Sermons & Homilies
Today we celebrate the Beheading of the Forerunner, one of only three great feasts of the Church year not dedicated either to the Lord or the Mother of God. And despite the sorrowful nature of this day’s events, nevertheless it...
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If we find ourselves bereft of human sympathy and understanding; if we find that all the powers of our body, mind, and soul are exhausted and depleted and ineffectual; if we feel ourselves to have come to the abyss of despair and utter confusion; then let us take heart!
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Today we celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy. The Holy Fathers explain that Orthodoxy is the unerring vision, and understanding, of the Holy Trinity and the entire Incarnate Dispensation of Christ, One of the Trinity; the correct teaching about created things; and the practice of the commandments which instill within us the purifying virtues, above all, humility and love.
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My brothers and sisters, we have reached today the threshold of Great Lent; tomorrow the “gates of repentance” will once again be opened to us, in answer to our solemn prayers during the Sunday Matins services of the past month....
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I’m struck every year at how different Theophany is from the feast of Nativity. These two feast used to be one, and the services for both share many structural similarities, yet for all that, the spiritual character, the flavor, the personality of each is completely different.
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