Homily for the First Sunday of Luke (St. Innocent of Kherson)

Homily for the First Sunday of Luke

18th Sunday after Pentecost

By St. Innocent of Kherson

“Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing.” (Luke 5:5)

How pitiful, brethren, it is to hear this complaint from the lips of the poor laborers who had toiled throughout the night! But why has it been repeated in the Gospel for so many centuries? Is it to arouse our compassion for the Apostles? But what need have those who afterward caught the whole universe with their nets for the fish they failed to catch? What need have those who have long since been crowned with heavenly glory for our pity, when perhaps they themselves grieve and lament a hundredfold over us because we are so indifferent to attaining that glory which has also been appointed for us? If the Gospel continues to tell us of the unsuccessful fishing, it is because, in the persons of the Apostles-fishermen, all of us are portrayed in this circumstance, with our labors and occupations. Therefore, I can find no subject more edifying for our conversation than to apply this Apostolic fishing to our own lives.

Holy Martyr Kallistratos and the 49 Martyrs With Him in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. These Saints lived in Rome during the reign of the emperor Diocletian. Saint Kallistratos was arrested as a Christian by the military commander Persentinus, and because he confessed that Christ is the true God, he was severely beaten. Then they placed him upon a potsherd and dragged him over it. Afterwards, they put him into a sack and threw him into the sea. But the sack tore open, and he came out unharmed. Forty-nine soldiers witnessed this miracle and they too believed in Christ. Persentinus then tortured them and had them imprisoned together with Kallistratos, who found the opportunity to teach them about the judgment of God, the Resurrection, and the soul. Afterwards, when they had all been brought out of prison, Kallistratos prayed and cast down the idols. When other soldiers also saw this, one hundred and eighty-four in number (or, according to others, one hundred and thirty-five), they too believed, whereupon the tyrants beheaded them all.

2. The fact that Saint Kallistratos was an ordinary soldier of the Roman Empire gives his hymnographer, Saint Joseph, the occasion to view him in a twofold military dimension: on the one hand, from a spiritual perspective, the soldier became a general; on the other hand, even after his death he continued in his military calling.

Prologue in Sermons: September 27

 

Repentance Will Not Save Us If, After It, We Again Add Sins to Sins

September 27

(A Word on Punishment by Gregory the Black-Robed Monk,* Concerning Not Being Negligent of One’s Salvation.)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

There are many people who, having repented of their sins and received forgiveness for them, nevertheless, immediately after confession, begin to sin again. They again defile themselves with the uncleanness of sin, think that it is nothing, and, comforting themselves, say: “God is merciful; God will forgive again.” Do such people act rightly or not? We are convinced that they act very badly, and the following word of one of the teachers of the Church, the Black-Robed Monk Gregory, leads us to this conviction.

Among other things, he says the following concerning this matter:

“Brethren, let us renounce worldly wickedness; let us not again become entangled in fleshly passions—gluttony, drunkenness, and fornication—which corrupt both soul and body. Our life here is short; therefore, let us take care for our souls and rejoice in our salvation; let us strive to blot out our sins through good works. Let us not act in such a way that today we repent, and tomorrow take up again the same sins, or even worse ones than those we committed before confession. If today you have washed your defiled body, but the next morning defile it again, will you derive any benefit from your washing? In the same way, there will be no benefit for the one who repented today but tomorrow took up his sins again. And what genuine benefit can you derive from your repentance when, after having been forgiven, you return again to sin? And can your prayer be heard? And can you escape the wrath of the Lord? No, for as great as the Lord’s mercy is, so grievous are His punishments. And the Lord judges each person according to his deeds, and each will receive recompense according to his deeds. Blessed is the person who, when tempted to sin, can refrain from sinning. But woe to the heart that is double-minded, and to the sinner who walks in two ways.”

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 27

The Month of September

Day 27

28. We Must Not Forget Ourselves at Feasts

(From the Life of Venerable Zosimas of Solovki the Wonderworker)

Many Christians, when they are at feasts or at invited lunches and dinners, completely forget themselves. Heated by wine and carried away by the general merriment, they give themselves over either to senseless laughter, or to indecent conversations, or to sinful attentions toward women, or finally begin quarrels and disputes with one another. This, brethren, is unworthy of Christians. Even if you are present at a feast, never forget yourself; rather, constantly remember, first, that you are a Christian; second, that there is above you an all-seeing and righteous God, Who will demand an account from you not only for your words and deeds, but also for your thoughts; and finally, third, at a feast do not forget that, just as with every other person, death is not far from you, but is behind you.

Once the famous Novgorodian noblewoman Martha invited Venerable Zosimas of Solovki to dinner. When he entered the house, Martha, together with her sons and daughters, received his blessing and, as it is said, seated him “in the midst of the feast.” While everyone was eating, drinking, and rejoicing, the Venerable one sat silently with humility and meekness, partaking of little food according to his custom. During the meal he looked at the guests and was astonished; then he bowed his head in sorrow. He looked a second time and again saw something worthy of astonishment among those reclining at the table; he looked a third time, and for the third time he saw something extraordinary. What did he see? He saw six of the most prominent Novgorodian noblemen sitting without heads. Sensing that this vision foretold something evil, the Venerable one wept, partook of nothing more, and soon left Martha’s house.

