Prologue in Sermons: October 11

We Must Read the Word of God, Even If We Do Not Understand Much of It

October 11

(On the Holy Apostle Philip, One of the Seven Deacons)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Many Christians today are almost entirely ignorant of the word of God. They've read and studied everything secular a thousand times, but have never once picked up the Bible. You ask: why don't they read it? They answer: because they don't understand much of it. But that's no excuse, brethren! They don't understand the word of God because they never read it. If they read it diligently, then, over time, even the incomprehensible would become clear to them, and the dark would become bright.

A monk, coming to his spiritual father, said: "Father! I will stop reading the word of God." "Why so?" asked the elder. "Because I don't understand what is being read," replied the monk. "Child," the elder then said to him, "sheep, when they find fertile pasture, greedily seize the grass and swallow it without chewing, trying only to grab as much as possible; and then, having eaten their fill, they chew it. So you too, while you have the time and opportunity, read the divine books as much as possible without laziness, and the dark will become clear to you. For either through practice you will understand the incomprehensible, or you will learn from the fathers and teachers of the Church, or, finally, if there is no one to explain it to you, the Lord Himself will enlighten you" (Prologue, February 4).

Saints Eulampios and Eulampia, Siblings With a Common Bond of Living Faith

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

On the feast of the Holy Great Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus, three days ago (October 7), we emphasized, based on the hymns of their service, that their common faith in Christ was what united them and not some physical bond. Today, with the commemoration of Saints Eulampios and Eulampia, our Church comes to emphasize that the unity of these Saints is certainly due to their common faith – this is the essential element – but it is also “strengthened” by two other elements: their autadelphia (siblinghood or brotherhood), which functioned in them as philadelphia (a love between siblings or brotherly love), and their homonymy (bearing the same name). In other words, these Saints were beloved siblings and had the same name. “Philadelphia held together by homonymy,” according to the hymnographer, who, of course, immediately hurries to clarify that it was not this brotherly love, or their sameness, but their faith in Christ that gave them the strength to remain steadfast in martyrdom and become saints. For this faith made them live with purity of life and transcendence of passions, that is, it was a living faith, which is why they were so visibly strengthened by the grace of God. “Philadelphia held together by homonymy, and purity blended with dispassion, safely preserved the strength of mind; for wherever God is desired, the entire world is despised."

Prologue in Sermons: October 10

Great Righteous People Are Not Safe From Sins, 

and Great Sinners Should Not Despair of Salvation

October 10

(On Our Venerable Father James the Faster)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Many people go to extremes in their judgments of their moral state. Some, considering themselves completely established in goodness, believe they are safe from this or that sin; others, on the contrary, considering themselves the greatest sinners, believe that God will never forgive them. Both are mistaken. No one should consider themselves safe from sin, and no one should despair of salvation. This is evident from the following story.

Saint Chrysostomos Papasarantopoulos - The Messinian and New "Cyril and Methodios" of Africa

By Archimandrite Philip Hamargias,
Chancellor of the Sacred Metropolis of Messinia

The presence of saints in the world, according to the late Professor John Fountoulis, is “proof of the work of the Church, of the energy of the Holy Spirit in the world.”

Thus, the presence of saints in an ecclesial community is the confirmation of the above statement, starting from a local level, which, however, through the Eucharistic communion of the faithful, the Church, transcends the limited limits and extends to the entire Body of the Church.

The Church, therefore, by honoring and exalting saints, challenges and invites each of us, by presenting to us the saints of every era, even the era we are living in, to experience holiness, according to the model of their lives, so that we may become genuine imitators of them, as they are of Christ, and confirming, through our lived experience, that holiness is not a species destined to disappear, nor a fossilized symbol, but a living reality and that each of us can participate in it.

Abraham, the Knight of Faith

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Sacrifice of Abraham, 1634 (Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg)

By Yuri Ruban,
PhD in History, PhD in Theology

A journey through the pages of the Orthodox calendar takes us far back – almost two thousand years before the birth of Christ. On October 9/22, the commemoration of "the righteous Abraham the Patriarch and his nephew Lot" is recorded. The story of Abraham inaugurates the history of God's people and is found in the first book of the Bible.

"And the Lord said to Abraham: 'Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great'" (Gen. 12:1-2). Here lies a turning point in the spiritual history of humanity.