Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
A Second Pascha
Homily for the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos
The great and wondrous summer holiday - the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God - from olden times has been regarded by Orthodox Christians in the light of a second Pascha.


Aug 28, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
The Feast of the Dormition: Comparing an Assumption
Both Orthodox and Roman Catholics celebrate the mystery of Christ's taking His Mother, body and soul, into Heaven. Yet both have quite different ways of approaching this Feast that reflects their differing perspectives on the Mother of Christ our God. Their liturgical focus is different one from another as are the very terms by which they name this Feast. Let's take a closer look . . .
Aug 27, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Sermon on the Feast of the Finding of the Relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov
Well, I say that the meaning of spiritual life is in acquisition of the Grace of the Holy Spirit. That is, the goal of our lives is a relationship with God, a direct relationship, through prayer through the fulfillment of God’s will, through spiritual struggle, though good deeds, which are the means by which to obtain a status such that the Grace of God, the Holy Spirit, settles in our hearts, in our souls – and we will have a true relationship with God. This is the goal of our Christian life.”

Aug 1, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Russian Destinies
There are historians who consider that the martyred Tsar was a poor ruler; others consider him to have been one of the best of rulers. I do not wish to talk about this; my business is not politics, although I do know that Tsar Nicholas II was much slandered. Let us leave politics to academics. The last Russian Tsar and his family are not holy confessors, but holy martyrs. In other words, all the human errors and sins they committed in their lives (and Only One is without sin, Christ our God) were washed away by the blood of martyrdom.
Jul 17, 2010, 04:03

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Holy Leaders of the Apostles
Different as these two Apostles were, they are most often depicted embracing or holding a church between them. The love of Christ transcends personal preferences and varieties in character. Close reading of the lives of the saints reveals many (especially among the holy hierarchs and theologians) who simply did not get along with each other. As an old priest once said to me, “We are called to love each other, not like each other.”
Jul 12, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
"You are the Christ!"
How do we truly proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? Do our lives reveal Him through what we say and what we do, and what we do not say and do not do? Can He be seen in us, in who we are, in how we live? Or do we look just like everyone else, indistinguishable from all the rest of those in the world who do not say that Jesus is Lord and Savior? Brothers and sisters, this should not be!

Jul 12, 2010, 02:26

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Nativity of John the Baptist.
‘What is the purpose of life?’ John the Baptist who never married, who remained a virgin, who prophesied, tells us that the purpose of life is to be spiritually fruitful. This is his prophetic revelation to us. Whether we are called to marriage and having children or not, we are called to bring forth spiritual fruit, to improve the world and not to worsen it, to be fruitful, and not to be barren, as his parents had been.

Jul 7, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
All Saints of Russia
If we do not embrace the faith whole-heartedly, with that spiritual hunger and thirsting, as we hear in the Beatitudes, and live it out in our lives, there is no point in celebrating the feast today.
Jun 6, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
What Makes a Person a Saint?
This is part of the reason why we celebrate the feast of All Saints on the first Sunday following Pentecost: to remind each one of us of our high calling; to remind each one of us that we are saints – that is, we have been consecrated, set apart for the service of God: not the service of the world, or of our flesh, or of our passions.
May 30, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Those Kneeling Prayers!
This past Monday Eve -- that is, on Pentecost Sunday afternoon -- we prayed the Kneeling Prayers at the Vespers for Holy Spirit Day, on Monday. I love coming to each feast day, in its distinctiveness, and partake of some unique aspect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ communicated through that liturgical celebration. And Pentecost does not disappoint, with its annual Kneeling Prayers.