The Metastasis of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

Saint John is the first theologian of our Church. Indeed, this is his distinctive title above all: John the Theologian. Others who have been honored by our Church with this title are Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint Symeon the New Theologian. Thus, for our Church, very few bear this title, which means, on the one hand, that particular qualifications are required for someone to receive this designation, and, on the other, that all those who have obtained a degree from a theological school are not considered theologians, except in a loose and improper sense. What, then, is required for someone to be a theologian, and, more particularly, what led the Church to bestow this title upon Saint John? We insist upon this point because the hymnography of the Church focuses its attention above all on this very matter: “The Word, O most excellent one, worthily revealed you as a theologian, initiating you into His divinity and teaching you the ineffable dispensation according to man.” That is, Christ, the Son and Word of God, revealed you as a theologian, O most excellent John, because He led you into the secret knowledge of His divinity and taught you the mystery of His plan to come into the world as man. In other words, a theologian is one who is initiated by God Himself into knowledge of Him and, consequently, into the proclamation to the world of His dispensation.

Life of Holy Venerable Platonida of Argeș (formerly Despina Milița, the wife of the Holy Voivode Neagoe Basarab)

Holy Venerable Platonida of Argeș (1487–January 30, 1554), in the world known as Despina Milița, was the wife of the Holy Voivode Neagoe Basarab.

She came from a noble family of Serbian despots, being the daughter of John Branković of Serbia (born 1465, died December 10, 1502). Her uncle was Metropolitan Maxim (born George) Branković.

Despina married Neagoe Basarab in 1505, and they had six children (Theodosie, Stana, Petru, Ioan, Ruxandra, and Anghelina), although two sons and one daughter died at a young age. After the death of Voivode Neagoe Basarab in 1521, their son Theodosie (born 1505, died 1521) was enthroned as ruler of Wallachia, but he was driven out by Radu of Afumați and died in Constantinople.

Lady Despina was a patron of the arts, providing material assistance for the construction of Krusedol Monastery. Together with her husband, she founded Curtea de Argeș Monastery, participating in its consecration on August 15, 1517.

Homily for the Day of the Repose of the Holy, Glorious, and All-Praised Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian (St. Innocent of Kherson)

Homily for the Day of the Repose of the Holy, Glorious, and All-Praised Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian 

By St. Innocent of Kherson

We celebrate the repose of John. But did he die? Is he not still alive? These are unexpected questions, but it is not curiosity that prompts us to raise them; it is the Gospel itself, for you have heard what is said concerning John: “And this saying went abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die” (John 21:23). The brethren of the divinely illumined Apostolic Church could not have lightly seized upon a dream of their imagination and arbitrarily presented it as an interpretation of the Savior’s words. Moreover, when the Gospel mentions the expectation “that that disciple should not die,” it does not refute it as something impossible that arose from a misunderstanding of the Savior’s words concerning John, but merely limits its cause and basis to their precise bounds, guarding against every exaggeration: “Yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you?” (John 21:23).

In the Church hymn sung yesterday in honor of Saint John, we hear something even more; there he is directly and clearly called “still living and awaiting the fearful Second Coming of the Master” (Sticheron at Small Vespers).

If Saint John, then, did not die and is still alive, how do we celebrate the day of his repose? Is this not similar to someone commemorating as dead a man who remains alive?

September: Day 26: Teaching 3: The Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian

September: Day 26: Teaching 3:
The Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
 
How Should We Regard the Sins of Our Neighbors?

(On the Day of the Repose of Saint John the Theologian)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. On the day of the repose of the holy and glorious Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, who taught above all about Christian love and who, even on his deathbed, did not cease teaching this great virtue, without which there is no possibility of salvation, it is most appropriate to speak with you, brethren, about the sin that most often destroys Christian love among people: the sin of contemptuously condemning our neighbors when they fall morally.

II. A. Let us first consider the impression produced upon us by the falls of our brethren, and then see what must be done for their restoration.
 

Before you is worldly society, composed not of those uneducated, coarse, and deprived from childhood of every moral influence, who are encountered by the thousands in the streets. Here are people who have all received a good upbringing, who are capable of understanding and admiring everything beautiful, and who are sometimes capable of the most generous impulses... Suddenly, news is brought into this select circle... It is a piece of information which, as they say, everyone should keep to himself... What is it about? About some offense, some fall, some disgrace, which soon becomes known... Do you notice the effect it produces? Do you notice the looks gleaming with malicious delight? Do you hear how the conversation, until then languid, suddenly becomes animated, interrupted by violent outbursts, like a flame fanned from without? Do you hear all these questions? Do you observe with what lively interest the smallest details concerning the fall in question are gathered; do you watch the expressions on faces showing that they know more than they wish to say; the treacherous hints concealed beneath false sympathy? Is all this true? Am I exaggerating when I say that the frivolity and misconduct of others are the favorite food of conversation in every class of society, and that, if you remove slander from these conversations, you will remove all their charm, and that nothing seems to enliven conversation so much as malicious gossip? We are told, brethren, that man is good. Yes, I know well that everyone cares about maintaining propriety, and that we Russians least of all need to be reminded of this. But who does not know that there is a learned contest of words in which people acquire remarkable skill? Who does not know that there is a subtle art of gracefully casting a poisoned arrow, an art of wounding mortally with a smile, and of hinting at everything without asserting anything?

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 26

The Month of September 

Day 26

27. How We Should Regard Sinners Who Are Perishing

(From the Life of Saint John the Theologian)

When we see that this or that person has fallen into the depths of evil, some among us revile him by calling him evil, while others simply say, “He has only himself to blame!” Is this worthy of Christians, and is it right? No, it is not worthy of Christians, and it is very wrong; for the Lord did not teach us to treat sinners as we do, nor did He Himself treat them as we treat them. Recall at least one instance from His life. What did He say to the Pharisees who brought a woman caught in adultery before Him? “He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her!” And what did He say to the woman? “Woman! Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” — “No one, Lord,” she answered. Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more” (John 8:1–11). Therefore, we should not act toward sinners who are perishing as we do, but should act somewhat differently. How?