Sermons & Homilies – Tagged "Poverty & Wealth"– Holy Cross Monastery

Dec 14, 2025

“What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Christian Perfection and Humility - Homily on the 27th Sunday after Pentecost

Around the year 271, there was a young man who lived in Lower Egypt, born to wealthy landowner parents, both of whom had only recently died, leaving the young man to care for his little sister and the upkeep of the family home. This young man went to church one day, and while there, he heard the Gospel which we have just heard. Writing about this experience, his friend says that the young man realized this passage had been read for his sake and he immediately left the church, gave away all the land that he had inherited, and then sold his possessions, distributing the money to the poor, and saving some for his sister. This young man we know as St. Antony the Great, and his friend and biographer is St. Athanasius of Alexandria. Originally, St. Antony’s Life was written in Greek, but within twenty years it was translated twice into Latin, then into Coptic and Syriac, and became the impetus for many who desired that perfection which comes to those who leave their homes to make the desert a city.

Dec 29, 2024

Will You Come to the Feast? - A Sermon for the 27th Sunday After Pentecost & the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (2024)

All our lives on this earth have been given to us for this one purpose: to decide whether we want to be with God for all eternity, or whether we would really prefer for Him to simply leave us alone. Perhaps it seems to us impossible that we would ever, like the Gadarenes (cf. Luke 8:26-39), ask God to go away. But, my brothers and sisters, we must all ask ourselves: how many times a day do we, too, “[begin] to make excuse” (Luke 14:18), offering to God (as well as to ourselves) various justifications for the fact that all sorts of other things so often seem more necessary and important to us than being with Him? To put it another way: do we often find ourselves looking for every opportunity to lay earthly things aside and spend more time in prayer? Or do we often find ourselves looking for every excuse to lay prayer aside, and spend more time immersed in the cares and pleasures of this world? Thank God, we have been given all our lives to repent, to learn at long last to make the right decision when we hear His divine call. But, my brothers and sisters, this does not mean we do not have to make the decision until the end of our life finally arrives. No, we make this decision constantly, every minute of every hour of every day: do we want to be with God, or not? In each and every moment, we accept or refuse God’s invitation to His Heavenly Banquet.

Aug 27, 2023

"What Good Thing Shall I Do, That I May Have Eternal Life?" - A Homily on the 12th Sunday after Pentecost

Around the year 271, there was a young man who lived in Lower Egypt, born to wealthy landowner parents, both of whom only then recently died, leaving the young man to care for his little sister and the upkeep of the family home.

Nov 06, 2022

On What Condemns Us: Hardheartedness - A Homily on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (2022)

It is not his wealth which condemns the rich man but the inhumanity of his lack of compassion. “When a human feels pain - he is alive,” said Fr. Melchisedek of Optina, “but when a human feels someone else’s pain – [then] he is [truly] human.”

Aug 30, 2020

None Can Harm the One Who Does Not Harm Himself – A Homily on the 12th Sunday After Pentecost (2020)

What I undertake, St. John says, is to prove that no one of those who are wronged is wronged by another, but experiences this injury at his own hands.