Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 4

 

The Month of September

Day 4

5. To Schoolchildren: On the Love of God

(From the Life of the Holy Hieromartyr Babylas. September 4, Menaion)

You know, children, that the benefits bestowed upon us by God are great and beyond number. You know that God gives us life; that He sends the holy Angels to guard us; that He gives us the earth as our dwelling place; the sun, moon, and stars to give us light; the air, water, plants, and animals, so that we may have everything necessary and beneficial for life; that He has revealed His will to us, so that we may fulfill it and be pleasing to Him; that He has granted us the saving Mysteries, so that by making use of them we may be cleansed from our sins, draw near to Him, and receive salvation and eternal life in Him. You know that everything good which we possess, beginning with life itself, we have from God, and that, as the word of God says, “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Thus, you know all these things. But why, I ask, have you been given this knowledge? Do not forget that it has been given so that, seeing and knowing the boundless love of God for you, you yourselves might repay God with love and thanksgiving. Our Savior also calls you to such love. He says: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength—this is the first commandment!” (Mk. 12:30) Yes, do not forget, children, that the first commandment for you, your first duty, must consist in loving God, your Creator and Benefactor; and, as you see, not simply loving Him, but loving Him, according to the word of the Savior, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. But what, you may ask, does this latter mean? What does it mean to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength? The following example will give you the answer.

“Help Us To Love Our Enemies, Our Brothers and Sisters.”

At the Sacred Pilgrimage Cave Church of the Nativity of Saint John the Forerunner (Damialis, Crete), traditionally believed to have been built by Saint John the Xenos (10th century), where, according to the liturgical schedule of the shrine, Divine Liturgies and Parakleses are celebrated every month, with the commemoration of all the names that the many pilgrims record during their pilgrimage, His Eminence Metropolitan Amphilochios of Kissamos and Selinos celebrated the Paraklesis to Saint John the Forerunner on July 14th 2026.

At the conclusion of the Paraklesis, the His Eminence Metropolitan Amphilochios referred to one of the “For Health” prayer requests that had been recorded at the shrine during the month of July.

In this particular request, which was written in English, the person making the request asked God to keep his or her family “in Lebanon” safe and to grant them peace: “Keep them safe. Make peace.”

The next sentence of the prayer request was a prayer for the “enemies.”

It reads:

“Help us to love our enemies, our brothers and sisters.”

Homily Two for the Twelfth Sunday of Matthew (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Two for the Twelfth Sunday of Matthew
(12th Sunday of Pentecost)

By St. John of Kronstadt

In today’s Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ addresses an important question put to Him by a rich young man: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Lord directs him to the commandments given by God to mankind through Moses, specifically to the commandments concerning love of one’s neighbor, passing over the commandments concerning the Lord God Himself, undoubtedly because love for one’s neighbor is also the foundation of love for God, and without love for one’s neighbor it is impossible to love God. “For he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?” (1 John 4:20), says the Holy Apostle John the Theologian. Thus the Lord says to the rich young man: “If you want to enter into eternal life, keep the commandments,” namely: “Do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother; and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Yes, the Lord resolves an important question for us in today’s Gospel: the question of how, and by what paths, we may attain eternal life. There is nothing more certain than death: we will all die, and our bodies will return to dust, to the earth from which they were originally created, while our immortal souls, created in the image and likeness of God, will be taken up to God for judgment. For “it is appointed for men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27), says the Apostle — the particular judgment of the soul of each person departing from this life. At this judgment a person’s fate is determined until the final universal judgment of the whole world following the resurrection of all the dead. Therefore, in view of the inevitability of bodily death for each one of us, it is exceedingly important and necessary for every one of us to resolve satisfactorily the question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

May: Day 8: Teaching 2: Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian

May: Day 8: Teaching 2:
Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
 
(Examples of how Christians depart from the law of Christian love, and the necessity of living according to its spirit.)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. What shall we say to you, brethren, on today’s feast? The beloved disciple of the Lord — the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, whose memory we celebrate today — spoke more than anything else during his apostolic ministry about love. Therefore let us also speak today about love.

