Homilies & Addresses

"Whosever will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.' (Mark 8:34) These words of the Lord Jesus Christ echo through our Churches on the Third Sunday of the Great Fast - the Sunday of the Cross - and they stir our souls as we prepare during Holy Week to re-experience His saving Passion, Death and Resurrection . They provide the key to discipleship: cross-bearing. They provide the signpost for the ascetic struggle to which we are called: self-negation - crucifixion. They are words that speak less of an object and more of a course of action for those who would walk the path of the Crucified Lord of Glory. In the Gospel passage, He offers the Cross, the bitter means of healing of the soul to everyone who desires to be saved from death.

With deep and abiding thanks, I must first congratulate His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW and His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, for their sponsorship of this conference here on the sacred island of Halki. Here at this spiritual center,all of us are honored to be part of the combination of theological and scientific disciplines, which create a true synergy capable of discovering new solutions to the complex problems of our day.

In this season of the Great Fast, it is the duty of all Christians to enter into the Holy Mystery of Confession. It is not the only thing that we must do in Lent to prepare for the Feast of Pascha: but it is surely a necessary preparation for that Great and Holy Feast of Feasts. There is no way for us to feel the joy and peace of the Resurrection Festival without first going through preparation of Confession: one must climb the mountain path before he can enjoy the view from the mountain top.

"Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He STEADFASTLY set His face to go to Jerusalem..." The Gospel portions that are read on Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday are from the Gospel of St. John. But today I turn to a scene in the Gospel according to St. Luke

Do you not think it amazing how that whenever the Lord Jesus Christ comes into contact with a person, He touches his HEART and SOUL AND TRANSFORMS HIS LIFE? This mystery happened so many times during His earthly ministry of three years.

Do you not think it amazing how that whenever the Lord Jesus Christ comes into contact with a person, He touches his HEART and SOUL AND TRANSFORMS HIS LIFE? This mystery happened so many times during His earthly ministry of three years.

The years of life seem to pass so quickly, the pace of time quickening as the years advance, and no person can escape the relentless currents that carry each of us to life’s twilight and to the inevitable encounter with the specter of our own mortality. This is our common lot in this fallen world ravaged by sin. This world, this life that progresses ruthlessly towards the grave, has been conditioned by the sin of Adam and Eve, that Original Fall with its dark consequences of pain and death. And no one can detour this sojourn through the valley of the shadow of death

Let us call to remembrance a time when we were not divided: a time when we were united. Let us travel the length of the epitrachil back to the moment when the stole is a single strand at the head, instead of a division into two separate columns as it touches the floor.

I have been thinking of many things since we gathered at 5 o'clock today for the Prayer Service of Thanksgiving at the Cathedral. First of all, let me tell you that the service was very prayerful. The choir lifted us up. And you sang our Prostopinije beautifully!