Reflection on the Sunday of All Saints of North America by Metropolitan Tikhon

— commemorated on June 14th

Last Sunday, we were called to the heavenly contemplation of all the saints from every age standing roundabout the throne of God in eternal glory. Today, we consider instead the ways in which the saints who shared in our concrete, earthly circumstances—saints who lived and struggled in the lands of North America—have achieved their place in the assembly of the righteous. The diversity of their virtues and vocations—matushki and batiushki, martyrs and confessors, bishops and monks, scholars and men of modest learning, missionaries and hermits—reminds us that, no matter our own particular circumstances, God calls us to sanctity and has prepared everything in our life so that we can live out that calling. The Synaxis of All Saints of North America thus serves as an urgent reminder: don’t put off your life in Christ, and don’t wait on external circumstances to change. You are, right now, exactly where God wants you; make use of his gift of time and strength to repent, take up your cross, and follow Christ, starting from right where you are—“from this day, from this hour, from this very moment,” to paraphrase St. Herman.

TROPARION — As the bountiful harvest of Your sowing of salvation, the lands of North America offer to You, O Lord, all the saints who have shone in them. By their prayers keep the Church and our land in abiding peace through the Theotokos, O most Merciful One.

KONTAKION — Today the choir of Saints who were pleasing to God in the lands of North America now stands before us in the Church and invisibly prays to God for us. With them the angels glorify Him, and all the saints of the Church of Christ keep festival with them; and together they all pray for us to the Pre-Eternal God.

- St. Innocent of Alaska

"Truly, not a single earthly pleasure can satisfy our heart. We are strangers on earth, pilgrims and travelers; our home and fatherland are there in heaven, in the heavenly kingdom; and there does not exist on earth things that could perfectly satisfy our desires."