May 24, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
With or Without the Holy Spirit?
The Acts is great reading, but it is not there for us to say "how great those days must have been, how I wish I had lived through them". Rather the stories of conversions, preachings, missionary journeys and rapid church growth are there to inspire us - for we too have received the same Holy Spirit. The Church without the Holy Spirit is not the Church.
May 22, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Homily on the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord
The Lord’s path should be the path of each and every one of us. The Lord suffered for all of us equally; the Heavens are opened also to all of us equally. Thus, I ask each and every one of you: can we point to very many things in our lives and say that they were done, or not done, by us because we are predestined for Heaven; because, some day, we should be with our Lord in Heaven?
May 13, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Metropolitan Anthony on the Sunday of the Blind Man
Why did the Lord not content Himself with His all-mighty power, but rather tell the man born blind to go to the pool of Siloam and wash in order to recover his sight? The answer to that question is that the man born blind had to show his obedience to the Mysterious Interlocutor of Whom he knew only His Name, but not His Divine authority.
May 9, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
The Healing of the Man Born Blind
Aren’t the spiritually blind of all times the same? Don’t they also drive Christ from their hearts and lives under the mask of piety, often not even bothering with a mask? Offering to us the Gospel story about blindness in this the last Sunday of Pascha, the Holy Church calls all who thirst for healing from spiritual blindness to turn to the source of light and to follow the wise faith of the one who was born blind.
May 9, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
On the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman
This is what the sacrament of Confession is all about; not just the listing of sins, but the uprooting of the causes of sin. As we progress in the spiritual life what we confess becomes more and more subtle, as we begin to work with the thoughts, emotions and conditioning that give rise to our sin. Denied the living water of God, we search for other sources of water we hope will quench our thirst, but they produce only more thirst.
May 2, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Pride and Prejudice
When each and every one of us are born, whether black, white, Greek, Turk- whoever, we are born with the image of God in all of us as it states in the Old Testament book of Genesis. This ‘seed’ that God has implanted in us all gives us the ability to love one another, it gives us the ability to see good in one another, it gives us the ability to see God within one another. It’s almost like carrying around a tiny icon of Christ in our hearts.
May 2, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Sunday of the Paralytic
Our life, yes, is transient and withering, like the grass under the hot summer sun. But the soul – a unique human personality created by God – its story in time and eternity is altogether different. If the soul is united with its Creator and God, then it becomes the most beautiful, the most precious of everything that is on earth.
Apr 25, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Do you want to be made well?
Just like the paralytic, all of humanity lay in paralysis, having been struck by the illness of the original sin. For long millennia, we tried to find a cure, but could not reach God on our own, nor was there anyone to help us. And yet, we did not lose hope, we kept waiting on God’s mercy and finally received the Divine visitation.


Apr 25, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
The Myrrhbearing Women and the Christian Women of Today
The younger girls and daughters can bring mirth to our Lord Jesus Christ their clean life, their virginity, prayer and obedience to thier parents. All (college) students and young women, who come to church regularly, can also bring to Christ our Saviour their mirth of good fragrance: the zeal for good deeds, mercy and charity towards those in suffering and obedience to their spiritual father.


Apr 18, 2010, 04:14

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Christ's Limitless Love
No doubt, in today’s society we are exposed to many messages about the meaning of love. Countless song titles speak on the subject - “What’s love got to do with it?” “Will you still love me tomorrow?” “All you need is love.” Amidst thousands of songs, movies, and book titles, our Lord’s Resurrection reminds us that it ‘is’ about God’s limitless and sacrificial love.


Apr 14, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Doubting Thomas
We live in a world of great oversimplification and therefore spiritual poverty. “Scientific” or “Unscientific.” People use words like these all the time as if they were self-evident and self-explanatory, and they use them because everyone else also uses them, without reflection, without debate. In fact, they themselves believe these reductions blindly and simplistically, and so any other approach appears to them as neither serious nor worthy of attention. The question is already decided. But is that really true?
Apr 11, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Abiding in the Light of Pascha
Pascha should be a beginning rather than an end. We are so accustomed in our culture to spend all of our energy on our preparation for an event and then when the event occurs, we relax and "take a break." Well, within the life of the Church where we participate in Christ Himself every feast, every Liturgy is a beginning, a renewal, a rebirth into Christ. This is why we feast Pascha for forty days and then await the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Apr 10, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Sharing the Good News of the Resurrection of Christ
Do we feel the fear or guilt that might result by speaking openly of our faith (or lack of faith) that may come across on the one hand as spiritually inadequate or, on the other, with a “holier-than-thou” attitude? Isn’t it better not to take the risk, and avoid the subject altogether? The unfortunate consequences of this philosophy are lost opportunities to share, among friends, honest and deeply held feelings of spirituality.

Apr 9, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Prayer: After Pascha
We can all easily "break the fast" in a worldly way. It's easy enough to give in to every whim and passion....and all too easy to lose any sense of moderation and discipline that we gained during the Fast. It is easy to "feast" by eating and drinking -- and we are certainly expected to do so. Yet the eating and drinking by no means exhausts the meaning of our "feasting", and if we try to make it so, it will leave us hollow, sluggish, and empty.
Apr 8, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
A Pascha of Incorruption
Listen to the triumphant hymns of the Church! Not on the day of Holy Pascha alone, but on all the great fests you will frequently hear the word “incorruption.” The entire matter of the salvation of the human race is expressed in the Church’s living theology as the gift of incorruption. This means that we lacked incorruption. We were in a condition of corruption.
Apr 6, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Christ is risen!
All Christianity, therefore, is the experience of faith repeated again and again as if for the first time, through its incarnation in rites, words, music, and colors. To the unbeliever, it may indeed seem like a mirage; he hears only words, he sees only incomprehensible ceremonies, and he understands them only outwardly. But for believers, all of this radiates from within, and not as proof of his faith, but as its result, as its life in the world, in the soul, in history.
Apr 5, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Pascha - The Brightest Night
The most-bright night of Pascha is the only night in the year when we are all in church, the night on which no Orthodox would think of staying home, as long as he is physically able to stand. The last echoes of the Passion fade away after the short midnight service. The Holy Shroud is carried into the sanctuary. In the yet dark church are heard the sounds of the first Paschal hymn: "The angels in heaven, O Christ our Savior, sing Thy resurrection. Make us also who are on earth worthy to glorify Thee with pure hearts."
Apr 4, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
The Citizens of Jerusalem Also Wanted Simple Human Happiness
The people holding palm branches in their hands there, by the walls of Jerusalem, and we holding pussy-willows in this church today, which today take the place of palms, what expectations do we have of our Lord Jesus? What do we ask of Him now, at the moment when our Savior’s path of sorrows to the Cross begins? I know what those crowds in Jerusalem ask of Christ, and what each one standing here asks of Christ. I know, because I myself ask only for this: health, happiness, welfare, a peaceful and secure life. “A place in the sun,” to put it simply.
Mar 28, 2010, 10:01

