Redeeming The Time

On the 4th Sunday after Pentecost, we explain the meaning of the words of St Paul: “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” These words define the only problem of human life, the solution, and the promise. Furthermore, the words of the centurion, whose servant was sick tell us the way to obtain this freedom, in which we are no longer compelled to sin, and can easily be righteous. It is from experience and activity, with the grace of God helping us.

In this Third Sunday after Pentecost when we also celebrate the New Martyrs of the Turkish yoke, the Gospels, although they are from Matthew and Luke, are very much connected. We describe our greatest problem, that which brings us the most dissatisfaction and unhappiness in the world and how these Gospels describe how we can have a heart that is settled, always at peace.

This Sunday we are celebrating All Saints of Russia as we always do on the second Sunday after Pentecost. The end of the troparion says: “By their prayers keep the Church and the world in profound peace.“ Russia and the world are not peaceful and never have been. What is this peace that we are asking for? It is the same peace that it is in the heart of every saint. We look at the first two Beatitudes (poverty of spirit and mourning) to see how to achieve this peace in the midst of the world that is ever becoming less peaceful.

Why do we celebrate all of the saints the Sunday after Pentecost? It is because the gift of the Holy Spirit makes everyone capable of becoming saint. There is only one thing that can keep us from becoming saint. Let us learn the lay aside every weight of sin, even if only a little bit at a time and we will become saints.

Because of the Holy Spirit, we are able to put on Christ and after baptism begin the process become perfected human being in the likeness of God. This is the primary reason for celebrating the giving of the Holy Spirit to Christians. Until that time, how do we live spiritually in such times as pandemics and civil unrest, protests, anger and violence which have occurred after the death of George Floyd? The Christian answer is not political.

Homily on the Gospel for the 6th Saturday of Pascha, in which the Gospel perfectly describes the fruits of baptism. Our baptism gives us a great gift - the ability to find the truth, to live according to the truth, to expunge all that is not the truth from our life, and to be the truth. Do not be afraid of learning the truth about yourself. It is part of your healing, and your eventual perfection. This homily was given during the liturgy before the baptism of James, Agapia, and Joanna.

On the 5th Saturday of Pascha and the day of the baptism of Panteleimon, a discourse about the Gospel read on the feast day of the Apostle Simon the zealot, when the Lord Jesus Christ performed His first sign, and the Gospel of the day (“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”). Because of baptism we can know by experience the voice of Jesus, and become the good wine. The whole purpose of baptism it so that we are enabled to become perfected. Do not let any part of your life be a dark recess where Christ is not, and you will know him completely and be perfected and you will be very good wine in the end.

The Samaritan woman, whom Jesus Christ met at the well, became equal to the apostles Photini (Svetlana, Claire, Clara). She was not living a righteous life, but that is not the most important prerequisite for finding salvation. The most necessary thing is to have a heart that is able to open to God, with holy desire, honesty, humility, and zeal. St. Photini demonstrates to us principal personality traits that are necessary for salvation. Her conversation with Christ and her actions thereafter are like a textbook teaching us how we should live.

This is what we are celebrating during the time of Pascha: “As One Who loveth Mankind, desiring to save from deception all whom Thou hast created, Thou didst endure to be nailed to the Cross, O Saviour, that by Thy flesh Thou mightest restore Thine image, which was buried under the passions; and having cast down hades, Thou didst arise, and the dead with Thee” (from the Canon of the Myrrh-Bearers, Ode VII). Understanding this hymn means applying it to everything in our daily life. Acting on this knowledge, with is resonating in the soul, will give us energy to overcome everything.

On the feast day of St. George, two stories that show that the saints intercede for us not only in a spiritual way it actually physically by appearing in carrying out different works. A story about the intervention of St. George to allow services in his church in Russia during the Khrushchev era. We also talk about the intervention of St. Nicholas who saved a man from execution by literally appearing to the leader of the execution brigade during the communist era in Russia. The Story about St George was read from https://orthodoxgladness.blogspot.com/2020/05/orthodox-parables-and-stories-today-you.html, and the St Nicholas incident is at: http://www.orthodox.net/saints/miracle-of-saint-nicholas-kiev-1920s.html.

