Matthew 17:14-23

Faith is a wonderful thing—but only if it is faith in the right thing.

When I was a boy, I had an idea...[ the sword.]

At the time, it made perfect sense to me. I was convinced it would work. I probably defended the idea if anyone questioned it. But then reality got a vote. Wood doesn't care what I believe about it. Physics doesn't change because I'm sincere. The real world eventually reveals whether my idea was true or false.

Later, my friends and I had another great idea... [the boat.] This one was even more interesting because it wasn't just my delusion—it was our delusion. We encouraged one another. We reinforced one another's confidence. The more we talked about it, the more certain we became. And then reality got a vote. The boat either floated or it didn't. Reality always gets a vote.

This isn't just true of childhood adventures. It is true of every part of life.

Every one of us has what we might call a "good idea fairy" living in our head. Ideas occur to us. They seem plausible. We become attached to them. Then something even stronger happens. We begin to define ourselves by them. God created our minds to recognize truth, but after the Fall our minds became vulnerable to self-deception. Once we become attached to an idea, we naturally notice evidence that supports it and explain away evidence that challenges it. Even worse, once our identity becomes wrapped up in that idea, disagreement begins to feel like a personal attack. Our passions become inflamed. We stop asking, "Is it true?" and begin asking, "Is it ours?"

The Fathers of the Church had a name for this long before modern psychology existed. They called it prelest—spiritual delusion. Prelest is not simply believing something false. It is the condition in which our desires, our pride, and our passions distort our perception of reality itself. We begin trusting ourselves more than God. We mistake our own thoughts for wisdom, our own feelings for discernment, and our own will for truth.

This isn't merely an individual problem. Communities suffer from it too. Families can reinforce one another's delusions. Churches can reinforce them. Businesses can reinforce them. Nations can reinforce them. History is full of tragic examples. Nazism and Soviet Communism were not sustained merely by fear. Millions of people encouraged one another to believe obvious falsehoods. Loyalty was demanded not only to a government but to an entire false vision of reality.

Eventually... Reality got a vote. It always does.

When our delusions concern engineering, biology, economics, or politics, reality eventually exposes them. You can only pretend that gravity is optional for so long before bridges collapse. You can only deny economic realities for so long before societies begin to unravel.

Religion can be trickier. False religion—or even distorted religion—can survive much longer because the consequences are often less immediate. Spiritual delusion has a way of lingering. It can persist for years, even generations.

But eventually... Reality still gets a vote.

Many of us are Orthodox today because of that very fact. At some point the worldview we had inherited could no longer explain our experience. Perhaps it could not account for the reality of sin. Perhaps it could not account for the reality of grace. Perhaps it offered morality but not healing, rules but not communion, forgiveness but not transformation. Eventually something no longer fit. And God, in His mercy, used that discomfort to draw us closer to the truth.

That is all to the good. Because reality is not impersonal. Reality is God's creation. Truth is not something we invent or negotiate. Ultimately, truth is not merely a thing to be discovered at all.

Truth is a Person.

As Christ Himself says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

And that changes everything. If Truth is a Person, then faith is not merely believing propositions about reality. Faith is entering into communion with the One who is Reality Himself.

Now, if I had preached this sermon twenty years ago, I probably would have ended there, encouraging you simply to trust God, receive the Holy Mysteries faithfully, and allow the life of the Church to heal you from the many delusions that constantly threaten the human heart.

But today I think I need to go further and give an additional warning.

We have created a world that cooperates with our fallen psychology in ways previous generations could scarcely have imagined. Our news is customized. Our entertainment is personalized. Our conversations are curated. Algorithms learn what we already believe—or what we are tempted to believe—and quietly feed us more of it.

The Fathers warned us that the passions naturally incline us toward prelest. Our modern technologies have learned to profit from those same passions. They reward outrage, reinforce tribalism, flatter pride, and encourage us to live inside carefully constructed worlds where our assumptions are rarely challenged. Never before has it been so easy to mistake a carefully curated illusion for reality.

But reality still gets a vote. Sooner or later the real world intrudes.

More importantly, God does.

This is one of the reasons the Church is such a gift.

