Homilies & Addresses

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. Read more...

"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 Read more...

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. Read more...

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. Read more...

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 Read more...

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. Read more...

This year, we are celebrating the life and the teachings of St. Paul the Apostle. Just yesterday (Sunday, June 29th), His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Benedict recited the Nicene Creed together, in the Greek language, using the Orthodox words of the Creed. They did this in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, during a special announcement of a year-long celebration of St. Paul. We are celebrating this great Apostle, his life and his teachings because we know that St. Paul was the one that God used to write down, for the first time, the teachings of the Holy Orthodox Church. Read more...

"And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split." (Matthew 27:50-51) This day in our Holy Orthodox Church is called in Greek "Megali Paraskevi," in Slavonic "Velikij Pjatok," and in English this translates "GREAT FRIDAY!" Many of us, of course, know the more common title derived from the west: "Good Friday," which is also appropriate, but which is in reality a corruption of the original name: "God's Friday." But our term "Great Friday" is much more accurate and profound because of the great act of salvation which has been accomplished on this day! Read more...

"Brethren, rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, 'Rejoice!'" (Philippians 4:4) The Great Fast is over! The Holy Forty Days is accomplished! The Apostolic Reading for this day has different and distinct tone, you will notice. For the past five weeks the Sundays of the Great Fast, we have heard the words of the Holy Apostle Paul as he addressed the Hebrews. He instructed us about God's promises, our sins, types of sacrifice, and so on. But in today's epistle lesson, St. Paul exclaims, "Rejoice in the Lord always..." and then to further emphasize it, he repeats, "AGAIN, I say rejoice!" We can already anticipate the beautiful refrain to the Theotokos that we will hear next Sunday: "Rejoice, O pure Virgin. Again, I say: 'Rejoice; Your Son is risen from His three days in the tomb!'" Read more...