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Palm Sunday: Entrance of Our Lord into Jerusalem
Today is the end of our Great Lent—our journey to God; this is all that we are capable of. But today is also the beginning of the Passion Week—God’s journey to us. The way of Christ is the way of the bearing of the Cross, the way of suffering for our sins. We cannot understand His ways; all of the Passion Week is a mystery, a Sacrament; a stumbling block to some, and foolishness to others.
Mar 28, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Lazarus’ Saturday
We ask for some-thing, expect this to be given to us as we wish, and than we may be offended when it won’t be fulfilled. Only later we realize that the Lord, because of His love and mercy to all humankind, gives us something better, something more sensible for our spiritual life, something greater than our limited mind could imagine at first. We are simply inclined to ask for healing, but the Lord gives us resurrection!

Mar 27, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Clothe Yourself in Christ
In January, we celebrate the Lord’s Baptism which reminds us of our calling to become Christ-like and to become clothed in the garment of salvation and live a life worthy of the Gospel. Just as the military code of conduct demands that soldiers do everything in their power to follow and honor the established protocol and principals, we are also invited by our Lord to be instruments of love, peace and compassion!
Jan 19, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Theophany – reflections on the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ
Through the baptism of the Lord the waters received God’s blessing, being transformed in waters of sanctification. The Jordan is no more a water in which the demons lurk, as we see sometimes in the icons of Theophany, but it is now water of salvation; water that liberates man from the ties of sin, giving Him birth again from water and Spirit. Man is remodeled by God, as a pot maker models his vessels, using water and fire: water from the River Jordan and fire from the Holy Spirit.


Jan 19, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Partners in the New Covenant
We are called, rather, to love: To love the Lord with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. This is consistent with how the prophets of old understood the act of circumcision. The cutting of the flesh of the body was not only the sign of acceptance of the covenant; it was a direction to a deeper transformation that was required. “Circumcise your hearts,” the people of God were told. They were called to holiness, as an act of love toward God; and to acts of charity to those around them, as a way of loving our neighbors.

Jan 14, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Christmas Message of His Holiness Patriarch KIRILL of Moscow and All Russia
To celebrate Christ’s Nativity is to bring us closer to the Saviour, to help us seen more clearly his countenance, to be immersed in his good news. The Lord is born ever anew mysteriously for us in the depths of our souls so that we may ‘have life more abundantly’ (Jn 10: 10). The event of that night in Bethlehem enters our life today, helps us to see it from another perspective, at time unusual and unexpected. That which seemed important and great suddenly becomes trivial and transient, making way for the majesty and beauty of eternal Divine truth.


Jan 7, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Nativity of Christ
God gives us the freedom, and we ask very often, «Why?!» - why have we not been made in such a way that, compelled by a blessed necessity, we would be unable to go wrong, that we should be made in such a way that we always and in all things would respond to the best. But is it not simply because where there is no freedom of love and rejection of love, there is no love?
Jan 6, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
The Greatest Event Ever Happened
Finally, she got them into the crowded elevator with all of her packages. Then the doors closed and she could not take it any more. She lost it! She said for everyone in that elevator to hear, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot.” From the back of the car, everyone heard a quiet voice respond, “Don’t worry. We already crucified Him.”
Jan 5, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Christmas Hymns in the Orthodox Church
In her Christmas hymns, as in her other hymnody, the Orthodox Church does not limit her vision to earthly happenings alone. In these hymns she contemplates the events of Christ's life on earth from a dual perspective.


Jan 4, 2010, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Living Today
As we ring in the New Year, it is time to both look back at the past to reflect on where we’ve been and to look towards the future with faith, courage, and hope. But more importantly, it is about looking at where we are TODAY.