Not because Orthodox Christians are incapable of error—we certainly are not. Not because priests are always right—we certainly are not. But because the life of the Church is designed, over time, to heal us of prelest. Scripture corrects us. The Fathers correct us. Confession corrects us. Fasting corrects us. The Divine Liturgy corrects us. Even our brothers and sisters in Christ correct us.

Every one of these is a gift from God, gently loosening our grip on illusion and teaching us to see the world as it truly is. The ascetic life is not punishment. It is therapy. God is patiently healing our perception until we begin to see, desire, and love what is truly good, beautiful, and true.

And let me say one more thing. If an algorithm brought you here, welcome. We are glad you're here. But understand this: the internet cannot catechize you into Orthodoxy. It can introduce you to Orthodoxy. It can even inspire you to seek the Church. But every one of us—whether we were born Orthodox or discovered Orthodoxy yesterday—comes with misconceptions, ideological baggage, and our own forms of prelest. The Church does not simply confirm our expectations. She patiently purifies them. If you stay long enough, Orthodoxy will disappoint every false image you have of it—and thanks be to God for that. Every disappointment with our fantasies is an invitation to discover Christ as He truly is.

And this brings us back to today's Gospel. The disciples could not cast out the demon.

Why?

Because faith is not simply believing harder. Faith is not positive thinking. Faith is not convincing ourselves that something is true. Faith is trusting Reality Himself.

Christ says that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains—not because faith is magical, but because genuine faith unites us to the One through whom all things were made.

Every one of us lives by faith. The question is never whether we have faith. The question is whether our faith is placed in something real. Every falsehood eventually collapses under the weight of reality. Every idol eventually disappoints. Every ideology eventually reaches its limits. Every delusion eventually hears reality cast its vote.

But Christ never disappoints. He is not merely someone who teaches us the truth. He is the Truth. He is Reality Himself.

So let us place our faith—not in ourselves, not in our tribe, not in our passions, not in the latest certainty of the age—but in Christ. Let us receive with gratitude the healing life of His Church, which patiently frees us from prelest and teaches us to see the world as God sees it. For in Him our faith never collides with reality, because in Him faith finally meets Reality Himself.

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Gold or Straw? Building a Life That Lasts I Corinthians 3:9-17

In today's Epistle, Saint Paul gives us two images. First, he says that we are God's building. Then he says something even more astonishing: we are God's temple. Those two images belong together. Buildings are not assembled all at once. They are built stone by stone, beam by beam, choice by choice. That is the Christian life.

Notice that St. Paul does not say, "You are Paul's building," or "You are Apollos's building." He says, "You are God's building." Paul planted. Apollos watered. Others continued the work. But the Church belongs to God. That means the Church was never meant to gather around personalities, no matter how charismatic, convincing, or popular. It gathers around Christ.

Then St. Paul says something even stronger: "No one can lay any other foundation than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." Chrysostom piles image upon image from Scripture. Christ is the Head, and we are the Body. Christ is the Vine, and we are the branches. Christ is the Bridegroom, and we are the Bride. Christ is the Foundation, and we are the building. Every one of those images teaches the same thing: there can be no gap between Christ and us.

Because he is remembered as such a great theologian, it is easy to forget that St. John Chrysostom was also a pastor who understood the daily struggles of his flock. In his homily on this Epistle, he shares a piece of deeply practical wisdom. We often think the greatest danger comes from great sins, but he warns us about little ones. Going back to the image of the building, a tiny crack in a wall becomes a collapsing building. A small tear in a garment becomes a ruined cloak. A branch cut off only a little while from the vine quickly withers. Small acts of neglect, if ignored, soon become great ones. That is why the spiritual life requires attention—not because God is keeping score, but because love is either growing or shrinking.

Then Paul changes the image. Now he says every one of us is building with different materials. Some build with gold, silver, and precious stones. Others build with wood, hay, and straw. What does that mean? Chrysostom says he is talking about the life we build. Some habits endure forever—we carry both them and their fruits into the age to come. Others prove empty. They cannot withstand the testing fire. Patience, mercy, faithfulness, prayer, and truthfulness become like gold. Resentment, vanity, bitterness, and self-indulgence are straw. They may seem substantial now, but they cannot sustain us in this life, and they have no place in the life of the Kingdom.

