Sysoyev’s Missionary Program for Westerners: The Talks
Article by Andrew Smith :: Photo courtesy Sarah Meggitt Photography
This post will be continuing the series on Fr Daniel Sysoyev. If you don’t know who he is, check out my first post.
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Fr Daniel not only set the ethos of his program, not only trained other people to work; he also did a lot of work himself, particularly events, lectures and sermons.
- Give two talks each week and three sermons each weekend.
- First talk was a Bible study, after Vespers. 2 hours, Old and New Testaments, serve refreshments afterwards.
- Second talk was the catechetical school. Five talks over five weeks, 2 hours each, repeated cyclically through the year.
- First sermon on Saturday night vigil, about the Saint and ethics.
- Second sermon in middle of service, about the Gospel reading.
- Third sermon at end of service, about the Epistle reading.
- Post recordings of all sermons online.
- If services have gaps – such as during the time when clergy commune – then fill them with Scripture.
- After services, have refreshments.
- Have special talks during the year.
The reality of these points is that there is little application that needs to be done – any one of these things can be done immediately in a Western context. Some things already are in some parishes: it’s part of the Liturgy to have a sermon after the Gospel, though in other parishes it’s given at the end of the service; Fr Patrick Reardon said that he gives a sermon at every service; in some parishes, recordings of Sunday sermons are posted online, such as Ancient Faith Radio’s Frs Josiah Trenham, Gregory Hallam, Theodore Paraskevopoulos, Tom Soroka and Patrick Reardon. It is common to have Bible studies, with some even being put online (such as Fr James Early‘s), and to put lectures online (such as Fr Andrew Stephen Damick’s series Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy, now a book from Conciliar Press). Indeed, most parishes in the West have refreshments after services; many Greek-tradition parishes (as Fr Peter pointed out) have readings during the time when clergy commune.
The primary adaptation for each of these things is parochial – that is, which ones will work at a parish, and how many can a priest do. If a priest is able to do all of these talks, and have twice-daily services, then he is probably exceptional – and certainly a full-time priest.
Yet, there would be no reason why all of the sermons would need to be prepared in advance. The Prologue of Ochrid, for example, has sermons on ethics and virtues – one for every day of the year, in fact. There are numerous books that have sermons for each Sunday of the year. Many of the Fathers have commentary on Scripture – St John Chrysostom’s are the most famous, but there are many others. It would not be a great stretch to simply use these sermons, and for a priest to simply write one sermon each week. Cutting down the size of Patristic Scriptural commentary to the length of an average sermon could be one of the tasks that a missionary is tasked with.
Bible studies are a staple in many parish ministries. These are commonly done as an ‘interactive sermon’, with the leader of the Bible study (usually a priest, but sometimes a trained layperson), having researched, gives the fruit of their research; subsequently, the attendees will ask questions and receive answers. However, they are often 1-1.5 hours – rarely longer than that.
Fr Daniel was a successful missionary, and doubtless needed to make five week courses. Being in a country where being Orthodox was standard, he may not have felt it necessary for a lengthy period of study. Yet, in Western countries, it is often standard for those who are coming into the Church to have a lengthy catechumenate – 12 months seeming to be a rough standard. Even if the catechumenate is 6 months, there is no reason why the talks could not be a 10 week series – it may even be better for the catechumens. In addition, it may be that there is not a similar need to deliver a talk for catechumens every week. However, this course could easily be run yearly, twice-yearly, or even five times a year if need arose – depending on the parish itself.
Some may enquire as to the benefit of giving a sermon during a Saturday evening vigil – given that such a service is often 2.5 hours long in most parishes, some may ask why it should be lengthened. The reality is that for many parishioners, it’s just seen as a very long service without application to any part of life. Sermons are the best way of changing this.
Adding special talks to this schedule may seem impossible, but I suggest that it isn’t in most places. In cities where there is more than one Orthodox church, it is not difficult to invite a priest from another church to deliver a talk. It may still be feasible to invite a speaker from out of town – even overseas. Often, church dignitaries will come from overseas for a special occasion – the opportunity should be seized for them to deliver a talk, be part of a panel discussion, or some similar way to ensure that the faithful can interact with them.
While each of the talks and sermons can be directly implemented, it may be daunting to attempt to implement them all. As a proposal, I would suggest:
- Give two talks each week and three sermons each weekend. After each stand-alone talk and each weekend service, serve refreshments (finger food and drinks).
- Have a Bible study, perhaps one that follows a short prayer service (e.g. Vespers).
- Have catechumen classes that generally follow an established pattern (approx. 10 weeks each time). Offer this 1-5 times each year, but at least annually.
- Have a sermon read on Saturday night vigil from the Prologue of Ochrid – whether by the priest or someone he blessed to do this.
- Give one or two sermons during the Divine Liturgy about the Scripture readings. Make sure at least one is written by the priest (or the one who is preaching).
- Record each sermons. Post them online. This is as much for visitors as it is for any parishioners who couldn’t get to church that week or if a parishioner wanted to hear the sermon again.
- If services have gaps – such as during the time when clergy commune – then fill them with Scripture or other spiritually beneficial reading.
- Invite guest speakers to have special talks during the year.
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This is the final post discussing the application of Fr Daniel Sysoyev’s missionary plans in the Western world; you can see the description and documentation of his plans in previous posts.
Do you think that these ideas – Bible study, lecture series for catechumens, three sermons each weekend, guest lecturers, putting sermons online, filling unused time in services with spiritually beneficial reading – would work in Western countries?
Has your parish tried any of these, and would you like to share your experience?
Have you thought of a different missionary plan, and would like to share it here?
Leave your comment below!
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