In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this week we start our preparation for the Great and Holy Lent with the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. In this parable, we are told about two men that are praying.
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Does God Ever Ignore Our Heartfelt Prayers?
The reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (15:21-28) Three. That is the number of times that the Canaanite woman begged and pleaded with the Lord Jesus for His help. She came to him begging and crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a
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The Daughter of Jairus and the Woman with the Issue of Blood
Hope beyond hope: not because we have got good reasons to hope, but because we can be possessed of a passionate certainty that not only love divine but human love can bring back to life what was lost. Sermon the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost Luke 8:41-56 And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and
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Allow Circumstances Of Life To Defeat You Or Reach Out To God?
The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (8:41-56) In today’s gospel reading we are met face to face with two terribly difficult situations. In one, we have a woman who has been really very sick for about 12 years. She has a serious problem with bleeding which makes her weak and sick
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You Are the Health of the Church
Romans 12:6-14 In writing to the Church in Rome, the Apostle Paul first develops the basis of our salvation – these things we touched upon in the last couple of weeks in our reading. Now he turns and talks to them about the Christian life and how it is lived by the community within the
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Faith, Resolve, and Deliverance from the Bondage of Sin
The following sermon was delivered in 1978, when the fourth Sunday after Pentecost fell shortly after the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul. Fr. Vsevolod’s comments regarding the Apostles’ Fast nonetheless remain valuable to those still observing the fast. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
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Why Do We Have To Struggle Against The Passions?
Romans 6:18-23 – Slaves To Sin Over a century ago, slavery was a common practice here in this country. Plantation owners brought captives from the continent of Africa over to provide labor for their plantations. While there were some kind slaveowners who provided well for their workers, more often than not, conditions were horrible.
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What Does That Phrase Really Mean – “Justified by Faith” ?
Romans 5:1-10 “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God…” I recently had a conversation with some people who followed a protestant Christian tradition. They wanted to know about this “justification” and how it fit into our Orthodox faith. The difficulty with this conversation is that they had already decided what this meant and so tried
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EVEN OUTSIDE THE CHURCH, GOD SEEKS MAN AND MAN SEEKS GOD
In his wonderful book Mt. Athos Stories, the prominent Russian expert on religions and sects Alexander Dvorkin recounts an incident that stuck in his memory. The boat that was conveying the young Alexander to Holy Mount Athos met a ship on which a group of hired laborers were returning from Mt. Athos after two months’
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Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen? – The Man Born Blind
The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (9:1-38) We hear about a blind man that the Lord was walking past along with His disciples. And an interesting question was put to the Lord Jesus. His disciples asked “Rabbi (teacher), who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” That
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