Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

Homily for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew, 
or Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost

On the Priesthood and Pastoral Ministry

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“There was a certain man, a master of his house, who planted a vineyard. He surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, and gave it to the vinedressers…” (Matthew 21:33).

Beloved faithful,

In several places in Holy Scripture, the world created by God is compared to a vineyard. The Gospel reading today states this most clearly: “There was a certain man, a master of his house, who planted a vineyard.” This is God Himself, the Master of heaven and earth, who created all things visible and invisible and made the world as a vineyard of His house! Elsewhere the Savior says: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser… I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:1–5). The Prophet David likewise compares the world to a vineyard and prays for its perfection, saying: “Lord, Lord, look down from heaven and see, and visit this vineyard which Your right hand has planted, and perfect it” (Psalm 79:15–16).

Why does God compare the world to a vineyard or to wheat ready for harvest, and not to something else? Because both the vine and the grain are the two foremost fruits of the earth that sustain people's bodily life. Then, because bread and wine, through the Divine Liturgy, are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, which sustain the spiritual life of our souls. For just as bread and wine “strengthen man's heart,” so Holy Communion strengthens faith, forgives sins, and saves the soul of the faithful person. Bread and wine, along with the oil that is also often mentioned, are basic foods of humanity that possess a twofold sacred character, for they nourish both body and soul through the liturgical sacrifice.

Homily One for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew (St. John of Kronstadt)

 

 

Homily One for the Thirteenth Sunday of Matthew
(13th Sunday of Pentecost)

By St. John of Kronstadt

Today during the Divine Liturgy, beloved brothers and sisters, there was read from the Gospel the parable of Christ the Savior concerning the master of a house who planted a vineyard, surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, and, having entrusted it to vinedressers, went away. When the time of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers to receive his fruits. But the vinedressers seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than before, and they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, saying, “They will surely be ashamed before my son.” But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said to one another, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and take possession of his inheritance.” And having seized him, they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the master of the vineyard comes, what will he do with those vinedressers? The chief priests and elders, to whom this parable was spoken, said to Him, “He will bring those wicked men to a wicked end, and will give the vineyard to other vinedressers, who will render him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them: “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner? This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes (Ps. 117:22–23). Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits” (Matt. 21:33–43).

Homily on the Epistle for the 13th Sunday After Pentecost (St. Innocent of Kherson)

Homily on the Epistle for the 13th Sunday After Pentecost

By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride

Have you heard the thunder? Have you seen the lightning? This lightning flashed here; this thunder resounded in this very church. For was it not here, from this very sacred place, that the apostle’s lightning-like word was proclaimed today: “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus… let him be accursed!” (1 Cor. 16:22). What are all the thunders and lightnings compared with the one curse of God? Thunder and lightning strike at a particular time and in some particular place upon the earth; but the curse of God, once pronounced in Paradise, has continued to this day to make the whole earth bring forth thorns and thistles. Thunder and lightning may kill the body, may take away temporal life; but the curse of God may cast both soul and body forever into the fiery Gehenna. Therefore, we must look more carefully into ourselves: are we standing beneath this terrible thunder? Are we in some way drawing this unquenchable lightning down upon our own heads? Has someone perhaps already been struck by it? For this, too, may happen: someone may already have been struck by it and yet feel nothing of his affliction, just as one struck by physical thunder and lightning does not know his condition; and if he can be restored to life, it is through the help of a beneficent hand belonging to another.

Homily on the Feast of the Beheading of the Honorable Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John (Gennadios Scholarios)

Introduction

The following text, “Homily on the Feast of the Beheading of the Honorable Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John,” was written by George Scholarios, who later became known as Gennadios II, Patriarch of Constantinople. Scholarios (ca. 1405–1472) was one of the most important Greek theologians and intellectuals of the fifteenth century. He was deeply involved in the theological controversies surrounding the Council of Florence and initially supported union with the Latin Church before becoming one of the most prominent opponents of the union. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, he became the first Patriarch of Constantinople under Ottoman rule, taking the monastic name Gennadios. His patriarchates were troubled and relatively brief, and by the autumn of 1465 he had withdrawn permanently to the Monastery of the Forerunner on Mount Menoikeion, where he devoted himself to prayer, study, and writing. It was during this final period of his life that many of his most important surviving works were composed.

This homily is dated 15 June 1466. The manuscript heading itself identifies it as having been written at the Monastery of the Forerunner on Mount Menoikeion near Serres. It was therefore composed only a few months after Scholarios had made his final withdrawal from Constantinople and entered the more secluded monastic period in which he produced much of his later theological and ascetic writing. The editors of Scholarios's complete works specifically note that the homily was written to be read, rather than preached, and describe it as an expression of gratitude toward the Honorable Forerunner, combining historical reflection with ascetic exhortation.