That raises an important question: what are we building today? Because we are always building something. Every conversation, every decision, every act of forgiveness, every refusal to forgive, every prayer, every excuse, every generous act, every selfish act—another stone is being laid, or another bundle of straw.

Finally, Paul says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple?" Notice the progression. We begin as a building. We end as a temple. God is not constructing a monument. He is preparing a dwelling place. His purpose is not merely that we behave better. His purpose is that He Himself may dwell within us. That is why holiness matters—not because God needs better rule-keepers, but because God desires a home in the human heart.

And that changes everything. We do not practice patience simply because patience is a rule. We practice patience because it prepares the heart to receive Christ. We forgive because resentment has no place in God's temple. We pray because prayer is how the living God is welcomed into His temple. We come to church week after week because God is still building us—stone by stone, prayer by prayer, act of repentance by act of repentance—until the building truly becomes what it was always intended to be: the dwelling place of the living God.

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Galatians 3:23-4:5 In today's Epistle, Saint Paul says something that has puzzled Christians for centuries. He tells us that "before faith came, we were kept under guard by the Law." Then he says that "the Law was our tutor"—our guardian—"until Christ came." That naturally raises a question. If Christ had to come, then why did God give the Law in the first place? Was the Law a mistake? Did Christ come to replace what God had already done? Not at all. Saint John Chrysostom says Paul isn't criticizing the Law. He's defending it. The Law accomplished exactly what God intended it to accomplish. The problem wasn't the Law. The problem was thinking that the Law was the destination instead of the journey. Perhaps an example will help. Imagine someone saying, "Elementary school is useless because you can't become a doctor unless you go to medical school." Well, of course you can't. But that doesn't make elementary school a failure. It was never meant to produce physicians. It was meant to teach you to read, to write, to count, to think, so that one day you could become something greater. You don't despise elementary school because you've graduated from it. You honor it because it accomplished exactly what it was designed to do: it prepared you for something greater. That is exactly what Saint Paul is saying. The Law was God's elementary school—or, as Paul says, the guardian who escorted His children until they were ready for Christ. It taught His people who He is. It taught them holiness. It taught them justice. It taught them mercy. It taught them that sin separates us from God. It taught them that sacrifice is necessary. It taught them to long for redemption. Every commandment, every sacrifice, every feast, every priest, every prophet was preparing Israel for Christ. The Law was never the destination. It was preparing God's people for the One who is. That's why Paul calls it a guardian. The Greek word is paidagōgos. It doesn't mean a classroom teacher. It refers to the trusted servant who escorted a child to school, watched over him, corrected him, and protected him until he became an adult. The guardian had an important job. But no loving parent intended for the child to remain under the protection of the guardian forever. The goal was maturity. That is exactly what God was doing with His people. The Law guarded Israel. It preserved them. It protected them from idolatry. It formed them into a people through whom the Messiah would come. And when Christ came, the time of preparation gave way to the time of fulfillment. That is why Paul goes on to say something astonishing. He does not merely say that Christ forgives us. He says that "God sent forth His Son... so that we might receive adoption as sons." Notice how much greater that is. God's purpose was never merely to produce well-behaved servants. His purpose is to raise sons and daughters. He doesn't simply pardon sinners. He adopts us as His children and welcomes us into His household. That is why the Christian life is so much more than rule-keeping. Rules can regulate behavior, but they cannot create love. They can restrain evil, but they cannot heal the heart. Only Christ can do that. Through the Holy Spirit, He writes God's Law upon the heart. Only the life of Christ dwelling within us can make us into the kind of people who naturally love what is good. This is why Orthodoxy speaks so often about salvation – theosis – as a process and a way of life. God's purpose is not simply to forgive sinners. His purpose is to unite us to Christ so completely that we begin to share His life. As Saint Athanasius famously said, "God became man so that man might become god"—not by nature, but by grace. That is what Saint Paul is describing. We are no longer merely subjects obeying a king. We are children living in our Father's house. And that changes how we understand the Christian life. Many people imagine Christianity as an endless list of religious obligations. Pray. Fast. Confess. Attend services. Receive Holy Communion. Read the Scriptures. Give alms. Sometimes it can even feel exhausting. But what if we've misunderstood all of it? What if these are not assignments given by a strict schoolmaster? What if they are the ordinary practices by which children grow into the likeness of their Father? A child becomes part of a family in a single moment. But learning to speak like the family, to think like the family, to love like the family, takes years. So it is with us. The moment we are united to Christ, we truly become God's children. But growing into that reality is the work of a lifetime. As we discussed last week, that is why we return to church week after week. Why we pray the same prayers. Why we fast. Why we confess. Why we receive the Holy Mysteries. Not because we are trying to earn God's love, but because we already have it. These are the ordinary means by which the Holy Spirit forms us into the people God created us to be. Again, little by little, almost without noticing it, our desires begin to change. The sins we once loved begin to lose their attraction. The virtues that once seemed difficult begin to bring joy. We become more patient, more merciful, more truthful, more generous—not simply because we are trying harder or following more rules [even Orthodox rules], but because Christ is living His life within us. But this also comes with a warning. It is possible to remain spiritually immature. It is possible to spend years in the Church and still prefer the security of the guardian to the intimacy of the Father's house; to imagine that God is keeping score instead of raising a family; to measure our faith by checking boxes rather than by growing in love. Saint Paul calls us beyond that. He calls us into maturity. Into sonship. Into freedom—not the freedom to do whatever we please, but the freedom to become what we were created to be. And if we were to keep reading beyond today's Epistle, Paul brings his argument to its beautiful conclusion. He says, "Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!'" Abba. That is the goal. Not merely that we obey God. Not merely that we fear God. But that, in Christ, we know God as our Father, and by the Holy Spirit we begin to love Him with the very love of the Son Himself. That is the fulfillment toward which the Law was always pointing. That is the life into which Christ has brought us. So let us not become discouraged if the road sometimes seems long or the growth seems slow. No child becomes an adult overnight. Formation takes time. God is patient, and He is faithful. As Saint Paul says elsewhere, "Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, let us press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." For this is the good news of today's Epistle. The Law brought God's people to Christ. Christ brings us to the Father. And the Holy Spirit patiently raises us into the mature sons and daughters we were created to become. That is the Christian life—not merely obeying God's commandments from the outside, but gradually becoming the kind of people in whom those commandments are fulfilled by the life of Christ Himself, until we can truly call upon God with confidence and joy, "Abba, Father."

For full show notes, see Sunday Essays.

Every Christian has received gifts from God, but discernment begins not with extraordinary revelations, but with a quiet heart that learns to recognize where God is already at work. Drawing on St. John Chrysostom's image of the vessel, this homily explores how repentance, prayer, humility, and faithful cooperation with God's grace enlarge our capacity to receive His life. The goal of the Christian life is not to envy another's calling but to become fully ourselves in Christ, growing "from grace to greater grace, from love to deeper love." Enjoy the show!

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In today's Epistle, Saint Paul says something both wonderfully encouraging and deeply challenging. He reminds us that every one of us has received gifts from God. No one here has been overlooked. No one is unnecessary. The Holy Spirit has given each of us something through which He intends to build up the Body of Christ.

But that immediately raises a question.

How do we know what our gift is?

Sometimes we imagine that discernment means waiting for a lightning bolt from heaven. We think that one day God will suddenly reveal exactly what He wants us to do. Usually, that's not how it works. More often, discernment grows out of a life that has already become quiet enough to hear God.

Part of your discernment is simply paying attention. What has God placed in your life? What opportunities has He given you? What needs has He placed before you? What abilities has He entrusted to you? Those are often the first clues to discovering your vocation.

Discernment isn't first about discovering a career or even a ministry. It is learning to recognize where God is already at work and joining Him there.

Saint John Chrysostom has a beautiful insight here. He says that Saint Paul is careful to preserve two truths at the same time. First, every gift is truly a gift. If someone has the gift of teaching, or leadership, or generosity, or mercy, there is no room for pride because none of us manufactured these gifts ourselves. They have all been entrusted to us by God.

But Chrysostom also says there is no room for laziness.

He uses the image of a vessel. God pours out His grace generously, but the amount a vessel can receive depends upon its capacity. The larger the vessel, the more it can hold. The more the vessel has been enlarged through faith and repentance, the more room there is for God's grace to work.

That means our task is not to envy someone else's gift. Our task is to enlarge the vessel.

Notice what Paul doesn't say. He doesn't tell us to manufacture the grace. He tells us to become capable of receiving it.

I was reminded of that recently while traveling in Italy. Everywhere we went, coffee was served in those little espresso cups. Perfectly fine for espresso—but after a few days I found myself missing my big American coffee mug! A larger vessel simply holds more.

But then it occurred to me that size isn't the only thing that matters. A large cup that is full of old coffee grounds, grime, or yesterday's leftovers still can't receive fresh coffee. Before it can be filled, it has to be cleaned.

The same is true of us. God is always pouring out His grace. The question isn't whether He is willing to give it. The question is whether we have made room to receive it. Repentance cleans out the vessel, and the spiritual life enlarges it.

How do we do that?

By repentance. By prayer. By worship. By humility. By learning to quiet the passions that so often drown out the voice of God.

This is why the spiritual life is so important. Before we can use our gifts well, we must become the kind of people who can receive and exercise them wisely.

And that requires stillness.

We live in a noisy world. There are constant opinions, constant distractions, constant arguments, constant anxieties. Every day someone tells us what we should fear, what we should desire, what we should be angry about.

It becomes very difficult to hear God when every other voice is shouting.

One of the greatest acts of spiritual discipline is simply learning to become quiet. Not merely quiet on the outside. Quiet on the inside.

Quiet enough that we stop reacting to every impulse. Quiet enough that we stop needing to prove ourselves. Quiet enough that we can finally listen. Only a quiet heart can recognize the gentle movements of the Holy Spirit.

There is another temptation, and it's a subtle one. Because we rightly confess God's grace, we can begin to think that our role is simply to wait. "If God wants me to become holy," we tell ourselves, "He'll make it happen."

But Saint John Chrysostom won't let us think that way. Grace is always God's gift. But he reminds us that the beginning lies with us. We enlarge the vessel. We exercise the gift. We practice the virtues. We pray. We repent. We forgive. We become faithful in the little things.

God supplies the grace, but He does not bypass our freedom. He invites our cooperation. And our cooperation is required because the command is to love God and our neighbor, and love requires action.

This is what the Fathers mean when they speak of synergy—not that we earn God's grace, but that we freely cooperate with it.

And that finally brings us to trust.

So much of our anxiety comes from believing that everything depends on us.

What if I make the wrong decision? What if I miss my calling? What if I should be doing something else?

But those are the wrong questions. The right questions are much simpler.

Am I becoming faithful? Am I becoming humble? Am I becoming the kind of person who can receive what God wants to give?

Because if the answer to those questions is yes, then God is perfectly capable of directing your life.

As we look through the Scriptures, one thing becomes obvious. God has never had trouble finding capable people. Egypt had capable people. Babylon had capable people. Rome had capable people. Finding competent men and women has never been God's problem.

What God delights in finding are hearts that are willing to trust Him.

Hearts humble enough to learn. Hearts faithful in the little things, day after day. Hearts open to receiving His grace.

That's why comparing ourselves with other people is such a waste of time. God isn't asking you to become someone else. He's asking you to become fully yourself in Christ.

So don't spend your life wishing you had someone else's gift or someone else's job.

Don't imagine that if only you could preach like this person, sing like that person, organize like someone else, then God could finally use you.

That isn't His question. His question is: What have I already entrusted to you?

And what kind of vessel are you becoming?

Are you enlarging it through prayer? Through repentance? Through trust? Through love?

The saints were not people who received different grace from us. They simply spent a lifetime enlarging the vessel because God delights in filling every vessel that is offered to Him.

God has already given you everything you need for today's obedience.

Just look around you.

There is no shortage of opportunities to love.

