The World's Premier Online Orthodox Christian Homiletics Resource
by St. Hilary of Poitiers St. Hilary was the champion of the Incarnation during a time in Church history when Arianism and Orthodoxy were battling over the souls of the righteous. The primary condition of knowledge for reading the Psalms is the ability to see as whose mouthpiece we are to regard the Psalmist as speaking, and who it is that he addresses. For they are not all of the same uniform character, but of different authorship and different … [Read more...]
St. Maximus the Confessor was a monk and teacher, well versed in rhetoric and the classical arts. He wrote against false teachings about Christ when few would do so. His enemies had little defense against his logic, and so rather than answer his arguments, they cut off his right hand and tore out his tongue, so that he would be able to neither preach nor write about the Truth. Now that's great preaching. … [Read more...]
St. Leo the Great was the bishop of Rome during difficult times. He was an eminent scholar of Scripture and rhetoric. During an invasion by Attila the Hun, St. Leo met him outside the gates of Rome. After some short words, to everyone's surprise, Attila turned and left. Three years later, during an invasion by Genseric the Vandal, St. Leo's intercession again saved the Eternal City from destruction. Now that's great preaching. … [Read more...]
St. John the Baptist was the Forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ. We celebrate his nativity on June 24th. He preached repentance to all, and though a celibate himself preached especially for the honor of marriage (to Herod and Herodias). He preached for about 90 days, then was imprisoned and beheaded. You know when they want you dead after only 3 months of preaching, well... Now that's great preaching. … [Read more...]
The Prophet Jonah lived in the 8th century b.c. Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh, and was so successful that not only did the king repent in sackcloth and ashes, but he ordered all his people to fast, and not just the people - even the cattle, in order to turn God from His righteous chastisement of the great city. God did spare Nineveh. Now that's great preaching. … [Read more...]
By: Fr. Gleb McFatter Sermon delivered on the Sunday of Orthodox, Naples, Florida, March, 2009. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. This invocation of the Holy Trinity which I have just recited is familiar to us all. It is repeated often in every Orthodox service and it is included in every Orthodox prayer. Yet I wonder how many of us have ever contemplated the concept that underlies this invocation, and how that … [Read more...]
Welcome to the Preachers Institute. The Preachers Institute is an Orthodox Christian Homiletics Resource site, which will soon be offering articles, workshops, seminars and exercises designed to assist and improve the exposition of the Gospel in the Orthodox Christian Church. As St. Paul says, But we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to the Jews, and folly to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the … [Read more...]
The following has been excerpted from an article by Fr. Aris Metrakos, entitled, On The Priesthood, and published in 2002 by Orthodoxytoday.org. The more we pray, the better we preach. Why? Because it frees the Holy Spirit to guide the thoughts and words of the homilist. At the same time, preparing and delivering sermons is a skill that requires attention, perspiration, and revision. There are very few natural born preachers. Most good … [Read more...]
Homiletics in theology the application of the general principles of rhetoric to the specific work of public preaching. The one who practices or studies homiletics is called a homilist. Homiletics (Greek homiletikos, from homilos, to assemble together), is one of those disciplines which is easy to do, but difficult to do well. The terms homily and sermon are often used interchangeably (see the glossary for an exacting definition). The art of … [Read more...]
by St. John Maximovitch Our father among the saints, John Maximovitch, was a diocesan bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) who served widely from China to France to the United States. Countless miracles have been attributed to this holy bishop, both during his lifetime and since his repose. During this year, we will be offering some of his Pre-Lenten and Lenten themed sermons for your reference. Read … [Read more...]
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