Prologue in Sermons: April 8

A Great Reward Awaits the Person Who Saves his Neighbor from Bodily and Spiritual Death

April 8

(A story about a maiden who showed mercy to a debtor who was about to hang himself.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

You will certainly agree with me, brothers, that a great reward awaits the person who saves his neighbor from bodily death. But do you know that a double reward awaits the one who saves his neighbor from a double death — that is, from both bodily and spiritual death? If you do not know, we will now explain this to you.

In Alexandria of Egypt, after the death of her parents, a young maiden was left alone with great wealth. One day, while walking in her garden, she saw a man who had prepared a noose and was about to hang himself.

“What are you doing?” the maiden asked in horror.

The unfortunate man replied: “Leave me, maiden, for I am in great distress!”

The maiden said: “Tell me the cause of your distress, and I will help you as much as I can.”

He answered: “I am overwhelmed with debts, and my creditors give me no rest, demanding that I repay what I owe. No, better for me to die than to live such a miserable life!”

Prologue in Sermons: February 4

 

A Monk Must Not Leave the Monastery in Which He Lives

February 4

(A Discourse on Silence and Humility, and On Not Falling Into Despair)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Some of the monks, unfortunately, have become accustomed to leaving the monasteries in which they live and moving from place to place. There, they say, the abbot is strict; here, the brethren are quarrelsome; there, the labors are beyond one’s strength; and here, they do not struggle as we would like. And such men run off—partly out of laziness, partly out of pride, partly out of their innate inability to get along—from their own monastery to another, and from that one to a third, and so on. Is this good? 

 

No, it is bad. Bad, first of all, because wandering is forbidden by the Savior Himself, who says: “Do not go from house to house” (Luke 10:7), and “Into whatever town you enter, remain there” (Matt. 10:11). And bad, secondly, because examples sometimes point to the most disastrous consequences for monks who leave the monasteries in which the Lord has ordained them to dwell. For the instruction of such wanderers, we present one such example.

April: Day 9: Teaching 1: Venerable Martyr Vadim

April: Day 9: Teaching 1:
Venerable Martyr Vadim
 
(You Must Listen To the Voice of Your Conscience)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Venerable Martyr Vadim, whose memory is celebrated today, lived in the 4th century in a Persian city during the reign of King Shapur. Having built a monastery outside the city at his own expense, he lived there. At that time, the sun and fire were worshiped in Persia. Shapur began to persecute Christians. Many of them were imprisoned, including Vadim. Unfortunately, not all of them were firm in their faith; some renounced their faith. Among those who renounced was a certain Prince Nersan. Shapur demanded that Nersan kill Vadim as proof of his sincere renunciation. Nersan agreed, but as soon as he raised his hand with the sword, his conscience began to speak in him, he trembled, and his hand dropped. But Nersan did not listen to the voice of conscience, again raised his trembling hand with the sword and, although not once, beheaded the monk, who fearlessly accepted a martyr's death.
 

Homily Two on the Sunday After the Nativity of Christ (St. John of Kronstadt)

 

Homily Two on the Sunday After the Nativity of Christ
(when it falls on December 29th)

By St. John of Kronstadt

"A voice was heard in Ramah, 

lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, 

Rachel weeping for her children, 

refusing to be comforted, 

because they are no more" 

(Matt. 2:18; Jer. 31:15).

The Holy Church now honors the memory of fourteen thousand infants slaughtered by King Herod in Bethlehem and its environs. This bloody event was predicted 500 years ago by the Prophet of God Jeremiah in these words: "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." By Ramah or Arimathea is meant the whole area stained with the blood of infant martyrs, and by Rachel, who was the wife of the Patriarch Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, are meant all the mothers from whom infants were torn away by Herod's executioners and slaughtered. A terrible, inhuman spectacle! This is what man is brought to by his unbridled passions, his self-love, pride, ambition, lust for power, malice, envy!

Elder Gabriel's "Performance" in a Pub

R.B. Revaz gave the following testimony of an encounter he had with Saint Gabriel (Urgebadze) of Georgia:

In the late 1980s, my family was on the verge of destruction due to my chaotic life. Not a day went by that I didn't drink alcohol. I also became addicted to gambling. I lost my job, my friends... Because of this, all my relatives suffered. Deep down I was aware of my condition, but I was unable to cope with myself. Most likely, I was already getting used to this kind of existence. As they tell me, and I remember myself, I lost my human appearance, everything around me irritated me, and at some point I felt like another person. At that time I was not looking for any spiritual refuge, much less it never occurred to me to go to church, since I did not take clergy seriously at that time.

This would have continued for a long time if one fine evening Elder Gabriel had not walked into that pub where I, finishing another glass of beer, was preparing to commit a reckless act. Yes, dear friends, you definitely read it: Elder Gabriel entered a pub!