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The holy fathers of the First Ecumenical Council are likened to the three-hundred and eighteen trained men of his house whom Abraham led out on a mission to rescue his nephew Lot when Lot was captured by a foreign king. This image should underscore for us the fact that Orthodox doctrine is a serious matter. Those who are led astray by false…
May 26, 2023
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God; believe also in me.”
These words, from the Lord’s farewell discourse, were read at Divine Liturgy this morning. On the one hand, these words seem simple, even obvious, almost a spiritual bromide: don’t worry, just trust Jesus.
And yet these words also contain perhaps one of…
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.” So says an angel to the disciples as they watch their Lord depart. But we must always remember this departure is not permanent. On the one hand, Christ is with us, even till…
Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen! Leaving the Paschal feast behind can be a source of sadness, but we must recall the words of the Lord which he told us, his disciples, at the supper on Holy Thursday: “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told…
Today, the pharisees’ narrow dogmatism (“We are disciples of Moses”) is confronted with the experiential truth, the manifest reality, of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The blind man has encountered the Light of the world and it has changed him. All those around him recognize that, though he was born blind, now he can see. Moreover, he is…
May 20, 2023
Your Eminences, Your Graces,
Father Chad, faculty and staff of the seminary,
Members of the seminary board of trustees,
Students commencing and continuing,
Assembled clergy and faithful:
Christ is risen!
In the Gospel reading at today’s liturgy, we heard the words of the Lord: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they…
The name of Saint Photine, or Svetlana, is connected with light: phos (Greek) or svet (Slavic). She came to Jacob’s Well for ordinary, earthly water, but she encountered Christ who is the living Water and the Light of the world. Likewise, many people are motivated to pray because they seek solace in earthly troubles or solutions for earthly…
Saint Nicholas Cathedral
Brooklyn, NY
Your Eminence,
Christ is risen!
I greet you with joy, my beloved brother and concelebrant, on this luminous occasion, the day of your enthronement as Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. As I exult in this fraternal joy, I recall the words of the Psalmist:…
The Gospel we read in church on this mid-feast of Pentecost tells of a time that Jesus, during his earthly ministry, stood up in the temple and taught. The icon of the feast, on the other hand, depicts a twelve-year-old Jesus instructing the Jewish doctors in the temple many years earlier. But Mid-Pentecost is less a celebration of ancient events…
On many icons of Saint John the Theologian, the saint sits with his Gospel open but a hand clasped over his mouth, guarding his silence. This image reminds us that, even though Saint John declares many profound theological truths, the words of this “son of thunder” (Mk. 3:17) may merely seem like a thundery noise to us (Jn. 12:29) unless we…
Holy Ghost Orthodox Church
Bridgeport, CT
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“The Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me, and you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
Today, as we celebrate the Leave-taking of the Myrrh-bearers, Our Lord…
Saint Alexis Toth was canonized in 1995. Among the evidence for his holiness was a miracle whereby his prayers reunited a father and his long-lost son. This posthumous miracle is a wondrous reflection of the saint’s nearly-miraculous earthly career, during which he reunited tens of thousands of Greek Catholics to the Holy Orthodox Church,…
Time and again, the hymns of this joyous season point out that the myrrh-bearers were a little confused: Nicodemus had already buried the Body of the Lord with about a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes, but on Sunday morning, these women came with even more sweet spices. They did not understand the significance of the Lord’s Passion or know that…
According to Saint Gregory the Theologian, Thomas Sunday—which he called New Sunday—is an even greater feast than Pascha. On Easter, we celebrated the rising of Christ, but today we celebrate the renewal of the whole world by the power of the Risen One. The goal of Christ’s death was not his own Resurrection, however wonderful that may be: the…
Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen! In the darkness of earliest morning, our churches shining with festal light, we heard at Matins the wonderful Paschal sermon, the Catechetical Homily of Saint John Chrysostom, with its awe-inspiring refrain of “Christ is risen, and…”: “Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead…
“Moses the great mystically prefigured this present day, saying: ‘And God blessed the seventh day.’” In ancient times, catechumens were not permitted to read the Gospel; rather, they studied the Old Testament. Then, at the time of their illumination, on Holy Saturday, everything made sense. All the stories and images they had learned in the…
Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Washington, DC
April 14, 2023
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
On Christmas Day, the feast of the Nativity, we saw him born in a cave, in the silence of the night, when the whole world became still at his presence. We saw him sleeping in peace, cradled in his Mother’s arms. And yet…
“Today Judas watches how he may deliver up the Lord” (Matins, Antiphon Six). These are frightening words, and yet, if we think that we are so different than Judas, we have missed the point of the previous forty days. Every time we sin, we betray Jesus again; every transgression crucifies him again; every iniquity adds to his wounds. To our…
Throughout the Lenten season, we have witnessed, at the Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified, the reverent and divine adoration that the priest offers to Christ in the Eucharist: with fear he prostrates himself before the Lamb; with dread he escorts our God from the place of oblation to the throne of the altar; with trembling he touches the Holy One…
Dormition of the Virgin Mary Church
Cumberland, RI
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us together, and we all take up thy Cross and say: Blessed is he that comes in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”
This hymn, which we heard over and over again…