Sermons & Homilies – Tagged "2017"– Page 2 – Holy Cross Monastery

Nov 26, 2017

Sermon for the 25th Sunday After Pentecost (2017)

It has been recorded that the Apostle Paul appeared to St. John and explained to him the meaning of all of his epistles. This may also be the reason that it is said that, “The mouth of Christ is Paul, and the mouth of Paul is Chrysostom.” And alongside these divinely inspired events, to St. John we apply the epithet “Chrysostom,” a term meaning “golden mouth” which has even come to replace his name, at times. He was a prolific writer...

Nov 21, 2017

On the Celestial Hierarchy and the Nature of Love

We celebrate today the feast of the holy angels, archangels and all the honorable heavenly bodiless hosts. It is said that just as monks are a light to laypeople, so also the holy angels are a light to monastics. And although we ourselves are weak and sinful and are but dim and hazy reflections of that fiery monastic light with which our fathers shone, yet all the more on this holy feast day we must turn again to contemplate the light of the angels, which has the power to both inspire and purify our darkened hearts.

1 comment ·Nov 12, 2017

Sermon for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost (2017)

Today, in the Gospel, we heard of a case of demonic possession. Most of the world does not have to bear such a cross; even so, we all have to bear something difficult. We have all been born into and formed within this fallen world. Now, we all find ourselves here, in this church, waiting upon the mercy of God, seeking to draw closer to Him in our hearts, awaiting Holy Communion which knits us together by grace, transforming us all together more and more into the Body of Christ. It seems that most of the world has gone mad; what is called normal by it is called demonic possession by us.

Oct 29, 2017

Sermon for the 21st Sunday After Pentecost (2017)

In today’s Gospel reading, we heard about the garden of the heart, that area in each person wherein the grace of the Holy Spirit acts and, depending on how the heart has been cultivated, helps each grow spiritually.

How are we to understand this Gospel passage? We should understand that the purpose of instructing with parables is not to convey images which are visible to the eyes of the body. Rather, those images which are understood by our senses are used to communicate spiritual and intellectual realities to the eyes of the mind.

1 comment ·Oct 23, 2017

Sermon for the Feast of the Optina Elders (2017)

Real humility consists in accepting the crosses that God allows in our lives, whether these crosses be physical illness, mental illness, being misunderstood, falsely accused or whatever cross is laid upon us. How easy it is to “invent” ascetical practices for ourselves and then feel so justified. But how difficult it is to accept what God has allowed to humble us.