Sermons & Homilies
Today we commemorate the 318 Holy Fathers gathered in Nicaea in 325 AD, the 1st Ecumenical Council. They gathered to snuff out the destructive heresy of Arius who declared there was a time the Son of God did not exist and that He is not equal to the Father. The essence of the 1st Ecumenical Council is the essence of every other succeeding Council: the Person and work of Christ. Christ is the God-Man Who came to deify men.
You who gave a little, and you who gave a lot, are the reasons we are in this church today. You have given to the monastery, but you have also given to God, and at each Liturgy, you are all commemorated, because by building churches on earth, you secure the eternal habitation in heaven for yourself.
As we celebrate today the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, let us also rejoice in the assurance that that same Holy Spirit has received our dear father into the life of heaven, and that through that same Holy Spirit, we are ever united with him and with Christ. The Holy Spirit bears witness to my spirit that the love wherewith Fr. Seraphim loved me and each one of us, individually and collectively—that love is stronger than death.
We can’t love someone we don’t know. This is why the Church always fights against heresy, against false beliefs about God. How meaningful and deep can our relationship be with someone when we think of him as something he is not? This is why the Church fights heresy and triumphs in her victories several times throughout the year.
