Why is this scripture read today, two Sundays before Great Lent begins? What is its meaning? What are the two critical characteristics of those who will be saved? How are we to understand the things the righteous did and the unrighteous did not do, and their identical answers to the Lord? What must we do?
Month: February 2011
Homily: Saturday Of The Dead 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 John 5:24-30
A homily at the liturgy of the Saturday for the dead. Why do we pray for the dead? What is proper and improper sorrow for the dead (it is related to how much we believe in the resurrection)? What will happen on the day of judgment?
Sunday Of The Last Judgment Meatfare. The Services Teach Us How To Pray Sitchera From Lord I Have Cried, Sunday Of The Last Judgment.
A short homily given after Vespers and before matins on the Eve of the Sunday of the Last Judgment. The services contain much dogmatic content, but also teach us *how* to pray – what our attitude should be. The Sunday of the Last Judgment has many prayers (in the first person!) which mention the terrifying judgments and our terrible sinfulness, and they always end with hope in God’s mercy. We must learn to pray in this way – to consider ourselves the worst of sinners and in the same breath, the same thought, having great confidence in God’s mercy. Several examples for the services for tonight are discussed.
Sunday Of The Last Judgment Meatfare. Things That Are Repeated Are Important. Homily.
he account of the last judgment in the Gospel of Matthew has a lot of repetition in it. In scripture, when things are repeated, they are important. Both the righteous and the unrighteous heard the same list of good works (fed the hungry, visited the sick and those in prison, etc), and their reactions were externally similar – they wondered when the events the Lord describes occurred. The righteous “forgot” about their good works because their works were because of their consuming love for God and neighbor. Let us look carefully at the list of works the Lord describes and understand their exact meaning, and the meaning of the responses of the righteous and unrighteous. The main criterion for the judgment will be whether we have fulfilled the two greatest commandments.
If A Man Say I Love God And Hateth His Brother He Is A Liar. If You Cannot Stop Sinning At Least Be Kind 1 John 4:20-5:21
Audio homily on the Epistle for Thursday in the Week of the Prodigal Son: 1 John 4:20-5:21
By The Waters Of Babylon. Dashing The Infants Against The Rock.
LISTEN NOW Synopsis: "By the waters of Babylon", Psalm 136 is sung only three times in the year, on the three Sundays before Great Lent, at matins. The Psalm is historical, being a lament of the exiled Jews in Babylon for their beloved Jerusalem, but like everyting in the Scriptures, there is also a deep… Continue reading By The Waters Of Babylon. Dashing The Infants Against The Rock.
Photos from my recent retreat at Hermitage of the Holy Cross.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saint-nicholas/sets/72157626088190552/show/with/5458978022/
As we think, so we live. Almost Heaven, West Virginia. Pilgrimage to the Hermitage of the Holy Cross, Wayne, WV Part 1
Account of Pre-Lenten Retreat to the Hermitage of the Holy Cross, Wayne, WV. Part 1. Introduction, and concerning thoughts. Pictures of Priest Seraphim with friends at the monastery trapaza, and with the goats at the goat barn.
I traveled to the Hermitage of the Holy Cross in West Virginia right after theSunday of the Publican and Pharisee[1] in order to get myself ready for Great Lent. I needed what they call in the world an “attitude adjustment” – in the Christian faith this is accomplished by repentance, prayer and (good) activity. I was also going to see Hierodeacon Sergius for the first time since he came to the “monastery of his repentance”[2], not long he was baptized at St Nicholas, and also old friends Igumen Seraphim, Hieromonk Andrew, and Mother Theodora, whom I knew in St Louis before the Hermitage began. …
The Significance of Communing. Fr George Calciu
When you commune and leave church, the angel bows before you! You stand before the angels, because you are bearers of Christ! If you do not understand this, I am not saying that you come to church in vain, but that you are not truly penetrated by the significance of coming to church […]
Also several good links to material on Fr George.
The Parable of the Publican and Pharisee. St. Nikolai Velimirovic Luke 18:10 – 14
Imagine now that we are patients in this hospital of the world. The sickness that every one of us is suffering from has the same name – unrighteousness. The word includes all the passions, all lust, all sins – all the weakness and enervation of our souls, our heats and our minds.
The sick are one thing at the beginning of their illness, another at its peak and yet another in its healing. […]