Sermons & Homilies
“‘In the last days,’ saith God,’ I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh.’”
Upon all flesh. Not longer upon a select few only, no longer only upon those who have attained to the absolute heights of purity and righteousness, but now even upon us ordinary sinners also — provided only that we, through the Mysteries of Baptism and Chrismation, are numbered among the people of God.
We have now reached the end of the most eventful week of the Forty Day Fast, as we celebrate the life of our venerable Mother, Mary of Egypt.
The details of this life are well-known to any faithful Orthodox Christian. They are not very complicated: the chief of sinners becomes the greatest of saints. This story has repeated itself many times throughout the life of the Church. But St. Mary’s life is without doubt one of the clearest and most striking examples, rivalling even the wonderful and unlooked for conversion of the Apostle Paul. As with the great Apostle, so with St. Mary, we see our Lord Jesus Christ show[ing] forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting (1 Tim. 1:16).
