Ordination of John to the diaconate

16 April 1978

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

I want to say a few words in English so that John who has just been ordained to the Diaconate, Shanta his wife, and all their friends who may be here may understand.

An ordination is always an action that fills with fear, with dread and awe, both the person who ordains and the person who is ordained. A moment before John was free, now he is a bondsman, a bondsman of Christ and a man who has been appointed by Christ, according to today's Gospel, to be the servant of all. A moment before John had a right to his feelings and to his preferences, to his ways, now there is only one way which Christ has defined as being Himself, He is the way which is defined in the Gospel, and today's Gospel is particularly stern and clear about what this way is.

Christ is speaking to His disciples on His way to Jerusalem, where He is going to be betrayed, abandoned, condemned and murdered. He promises that He will rise again, but two of His disciples, concerned as we are so often with only themselves, have not heard what He said about His Passion, and His death, His dereliction and the horror that expected Him. They had heard only of the victory and they come forward claiming, begging for the right, when He comes in His glory, to be seated at His right and left hand in His Kingdom.

And Christ addresses to them a question which He addresses to all of us, but in a special way, with a directness and sternness which is beyond compare to those who have believed to be called and have responded «Here am I, O Lord, be it unto me according to Thy will». ‘Are you prepared, says Christ, to drink the cup which I am to drink, to be merged into the ordeal which will be Mine?’ And the disciples answer ‘Yes’. This is the question which is being asked before long before today's ordination from John and from Shanta. Do you believe in Christ, have you so wished to serve Him and all those for whom He has a concern as to be prepared to drink the same cup, to be merged into the same ordeal of life and testimony and if necessary of death? They also said ‘Yes’ and so has John. Neither the Apostles, nor John, nor Shanta could or can measure the depth, the sternness of the question; and the dread meaning of their reply. The Apostles expected a quick victory after a short struggle. After 2000 years we stand face to face with the same mystery because each of us is lead along that road which is Christ, along that destiny which is His, in a way which no one can foresee and no one else can know except him who is brought to it, led onto it, and has to face the consequences of a sincere response.

And Christ goes on to explain to His disciples that whoever wishes to come first, must come last, whoever wishes to serve must be a slave, completely surrendered, completely given. The Holy Doors through which an ordinand (ordinance (?) is brought as a Deacon and again as a Priest, and again to be ordained as a Bishop, these Holy Doors, can be entered, this threshold can be crossed only at the cost of a new measure of surrender, complete surrender to God Who has all power, Who has all right to use us as He chooses. Each of us has got to overcome his peculiar difficulties, fear of others, shyness, lack of assurance, all of us have got to overcome inner difficulties when confronted with the integrity and the ruthless love of the Gospel. And when a man is being ordained, he enters into a dread mystery, the mystery of the Church and the mystery of Christ; and we are all in awe of this event, all of us, in faith and in hope.

One of the functions of a Deacon is to proclaim the Gospel in the midst of the congregation, and the proclamation of the Gospel is not a mere reading of it; it will reach hearts and minds, it will have power to transform only if before it reaches the hearing of those present it will have reached the heart of him who reads, hit his heart and brought a spark out of it, (rent) his heart, penetrate it as a sword, brought out of it a response. This is why a Deacon is advised to read the Holy Gospel again and again to prepare for every reading in church by a repetitive deep reading at home. Saint John Climacus tells us that the words of God are like a pointed arrow capable of piercing the hardest resistance. But, he says, unless there is a bow and a string, an arm and an eye, this arrow will remain dormant, quiescent, useless and idle. The bow and the string, the arm and the eye are in all his complexity the reader of the Gospel, he who proclaims it. May God grant John so to identify with the Gospel of sacrificial love, of total surrender, of joyful service at His word, the word of his Master read, (?) that it should come from the depth of his being and be witnessed by his life and his ways.

The Deacon's function is also to protect the prayers of the Priest, to make it possible for him to be collected totally on the dread and sacred mystery which he is performing and also to proclaim the prayers of the Church which this congregation and the Church universal brings to God in Christ. But the Holy Liturgy is a service which as human agency can perform, no human person can bring forth unless the grace of God sustains us, because the Liturgy is an intercession in words, in life and in death, in the Resurrection and the Ascension, in the Cross and the glory of Christ Himself.

We must pray that God may lead His new servant, His new Deacon so to identify with the prayers and the life of his Master that he should be able to proclaim words which are too heavy for human lips, with power and humility; the power of Christ because the words are His, and humility and awe because he is frail and fearful; because he will be serving mysteries that are beyond human heart and capability.

And us? Let us pray that what has happened today should truly be an act of God as every sacrament is, that all weakness and frailty should be supported by the power of Christ, that what the Apostle has said repeating Christ's word spoken to him: My grace sufficeth thee, My power is made manifest in weakness.

Whenever a man becomes a Deacon, or a Priest, or a Bishop, there is fear around him: shall he fulfil his function? Yes, if he surrenders truly, by the power of God, yes, if he is weak and frail, by the support of those who are afraid for him and for themselves, within, the mystery of the Church which is Love incarnate or nothing.

Let us therefore offer our prayers time and again that the ministry which has begun now may be made strong and true, and the blessing of God be upon John the Deacon, his wife and his family and that through him, through an increasing generosity, through an increasing surrender, a gift of self, he may be to us blessing and great joy. Amen.