The Sermon on Mr. John Antoniuk’s Memorial.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!

The belfry tower. Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Church of St. John the Baptist. Chipman, Alberta.

Today, my dear brothers and sisters, in our prayer we accompany to eternal life newly departed John Antoniuk!
For many years the late John had been a benefactor of our church of Saint John the Baptist in Chipman and is to be thanked for building a wonderful belfry with resounding bells, ordered from Greece… He loved to travel and every year, when he was in good health, he made a trip in his own car to the USA. John told me that once in his early years he brought from our Cathedral in Edmonton to his parish for celebrating Pascha (or Orthodoxy Easter) Archbishop Panteleimon. John brought Vladyka to the church very quickly and the Service started in time, but for returning home the Archbishop chose another and a little slower driver… John and I used to go together for serving the Divine Liturgy to our northern, the farthest parishes in Alberta… He sang in the choir and tried to come to all Church Services held in different places in the region of Lamont for participating and helping with singing.
Due to this remarkable John’s love for travel, my short preaching today will be devoted to the comparison of the life of a Christian to a trip. It is obvious that if we are going to move from one place to another, we prepare for it in advance and try to know as much as possible about the way we go and about our destination point. In the same manner the true Christians should prepare themselves for the future eternal life, for “we are but travelers on a journey, pilgrims on a pilgrimage to God…”
Many Christian philosophers and thinkers compared life to a journey, “a journey from birth to death.” If we recall the Old Testament, the greatest journey mentioned there is the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. Continuing to project this Biblical story onto our own lives, we may state that our Promised Land is not on this earth: this land, where milk and honey flow, is Heaven. The story about the journey to the Promised Land in the Old Testament is a symbol of the journey each of us makes to God, as we go through this life.
For that reason, Saint Apostle Paul describes life as a tent we live in (2 Cor 5:1). If somebody lives in a tent, it is because they are traveling and intend to move from a place to a place; a tent in such a case is only a temporary dwelling. Life is given to us in order to reach Heavenly Kingdom, therefore, we should try to keep our sight always fixed not just on the appearance of this material world, but on the fact that we were created by God, that we cannot be truly happy unless we live as God wishes us to live, because God wants only what is good for us. We always should remember that our destiny is the eternal life, and not just death…
Our Lord Jesus Christ did not give our late and beloved parishioner “VISA” to the other world quickly… The Almighty Protector miraculously extended John’s life a couple of years ago, when the doctors could not even tell what type of disease he had and were not sure how to cope with it… In this year Our Resurrected Christ allowed John to finish his life at the end of the Holy Paschal 40-days Celebration period, that John loved so much. Our Lord granted him time to rejoice for the last time on such a Great Feast with all his relatives and friends… I hope that since this day our dearly loved reposed parishioner will be celebrating Eternal Pascha on the Heaven with Christ Himself…
While contemplating about John’s death, we can repeat the words of the Patriarch of Constantinople Aphinagoros the 1st, who lived in the 20th century and described in such words his vision of the time of exodus from this world: “I would like to depart from this world after a disease, comparatively long – in order to be able to prepare myself for dying-but not so long that I might have become a burden for my relatives and friends…I would like to be laying in my chamber in a bed beside the window and looking through it be able to see how death appears on the neighboring hill, be able to hear how it enters the door and ascends the stairs, knocks at my door… I would like to be able to say: “Enter! But wait another moment! Be my guest! Let me prepare for a journey! Sit down!” And then later tell it: “Here I am: ready now! Let us go!”
Our passed friend and parishioner prepared for his death as a real Christian: he had a Confession and Holy Communion many times during his disease. Death became for him a bright door to the beatitude of the eternal life.
Dear brothers and sisters! Let us pray that our Lord Almighty God open in front of the soul of the newly departed John the gates to His Heavenly Kingdom and grant him eternal rest as a reward for his love to this church and this parish… Let the soul of our parishioner in Heaven meet Our Christ the Savior in such a way, as a groom meets his bride! May God repose his soul among the Saints and Angels! Let us hope that he will become the eternal member of the choir of angels in the Heavenly Kingdom and will plead God for the unity and peace among our parishes! May the memory of our beloved parishioner John Antoniuk be eternal! Amen!
June 22nd, 2013
St. John the Baptist Russian Greek Orthodox Church, Chipman,
Bishop Job of Kashira.