Category Archives: Sunday Homilies

Matthew 8:5-13

The Christian faith is not a conditioned, intrigued attitude. The centurion had submitted his servants’ relationship to God: Lord if I’ll say to one of them “Go!” and he goes, if I say (to another) “Do this!” then, he does it. (cf. Mt. 8: 5-13) So even more he entrusted that, when the Lord commended the (evil) spirit to: “Free” (the man)! the spirit will free him, or if Christ will say: “Do not enter this man again!” the spirit will no longer enter. Continue reading →

Christ is Risen! On this fourth Sunday of the season of Pascha, we remember Jesus Christ’s healing of someone who must have been very disappointed and frustrated, for he had been paralyzed for 38 years, probably his entire life. He would see others healed miraculously in a nearby pool of water, but this poor fellow had no one to help him get into it when the angel stirred the water. So there he lay, helpless and without hope. This event occurred during the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which commemorated the giving of the law through Moses. The Lord Jesus saw this poor man, lying near one of the gates to the temple area, and He simply asked him if he wanted to be healed. When the man explained that he had no one to help him into the healing pool, Christ said, “Rise, take up your bed and walk” and he did so. Continue reading →

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

The Mother of God and the Saints whose memory we keep today, those who are known to us because God has revealed them and because they have been understood and recognised, either by their contemporaries, or years, at times – centuries later, all the Saints are the response of the earth to the love of God. And this response is given by them not only in their own name but in the name of all creation and in our names also; because each of us has the privilege to be called by one name, our Christian name, the name of one of those Saints. And the Saints whose names are ours stand before God and pray that their name should not be made unworthy in the eyes of the Lord. The Saints of God embrace the whole of Creation in their love, in their intercession, in their prayer, in their real, continuous presence. How wonderful it is that we belong to this vast family of men, of women, of children who have understood what the Lord meant when He came, and lived, taught and died for us! They responded with their own heart, they understood with all their mind, and they accepted His message with all their determination, to overcome in themselves all that has been the cause of the crucifixion; because if only one person on earth had strayed, fallen away from God, Christ would have come to save at the cost of His life. This is His own testimony to a Saint of the early centuries who had been praying that the sinners should be confounded; and Christ appeared to him, and said, “Never pray that way! If one sinner have existed, I would have died for him.” Continue reading →

Acts 20:16-18, 28-36, John 17:1-13

It is so easy to diminish ourselves by serving the false gods of pleasure, power, and pride.  It is so tempting to allow our pursuit of these passions to obscure the holy calling that we have as those created in the image and likeness of God.  Our Lord’s Ascension into heaven, forty days after His resurrection, makes clear that we find true fulfillment as human beings by participating in His blessed, eternal life. Anything else falls well short. Continue reading →

Sometimes we are all set our sights too low, expecting too little of ourselves and others.  When we do so, we sell ourselves short and do a disservice not only to ourselves but to everyone around us.  When we aim low, we can’t expect to achieve high goals.  The season of the Ascension is a powerful antidote to such low expectations, for it reveals the great glory and dignity that Jesus Christ has given us.  Through His Ascension, we are raised with Him literally to the heights of the heavenly Kingdom. Continue reading →

Metropolitan Anthony Sourozh

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost

The Holy Gospel has not given us the name of the Samaritan woman. But the Tradition of the Church remembers, and calls her in Greek – Photini, in Russian – Svetlana, in the Celtic languages – Fiona, in Western languages – Claire. And all these names speak to us of one thing – of light. Continue reading →

Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-bearers, Mark 15:43-16:8

‘God is dead!’ This is the infamous proclamation of the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Certainly, this same thought must have crossed the minds of the Myrrhbearing women, whom we read about in today’s gospel reading (Mark 15:43-16:8; Third Sunday of Pascha), as they went to anoint the body of Jesus after His death and burial. The Messiah, our God is dead! One Nietzsche’s proofs, of God being dead, he said, was the churches. In other words, there was no evidence of Divine life nor of belief in the Divine in the churches of Europe at that time. The reality may still be occurring during our time, the 21st century. We modern Christians may be burying Christ in a tomb in this day and age. How? Continue reading →

The facts themselves bear witness and his divine acts of power teach those who doubt that he is true God, and his sufferings show that he is true man. And if those who are feeble in understanding are not fully assured, they will pay the penalty on his dread day. Continue reading →

Mark 10:32-45

Mary of Egypt, whose Sunday we celebrate today, valued all the temporal ‘attractions,’ the way of the world; she valued the lusts of the flesh more than all else. Running away from home at 12, she made herself a harlot. For seventeen years, she was self-abused—she didn’t see the image of God in herself or in others, but made herself an object of insatiable passions. Continue reading →