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The first event of the New Testament, chronologically, is the conception of the Forerunner. Only St. Luke deals with the Baptist’s conception and birth, but three of the four Gospels begin St. John’s testimony in some form or other. As the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian writes, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was…
Saint Tikhon’s Monastery and Seminary
September 14, 2015
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today, as we bow down before the Cross, the wisdom of the world is put to shame by the foolishness of God.
Today, as we exalt this instrument of torture and death as an ensign of life, we testify that the humility of…
The final chapter of the Didache refers to a sign of outspreading, or expansion, and many have understood this sign to be the sign of the Cross. On the Cross, Christ stretches out his arms in order to embrace all creation. In his Incarnation, he becomes small; on the Cross, he displays the magnitude, the unfathomable greatness, the sheer and…
Saint Vladimir’s Seminary
September 8, 2025
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
One of the folk-names for today’s feast is translated in English as the “Little Most Pure.” The literal meaning here is clear: today we see the Theotokos as a baby; looking at the festal icon we behold little version of our…
Last week we celebrated the beginning of a new ecclesiastical year; now we mark the first great feast of the year, the birth of the Theotokos. The outer proclamation of the Gospel began with Christ’s Forerunner, whose conception we celebrate later this month, but the inner mystery of the Church, the Incarnation of the Word, begins with the…
Your Beatitude, Archbishop Stefan,
It is my great joy to welcome you to my primatial See of Washington, D.C., and to my cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. I pray that this historic concelebration will mark the beginning of a fruitful and enduring relationship between our Churches, by the mercy of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ,…
Saint Nicholas Cathedral
September 2, 2025
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In today’s Gospel, we hear of the calling of the apostles, and we are reminded of the ragtag and varied group of men that our Lord called to his service: Peter, bold but wavering; the thunderous John and James; Matthew, the former…
Happy New Year to all! September 1 marks the beginning of the ecclesiastical new year, which has always been reckoned according to the creation of the world. This is not a matter of mere pious tradition or quaint outdated science, but rather a theological assertion: all the time of this world, and all the things that arise and disappear during that…
On July 2, we celebrated the robe of the Theotokos; today we celebrate the placing of her belt. These feasts are not merely connected with ancient relics as a source of pious power. As the hymns of the feast make clear, today is a celebration of the Incarnation in all its glorious reality and specificity: God was born of a real woman of flesh and…
Today we fast, honoring the greatest born of women, the crown of the prophets, the one who must decrease, the friend of the Bridegroom, the holy Prophet and Forerunner and Baptist John. John’s death was a glorious witness to God, a triumph over the powers of darkness, and a step toward his immortal place in heaven at the side of Christ our true…
Holy Trinity Cathedral, San Francisco, California
August 16, 2025
Our Lord Jesus Christ, whose image we honor today, has gathered us together to participate in this glorious liturgy and in the sacred office for the ordination to the holy episcopacy of His Grace Bishop Vasily.
Before I address the newly-ordained, I welcome his co-consecrators and…
Holy Trinity Cathedral, San Francisco, California
August 16, 2025
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Today, we continue to celebrate the great feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos.
As Christians, we understand that death, the last enemy, has already been defeated by Christ on the Cross. Therefore, we…
Today, we celebrate the death of the Mother of God, not because death is worth celebrating in and of itself, but because her Son has made death a passage-way to everlasting life. In particular, the Theotokos, according to St. Gregory Palamas, had done nothing worthy of the sentence of death, but she passed through death out of obedience and love for…
In the Russian tradition, the Transfiguration is regarded as the second of three major feasts of the Savior during the month of August. Each of these feasts is associated with the blessing of a late-summer agricultural product: the Cross, on August 1, with honey; today, August 6, with apples; and August 16, the feast of the Holy Mandylion, with…
According to tradition, this feast was established in Constantinople in the Middle Ages. Late summer was a time of sickness, and the Cross was carried through the city, accompanied by prayers for health and deliverance from plague. In modern living conditions, at least for many of us, late summer is no longer associated with dangerous miasma and…
Today, as we celebrate the feast of the holy chief apostles Peter and Paul, we recall the many ways in which their respective ministries, and their holy writings, have laid the foundation of the holy Church. In the third chapter of his second catholic epistle, the holy apostle Peter writes concerning his fellow chief apostle: “In [the epistles of…
In the iconographic type known as the deësis (supplication), Christ sits enthroned in the center, flanked by saints who approach him in prayer on behalf of the world. Chief among these saints, at Christ’s right hand and left, are the Mother of God and Saint John the Forerunner, whose nativity we celebrate today. The Theotokos has an incomparable…
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My beloved children in the Lord,
In today’s Gospel, we heard how the Lord called four of the greatest apostles, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, four simple men…
Last Sunday, we were called to the heavenly contemplation of all the saints from every age standing roundabout the throne of God in eternal glory. Today, we consider instead the ways in which the saints who shared in our concrete, earthly circumstances—saints who lived and struggled in the lands of North America—have achieved their place in the…
If we wish to master a subject, we must study; if we wish to become saints, we must learn about sanctity from the example of those who have achieved it. Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints, but the tapestry of sanctity unfurls throughout the year with the daily commemorations of many individual saints and groups of saints. As such, all…