II. You yourselves know very well that the Lord commanded us to love God and then all people, and said that upon these two commandments rests the whole law (Matt. 22:40). You know that only he who has love toward all is a true Christian (John 13:35). You also know that without love one cannot inherit eternal life, for “he who does not love his brother abides in death” (1 John 3:14); that “without love all gifts profit nothing to those who possess them,” as John Chrysostom says; and that without it all our good deeds mean nothing (1 Cor. 13:3).

You know this, you have heard it many times, and you yourselves reason that it would be good if all loved one another; you yourselves realize that we must love others. But unfortunately, all this is mostly only in words and not in deeds. In words we love, but in deeds — in deeds we are far from love.

April: Day 20: Teaching 2: Venerable John of the Old Lavra

April: Day 20: Teaching 2:
Venerable John of the Old Lavra
 
(How Is Love for God Manifested)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Saint now being glorified, the holy Venerable John, is called "of the Old Lavra" because he was saved (labored in ascetic life) in the lavra of the holy Venerable Chariton, which was called old or ancient, as the most ancient among the Palestinian monasteries. This lavra was located not far from Bethlehem, in the direction of the Dead Sea. The holy John, out of love for God, in his youth left the world and settled in the lavra, where, in the rank of presbyter, he attained a high degree of holiness. He lived in the 8th century.

II. The Venerable John, who out of love for God left the world, naturally leads us to reflection on what manifests true love for God.

Is it necessary for its manifestation for everyone and in all cases to leave the world? Or is it not possible, even while living in the world, to show one’s sincere and free love for God? Without doubt, it is possible. Love for God, just like love for man, cannot remain hidden. It must necessarily have its visible actions, its external signs. What then are these signs or actions by which love for God is manifested? Let us examine. The signs by which love for God is manifested always and everywhere are many and various.

Prologue in Sermons: April 2

Weapons Against Enemies

April 2

(A Word from the Leimonarion about robbers who took things from an elder.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

“Do not be overcome by evil,” says the Apostle, “but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). What do these words indicate? That fire is not extinguished with oil; that is, evil cannot be stopped or cut off by evil, and that the evil we suffer from our enemies and offenders can be stopped and overcome only by good.

What, then, are the means by which we overcome evil with good?

The first means is to do some good to your enemy. Once robbers came to an elder and said to him: “Whatever you have in your cell, we will take.” And they took everything, forgetting one sackcloth. The elder took this sackcloth, ran after them, and, handing it to them, said in turn: “My children, you forgot this also.” This act so touched the robbers that they returned to the elder everything they had taken, repented, and said: “Truly, this man is a man of God” (Prologue, April 2).

The second means is to humble oneself before the enemy. Two bishops quarreled with each other. One of them was rich, the other poor. The rich one sought an opportunity to harm the poor one. The poor bishop, learning of this, said to his clergy: “We shall conquer him.” The clergy answered: “Who can stand against him, master?” “Wait and you will see,” said the poor bishop. And so, when the rich bishop was walking surrounded by a multitude of people, the poor bishop fell at his feet with all his clergy and cried out: “Forgive us, master, we are your servants!” The other, struck by this, himself fell at the feet of the poor bishop and said: “You are my master and father!” And from that time there was great love between them (Leimonarion, ch. 208).

March: Day 21: Teaching 3: Venerable Serapion the Sindonite

March: Day 21: Teaching 3:*
Venerable Serapion the Sindonite
 
(On the Means That Awaken Love for One’s Neighbor)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable Serapion, an ascetic of the late 4th and early 5th century, whose memory is celebrated today, lived in Egypt. His entire life was devoted to care for his neighbors. In his youth, Serapion distributed all his possessions to the poor and, keeping only the necessary clothing and the Gospel, embraced monasticism. He did not have a fixed residence in any monastery, but went from place to place, striving everywhere to help those in need and to comfort them with the word of God. Venerable Serapion usually stayed wherever night overtook him, and in the morning he went on further.

