by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon

Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine, and archpriest of All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago, IL, Fr. Patrick is, perhaps, the most erudite writer in the Orthodox Church in North America today. This article, one of his Pastoral Ponderings, was published by Orthodoxtoday.org.

The classical and ancient theology of the Christian Church regards as redemptive the entire “event” of Jesus Christ, beginning with His personal and permanent assumption of our flesh. Everything about Jesus Christ is soteriological. Read more

by St. Sophronius of Jerusalem

Our father among the saints, Sophronius, was the Patriarch of Jerusalem. An Arab by birth, he was a monk and theologian who was the chief protagonist for Orthodox teaching in the doctrinal controversy on the essential nature of Jesus and his volitional acts.

Our lighted candles are a sign of the divine splendor of the one who comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of his eternal light. Our candles also show how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ. Read more

by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Bishop Nikolai, a gifted theologian combining a high level of erudition with the simplicity of a soul steeped in Christ-like love and humility, is often referred to as the “new Chrysostom” for his inspired preaching. As a spiritual father of the Serbian people, he constantly exhorted them to fulfill their calling as a nation: to serve Christ. During WW II he was imprisoned at the Dachau concentration camp . He later served as a hierarch here in America, where he died.

Once, the All-loving Lord was sitting in front of the temple in Jerusalem, nurturing hungry hearts with His sweet teachings.

And all the people came unto Him (John 8:2).

The Lord spoke to the people about eternal bliss, about the never-ending joy of the righteous in the eternal homeland in the heavens. And the people delighted in His divine words. The bitterness of many disappointed souls and the hostility of many of the offended vanished like snow under the bright rays of the sun. Read more

by St. John of Kronstadt

Our righteous father John of Kronstadt was an archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church. Born in 1829, from 1855, he served as a priest in St. Andrew’s cathedral in Kronstadt. Here, he greatly committed himself to charity, especially for those who were remote from the church, and traveled extensively throughout the Russian empire. He was already greatly venerated at the time he died. His feast days are commemorated on December 20 and October 19.

“Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” (Jn.1: 47)

Our Lord Jesus Christ said this of a certain Nathanael, an Israelite who dwelt in the Galilean town of Cana, when the latter, on the advice of his friend Philip, went to meet Jesus Christ to be assured whether He was the Messiah promised to Israel. Philip said to Nathanael,

“We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!” 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 them reverently.

And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. (Luke 15:11-32).

The parable of the Prodigal Son is a most instructive lesson for youth. We see in the prodigal son the true character of flighty youth: light-minded, thoughtless, thirsting for independence; in short, everything that usually distinguishes the majority of youths. Read more

by St. Hilary of Poitiers

Our father among the saints, Hilary, was Bishop of Poitiers in Gaul (now France). He was born at Poitiers about the end of the 3rd century A.D. His parents were pagans of distinction. He received a good education, including what had even then become somewhat rare in the West, some knowledge of Greek. So great was the respect in which he was held by the citizens of Poitiers that about 353 he was unanimously elected bishop  – though a married man. He was sometimes referred to as the “Hammer of the Arians” (Latin: Malleus Arianorum) and the “Athanasius of the West.” His name comes from the Greek word for happy or cheerful.

For the end among the hymns, of the meaning of David when the Ziphims came and said to Saul: behold, is not David hid with us?

Save me, O God, by Thy name, and judge me by Thy power. Hear my prayer, O God; give ear unto the words of my mouth, and so on. Read more

By Fr. John A. Peck

The questions a preacher must consider when preparing his sermon are many.  One such question must be: “Is my sermon a vaccination against sin and indifference, or an inoculation against conversion?” Though we certainly believe that vaccinations are good science, the idea that a small, dead amount of something which is good (in this case, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ) can be used to create resistance to the very living thing which heals and cures – and therefore is bad - make this an excellent metaphor for instruction.

I’m indebted to Alan Boyd, pastoral assistant at Assumption Church in Scottsdale, AZ for ideas contributing to this article.

Often a preacher must decide just how much ‘salt’ his congregation or listening audience can stomach (see my article, Sermons and Snickers Bars for more about ‘salting’ your sermons). Just as often, a preacher can default to a minimum announcement of the Gospel to his hearers, presenting a minimum of Gospel platitudes or moralizing, but staying a minimum safe distance from possibly incendiary, but basic, Christian topics (hell and how to get there, tithing and the other 90%, the moral teaching of the Church, etc) which are necessary for life, faith and spiritual growth in the Spirit. Such mini-sermons are often called ‘sermonettes,’ and parishes get to expect sermonettes, as opposed to real sermons. Read more

by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon

Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine, and archpriest of All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago, IL, Fr. Patrick is, perhaps, the most erudite writer in the Orthodox Church in North America today. This article, one of his Pastoral Ponderings, was published by Orthodoxtoday.org.

Although the history of art does not show this to be the case, ancient legend claimed that the Amazon warriors — the easier to bend the bow and fling the spear — had their right breasts amputated. Indeed, popular Greek etymology explained the name “Amazon” as derived from a-mazos, “without breast.”

I wonder, however, if that physical mutilation did not also insinuate in the Amazons some deeper and more significant impairment, a hint, as it were, of diminished femininity. The willful loss of that breast suggests – to me, at least – that the Amazons, as women, were not quite up to the mark. I confess to a basic, inherited, and irremediable bias against women warriors. I don’t like girls getting into fights. It just ain’t proper. Read more

by St. John Chrysostom

Our father among the saints John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, was a notable Christian bishop and preacher from the fourth and fifth centuries in Syria and Constantinople. He is famous for eloquence in public speaking and his denunciation of abuse of authority in the Church and in the Roman Empire of the time. His banishments demonstrated that secular powers had strong influence in the eastern Church at this period in history.

Taken from the book On Wealth and Poverty, By John Chrysostom, published by St. Vladimir Seminary Press, this is a most timely sermon.

Have you seen God’s power, have you seen God’s love for mankind?

His power, because He shook the world; His love, because He made the tottering world firm again; or rather, you saw both His power and His love in both. For the earthquake showed His power, and its cessation showed His love, because He shook the earth and made the world fast again, because He set it upright when it was rocking and about to fall. The earthquake has gone by, but let the fear remain; that tossing has run its course, do not let discretion depart with it. Read more

by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon

Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine, and archpriest of All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago, IL, Fr. Patrick is, perhaps, the most erudite writer in the Orthodox Church in North America today. This article, one of his Pastoral Ponderings, was published by Orthodoxtoday.org.

There is a glaring fallacy in the contemporary presumption that idolatry is found only in polytheism. I admit, of course, that all polytheism is necessarily idolatrous, but it seems not to have occurred to most folks that the confession of one false god is just as idolatrous as the confession of several. Monotheism is no defense against idolatry.

This modern misunderstanding about idolatry, moreover, is the twin and steady companion of another, the strange fancy that all monotheists necessarily confess the same divinity.

Arguably the clearest spokesman for the latter fallacy may be that C. S. Lewis character who forthrightly declared, Read more