There is no shortage of people who need encouragement.

No shortage of burdens to help carry.

No shortage of prayers to offer.

No shortage of forgiveness to extend.

The opportunities to love are already waiting for us.

And here's the beautiful thing: as we are faithful in these little things, God enlarges the vessel. He entrusts us with more—not because He needs more accomplished, but because He is teaching us to love more deeply.

That's the joy of the Christian life.

God is not merely giving us work to do. He is forming us into the kind of people who can love as Christ loves. Every act of obedience, every quiet prayer, every burden we help carry, every hidden act of mercy is one more way that the Holy Spirit shapes us, little by little, into the likeness of Christ.

And that is the greatest gift and the highest calling of all.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Freedom is more than independence from tyranny—it is the freedom to become what we were created to be. Reflecting on St. Paul's teaching about the fruit of the Spirit, this homily explores how the Christian life is a lifelong journey of growth, repentance, and transformation. Christ has already won the decisive victory; our task is simply to remain united to Him and let His life bear fruit within us. Enjoy the show!

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Notes:

This weekend our nation celebrates the Declaration of Independence. Whatever else one thinks about our country's history—and there is certainly plenty to celebrate and plenty to repent of—the Declaration itself is a remarkable document.

It is, first, a rejection. It rejects tyranny. It rejects the idea that human beings exist merely to serve the ambitions of earthly rulers.

But it is also a commitment. It commits a people to a new way of life, built upon certain convictions about human dignity, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Now, if we're honest, those words have never perfectly described America at any point in her history. But they do describe what Americans have continually aspired to become. They are ideals by which each generation measures itself, calls itself to repentance, and tries once again to live more faithfully.

As your priest, I'm not terribly interested in convincing you about apple pie, hot dogs, and patriotism. I mention this because it gives us a helpful analogy for today's epistle.

Christianity and our own life in Christ also begins with a declaration.

We have rejected tyranny. Not simply the tyranny of earthly rulers, but the tyranny of sin, death, and the passions.

We have united ourselves to Christ, the One who is Himself Life, Liberty, Truth, and the source of every good thing.

But just as the Declaration did not instantly produce a perfect nation, Baptism does not instantly produce a perfect Christian.

So St. Paul asks us, in effect, "How are we doing?"

Not how are we feeling. Not what opinions do we hold. Not which controversies have we won or followed online. But what fruit is growing?

Let's look at the list:

Love.

Is my heart becoming more capable of loving people who irritate me, disappoint me, or disagree with me?

Joy.

Not entertainment. Not excitement. But that quiet confidence that Christ is risen and therefore nothing essential can ever be taken from me.

Peace.

Or am I continually agitated by politics, by the news, by social media, by the next crisis that promises to be the end of civilization?

Patience.

Especially with those whose spiritual growth is slower than I think it ought to be—or perhaps slower than my own.

Kindness.

Goodness.

Faithfulness.

Gentleness.

Self-control.

Notice how ordinary these are.

St. Paul isn't describing spectacular miracles.

He is describing the slow transformation of the human heart.

And that's especially important for those who have recently entered the Church.

Many converts—and if we're honest, cradle Orthodox too—expect to become saints in about six months. (And the expectation of instant gratification really has become more American than apple pie!)

Then they discover they still struggle with anger. Still become impatient. Still have distracting thoughts during prayer. Still fall into old habits. Still have days when joy seems very far away.

St. Paul isn't surprised by any of this. He doesn't say, "If you fail once, perhaps you were never really a Christian." He says, "The fruit of the Spirit is ..."

Fruit grows. Fruit takes seasons. Fruit appears because the tree remains alive.

And if you stumble along the way?

He immediately tells us what the Church is supposed to do.

"If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness."

Restore him.

Not shame him. Not crush him.

Restore him.

And then, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

This is what the Church is. This is what this parish is. Not a gathering of people who have already become perfect. But a family helping one another keep walking toward Christ. Because here is the Gospel.

The tyranny has already been overthrown. Christ has already conquered sin. Christ has already conquered death. Christ has already opened Paradise. The victory does not depend on tomorrow's election. Or the next war. Or picking the winner in the latest internet controversy. Or lamenting the newest heresy making the rounds on YouTube.

