Dionysius Redington
It has been a surprise to many that in the recent ecclesiastical conflict, supposedly over Ukrainian autocephaly though with origins in fact much deeper, Metropolitan Hierotheos has championed Constantinople’s position with an eloquence and fervor sadly rare on the other side.
Archpriest Alexander Shargunov
Joy is given only to a poor spirit, only to those who humbly pray for grace, following Christ. The young man was saddened because he could not acquire perfection at his own heavy price, and refused to accept it at Christ’s easy price.
Рейтинг: 10|Голосов: 11
No one has ever spoken like Christ, and Christ has never spoken as He speaks now by His silence. All the words of the Gospel that we were to have read up until today are encompassed in His silence. And there are even more that are not written in these books, and there are even more we cannot now accommodate. All truth, all love, all the fullness of life.
Рейтинг: 9.9|Голосов: 10
The parable of the unmercirful servant begins with the words, Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened unto a certain king, and that means that the mystery of forgiveness is hidden in Divine grace, in the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Рейтинг: 10|Голосов: 31
We see how fearlessly the Lord walks on the water as the storm rages. He is calm, He is in God’s peace, in faith—that is, in trust of the Heavenly Father’s love. It’s His path to the Cross; He goes to meet the danger that threatens us. He goes to make war with death, to give us life and deliver us from all fear.
Рейтинг: 10|Голосов: 22
The woman, receiving the gift of healing, thanks the Lord. Man, having received healing by the mercy of God, cannot but thank God. It is natural for him, and it is a sign of his healing, because no one is able to bring praise to the Lord until his ailing soul has been healed. The grace of Christ can straighten everything that sin has twisted in our lives.
Рейтинг: 9.2|Голосов: 46
The theme of canonization is truly, above all, the theme of awakening, reflecting on how the people’s memory was stifled, how it was held in a hypnotic state, suggesting that there was nothing, and no tsar. The most forbidden subject was the Tsar.
Рейтинг: 10|Голосов: 5
“Time passes quickly, as a river flows,” says St. Nikolai Velimirovic, “and soon, I repeat,” he says, “soon will come the end of all things.” No one can return back from eternity, to take what he forgot here on Earth, and do what he did not do. Therefore, let us make haste to use the gifts we have received from God for acquiring eternal life.
Рейтинг: 9.8|Голосов: 5
Again, by God’s mercy, we are entering the Dormition fast. This is the shortest and sweetest of the fasts. It begins with the blessing of honey, and then the blessing of the fruits. This fast is also the lightest, because the Mother of God takes care that the yoke of Christ would be light for us. She takes care for our bodies as well as our souls.
Рейтинг: 8.7|Голосов: 6
The Lord speaks today such beautiful, wondrous works about how man should live, pointing to the birds of the heavens, and to the lilies and grass of the fields.
Рейтинг: 8.2|Голосов: 5
Perhaps it is because the Second Coming of Christ is near that the Lord today is sweeping aside with such clarity and distinctness all appearance of Christianity, and wants each of us to be placed before a terrible choice: to be without Christ to the end, or to be to the end with Christ.
Рейтинг: 9.8|Голосов: 12
We find this story in the life of Blessed Matrona: One day a policeman came to take Matrona, and she said to him, “Go, go quickly—there’s a tragedy at your house! I’m blind and not going anywhere. I just sit on the bed; I don’t want to go anywhere.” He listened, and went home, and found that his wife had badly burned herself on the stove, but he managed to get her to the hospital. He went to work the next day and they asked him, “Well, did you seize the blind lady?”
The Lord reminds us how dangerous is every impiety. From it is gradually created an atmosphere of wickedness—such that, according to Scripture, “the man of lawlessness” will be able to sit in the Temple, representing himself as God.
Рейтинг: 8.7|Голосов: 3
It is clearly seen in the parable that Christ knows what awaits Him ahead and what path His Church must walk. He consciously ascends to His death, to give Himself for the salvation of all, to become the cornerstone upon which life is built and without which all of mankind would bear witness to the destruction of all. Rejection and death await the Lord and His Church, but it is all in order to bring mercy, judgment, and victory for those who love Him.
Рейтинг: 7|Голосов: 3
The Most Pure Virgin Mary’s answer is the joyful, prayerful concentration of all ages of Christian sanctity; the fate of every person, into which we are all called to delve. Let everyone who turns his mind and heart to the Lord always stand before this mystery, and with thankfulness witness the joy of today’s feast. The Annunciation has happened. Be it unto me according to thy word.
Рейтинг: 2|Голосов: 2
Our Lord is born today, let us rejoice and be glad! No one may be sad today no matter what sorrow there be, no matter what losses we have suffered, because today is a festival of life for everyone.
Рейтинг: 10|Голосов: 3
What is the practical result of Machiavelli’s teaching for the modern consciousness? A deep divide, an incurable separation between politics and morals. And, subsequently, a lethal contradiction between what they call idealism (mistakenly combined with morality), and what they call realism (mistakenly combined with politics). Thus is born an irreconcilable conflict between morals and pitiless reality.
What Joachim and Anna have done, offering to God the fruit of their prayers, far exceeds any spiritual labors that we could set up as an example. But let us ponder the following: often we find ourselves in a situation similar to these people – Joachim and Anna, – when misfortune befalls us, when we are in need, when we are ready to promise the Lord everything, say all kinds of words of love, just so He would help us, would deliver us from such a state. And then sorrow passes, need passes. But when the time comes to fulfill our promise, we begin to vacillate.
Рейтинг: 5.7|Голосов: 20
On the Second Sunday of Great Lent, we celebrate the memory of St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica. On this day, the Holy Church speaks to us about the mystery of light, which we must come to know, if we want to behold the Resurrection of Christ. St. Gregory of Thessalonica and the theological arguments of the fourteenth century connected with his name taught that the light of the Transfiguration is uncreated light.
Рейтинг: 6.6|Голосов: 31
From that time on we often appealed to the holy Tsar Nicholas, and help came immediately under extraordinary circumstances. Since Tsar Nicholas Aleksandrovich was not only our Sovereign, but also head of a large family, we began to pray to him whenever we had family conflicts and disagreements. Peace was restored to our family very quickly. O holy Royal martyrs, pray to God for us!
Рейтинг: 7.3|Голосов: 3
The human soul is more precious than anything in the world. It must be saved at any price, even if this price seems too high in many people’s opinions. We belong to the Church of martyrs and confessors. The holy martyrs are witnesses: giving your life for Christ means gaining it and accomplishing it to the fullest.
Рейтинг: 6.1|Голосов: 16
Fr. Alexander Shargunov
A Christian lives in two dimensions—time and eternity. May God grant us in this new year to be worthy citizens of our Fatherland, both earthly and heavenly. No matter what trials await us on earth, if we are faithful to the Lord, He will once again prepare heavenly consolations for each of us on the feast of the Nativity of Christ.
