Prologue in Sermons: January 15

Careful Reflection on the Things We See in the World Can Give Us Lessons That Are Saving For Us

January 15

(Instruction on the Heavenly Kingdom and on Eternal Punishment)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

The Holy Fathers teach that the whole visible world which we see is, as it were, a book from which we may learn how to build the salvation of our soul. “Just as the author of a book,” teaches Saint Tikhon of Voronezh, “brings forth words from his own mind and writes them on paper, and in this way composes a book, and as it were makes something out of nothing; so the wise and almighty Creator created everything that He had in His divine mind and that He willed, and composed, as it were, a book consisting of two pages, that is, heaven and earth” (Spiritual Treasury, part 1, “The World”). “Every thing and all the creations of God,” writes Saint Basil the Great, “are the same as letters by which we read.” Thus, brethren, the Holy Fathers teach. Let us attend to this teaching and try to understand: how does the world serve as a book for us? How are we to read this book, and how are we to draw from it lessons for our salvation? To resolve these questions, let us turn directly to the matter.

December: Day 4: Teaching 4: Holy Great Martyr Barbara

December: Day 4: Teaching 4:
Holy Great Martyr Barbara
 
(Nature is the Great Book of God, Understandable Even to the Illiterate)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. On the feast of the Holy Great Martyr Barbara, who came to know the one true God from the study of nature and as a result rejected idols and accepted the Christian faith, for which she suffered as a martyr, it would be appropriate, my beloved brethren, to talk with you about how nature is truly a great book of God, understandable even to the illiterate, clearly and loudly speaking about God.

March: Day 4: Teaching 1: Venerable Gerasimos of Jordan

March: Day 4: Teaching 1:
Venerable Gerasimos of Jordan
 
(On the Compassionate Treatment of Animals and the Sins of Cruelty To Them)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Saint Gerasimos of Jordan, whose memory is celebrated today, loved cattle and animals, fed them, caressed them and treated them. Once during Great Lent, walking through the Jordan desert, he met a lion with a sore leg, swollen from a splinter. The holy elder took the splinter out of his leg, cleaned it and bandaged the wound with linen, and let the beast go. But the lion, as if in gratitude, did not leave his benefactor and followed the Saint. From that time on, he fed the intelligent beast and ordered him to guard a donkey that carried water for the needs of the monastery. One day, the lion fell asleep in the sun and did not see how a passing merchant from Arabia took the donkey with him. For such carelessness, the brethren began to carry water on the lion himself. He did not however have to labor for much time for his oversight. The lion noticed the merchant and, recognizing the donkey, rescued him and three other camels loaded with wheat and brought them to the monastery.