Sermons & Homilies
We have reached today the Third Sunday after Pentecost, the third Sunday after the feast on which the Holy Spirit was first poured out upon the apostles of Christ, and the great missionary work of the Church was begun. On the first Sunday after Pentecost we celebrate all the saints who have shown forth throughout the entire world, while the second Sunday is set aside for each local church to keep the festival of its own saints — in our case it is the Sunday of All Saints of the Church of Russia, the church which first brought Holy Orthodoxy to our land, and which still to this day leads and guides us [in the Russian Church Abroad] toward the Kingdom of Heaven as our loving mother. And today, on the third Sunday, we honor the saints who have spiritually labored right here, in our rough American soil, so that the same grace of the Most Holy Spirit which transfigured their own lives would also transfigure the lives of you and I and each and every person around us.
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Today, in the midst of the struggle, in the heat of the battle, the Church unfurls her banner for us, and like good soldiers of Christ, our hearts are renewed.
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We hear in today’s Gospel passage an account of two people coming to the Lord in desperation, each begging for His help in a totally hopeless situation. And it is this fact which is of the greatest importance: despite all evidence, and even in absolute defiance of simple common sense, neither of these two people despaired of the power of God to heal what no earthly skill or craft or knowledge could possibly heal.
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It is regrettable if we are unfamiliar with the saints who are significant to various peoples and places, but even doubly so if we are unfamiliar with that whole genre of writing dedicated to heralding the life and teaching of the saints of the Church, called hagiography.
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Let us all overlook petty and earthly things that we may not lose the most priceless heavenly treasure of Christ God Himself, Who is Love and Affection within our hearts.
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