The Community of Saint John the Forerunner on Antigone Island

Antigone is the second inhabited island of the Propontis after Prinkipo (Büyükada), when coming from Istanbul, and is the second in size in the group. It is covered with pine trees and has an area of approximately 1,500 square meters. Its Turkish name is “Burgaz,” meaning “fortress” or “wall.”

In the center of the island's inhabited area stands the magnificent Church of Saint John the Forerunner. According to tradition, it was built around 841 by the Empress Theodora over the crypt of Saint Methodios the Confessor. Following the Fall of Constantinople, the church was renovated twice, in 1759 and again in 1817. On June 28, 1894, during the great earthquake, the church was split in two and could no longer be repaired. The people of Antigone undertook a major effort to rebuild their church and organized a collection among themselves. Eventually, through the generous donation of the great benefactor Demetrios Pantziris, and with his son-in-law Nikolaos Dimadis serving as architect—he was the son of Konstantinos Dimadis, the architect of the Great School of the Nation—the magnificent Church of Saint John the Forerunner was erected. The church was consecrated on July 11, 1899, with the Patriarch of Constantinople Neophytos presiding over the ceremony; he was serving at Antigone at the time.

“The Honorable Forerunner is Gentle, Lovely, Exceedingly Beautiful”

Venerable Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis would say about Saint John the Forerunner, while pointing to his icons:

“The Honorable Forerunner is not so stern and fierce! He is gentle, lovely, exceedingly beautiful.”

And when he was asked whether he had seen him, he replied:

“I have seen him; that is why I tell you that he is gentle. Indeed, he told me that he would be my protector in this life and the guarantor of my salvation!”

Source: From the book Taught by God published by the Metropolis of Veria, Naoussa and Campania in 2023, which contains the file for the canonization of Venerable Gerasimos Mikragiannanitis. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.

 

New Archaeological Discoveries Beneath the Holy Sepulchre Strengthen the Case for Jerusalem’s Traditional Tomb of Christ

New archaeological discoveries beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem are shedding important new light on one of the oldest and most disputed questions in Christian archaeology: whether the traditional site of Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and Resurrection is historically credible.

The discoveries do not provide an inscription identifying the tomb as that of Jesus, nor do they constitute definitive proof that the tomb preserved within the Holy Sepulchre is the tomb in which Jesus was buried. What they do provide, however, is a remarkably detailed picture of the landscape that existed beneath the church during the first century. That landscape—a disused quarry subsequently used for cultivation and burial—fits important elements of the Gospel accounts and provides new archaeological context for the traditional identification of the site.

The excavations, directed by Francesca Romana Stasolla of the Sapienza University of Rome, have been conducted since 2022 as part of restoration work involving the floor of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. The preliminary results of the 2025 campaign have now been published in Liber Annuus, the archaeological journal of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. The research represents the culmination of investigations in several areas of the complex and provides a broader topographical reconstruction of the site.

The Revealed Path: Saint Phanourios and the Memory of Nafplio’s Liberation

The veneration of Saint Phanourios occupies a unique space within Greek Orthodox folklore. Unlike many military, clerical or monastic saints whose legacies were codified in homilies or formal ecclesiastical historiography, Saint Phanourios exists primarily through the lens of lived experience and communal practice. The hallmark of his devotion is the baking of the phanouropita, a vegan cake made with seven or nine ingredients, which functions as a domestic ritual of intercession, traditionally associated with the recovery of lost objects, opening of closed paths, or offering prayers for his legendary, unrepentant mother. Alexandros Papadiamantis beautifully preserved this folklore and act of piety in his 1899 short story, Goutou Goupatou, recording the custom of offering a cake while quietly praying, "God forgive the mother of Saint Phanourios." Yet, when this same underlying folklore interacted with the localized realities of Nafplio, the concept of a saint who "reveals" (phaneronei) underwent a profound, civic transformation, shifting from a private domestic prayer into a literal catalyst for the Greek War of Independence.

The Teaching on Weeping of Venerable Poemen the Great

A brother asked Abba Poemen what kind of spiritual labor a monk ought to undertake. The Abba replied: “When Abraham came into the Promised Land, he purchased a tomb for himself, and from the tomb he began to take possession of the Promised Land.” The brother asked: “What does the ‘tomb’ signify?” The Abba replied: “It is a place of weeping and lamentation.”

The following saying also belongs to Abba Poemen: “Weeping is twofold: it brings about and preserves.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen: “What should I do about my passions, which trouble me?” The Elder said to him: “Let us weep with all our strength before the goodness of God, until He has mercy upon us.”

A brother asked Abba Poemen: “What should I do about my sins?” The Elder said: “He who desires to be freed from the sins that dwell within him is freed from them through weeping; and he who desires not to fall into sin again avoids falling through weeping. This is the path of repentance handed down to us by Scripture and the Fathers, who said: ‘Weep!’ There is no other path apart from weeping.”