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In the sacred tradition of the Holy Eastern Orthodox Church, the importance of the Akathist hymn to the Mother of God can scarcely be overstated. As the lives of many saints and ascetics amply demonstrate, this hymn is a boundless well from which we draw joy in sorrows, resolution in trials, and comfort in afflictions. The words of the Akathist have…
The end of Great Lent is in sight—the final day of the holy Forty Days is a week from tomorrow. Already we turn our eyes toward the Passion starting from next Monday, when we will begin to sing of Lazarus’s departure and the Lord’s Entrance. Before then, however, we take the final days of the fifth week of Lent to renew our focus upon our…
As we reach the fourth Sunday of the Fast, we may find ourselves already flagging, tiring of the Lenten effort. By sins of omission and commission, by failure in the outward fast (the fast from foods) and the inward fast (the fast from sins), we may have already failed in our Lenten goals, perhaps many times over. But St. John, calling down to us…
There is only one feast in the year that can match the grandeur of Pascha, and it is the Annunciation. No matter what day of the year it falls, Annunciation is celebrated. If it falls on Great Friday, there is a Vesperal Liturgy. If it falls on Pascha itself, then it is a Kyriopascha, and the hymns of the Lord’s Pascha are combined with the hymns…
In the middle of Great Lent we celebrate the Sunday of the Cross, and this reminds us that the entire Lenten effort, our whole Lenten struggle, is cruciform. The Great Fast is our via crucis, modeled on Christ’s way of the Cross. Therefore, let us today be reminded that, in our every effort—during the holy Forty Days and beyond—we should…
On this second Sunday of Great Lent, we celebrate the feast of St. Gregory Palamas and renew the triumph of Orthodoxy. How unbearable the pressure must have been, in the gloomy latter days of the Byzantine Empire, to compromise the faith in the name of expedience or personal comfort. Yet St. Gregory shows us, with his profound teachings on the…
Today we celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy—the veneration of the holy icons. And truly, the image is the triumph of the Prototype. Christ died not so that he could remain alone, but so that he could bear much fruit. In the midst of the material reality of this world, he desired to restore his image and perfect his likeness. The fruit of his…
Liturgically, today is known as the Expulsion of Adam; popularly, it is known as Forgiveness Sunday. This reminds us that, as soon as we sin, the Lord forgives us—provided that we truly repent. Part of repentance is giving up our grudges against others, since we are the greatest sinners of all. Part of repentance is an acknowledgement of the…
With this Sunday of the Last Judgment, we arrive at the end of the world. As we stand before the Lord at his dread tribunal, we realize that we have no righteousness, no standing, no excuse. Thankfully, now that we have reached the end, the Lord, in his mercy, allows us to return to the beginning. Next Sunday we leave paradise with our forefather,…
Today, we read the Gospel of the Prodigal Son, and hear how, when the lad “was still a great way off,” his father rushed to embrace him. At the beginning of the penitential season, this scene reminds us that, even as we take our first steps toward repentance, the Father of all is already close at hand, ready to receive us in his embrace. Indeed,…
Today, as we take leave of the Meeting of the Lord, we mark the beginning of the Lenten Triodion with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. Thus, today is both the last day of the Nativity cycle and the first day of the Lenten-Paschal cycle. In fact, according to the vision found in our liturgical books, these two cycles always overlap. We…
Today, St. Simeon receives the long-awaited Messiah in his arms, and he sings, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace!” As Orthodox Christians, we end each day with these same words, which are read or sung at the conclusion of Vespers every evening. Thus, we seal the days of our life, and our life as whole, with an expression of…
Three Hierarchs Chapel
January 30, 2025
I welcome all of you with the joy of the feast and especially welcome His Grace Bishop Irinej of the Eastern America Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Your Grace is no stranger to Saint Vladimir’s Seminary and we are grateful not only for your concelebration today but also for your love and support of…
Richmond, Virginia
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
It goes without saying that the Gospel of Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ is a serious matter, the most serious matter there is. However, even so, the Gospel is not without its humorous moments, and there is certainly something humorous about the end…
Wappingers Falls, New York
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today the Lord exclaims, in response to a centurion’s message, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”
What exactly did the centurion say to elicit such high praise from the Lord? When the people of Capernaum…
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In today’s Gospel, we hear that a village of Samaritans refused to receive the Lord, “because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.”
This is easy to understand on a historical, or literal, level. The Samaritans were Israelites who, during the Babylonian…
Saint Vladimir’s Seminary
September 14, 2024
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Joyous feast! С праздником!
In the Old English poem, “The Dream of the Rood,” the precious and life-giving Cross appears to the lyric persona in a dream. It appears to him not as an ordinary piece of wood, much less…
Saint Tikhon’s Seminary
September 8, 2024
Greetings to one and all, and especially to you seminarians who have just begun your school year.
Each new school year starts full of excitement and promise, and it is a blessed coincidence, a gift of providence, that the start of the school year here in the United States corresponds, more or less, with…
Saint Tikhon’s Monastery
September 8, 2024
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Joyous feast!
“The barren woman bears the Theotokos, the nourisher of our life.”
“Dread wonder: she who sustains our life, who received within her body the Bread of heaven, feeds at her mother’s breast.”
“O marvelous…
Midlothian, Virginia
August 31, 2014
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today this holy temple celebrates its patronal feast in honor of that great Father of the Church, Cyprian of Carthage. Perhaps above all Saint Cyprian is known as a defender of the unity of the Church. He proclaimed that unity to be both in…