Christ reigns.

Our task is not to panic. Our task is not to become experts in every cultural battle.

Our task is to live by the Spirit.

To keep returning to Christ, so that it is:

"Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, and Christ beneath me,"

To keep opening the eyes of the heart—the noetic faculty God has given us—to receive the grace that He never ceases to pour out.

Because the more we abide in Him, the more His life becomes our life.

And then, slowly, almost without noticing it, love grows. Joy grows. Peace grows. Patience grows.

Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-control.

That is what freedom looks like.

Not merely freedom from tyranny.

Freedom for communion with God.

And that is the independence worth celebrating every day of our lives.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

On the Sunday of All Saints of North America and Antioch, Fr. Anthony reflects on how the same American instincts that often lead people to Orthodoxy can become obstacles to spiritual growth once they arrive. While habits of inquiry, comparison, and evaluation help many converts discover the Church, the Christian life requires a transition from constantly judging and analyzing to trusting the Church's proven path of formation. Drawing on examples from marriage, culture, and the lives of the saints, he argues that the Church has been making saints for two thousand years and invites us to relax into that process of transformation.

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ!

This is the Second Sunday after Pentecost, which means we celebrate the saints. Now, some of you are thinking, "Father, wasn't that last Sunday?" Yes—but this Sunday we celebrate the saints who are the fruit of the Christian faith in particular places.

Here in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, we commemorate both the Saints of Antioch and the Saints of North America. Antioch is where the followers of Christ were first called Christians. North America is where that same faith has borne fruit in our own land. Today we celebrate what happens when the Holy Spirit takes root in a people and a place and brings forth holiness.

The saints were not abstractions. They were not merely names in books or faces in icons. They had families, homes, occupations, and daily struggles. They lived in particular places and faced particular temptations, just as we do. Their lives remind us that holiness is not reserved for another age or another people. It is the calling of every Christian.

I know some people who are jealous of Christians who lived in other times and places. I understand the temptation. We imagine what it must have been like to live in a culture where everyone was Christian, where theology, marriage, friendship, and worship were reinforced by the world around you. It can seem as though faith would come naturally in such a setting.

But every culture has its own strengths and weaknesses. Every age has its temptations. Ours certainly does.

This is one reason I often speak about the long, slow slog of salvation. It takes time for Christ to gain traction in our lives. It takes time for the Holy Spirit to draw us out of our sins, reorder our desires, and teach us to see the world according to the truth. As much as we may romanticize other places and times, the reality is that the whole world groans under the weight of sin.

Consider the relationship between Church and state.

Some Christians look with envy at times when governments openly supported the Church. One of my favorite examples is Saint Volodymyr of Kyiv. The church he built became known as the Church of the Tithes because he dedicated a tenth of his wealth to support it. That kind of patronage can be a tremendous blessing. It keeps the doors open. It provides a place where people can encounter Christ.

But there is also a danger.

If people do not intentionally offer themselves to the life of the Church, they can begin to take it for granted. Historians, sociologists, and political scientists have repeatedly observed that when the Church becomes too dependent on state support, participation often becomes passive. The buildings remain full, the clergy remain funded, but the active fellowship of the faithful can become hollowed out unless people are deeply intentional about their commitment.

In modern language, we might say that people need some "skin in the game." Faith must become personal. It must become sacrificial. We cannot simply inherit it; we must offer ourselves to it.

The same pattern appears elsewhere.

My Greek friends often point out that Hellenistic culture provided many of the intellectual tools that helped people understand and articulate the Christian faith. Concepts such as the Logos and the philosophical vocabulary of the ancient world became powerful instruments in the service of theology.

And yet those same intellectual strengths carried their own dangers. Some Christians were tempted toward Gnosticism. Others drifted into excessive rigorism. The very strengths of a culture can become weaknesses if they are not transformed by Christ.

The same is true for us as Americans.

