Homily for the Twelfth Sunday of Matthew (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

Homily for the Twelfth Sunday of Matthew, 

or Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

On Christian Perfection

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give them to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; afterward, come and follow Me” (Matthew 19:21).

Beloved faithful,

The ideal of every Christian on earth is the salvation of the soul, that is, the attainment of eternal life. Until the Incarnation and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, no one could be saved, for Paradise was closed and the grace of the Holy Spirit had not been poured out upon the world. Therefore, all the righteous of the Old Testament awaited the deliverance of their souls through the death and Resurrection of the Son of God.

Salvation, according to the teaching of the Holy Gospel and of the Orthodox Church, is attained through keeping the commandments given by God to mankind, contained both in the Decalogue of the Old Law and in the New Testament, which is also called the Law of Grace. Every Christian who desires to be saved must fulfill these three conditions: to have right faith in God; to possess the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is given to all through the seven Holy Mysteries of the Church — Baptism, Chrismation, Confession, Holy Communion, Marriage, Priesthood, and Holy Unction — and to fulfill the commandments contained in the Holy Gospel. Without these three obligatory conditions, there is no salvation. If even one of them is lacking, a person cannot be saved and loses his soul, “which is more precious than the whole world.”

Homily Two for the Twelfth Sunday of Matthew (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Two for the Twelfth Sunday of Matthew
(12th Sunday of Pentecost)

By St. John of Kronstadt

In today’s Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ addresses an important question put to Him by a rich young man: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Lord directs him to the commandments given by God to mankind through Moses, specifically to the commandments concerning love of one’s neighbor, passing over the commandments concerning the Lord God Himself, undoubtedly because love for one’s neighbor is also the foundation of love for God, and without love for one’s neighbor it is impossible to love God. “For he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?” (1 John 4:20), says the Holy Apostle John the Theologian. Thus the Lord says to the rich young man: “If you want to enter into eternal life, keep the commandments,” namely: “Do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother; and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Yes, the Lord resolves an important question for us in today’s Gospel: the question of how, and by what paths, we may attain eternal life. There is nothing more certain than death: we will all die, and our bodies will return to dust, to the earth from which they were originally created, while our immortal souls, created in the image and likeness of God, will be taken up to God for judgment. For “it is appointed for men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27), says the Apostle — the particular judgment of the soul of each person departing from this life. At this judgment a person’s fate is determined until the final universal judgment of the whole world following the resurrection of all the dead. Therefore, in view of the inevitability of bodily death for each one of us, it is exceedingly important and necessary for every one of us to resolve satisfactorily the question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

A Woman Wrapped in the Sun: 2026 Pastoral Encyclical for the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

A Woman Wrapped in the Sun
 
Pastoral Encyclical for the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (2026)

Today we celebrate the great feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, and we celebrate it with great splendor. Contributing to this is also the season of summer and the holidays, which provide an opportunity for physical rest and relaxation from the many activities of the winter. Thus, the feast of the Most Holy Theotokos, our Panagia, as we customarily call her, urges us to contemplate even more, as much as we are able with our limited capacities, the glory that surrounds her, the honor she possesses in our Church, but also the glory she possesses in the heavens.

Much has been written about the Most Holy Theotokos by the Fathers of the Church, who theologize about her, while the sacred hymnographers have also composed many hymns that we chant in honor of her glorious person, both concerning the work she accomplished through the birth of Christ and concerning her present state in the heavens, in the glory that Christ has bestowed upon her, as well as her intercessions on behalf of us all. Today I will interpret a vision that the Evangelist John saw and recorded in the sacred book of Revelation, which reveals her honor and her glory.

The Snakes of the Panagia Have Made Their Appearance in Kefallonia (2026)

Just as every year, from the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ till the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, or from August 6th to the 15th, snakes appear in a wondrous manner in two villages of Kefallonia with chapels dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos, in Markopoulo and Arginia, that appear to worship among the pilgrims who flock to these chapels, and venerate of their own accord the icon of the Panagia. Many noted miracles are associated with these snakes.

For more information: Panagia Fidousa (Snakes of the Panagia) Resource Page

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST - SUNDAY OF ALL SAINTS

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

How Can We Be Saved?

Many people sometimes say: “How can we be saved? We are worldly people, sinners; all our lives we bustle about and sin: cares and concerns have overwhelmed us.” It is sad, brethren, to hear such words from an Orthodox Christian. Pagans who lived before the coming of Jesus Christ into the world, who did not know His teaching, had not been baptized into the Orthodox faith, and had not partaken of the Holy Mysteries, might have spoken in this way. But we, the beloved children of Christ, ought neither to think nor to speak thus, for the path to salvation has been shown to us. It is spoken of, for example, in the Gospel that you heard today during the Liturgy. Let us read it once more and reflect upon what we have read: 

 

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I also will confess before My Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies Me before men, him I also will deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 10:32–33).