Once, seeing in Alexandria a beggar trembling from cold, Serapion said to himself: “What kind of monk am I, if I have sufficient clothing, while this layman has none?” — and he gave him his garment. Then, seeing another beggar asking for alms, Serapion gave him his Gospel. When the Venerable one was asked where his Gospel and clothing were, he replied: “The Gospel told me: give your possessions to the poor — and I gave it; and the garment I gave to Him Who will give me in its place something far better.”

Meatfare Sunday: Love Yes, But What Kind of Love? (Fr. George Metallinos)

Meatfare Sunday: Love Yes, But What Kind of Love?

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Metallinos

“Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me” (Matt. 25:40)

1. Today’s Gospel reading comes to remind us of a great truth. Last Sunday the Holy Gospel spoke about the goodness of God the Father, who awaits His creature to return. But this must not make us forget His justice as well. God is not only a tender Father; He is also a just Judge. “Neither is His mercy without judgment, nor His judgment without mercy,” says Saint Basil the Great. He will judge the world, the Gospel tells us — and indeed not arbitrarily, but according to our deeds.

Thus today’s passage brings us face to face with the fact of judgment. And we say “fact,” because the universal judgment constitutes for our faith an eschatological certainty and reality, confessed in our Creed as an ecclesiastical belief:

“And He shall come again to judge the living and the dead…”

We are therefore called today to realize three things:

First, that our Judge will be Jesus Christ as God. Christ is Savior but also Judge. If the first time He came humbly to earth “to save the world,” now He will come “in His glory” to judge the world. He who became for us a “curse” upon the Cross has every right to judge us if we have allowed His sacrifice to remain inactive within us and within our society.

Holy Martyr Nikephoros in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint Nikephoros lived in the time of the emperors Valerian and Gallienus and was a simple layman. He also had a Christian friend, a presbyter of the Church named Saprikios, who, through demonic influence, came to hate Saint Nikephoros and harbored resentment against him. When Saprikios was arrested by the pagans and endured many tortures for the faith of Christ, Saint Nikephoros sent intermediaries to him, asking for forgiveness, but Saprikios would not listen to them.

Then Saint Nikephoros saw that Saprikios was being led to the place where his head would be cut off, so he ran and fell at his feet, begging for forgiveness. And although he reminded him of the laws of Christ concerning reconciliation among people, Saprikios would not relent. Saprikios had passed through many tortures and the hour was approaching for him to receive the crown and the rewards from Christ. Yet even when only a short time remained before his beheading, he would not grant forgiveness. For this reason, he was stripped of God’s help and said to the executioners: “Leave me, and I will sacrifice to the gods.”

When Saint Nikephoros saw this, he surrendered himself to the executioners and confessed Christ with boldness. Then, by the command of the tyrant, they cut off his head, and thus the Saint swiftly received the rewards of love, which he strove to put into practice for the sake of Christ, the Giver of love.

Prologue in Sermons: January 23

The Crown of Love for One’s Neighbors

January 23

(Commemoration of Paulinus the Bishop, who gave away all his possessions in alms, and afterward even gave himself to be sold to the pagans.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

The crown of love for one’s neighbors is to lay down one’s life for them. “Greater love than this,” says the Savior, “no one has, than to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). But what does it mean to lay down one’s life for one’s friends? It means that, in time of need, one must be ready for every kind of feat of self-denial. If life is required—give your life; freedom—give your freedom; property—be deprived of your property. In a word, be ready to sacrifice everything, not excluding even yourself.

Does this amaze you, brethren? Do not be amazed. True, perhaps such people are not found today, but in former times they did exist. And behold how far their love for their neighbors sometimes extended.

Saint Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, in order to ransom his fellow countrymen from captivity by the Vandals, distributed all his possessions and was left with absolutely nothing. At that time a widow came to him and asked that he give her money to ransom her son from captivity. The servant of God searched all the corners of his cell, hoping to find something, but found nothing. Coming out to the petitioner, he said: “Believe me, I have nothing with which to ransom your son except myself. Therefore, if you wish, sell me as a slave in exchange for your son, and let him return.”

