11 September 2022
St John 3:13-17
The feast and commemoration of the Elevation (Exaltation) of the Honoured and Life-giving Cross falls on September 14 in the Holy Orthodox Church’s ecclesiastical calendar.
On this day we commemorate two events connected with the Precious Cross of Christ: the finding of the Cross on Golgotha by the equal-to-the-apostles King Constantine and his mother St. Helena, and the returning of the Cross to Jerusalem from Persia. Continue reading
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The Transfiguration of our Lord
“He took (Peter, James and John) up to the mountain, that He might show them His kingdom, before they witnessed His suffering and death…so that…they might understand that he was not crucified…because of his own powerlessness, but because it had please Him of His goodness to suffer for the salvation of the world.” ~ St. Ephraim
7th SUNDAY OF MATTHEW, Matthew 9: 27-35
It has never been hard to find people who view Jesus Christ in many different ways. Some use His name as a curse word or otherwise mock Him. Some make Him in their own image as an advocate of whatever agenda they prize most in life. Some view Him as a teacher or prophet to be admired, but not as the Son of God to be worshiped. Today’s gospel reading presents Him in a radically different way as One Who restores sight to blind beggars and the ability to speak to a man who had been possessed by a demon. Christ is not simply a miracle worker, of course, but the Saviour of the world Who, as St. Paul wrote, has welcomed us for the glory of God. Continue reading
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4th SUNDAY OF MATTHEW, Matthew 8: 5-13
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and The Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-49) might be referred to as the “Christian Manifesto,” spelling out the fundamental tenets of living life in Christ and the gifts returned to man for the faithful living of them. These tenets come directly from the heart and lips of Jesus. Today’s Gospel passage from St. Matthew is taken from the end of the Great Sermon (Matthew 8:5-13) and is centred around three key elements: the encounter of Jesus with the Roman Centurion, the depth of faith this pagan officer shows the Lord, and the healing of the Centurion’s servant.
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In today’s Holy Gospel we hear the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in which He exhorts us toward a complete and perfect trust in God, our loving Father. He implores us to not worry about things… what we shall eat or what we shall wear – all of those material concerns that can so completely eclipse our life and preoccupy us with stress and anxiety over things. And what does our worrying about things solve? Absolutely nothing… worrying is entirely wrapped up in our thoughts; it has no positive bearing on the outcome of things. Continue reading
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St. Luke, Archbishop of Crimea
The great feast has arrived, a feast of great joy for Christians: The Holy Spirit has descended upon the apostles, and not only upon the apostles – the Holy Spirit has come to the world to fulfil the promise made to us by our Lord Jesus Christ when He said, “I will not leave you orphans, I will send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.” And the Holy Spirit sanctified the Earth, and He will lead the Christian race on the path of salvation to the end of the ages. Continue reading
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Mark 15: 43-47, 16: 1-8, 8 May 2022
When reading the Holy Gospels, one of the most striking things we see is that after the Lord’s Resurrection, His Disciples were not the first to see Him. Instead, it was the women who had anointed Jesus’ dead body with myrrh, who would receive the blessing to see the Lord first. These pious women, who remained faithful to Him since the beginning, kept the flame of devotion constantly burning in their hearts. They followed Jesus and the Twelve Apostles during their public ministry, and served them in the needs of daily life. St. Luke the Evangelist notes that the women who accompanied Jesus provided for His needs from what they had (see Luke 8:3). Some of them were wealthy, such as Joanna, the wife of Chuza, who was an official for King Herod. Continue reading
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SUNDAY OF THOMAS, John 20: 19-31
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
John 20:19-20, Thomas Sunday Continue reading
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Christ is late…
Today’s Gospel reading (Luke 8, 41-56) is truly wonderful. It has to do with the raising of Jairus’ daughter and the healing of the woman with an issue of blood.
According to the text, an important figure in the synagogue, Jairus, approached Jesus and asked Him to accompany him to his home to cure his only daughter, who was twelve years old and at death’s door. Christ set off for the house, but a woman who’d been suffering from haemorrhaging for twelve years and had found no cure from doctors approached Him and touched the hem of His garment. When she did so, the bleeding stopped. Christ realized that power had left Him and asked who it was who’d touched Him. The woman approached, explained that she’d been cured and He said to her: ‘Take courage, your faith has saved you. Go in peace’. In the meantime, Jairus’ daughter died. Jesus went to the house, however, and restored the girl to life.
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5TH SUNDAY OF LUKE, Luke 16: 19-31
The Parable of the Holy Gospel does not refer to the Second Coming of Christ, neither to His Last Judgement, but to the period of time between man’s death and the Second Glorious Coming of Christ our Lord and God. This period is called: The Middle Condition of the souls.
What is death?
Death, according to Holy Scriptures, is the separation of the human’s soul from his body. Death was not created by God right from the beginning, but came as the result of man’s Fall, disobedience and unrepentance (Gen. 3:9-13). “And unto Adam He said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”(Gen. 3:17-19). Continue reading
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6TH SUNDAY OF LUKE, Luke 8: 26-39
As our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ visited the villages of Judaea, he met a man from the village of Gergesene. Now, this particularly man few years ago became possessed by many demons, who made him suffer in many ways. The possessed man was in a wild condition, the result of the demons’ influence. He was ripping off his clothes and was living in the tombs of the dead. Although his relatives were tiding him up with chains, in order that he will be unable to harm any other human being, he was breaking his chains and was led by the demons into the wilderness.
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