In the world, people pursue happiness, mistaking it for joy. Joy is actually a condition in the human heart, when we are free of our passions. We can not have joy if we pursue only joy. We must pursue obedience, and struggle, and endure sadness in this life. The example of the myrrh-bearing women, the Apostle Thomas, the Apostle Peter, and many others that we read about both before and after the time of Pascha teach us this fundamental truth. Mark 15:43-16:8

On Bright Tuesday, we read the account in St. Luke of the road to Emmaus, when he and fellow disciple Cleopas encountered Jesus on the road and did not recognize Him but their hearts burned within them, and then they recognized Him in a moment of perfect clarity when they sat down to eat and He broke bread. We are on this road. This is how man encounters God. It would be good for us to learn from their experience.

In the Gospel on Bright Monday, St. John the Baptist described in a mystical way the incarnation when he said: “He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's thong I am not worthy to unloose.” These words describe the intimate love God has for man and we contrast them with the relatively recent heresy, somewhat more than 500 years old, in which God is described as a God of anger and judgment, and that the Son died on the cross to appease the anger of the Father. This Gospel refutes this heresy, which is completely foreign to Orthodox Christianity.

On the night of Pascha the Gospel reading is not about the resurrection but rather is from the beginning of the Gospel of John. Fr. Seraphim Holland explains why.

Homily before the tomb after reading of the Gospel which proclaimed the resurrection on Holy Saturday. All is well. These were the words of the Shunamite woman AFTER she had lost her son. We all have problems, sadness, regret, but if we are Christians who live according to the resurrection, all is well.

Many people are saying that it is a great deprivation to have the churches close to the public and therefore not be able to take holy Communion regularly, and others are citing the life of St. Mary of Egypt and her 47 year fast from holy Communion. They say that she did fine, and for the most part they are missing the point. We examine three paramount virtues of St. Mary’s life that are much more important than the historical fact that she did not have fully Communion for many years. Without these virtues, it doesn’t matter if you have only communion or not.

The Gospel about the woman who was a "sinner" is read for St. Mary of Egypt. The Lord said that this woman was forgiven because she loved much. We talk about this kind of love, which St. Mary showed so abundantly. This love compels a person to act in extravagant and wondrous ways. If we are not compelled to act, we don’t really love, and we are not forgiven. We cite many examples in the Scripture of this, and how this kind of love must be present during the time of calamities, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Great Lenten daily services of Typica and the Third Hour contain the Kontakion of the Feast of the Transfiguration, and the Troparion of the Feast of Pentecost, respectively. Why is this? It is for glorious reason. It is apropos that we think of these feasts during Great Lent because great Lent is preparing us for the things promised in them. We especially speak of the theological and practical, day-to-day significance of the Transfiguration, and what the reaction of a Christian to the novel coronavirus should be.

On the First Sunday of Great Lent we celebrate the restoration of the Holy icons, and also call this day the "Triumph of Orthodoxy." We discuss the most important parts of the encounter of Nathaniel with Jesus Christ, and the Kontakion for the feast, which perfectly describes what Philip told Nathaniel to "Come and see," why this is the "Triumph of Orthodoxy," and why this triumph is so closely associated with icons. "The uncircumscribable Word of the Father was circumscribed when he took flesh of thee, O Theotokos; and when He had restored the defiled image to its ancient state, He suffused it with divine beauty. As for us, confession our salvation, we record it in deed and word." Kontakion, Tone 6

A proposal to the parish of St Nicholas that during Great Lent, 2020, we agree to pray for everyone who signs an op-in list every day with a prostration, and an explanation of “how it works” and why we should do it. Perhaps another will be convinced and start this good work in their parish!