Prologue in Sermons: January 22

On Love for God

January 22

(Commemoration of the Venerable Martyr Anastasios the Persian)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Strong, fervent, and wondrous was the love for God among the true servants of God. Thus the Apostle Paul desires to depart and be with Christ. The Venerable Martyr Anastasios the Persian, having passed through every path that leads to virtue, was finally inflamed with such love for God that he asked Him to help him end his life in blood and in sufferings. And of all the saints one may say, as if in their own words: "Who shall separate us from the love of God: tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all the day long" (Rom. 8:35–36).

Such was the love for God among God’s saints, and by it they left us a beautiful example for imitation. For we too must love God as they did. We too must strive toward Him with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind. Therefore we must all learn from the saints how we ought to love God and in what true love for Him consists.

In what, then, should it consist?

Prologue in Sermons: January 20

Without Love for God and for One's Neighbors One Cannot Be Saved

January 20

(From the Paterikon: the question of three monks to their spiritual father concerning those who labor without mercy and without love.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

The Lord said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37–39). These words clearly show that love for God and love for one’s neighbor are inseparable from one another, and that the former is very deficient without the latter. Yet many think that even without love for their neighbors they will be saved, and that it is enough for them to prove their love for God by fasting, prayers, and other ascetic labors that concern only themselves. Such people are mistaken: whoever does not have love for his neighbor does not have love for God either, and thus he can never be saved.

2013 Pastoral Encyclical for Christmas (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

Pastoral Encyclical

Sacred Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Christmas 2012

The Love of Christ

The day of Christmas is a warm and blessed day, because we feel the love of Christ, who became man in order to meet us after our apostasy and our departure from Paradise. We were wounded by sin, and He came as a physician to heal us; we were in exile, and He came as a friend to our land; we were in despair, and He brought us hope; we had deep pain of soul and body, and He gave us joy. How can a person not love such a God — who loves, who is born as a man in a cave, who passes through the malice of men, who is forced to live as a refugee in Egypt, who experiences all the tragic conditions of life that humanity endured, and who finally sacrifices Himself to save us?

Sunday After Christmas: Faith and Love (Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi)

Sunday After Christmas: 
Faith and Love 

By Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi

Today we celebrate Saint Joseph the Betrothed, David the King, and James the Brother of God, who indeed were related to Christ, since Christ, as man, descends from them, and they belong to the choir of the forefathers. In particular, Saint Joseph the Betrothed — who was also the guardian of the Virgin and contributed so greatly to the mystery of the divine economy. These Saints “were justified by faith.”

In the days of our Lord’s presence, these faithful people were tested far more strictly than the people of the Old Testament; for while they were expecting the Messiah, they were expecting something different from what they actually saw. They did not expect to see a simple infant held by a young mother — poor, despised, without any support or human assistance. They never expected to see such paradoxical things. For, expecting the Messiah “from the root of Jesse and from the loins of David,” they anticipated a king with authority and aspirations of dominion, with material and worldly splendor. That is why, when they began to understand somewhat that Christ was the Messiah, they ran to make Him king — and He withdrew from them.

Prologue in Sermons: December 27

 

Why We Should Love our Enemies and Pray For Them

December 27
 
(Commemoration of the Holy Apostle and Protomartyr Archdeacon Stephen)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

We must love our enemies and pray for them.

Why is this so? First of all, because the Lord gave us a commandment to love them. He says, "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who revile you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).

Secondly, we must love our enemies according to the commandment of the Holy Apostle Paul, who teaches: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not, and render to no one evil for evil, thinking what is good in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men... If therefore your enemy hungers, give him food; if he thirsts, give him drink... Do not be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom. 12:14–21).

Prologue in Sermons: December 5

 

Love Is Above Fasting

December 5 

 

(Hospitality is Considered by God to be Higher Than a Life of Fasting and Solitude)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

No matter how good the various virtues by which a person pleases God, love conquers all. It's certainly good to pray, fast, not judge, be humble, and adorn oneself with other Christian virtues; but to love God above all else and to express this love in love for one's neighbors is above and beyond all else. Here, for example, is how this last point was vividly demonstrated, so to speak, during a meeting between two saints.