Do you hear? The Lord requires of the one who seeks salvation that he be His confessor before men. But what does this mean? To understand this, listen to how the Holy Apostle Paul speaks of the same thing: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Rom. 10:9). This, first of all, is what it means to be a confessor of Christ: not only to believe in Him in your soul, but also openly to declare with your lips that you believe in Him; not to conceal your faith from others, not to be ashamed of it, but boldly and openly to show yourself to be a Christian. We speak plainly and fearlessly that our earthly fatherland is Orthodox Russia. In the same plain and fearless manner, confess that you believe also in another Fatherland—the Heavenly One—and that you walk under the protection of the Lord who is in heaven. Yet this alone is not enough to be a true confessor of Jesus Christ. He Himself said elsewhere: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). Therefore verbal confession alone is not enough for the Lord—He also expects from us confession in deed, so that all our actions may accord with His will, and so that we may likewise openly and boldly show ourselves everywhere and always to be Christians by our deeds. Judge for yourselves: if one of you had a son who praised his father with words but offended him by his actions, would not his father say to him, “My son, your affectionate words are not enough for me; prove by your deeds that you love me”? So too we say: “We are an Orthodox people; we are not Jews or Tatars,” but we must demonstrate by our deeds that we are an Orthodox people, enlightened by the light of Christ’s gospel. A living example for us in this regard is the holy confessors of Christ. They lived long ago, in those centuries when the Church of Christ was still persecuted by pagan emperors. These pagan emperors searched everywhere for Christians and brought them before their tribunals. “Who are you?” they asked the Christian. “What is your name?” “I am a Christian,” the holy champion of the faith of Christ courageously replied, and fearlessly went to the most cruel tortures and to death itself for his Orthodox faith. This is what it means to be a confessor of Christ.

On the Observation of the Apostles’ Fast

When Was the Apostles’ Fast Established?

The institution of the Apostles’ Fast dates back to the earliest times of the Orthodox Church.

The ecclesiastical establishment of this fast is mentioned in the Apostolic Constitutions:

“After Pentecost, celebrate one week, and then fast; for justice requires both rejoicing after receiving the gifts of God and fasting after the relaxation of the flesh.”

This fast became especially established when churches dedicated to the Foremost Apostles Peter and Paul were built in Constantinople and Rome, which at that time had not yet fallen away from Orthodoxy. The consecration of the church in Constantinople took place on the feast of the Apostles, June 29, and from that time the day became especially solemn both in the East and in the West. In the Orthodox Church, the custom became established for pious Christians to prepare for this feast through fasting and prayer.

From the fourth century onward, references to the Apostles’ Fast become increasingly frequent in the writings of the Fathers of the Church. It is mentioned by Saint Athanasios the Great, Saint Ambrose of Milan, and, in the fifth century, by Saint Leo the Great and Theodoret of Cyrrhus.

Homily for the Sunday of All Saints (Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Mani)

Homily for the Sunday of All Saints

By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani

Today is the Sunday of All Saints! After the Lord's Feast of Pentecost, All the Saints come before us as vessels of Grace, as fruits of the All-Holy Spirit. All Saints! The known and the unknown. Unknown, of course, to us, but known to God — known by God. All the Saints stand before us. We venerate them, honor them, and glorify them today, on the Sunday of All Saints.

And these Saints are from the earliest centuries, from that Protomartyr Saint Stephen, all the way to the Saints of our own century, to Saint Luke the Surgeon, Archbishop of Crimea and Simferopol. Saints of every age, of every level of education; holy men and women who received the titles Apostles, Missionaries, Fathers, Teachers, Martyrs, New Martyrs, Venerables, and Confessors. A “cloud of witnesses,” as the Apostle Paul tells us. And as we hear so beautifully in the hymn, we ought to cry out and say: “Rejoice, assembly of the Prophets!... Rejoice, choir of the Apostles!... Rejoice, multitude of the Martyrs!... Rejoice, swarm of the Fathers!” All the Saints stand before us.

Yet, my brethren, have we ever stopped to think, when we stand before the icon of a Saint, what thoughts may perhaps pass through our minds? Perhaps some, when standing before a Saint, before the icon of a Saint, simply come and go, passing by either with contempt or with indifference. Others stand before the icon and think about the iconography itself, that is, its artistic style —w hether it is Byzantine or Western. Perhaps they think about the century in which the icon was painted. They may see only the outward appearance and never proceed to the depth of its meaning.

Translation of the Relics of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Stratelates in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Theodore lived during the time of Licinius. He was born in Euchaita and was from there by origin, though he lived in Heraclea of Pontus. He was handsome in body, but even more beautiful in soul, adorned with eloquence, knowledge, and every other kind of wisdom; for this reason some called him Vryorhetor (‘the Powerful Orator’). After passing through every kind of torture, the Saint left his blessed body upon the earth, a body which pours forth streams of healings upon all who approach it with faith. His holy spirit, however, dwells in the heavens. It is the translation of this precious and holy body that we celebrate today.

2. As is often the case, the feast of the translation of the relics of the Great Martyr Theodore contains virtually nothing concerning the actual event of the translation itself. The entire Service is devoted instead to the exaltation of the Saint’s holiness and virtues. Here the hymnographer, Saint Theophanes, repeatedly makes use of the Saint’s very name in order to emphasize that he is “one who bears the name of the gifts of God” (Ode I and elsewhere). He also focuses on the martyrdom that Theodore endured.

Prologue in Sermons: June 8

 

The Pious Should Not Despair When They Suffer Without Fault

June 8

(The Martyrdom of the Holy and Glorious Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates)
 
By Archpriest Victor Guryev

During times of severe affliction, many even among the pious lose heart, become faint in spirit, and say: “God has abandoned me; otherwise He would see what I am suffering and would come to help me!”

Is this so? No. The Lord sees everything, knows everything, and will never allow His servants to be tempted beyond what they are able to bear. And if He does permit afflictions to come upon them, sometimes very grievous ones, it is solely in order to grant them a higher reward in heaven as those who have endured to the end.

As proof of this, let us take something from the account of the sufferings of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates. When he had been crucified and, besides the terrible agony of being nailed to the cross, endured other dreadful tortures as well, he finally, exhausted in both body and spirit, cried out: