by St. Gregory the Great, the Pope of Rome.

Among works of inestimable influence in the history of the Church, few approach the impact of St. Gregory’s “Regulae Pastoralis,” or “Pastoral Rule.” Written to John, Bishop of Ravenna, it was as influential to the guidance  of secular clergy and growth of the Church in the west as the famous ‘Rule of St. Benedict’ was to western monasticism, if not more.

For several hundred years, it was required reading for all clergy, and frequent references to it were made during the synod meetings of bishops. Here is the section of Book III, dealing with those who preach.

How those are to be admonished who decline the office of preaching out of too great humility, and those who seize on it with precipitate haste.

Those who are able to preach worthily, but who are afraid by reason of excessive humility are to be admonished one way, and in another, those whom unfitness or age forbids to preach, and yet hastiness impells. Read more

The Survey Says…

Friends of Preachers Institute, thank you for participating in our online poll regarding a Doctor of Ministry degree in Orthodox Homiletics. During April and May, we asked you, our readers, what you would like to see in an advanced professional degree in Orthodox homiletics.

The specific question was:

What would you like to see in a Doctoral program in Orthodox Homiletics?

All in all, there were 194 respondents. Each could vote for as many selections as they wished.

Here are the results:

119 votes             Affordability: $50-100 (USD)/ month

115 votes             A Study of the Sermons of the Patristic Fathers

102 votes             Training in the Orthodox Tradition of communication, from classical rhetoric to new media

100 votes             A program that will bring my skill in preaching to a level approaching ‘expert’ in knowledge of preaching, communication, and its history

93 votes               I’d prefer a Ph.D. program – an academic degree, not a professional one

78 votes               Something I can do while working in my parish, with occasional seminars

62 votes               A practical program, honing sermon prep and deliver skills in many venues

58 votes               A program which offers a variety of venues; street preaching and evangelism, liturgical preaching, writing, posting on social media, blogging, etc.

24 votes               A historical study – primarily

22 votes               Something different – to get me out of my comfort zone

These are telling results, and we appreciate your input.

Sadly, not all Orthodox clergy are interested in improving their skill or advancing their education in homiletics, but for those of you who are, the Preachers Institute is preparing to serve your needs, and offer more for you, the preacher in the trenches of parish work, laboring prayerfully to rightly define the word of Truth, and proclaim the Gospel of Christ.

by St. Isaac the Syrian

Once you have reached the place of tears then you should understand that the mind has left the prison of this world and set its feet on the road towards the New World. It has begun to breathe the wonderful air which is there. It begins to shed tears.For now the birth-pangs of the spiritual infant grow strong, since grace, the common mother of us all, makes haste to give birth mystically to the soul, the image of God, into the light of the world to come.

This shall be for you a luminous sign of the serenity of your soul: when, on examining yourself, you find yourself full of compassion for all humanity, and your heart is afflicted with pity for them, burning as though with fire, without making distinction between one person and another.When the image of the Father becomes visible in you by means of the continual presence of these things, then you can recognize the measure of your way of life – not from your various labors, but from the transformation which your understanding receives.The body is then likely to be bathed in tears, as the intellect gazes on things spiritual.

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.

“Zeal not according to knowledge” (Rom. 10:2)

When those who censured the immaculate life of the Most Holy Virgin had been rebuked, as well as those who denied Her Evervirginity, those who denied Her dignity as the Mother of God, and those who disdained Her icons-then, when the glory of the Mother of God had illuminated the whole universe, there appeared a teaching which seemingly exalted highly the Virgin Mary, but in reality denied all Her virtues. Read more

by St. Augustine of Hippo

On the words of the Gospel, John 10:30 , “I and the Father are one.”

1. You have heard what the Lord God, Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, born of God the Father without any mother, and born of a Virgin mother without any human father, said, “I and My Father are One.” Read more

by St. John of Damascus

Our venerable and God-bearing Father John of Damascus (c. 676 – December 5, 749) was also known as John Damascene, Chrysorrhoas, “streaming with gold,” (i.e., the golden speaker). He was born and raised in Damascus, in all probability at the Monastery of Saint Sabbas (Mar Saba), South East of Jerusalem. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is December 4.