Dec 31, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Christmas is All about Doing the Unusual
Our friends and peers (others our age) can have a huge influence on our decisions. So often, many of our choices are based on what our friends or peers will think about us because we want to be accepted by them. We avoid doing things that might make us seem unusual or weird to them. Are we wearing the right clothes, listening to the right music, hanging out with the right people?
Dec 30, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
The Sunday of the Holy Forefathers
A Foretaste of Christmas
On the second Sunday before Nativity, the Gospel reading leaves off its progression based on Pentecost and aligns itself with the approaching Nativity. This is a sign for us; a message of urgency regarding what is about to happen. Worries, distractions, and cares must now be set aside for the sake of not missing out on the greatest of the Father’s gifts to us, which is His Son in human flesh. Every other mystical and sacred gift is secondary to the Incarnation.


Dec 26, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Culture Shock and the Orthodox Church
When I was first introduced to the church, and began going regularly, it was just like visiting a foreign country – everything was new and beautiful and exciting, and the sights, sounds and smells were enticing. I was constantly devouring the new experiences with gusto, and drinking in as much information as I could. I was so caught up in my new-found faith that I did not want to think about what it might mean later.


Dec 25, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
The Empty Seat at the Banquet Table
Have you noticed lately that we can hardly even mention in public the name Jesus Christ, or even the name of the festival we are celebrating? When we go to buy food nowadays, during these holy days of preparation for our Lord’s Holy Nativity, we hear from the person helping us say, “Thank you for shopping with us, and may you have a happy holiday,” or some similar words. Seldom do we hear today “Merry Christmas!” Rather we hear: “Happy Holidays!”
Dec 24, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
The Silence of Christmas
If we want to penetrate and revel in these mysteries—of our Savior’s birth, childhood, and saving death—then we need to begin to enter into this “deep silence of God.” And lest we get caught up in mere externals and begin to bemoan the noise and chaos around us and despair of finding peace and quiet, we should recall that the silence we seek isn’t really dependent on our environment—it is within us. In fact, during the Nativity season, it’s even in the chaos and noise around us, if we only cultivate the ears to hear and the eyes to see.

Dec 11, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Becoming a Living Temple of God
By submitting to the will of God, Mary became a dwelling place for God. Our assurance is that the same miracle awaits us as well. Mary, as the bearer of God, is the image and proto type of what each of us can become — bearers of God. That is why when we enter an Orthodox Church, on the wall behind and above the altar, we see the icon of Mary with Christ within her. This is the icon of what we all can become both as individual bearers of God and together as His Body, the Church.


Dec 4, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Who stole Christmas? – A consumerist Nativity story
I realized in that moment that Christmas was stolen away from Christians, melted in the furnace of the secular society and remolded in a totally new form that has nothing to do with the original. Under the influence of the pluri-cultural, post-modern, post-Christian society of the day, the pure gold of the Christian faith, that made Christmas possible in the first place, has being mixed with a myriad of pagan, esoterical and secular influences that have perverted the core of the incarnation of God celebration.


Dec 2, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Reclaiming Christmas
The day after Thanksgiving is often the busiest shopping day of the year. Stores push for record sales as more and more merchandise fills the shelves. You see, everyone is shopping for that special “something.” Indeed, our shopping craze has become somewhat of a national pastime.



Nov 28, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Feast of St. Archangel Michael
What humanly indescribable bliss awaits Christians who are loyal to God, if they remain true to their Christian calling to the very end. In order for us to be worthy of eternal co-existence and blissful life with the angels in heaven, we must honor them, follow their example of holiness, modesty, love, absolute loyalty to God, and loftiness of thought; and we must live in abstinence, prayer, fasting, charity, compassion for one another, and ardent mutual love.

Nov 21, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Let us follow the example of the Most Holy Theotokos - Homily of Patriarch Pavle
I repeat that feast days have been established among other reasons to serve as a model for us on how to act and how to live. The Most Holy Theotokos in one of her songs sang: God looked upon the calmness of His servant. Hence all generations will call me blessed. Thus the characteristic of the Most Holy Theotokos demonstrated throughout her life was calmness. The opposite of calmness is pride, which transformed an angel into the devil. Calmness is the virtue that elevated the Most Holy Theotokos to the greatest heights of the human race,


Oct 14, 2009, 10:00

Our Faith : Feasts. Calendar
Elevation of the Holy Cross
We take up our cross through the ascetic disciplines of the Church: prayer, fasting, study of Holy Scripture and the doctrines of the Church, self-examination in the regular confession of our sins, and practicing the commandments of Christ. Taking up our cross, then, practicing the ascetic disciplines of the Church, is how we express our love for Christ in deed and not just in word, for as Christ says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” If you love me, you will take up your cross and follow me.
Sep 27, 2009, 10:00