Prologue in Sermons: March 28

Where the Souls of Sinners Are After Their Separation from the Body

March 28

(A Discourse about a certain soldier, named Taxiotis, who rose from the dead.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Where, brethren, are the souls of sinners after their separation from their bodies? Let us speak about this for our edification.

There was in the city of Carthage a certain man, named Taxiotis, who lived a sinful life. Once, a pestilence struck Carthage, from which many people were dying. Taxiotis turned to God and repented of his sins. Leaving the city, he withdrew with his wife to a certain village, where he remained, spending his time in meditation on God.

After some time, he fell into sin with the wife of a farmer; but a few days later, he was bitten by a snake and died.

Not far from that place stood a monastery; the wife of Taxiotis went to this monastery and begged the monks to come, take the body of the deceased, and bury it in the church; and they buried him at the third hour of the day. When the ninth hour came, a loud cry was heard from the grave: “Have mercy, have mercy on me!” The monks, approaching the grave and hearing the cry of the one buried, immediately dug it up and found Taxiotis alive. In terror, they were amazed and asked him what had happened to him. But Taxiotis, because of intense weeping, could not tell them anything and only asked to be taken to Bishop Tarasios; and he was taken to him. The bishop urged him for three days to tell him what he had seen there, but only on the fourth day did Taxiotis begin to speak and recounted the following:

Homily for the Third Sunday of the Holy and Great Fast - The Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

 

Homily for the Third Sunday of the Holy and Great Fast 

The Sunday of the Veneration of the Holy Cross 

On the Value of the Soul

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his own soul?
Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37)

Beloved faithful,

In today’s sermon on the Holy Gospel, we will speak, as much as the Most Good God enlightens us, about the honor of man and the value of the human soul. Behold what the Savior says: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). Then He says: “Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:37). Hear, my brothers, how great and immeasurable the value of our soul is, and to what honor and esteem our Savior Jesus Christ Himself has raised it. And if this is so, who could ever resist this truth?

Holy Scripture often calls man a “soul.” Behold what it says in Genesis: “The souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, that came out of his loins, were sixty-six souls, besides the women of his sons” (Genesis 46:26). See, Holy Scripture calls man a “soul.” And why does Scripture call man a “soul”? The answer is this: because of the great value the soul has in comparison with the body. But can one call the soul “man”? No. A human can be called a soul, but the soul alone cannot be called man. For the soul has an invisible nature, and the body has a visible and tangible nature, and only when these unite in a single hypostasis is it called man. But the soul is not called man without the body, nor is the body called man without the soul. For man is a hypostasis united from two natures, soul and body.

August: Day 15: Teaching 2: Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos

 

August: Day 15: Teaching 2:
Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos
 
(The Soul After the Separation From the Body)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. On the icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God, She is depicted as if asleep. Jesus Christ stands at Her deathbed, surrounded by angels and apostles, and receives Her soul into His arms, which flew out of Her most pure body in the form of an infant. So, is this image a dream of icon painters, or does it correspond to a real event?

No, this is not an artist’s dream. Tradition relates that when the time of death approached for the Ever-Virgin Mary, her divine Son, surrounded by the inhabitants of heaven, descended to her deathbed, and she “indescribably rejoiced and, as if falling into a sweet sleep, gave up her most holy soul into His hands. And so, solemnly from the heavenly ones her soul was conducted to the heights, carried by the hands of the Lord. And the eyes of the apostles, who were deemed worthy to look upon that most glorious vision, accompanied her.”

March: Day 11: Teaching 1: Saint Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem

March: Day 11: Teaching 1:
Saint Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem
 
(The Need To Take Care of One's Soul, Which is Priceless)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Church today celebrates the memory of Saint Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem. Saint Sophronios was born in the 6th century in the city of Damascus of pious and wealthy parents. From his youth he loved spiritual education and chastity, and with love began to study the Holy Scriptures. Having studied them, he, caring for his soul, began to visit monasteries and deserts and there collected everything useful from the lips of the Holy Fathers. Arriving in Jerusalem, he met the wise monk John Moschos in one monastery, became close to him and became attached to him like a son. Soon Jerusalem was attacked by Khozroes, the Persian king. Saints John and Sophronios left Jerusalem at this time, which in their absence was taken by the Persians, and the Tree of the Lord's Cross along with Patriarch Zacharias were taken captive.