October: Day 30: Teaching 2: Holy Hieromartyr Zenobios and his sister Zenobia

 

October: Day 30: Teaching 2:
Holy Hieromartyr Zenobios and his sister Zenobia
 
(Sibling Love)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Today, the Holy Church commemorates the sufferings of the Holy Hieromartyr Zenobios and his sister Zenobia. They were born in the Cappadocian city of Aegae to pious parents who raised them in the law of the Lord. They were orphaned early, but their parents' good teachings had already taken root in them, and they resolved to distribute their rich estate to the poor and live solely to serve God. The Lord accepted their sacrifice, and Zenobios received from the Lord the gift of miracles: through prayer and the laying on of hands, he healed the sick. Soon, his miracles and virtues brought him fame throughout the region, and the Christians of Aegae elected him bishop. 

October: Day 23: Teaching 2: Holy Apostle James, the Brother of the Lord

October: Day 23: Teaching 2:
Holy Apostle James, the Brother of the Lord

(Lessons To Follow: 
a. A Christian Should Never Betray the Truth, and 
b. Should Love His Enemies According to the Commandment of Jesus Christ)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Apostle James, celebrated today in ecclesiastical hymns and readings, was the son of Joseph the betrothed by his first wife and is therefore called the Brother of the Lord. According to tradition, James accompanied the Most Holy Theotokos when She and Joseph, at God's command, fled to Egypt to save the Divine Infant from Herod's malice. From his youth, Saint James loved a strict, pious life. Rejecting all carnal pleasures and relaxation, he ate neither wine nor meat, did not cut his hair, did not go to the bathhouse, did not anoint his body with oil, and wore no soft clothing, but a sharp hair shirt. He struggled so fervently in prayer that from frequent genuflections, the skin on his knees became rough as that of a camel. For such a virtuous life, James enjoyed such great respect among the Jews and their leaders that he alone was granted permission by the high priest to enter the Holy of Holies — the inner chamber of the Temple where Saint James retired for prayer. He was known to all the people as the righteous one. 

Homily Two on the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov)

Homily Two on the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian

By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov

(Delivered in 1961)

"If we love one another, God abides in us" (1 John 4:12)

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Today, dear brothers and sisters, we honor the memory of one of the great Apostles of Christ, a pillar of the Christian Church, a zealous preacher of Christ's teachings, who wrote for us the Holy Gospel, three Epistles and the Apocalypse, the wise and loving Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, recalling the day of his death.

He was the closest and most beloved disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, or, as the Church hymn puts it, the friend and confidant of Christ. What made this Apostle so different from the Lord's other disciples, and how did he earn such special favor and affection from Jesus Christ?

September: Day 26: Teaching 2: The Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian

 

September: Day 26: Teaching 2:
The Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
 
(Lessons to Follow From His Life: 
a. Zeal for the Salvation of Others; 
b. Love for the Lord and Others; 
c. Virginity)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, celebrated today, was the son of the Galilean fisherman Zebedee and his wife Salome. Before his conversion to Christ, he was a disciple of Saint John the Baptist and, together with Saint Andrew, followed the Lord at the direction of the Forerunner, as he himself recounts in the first chapter of his Gospel, without, however, indicating his own name. During the Lord's earthly life, John, along with Saint Peter and his brother James, was among the Lord's three beloved disciples: he was honored to witness the appearance of Divine glory on Mount Tabor, was present at the resurrection of Jairus's daughter; at the Secret Supper, the Lord revealed Judas the traitor to him. Filled with love for the heavenly Teacher, John followed the Lord to the trial and stood at the Lord's cross with a few persons, His relatives according to the flesh. In his dying moments, the Lord entrusted him with the care of His Most Pure Mother. Appearing to him after the Resurrection at Lake Tiberias, the Lord hinted at his long life and peaceful end. Fulfilling his sacred duty to guard the Most Pure Mother of the Lord, John lived in Jerusalem until her Dormition. Here he was tried and scourged before the Sanhedrin; he left Jerusalem only once, to join Peter in bringing the Holy Spirit upon the Samaritans baptized by the deacon Philip.