We declare that the addition which the vain-minded Peter the Fuller made to the Trisagion (Thrice-Holy) Hymn is blasphemous; for it introduces a fourth person to the Trinity, giving a separate place to the Son of God, Who is the truly subsisting power of the Father, and a separate place to Him Who was crucified as though He were different from the “Mighty One,” or as though the Holy Trinity was considered passible, and the Father and the Holy Spirit suffered on the Cross along with the Son. Read more

St. Gregory Nazianzus “the Theologian”

Our father among the saints Gregory the Theologian , also known as Gregory of Nazianzus (though that name more appropriately refers to his father) and Gregory the Younger, was a great Father and Teacher of the Church. He was a close friend of St. Basil the Great.  He was one of the great Cappodocean Fathers, and is one of only three saints given the title “Theologian” in all of Orthodox hagiography and theology.

I. Let us reason a little about the Festival, that we may keep it spiritually. For different persons have different ways of keeping Festival; but to the worshiper of the Word a discourse seems best; and of discourses, that which is best adapted to the occasion. And of all beautiful things none gives so much joy to the lover of the beautiful, as that the lover of festivals should keep them spiritually. Let us look into the matter thus. The Jew keeps festival as well as we, but only in the letter. For while following after the bodily Law, he has not attained to the spiritual Law. The Greek too keeps festival, but only in the body, and in honor of his own gods and demons, some of whom are creators of passion by their own admission, and others were honored out of passion. Read more

by Fr. John Romanides

Our father in the faith, John Romanides (1927 – 2001), was a prominent 20th century Orthodox Christian priest, theologian, and writer. He argued for the existence of a “national, cultural and even linguistic unity between Eastern and Western Romans” that existed until the intrusion and takeover of the West Romans (the Roman Catholics) by the Franks and or Goths (German tribes).

The Church is the body of Christ, which is comprised of all those faithful in Christ; of those who participate in the first resurrection and who bear the betrothal of the Spirit or even those who have foretasted theosis (deification). Read more

by St. Leo the Great

Our father among the saints, 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.

I. The Holy Spirit’s work did not begin at Pentecost, but was continued because the Holy Trinity is One in action and in will.

Today’s festival, dearly-beloved, which is held in reverence by the whole world, has been hallowed by that advent of the Holy Spirit, which on the fiftieth day after the Lord’s Resurrection, descended on the Apostles and the multitude of believers , even as it was hoped. And there was this hope, because the Lord Jesus had promised that He should come, not then first to be the Indweller of the saints, but to kindle to a greater heat, and to fill with larger abundance the hearts that were dedicated to Him, increasing, not commencing His gifts, not fresh in operation because richer in bounty.

For the Majesty of the Holy Spirit is never separate from the Omnipotence of the Father and the Son, and whatever the Divine government accomplishes in the ordering of all things, proceeds from the Providence of the whole Trinity. Therein exists unity of mercy and loving-kindness, unity of judgment and justice: nor is there any division in action where there is no divergence of will. What, therefore, the Father enlightens, the Son enlightens, and the Holy Spirit enlightens: and while there is one Person of the Sent, another of the Sender, and another of the Promiser, both the Unity and the Trinity are at the same time revealed to us, so that the Essence which possesses equality and does not admit of solitariness is understood to belong to the same Substance but not the same Person. Read more

By St. Leo the Great

Our father among the saints, 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.

I. The Giving of the Law by Moses Prepared the Way for the Outpouring of the Holy Ghost

The hearts of all Catholics, beloved, realize that today’s solemnity is to be honored as one of the chief feasts, nor is there any doubt that great respect is due to this day, which the Holy Spirit has hallowed by the miracle of His most excellent gift. For from the day on which the Lord ascended up above all heavenly heights to sit down at God the Father’s right hand, this is the tenth which has shone, and the fiftieth from His Resurrection, being the very day on which it began, and containing in itself great revelations of mysteries both new and old, by which it is most manifestly revealed that Grace was fore-announced through the Law and the Law fulfilled through Grace. Read more