Year: 2011

Personalizing the prodigal son. Adam’s nature was made godlike. Commentary on 2 Matins hymns, Second Sunday of Great Lent.

In an ongoing series of commentary on the service texts between Vespers and Matins at the vigil, we look at the Parable of the prodigal son, which the church explores in a very personal way throughout all of Great Lent. So should we look at this parable in a very personal way, and especially the canon at matins gives us an example of how to do this, such as:

“I fed on dark and swinish thoughts when, like the Prodigal, I left Thee, O Savior, and went into a far country; but now I cry: I have sinned; save me, for fervently I run for refuge to Thy tender mercy”. (Second Sunday of Great Lent, Matins, Ode 3)

We discuss what sin REALLY is – it is not just things we do or do not do, and it almost always is a product of our thoughts, attitudes, disposition. We also explore the beautiful, intricate and dogmatic theology in one of the theotokia of the matins canon:

“Adam’s nature was made godlike, O Virgin, when without undergoing change God took flesh within thy womb; and we who were deceived of old by the hope of becoming gods, have been set free from the ancient condemnation” (Second Sunday of Great Lent, Theotokion, Matins, Ode 3)

Salvation defined:”If any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture” Saint Gregory Palamas and the healing of the paralytic borne of four.

The reading for St Gregory Palamas today contains a beautiful “definition” of salvation:”If any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” This is true freedom, where the will is able to always choose the right way. We explore how we can obtain this kind of freedom, which the world does not understand, using examples from both Gospels read today.

Saint Gregory Palamas and the healing of the paralytic borne of four. The answer to the question: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Today, brothers and sisters, is ANOTHER Sunday of Orthodoxy. Last week we had one which is proclaimed to be the “Sunday of Orthodoxy” or the “Triumph of Orthodoxy”, but today is also a Sunday of Orthodoxy, shall we say, a Synaxis of Orthodoxy.

For various feasts we have a Synaxis right afterwards. For instance, after the Baptism of Christ is the Synaxis of Saint John the Baptist. It means gathering, and it means the people that were involved in that feast are then celebrated. The Synaxis of the Theotokos, is after the Nativity of the Savior. I told you before that the Sunday of All Saints is like a Synaxis of Pascha because, because of Pascha, we can BECOME saints.

And this also is like a Synaxis of Orthodoxy, a gathering together of those that have realized what was promised last week.

There was a promise made. Did you hear it? It is a very important promise. It is one that you must remember again and again. Because if you are anything like me, you get discouraged about things, either about the way things are in the world or about you.

Nathaniel says: “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” And Philip says: “Come and see.” …

I tell you, the answer to that question is in every service, is in every gospel, and should be in every day that you live.

Newsletter. Themes of 2nd Sunday of Lent, svc schedule, prayer requests, more.

The services for this 2nd Sunday of Great Lent have two major themes: our Lord’s parable of the Prodigal Son and the memory of St. Gregory Palamas.

We heard the parable of the Prodigal Son at the Divine Liturgy 2 weeks before Lent began, and the theme is repeated in the texts of the services throughout the fast, especially during this week. This parable is to a very great degree the theme of Great Lent. …

The Original parable of the vineyard compared with the NT version and “The man of judah his beloved plant” Isaiah 4:2-5:7

Christians should read, along with the church, the OT readings prescribed for Great Lent. It is appropriate to read Isaiah, because in describing the sins of the Jewish Nation and their consequences, it outlines the human condition and the need for a Messiah, and indeed, there are many important messianic prophesies in Isaiah. The original parable of the vineyard is in Isaiah, and it is like the retelling of the parable from our Lord in the Gospels, but also unlike it is some very important ways. The end of the parable in Isaiah mentions the “Man of Judah, His beloved plant”, and in context, this is none other that a prophesy of the need for and the coming of the God-man Jesus Christ.

The Path of Faith

(What follows in a quick translation of a sermon written in Russian. The original is posted here.)   In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. Beloved brothers and sisters, today the Holy Church celebrates the feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the victory of the Orthodox Faith over all heresies, and… Continue reading The Path of Faith

Intrigues in the Church. Bishop Jerome of Manhattan.

Intrigues in the Church. First Saturday of Great Lent – St Theodore the Tyro “Thou hast loved truth and hated iniquity”. Bishop Jerome of Manhattan   The first Saturday in Lent is observed as the Saturday of St. Theodore, in honor of the miraculous appearance of St. Theodore to the 8th Patriarch of Constantinople, Eudoxius,… Continue reading Intrigues in the Church. Bishop Jerome of Manhattan.

“Follow me” and “Come and see” The simplest and most important instructions to live according to the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

The “Triumph of Orthodoxy” is not only a historical event that we commemorate today, but also applies to every individual Christian. We spoke about the meaning of icons and the incarnation last night – the triumph of Orthodoxy for the individual is that, as one of the hymns teaches, because of the incarnation “the sullied image (of God, in us) has been restored to its ancient glory and filled with the divine beauty.” The readings today teach us how to realize in our lives this promise, and the Gospel is short and succinct – the Lord commands us to “Follow me” and “Come and see” What does this mean practically for us.?