, yet are glorified by God. They acknowledged God before men, testified to great faithfulness to God through their pious actions, confessed the true God, confessed Jesus Christ, carrying their own cross to the “very end”.
How many of them were there, how many are there now? - No one knows. How many holy people from among our people perished during the Tatar devastation, under all the occupations?
Another question: Have we noticed any saint in Canada, the USA, in other countries where we are dispersed? – Despite that, faith was established not by some notable revolutionaries, but by unnoticed and at the same time honest confessors of God, of Christ.
It also seems to me that it is appropriate on this day to remember one who recently lived and was active among us, and whom most knew only from occasional archiepiscopal visits. I am not asserting that he was a saint; time, and possibly also God's signs, will determine, will reveal to us the confessor of Christ… But we are obliged to consider—who lived among us?
In April 1930, when winter was still raging on the Kola Peninsula because it was in the north, above the Arctic Circle, a whole echelon of prisoners from Ukraine was forced to disembark at what is known as the 16th kilometer of a newly laid railway built by prisoners. As Archbishop Mykhail recalls in his yet-unpublished memoirs, there were barriers (walls) of snow, 3-4 meters high, along the sides of the railway and along the pathway to the prison barrack.
This was Archpriest Fedot Khoroshyj's reward for his service in UAOC and his faithfulness to God. This was also the punishment for many thousands of priests, intellectuals, hardworking peasants, and townspeople for their loyalty to God, Christ, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
In these memoirs mentioned above, Vladyka recalls how he had been destined in a vision to take on the name Mykhail. We will not delve into a literal translation of “Mykhail” itself (the deceased explains this quite well in his sermons), but we are all aware that Archangel Michael embodies supreme fidelity to God's angelic hosts without bodies. All angels who rose up against Satan and celestial forces of darkness are warriors alongside Archangel Michael.
If, by the will of God (the deceased) took the name of Michael in monasticism, then evidently it was God's Providence that he, imitating the Archangel Michael, should be a model of fidelity to God. Or a similar conclusion, but on a different plane: because the priest Fedot Khoroshyj showed great loyalty to God, Christ, in his life and work, he was given the name Michael by God's will, so that under this name he would serve among people and be an example of loyalty to God, so that he would also teach as many people as possible loyalty and love for God.
And his very longevity on earth, with his poor physical health, in my opinion, is a miracle. I knew him for more than 30 years, lived with him in everyday life: I was his secretary, cook, guide, translator, subdeacon, and his student... I learned from experience that Mykhail was physically the weakest of our bishops. In the years 1945-47, he felt so weak that he needed about an hour of rest after the Divine Service before being able to eat. And now, decades later, he felt himself to be physically stronger...
Much later, when I myself, having received through him the ordination of a priest, began to serve and preach, I realized that when a clergyman, aware of his great responsibility, concentrates all his attention, all his mental and spiritual abilities to convey prayerful inspiration to all the faithful, to direct them from daily life concerns toward union with the Creator, toward the performance of the Sacrament, toward participation in the Sacrament, so that the presence of the Holy Spirit is truly felt in the church, so that within the church walls the Church of Christ is truly present, and not just a group of people; to teach, to convey to the faithful the Word of Truth, – the clergyman often exhausts all his strength and even physically weakens, and may even perspire in a cold church.
But all that understanding, as I have already mentioned, came to me later; nevertheless, anyone who knew Mykhail, our archbishop, closely, was convinced that, although he was physically weak, he was a man of sincere daily prayer—not just for show. God renewed his strength, strengthened him with His grace so that for many years he could sow the seeds of Truth among us, to establish and nurture a firm faith and love for God and for our Ukrainian people, so that we all imitate Archangel Michael in faithfulness to God...
He was a good preacher by the grace of God, but perhaps God may yet raise from the midst of our Church even more eloquent preachers. He was a good Archbishop, but perhaps among our bishops there will be stronger administrators, organizers. He was also a poet, a writer; several books came from his pen, but perhaps there are and will be stronger poets and writers among the people of our nation.
Mykhail was gifted with musical abilities and left us musical church compositions, but there may be stronger church composers, more talented singers, conductors. However, in terms of the strength of faith and fidelity to God and Christ, we have no one greater than him among us, and in my opinion, one's fidelity to God cannot be more affirmed than that which Archbishop Mykhail confirmed with his martyr's confession of faith in Christ.
He answered Christ's call by taking up his cross and following Jesus Christ (Mark 8:34). He was tortured in prison on the Kola Peninsula labour camps, on the Solovetsky Islands of the White Sea, at Pechora River camps. He was persecuted for confessing faith in Christ after returning to Ukraine; yet everywhere—in a prison cell or barrack or amidst forests and swamps beyond the Arctic Circle—he remained faithful to Christ. Serving God and Christ while being clothed in rags, hungry and persecuted, he never renounced the Lord.
He sealed his fate and preferred to lose his physical life rather than lose his soul (Mark 8:36). He was tormented by godless men: haters of Christ, but God, seeing that he was faithful in little, set him over much.
God appointed him as a leader of the Church. He preserved him for us, for the salvation of our souls, for strengthening faith among us, for affirming fidelity to God and Christ.
A martyr for the Christian faith lived among us. In our understanding, a martyr is not only one who has been tortured to death but also one who endured torment without renouncing his faith; whom God saved from the clutches of bodily death so that he could be both a witness and an example to people in confessing the truth. In him it is truly confirmed that “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Among many others that you have brought forth, Archbishop, am I, unworthy. None of us can boast such a declaration of faith as you, God's Archbishop, but the example of your confession of faith, your spiritual steadfastness, and your fidelity to God on earth in emulation of Archangel Michael will shine for us and provide an example to follow.
We, sons and daughters nurtured by you, pledge that we will emulate you in service to God and our people. We will preach the word of truth to our people; we will seek out the lost; we will strengthen the weak in faith; we will always fight against godlessness; we will enlighten those who are blinded. These are our feelings on Sunday when we remember unnamed saints who were meant to be glorified by God.
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.
