The Very Rev. Fr. Ikonom Stevan Bauman Obituary
The Very Rev. Fr. Ikonom Stevan Jasper Bauman
September 18, 1944 – August 15, 2025
The Very Rev. Fr. Ikonom Stevan Jasper Bauman, our beloved husband, father, priest, and friend, fell asleep in the Lord on August 15, 2025, in Indianapolis.
Born in Kansas City in 1944, Fr. Stevan lived a life of faith, wisdom, and service. After studies in psychology, his path led him to the priesthood and, eventually, to Orthodox Christianity. For decades he faithfully served Joy of All Who Sorrow Orthodox Church in Indianapolis, where he was known for his deep compassion, quiet strength, and love for every person who crossed his path.
Fr. Stevan had a gift for listening, for making others feel understood, and for sharing stories that opened hearts and lifted spirits. His humor was sharp and warm at the same time—he could make you laugh even in life’s hardest moments. He was endlessly selfless, often showing up in times of need without being asked, and always going far beyond what anyone expected.
He is survived by his wife, Matushka Margaret; daughters Stefanida Luque (Fr. Dcn. Jorge) and Anna Michael (Kenneth); brother Michael (Merry); grandson Brendan; and nephew Garrison. He will be laid to rest at Holy Archangels and All Angels Monastery in Missouri.
Sermon – August-3-2025 – Fr. Stevan Bauman at Joy Church
8th Sunday after Pentecost – Tone 7
St. Symeon, Fool for Christs’s Sake, and John His Companion.
Prophet Ezekiel
I Cor. 1:10-18; Matt. 14:14-22
Thinking vs Knowing
And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
“Come, let us worship Him Who hath risen from the dead and enlightened all, for He hath freed us from the tyranny of hades, and by His resurrection on the third day hath granted us life and great mercy.” From the Aposticha in Matins.
Do you hear any conditional statements in that passage? “If you… then I will…
Any qualifiers, such as, “Those who are holy…I will enlighten. Those who are good, who say My Name right, …
At the 2024 Govenie in Orlando, Met. Joseph opened our time together with some remarks that will be the basis for what I have to say today.
He began by establishing the difference between Thinking you are loved and Knowing that you are.
When you know you are loved, you can relax and be yourself. All of us know how to do many things. We may know a lot about how to worship here at Joy, when to stand and sit, etc. Many, however, live with an “I think” mentality when it comes to God Himself.
When we are good or bad, when we are just right in our own minds, or when we make mistakes, God doesn’t change His mind about us.
You can’t make God love you more or less – no matter what!
His love is a gift to all. We labor to orient ourselves to better receive it and respond to it.
Instead, often we think we have to clean ourselves up in some way in order to make ourselves “good enough” to be “OK”, or at least “not too bad” to qualify to be loved, knowing that will never actually happen. We’ll never be the way we think we need to be to qualify. We don’t think with God’s mind.
Yes, you should repent of sin, but you can’t make yourself “good enough.” Nor can you make yourself so bad that God can’t find you and love you.
You can reject and deny Him and do harm to yourself or others, He gives us that freedom, but that doesn’t chase Him away.
PS 139: 7-12
“Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, thou art there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there thy hand shall lead me,
and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Let only darkness cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to thee,
the night is bright as the day;
for darkness is as light with thee.
He loved you before you even thought of getting cleaned up! Rather, because He loves you, you conceived of the idea of cleaning up. Otherwise, how would you know what clean is?
With the woman caught in adultery, John 8:1-11. Jesus did not say, “Go get your act together, quit giving in to temptation, then come back.” He said to those who wanted to catch Him in a predicament, to dishonor Him and to kill the woman, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one.” Then seeing no left to accuse her, He said, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” He acted out of love for all involved, even when they wanted Him to enter into and justify their sin.
So we work to accept that we are permanently loved, no matter what, because God is Love. Loving is not a choice He has to think about!
How would this orientation change you?
If you had the confidence of knowing that you are loved, as you are, you might get up in the morning and say, “Good Morning Lord! It’s me, the one you love!”
It’s good to love God, a natural result of knowing that you are loved. But He responds also to your knowing that He loves you.
You may have had the experience of going to your supervisor at work with something to say and being afraid, uncertain of the reception you would get. You may have experienced conditional love from a parent or someone else, expecting you to be a certain way, or else…
So you might well approach God feeling insecure, unworthy as a person, beating yourself up for past mistakes or experiences. This makes it very hard to boldly ask for something even from someone you think loves you unconditionally. You don’t know and you’re afraid to risk the disappointment. This is a pretty normal state in our time.
Or you may have really asked, then not gotten what you asked for, nor even any indication that there was anyone listening. If God exists, how can he ignore me/ allow X to go on in the world/ give Suzie what she asked for, but not me? He obviously doesn’t like me or doesn’t care.
This calls for a particular form of spiritual warfare, because such thoughts are stimulated by our Adversary. Turn toward the good things that have happened in your life and in your awareness and be grateful.
Then, when you know you are loved by One Who is the epitome of Love, Wisdom, Knowing and Power, you might simply look in His direction and say, even if you are suffering, “Lord, thank you for giving me exactly what I need for the sake of my soul. But You know, I really would like to have a chocolate éclair or healing from a disease [or something big that you really want intensely]. Nevertheless, because I know you love me, Thy will be done. Help me deal with getting what I want or not getting it.
Met. Joseph: You are God’s child, His favorite! Go freely to Him with the confidence of knowing that.
He doesn’t express Love; He is Love
Love is not what He does, it’s Who He is.
You are loved, not because of who you are or what you do, but because of Who He is.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, in whom we have access with confidence that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
