Oratorical Festival (Ypapanti on March 6)
John Bodkin's Speech on St. Anthony the Great

St. Anthony the Great once preached "life and death depends on our neighbor." This teaching can be explored in many ways, perhaps the most fundamental of which is, why does life depend on our neighbor?

Jesus' essential teach of "love your neighbor as yourself" was incorporated into our lives from a very young age as we were taught to "Treat others as you want to be treated". This major teaching of the Christian faith was taken even further by St. Anthony the Great when he preached "life and death depends on our neighbor."

He also said, "Our life and our death is with our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ." In the time of St. Anthony the Great, life was based on mutual dependence, so people had to rely on their neighbors. This allowed St. Anthony the Great, to come to the conclusion that "life and death depends on our neighbor" because in St. Anthony's time, neighbors, were the farmer who sells you your food, or the mason who builds the shelter for you to live in. Jesus' teaching that we should love our neighbor clearly has a direct correlation to life versus death in St. Anthony's time. It also however holds true today, but he was not only speaking of a literal interpretation.

In modern times we do not literally depend upon our neighbors for life and death as people did in St. Anthony's time, although, in a spiritual sense, we are just as dependent upon them as St. Anthony was. To be spiritually alive, we must stay focused on God, yet there can be a lot of temptation put on us, whether from our peers, our schools, or our jobs, to be distracted and lose our focus on God. It is from these neighbors, those who provide a bad influence, who may lead us to spiritual damnation. Saint Anthony the Great was once asked "what must one do in order to please God?" St. Anthony replied, "Pay attention to what I tell you: whoever you may be, always have God before your eyes; whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures; in whatever place you live, do not easily leave it. Keep these three precepts and you will be saved." We must depend upon our "good" neighbors, our family, our church community, and our Orthodox friends, to keep us focused on God. By keeping our focus on and being true to God we are becoming better Christians. We must always control what we say or think about other people, and by controlling the temptation to speak negatively of others we are becoming closer to God.

In today's generation, we are taught to become independent from a younger age. In sixth grade, our schoolwork was expected to be done completely independent from our parents. And in eight grade it was unheard of to seek help from anyone. But now in high school, as the academics become much more difficult, the only way to handle the strain is to seek help from our "Neighbors". Although our school work is not a life and death matter (except during finals week, which my mother makes me think that it is!), St. Anthony's teachings are still essential to our life in the Orthodox community and school.

Lfe and death DOES depend on our neighbor. Our neighbors give us guidance and wisdom in the difficult times of our spiritual lives. So we must always keep Christ in our mind and remember that although we may not literally depend upon our neighbors for the food we eat or the other necessities of life, it is our spiritual lives that are dependent upon the company we keep.

— John Bodkin