Homily

The past few Sundays we have been hearing readings from St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians. I was lucky enough to have gone to Ephesus. It was a port city on the Mediterranean Sea, filled with the homes of the rich, grand civic buildings, an amphitheater that could seat over 20,000 people, a magnificent library that was well supplied, dozens of public fountains built at great expense and finally the magnificent temple to the goddess Artemis, the goddess of fertility, considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world. Ephesus was a glorious city but today it is simply an area of ruins, stones, reconstructed partial buildings and rubble. Nobody lives there. Even the sea has left it because you have to walk several miles from the old harbor to get to the water today.

It was a city that represented the economic power of the Roman Empire, a city built up by its spectacular trade between the people of the western part of the empire and the people of Asia and Asia Minor. St. Paul, when he first arrived there, found a group of Christians, likely Jewish Christians, who had been believing in Jesus. St. Paul asks them if they had received the Holy Spirit when they were baptized, and they reply that they did not even know there was a Holy Spirit. They had only received the baptism of John. So Paul has them baptized as Christians, lays his hands on them and there were about 12 men there who received the Holy Spirit.

Paul went on to preach in the synagogue for three months, but because of some opposition, he moved the daily meetings to a lecture hall. He taught and preached in Ephesus for two years and many, many people in that part of the world came to hear about Jesus. More than that Paul was also a vessel of miraculous healing power, and people used to bring cloths to touch him and then touch those cloths to the sick at home and many were cured and evil spirits were driven out.

One day some Jewish exorcists were trying to cast a demon out of a man using the name of Jesus. The demon answered them by saying, "Jesus I recognize, Paul I know, but who are you?" The possessed man overpowered them all and ran away. When this story became known many people in Ephesus began to hold the name of Jesus in great honor. And many of the believers came forward and acknowledged what they used to do and believe. A large number who had practiced magic brought out their books of spells and curses and burned them in public, despite how expensive they were.

Not long after a silversmith named Demetrius, who made little shrines to the goddess Artemis, was beginning to notice a loss of income. He called a meeting of other silversmiths and businessmen whose incomes were linked to pilgrims who came to see the temple of Artemis. Business is slipping and it's because of this Jesus, and Paul who preaches about Him. He's ruining the trade and cult of Artemis. These merchants start going out into the street shouting, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" The people are confused as to what is going on, and, as would be the practice, they began to go to the amphitheater where they would get the news from somebody. And once some people start heading for the outdoor theater, other people would join them just to see what was happening. Two of Paul's companions were grabbed and taken inside. People are yelling all kinds of remarks, shoving and pushing but nobody really knows what is going on or why they should be there. Some of the Jews urged a man named Alexander to speak to the crowd and he gets up to talk, but when they see he is a Jew, they all begin to shout, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" and they kept at it for about two hours. It would have gone on longer but they didn't have the endurance of Duck fans.

Finally the city clerk gets up and says basically, that everyone knows that Ephesus is great and that Artemis is the #1 goddess there, so just calm down and take a chill pill. The two Christian companions of Paul are not temple robbers and they are not insulting Artemis. If the merchants have a legal complaint let them make it in the courts and settle it there. If this goes on, we could be charged with rioting, he says, and tells them all to go home. Under Roman rule a city that allowed riots could be severely punished so the people understood they needed to calm down and the disturbance ended.

When I was there, in the ruins of Ephesus, I felt a great connection to St. Paul, and his fellow Christians, who walked on these stone-paved streets, passed by the town hall, saw the library and the great temple of Artemis, and I thought of those earliest followers of Jesus, totally outnumbered countless times over by their pagan neighbors, and even by their Jewish neighbors, and how difficult it must have been for them to keep and practice their faith in the midst of so many unbelievers, and even in the midst of persecution. But they couldn't give up the Gospel; they couldn't give up their faith in Jesus Christ. The great city of Ephesus is no more, the temple of Artemis has vanished and nobody has prayed to the goddess for many, many centuries. But the Church still lives and the grace of Christ, the divine life given by Him continues to live and grow in the lives of the faithful.

Blessed Bishop Ivan, whom we remember today, spent 15 years in the harshest gulags of the Soviet Union, ministering to the faithful whenever he could, suffering terrible hardships, when all it would have taken was a simple renunciation of the Church to be free, and yet he never gave in, he never denied Christ, he never lost hope. The Soviet communists are now gone and the Church is in the open in Ukraine once again, and the Gospel of Christ, in persecution or in freedom is still preached and lived. Artemis of the Ephesians is gone. Lenin, Stalin, Brezhnev of the Communists, gone. Jesus Christ alone remains.

We live in a time when we see evil, and the effects of evil, slowly but surely taking stronger hold on our society, but let's not lose hope. Our hope is not in society; our hope is only in Jesus Christ. He is our hope not only when things go well, but also when we are afraid, when we are disappointed, when we are tempted, when it seems that people have lost faith and no longer care if Christ is among us, and some who even want to cast Him out. If we hope and live in Him, His truth will endure as it does in every age and every place even when the darkest powers try to stamp it out—and we will pass this light and this life on to our children, and to all who truly seek salvation.