There is much about our culture that I celebrate. We are approaching the 250th anniversary of our nation, and as a son of the American Revolution, I appreciate the freedoms we enjoy. The First Amendment protects our ability to seek the truth and worship God according to our conscience. Many of us found Orthodoxy precisely because we were free to look beyond the assumptions of our surrounding culture.

But there is another characteristic of American life that deserves our attention: consumerism.

Consumerism is not merely an economic system; it is a pattern of thought. It trains us to compare, evaluate, and choose. Every trip to the grocery store involves a series of cost-benefit analyses. We compare quality and price. We examine options. We decide which product best meets our needs.

That habit of evaluation has actually helped many converts find Orthodoxy.

Most of us arrived here because we became dissatisfied with something. We sensed that something was missing. We began asking questions. We read books, listened to lectures, watched videos, and compared alternatives. We weighed ideas the same way we weigh products. Eventually, we discovered Orthodoxy and recognized that it offered something we had not found elsewhere: a way of life capable of leading us into deeper communion with Christ.

For many of us, that process was a blessing. Without it, we might never have escaped the assumptions we inherited from our surroundings. We might never have realized that another way was possible.

Now here is the challenge.

The same habits that helped many of us find Orthodoxy can become obstacles once we are inside the Church.

Let me explain through an analogy.

Think about the way Americans approach courtship today. We live in a culture of options. Dating apps, personality profiles, compatibility scores, and endless advice all encourage us to evaluate potential spouses through a kind of cost-benefit analysis. We compare possibilities and try to determine which person is the best match.

Now, thank God, many people eventually find someone they love. They build a life together, get married, and begin a family. But what happens if they never leave behind that consumer mindset?

What happens if they continue to evaluate their spouse the way they once evaluated potential spouses?

Sooner or later they discover something unexpected. They find an imperfection they did not anticipate. They encounter a habit they dislike. They discover a weakness that was not apparent before.

At that point the consumer instinct kicks in.

Some begin looking around, wondering whether there might be something better. Others begin trying to "fix" their spouse, treating the relationship like a renovation project.

After thirty-six years of marriage, I can tell you that my wife became much happier when she gave up trying to fix me. There are some things that simply cannot be fixed.

More importantly, that is not how healthy relationships work.

A good marriage is not built through constant evaluation. It is built through trust, commitment, patience, sacrifice, and love. At some point you stop analyzing the relationship from the outside and begin living it from the inside. You relax into it. You allow yourself to be formed by it.

That does not mean you stop growing. It means growth happens through love rather than manipulation.

The same principle applies to the Church.

I celebrate the fact that many of us found Orthodoxy because we were willing to ask questions, compare alternatives, and search for the truth. Those habits served us well.

But once we arrive, we must be careful.

If you have ever been a catechumen with me, you have heard me say something that may sound strange: don't become a catechumen unless you are ready to trust.

You do not have to know everything before becoming Orthodox. No one does. We make sure people understand the essentials. We address the major questions and objections. But eventually there comes a point where a person must decide whether this is a place where he can be formed.

If we carry the spirit of consumerism into the Church, we begin treating everything the same way we treated products on a shelf. We evaluate constantly. We compare constantly. We judge constantly.

Combined with the polarization that already infects our culture, this can become spiritually destructive.

We begin dividing ourselves into camps. We become critics rather than disciples. Instead of allowing the Church to form us, we place ourselves above it as evaluators.

Now, that does not mean we stop improving things. We are always working to improve parish life. We renovate buildings. We develop ministries. We solve problems.

But there is a profound difference between building up and tearing down.

One spirit seeks to serve. The other seeks to dominate.

One spirit acts from love. The other acts from judgment.

One spirit strengthens communion. The other undermines it.

At some point we must surrender the very habit of analysis that helped bring us here, just as a husband and wife must eventually stop evaluating one another and begin living together in trust.

Once you have given your life to Christ and entered His Church, relax. You are in the right place.

This is not a pig in a poke.

Most of my catechumens know that expression. For those who do not, a "poke" is an old word for a bag. If you were buying a pig at market, you always looked inside the bag before handing over your money. Otherwise you might discover later that someone had sold you something entirely different.

Orthodoxy is not a pig in a poke.

You have looked inside the bag.

You have examined the evidence.

You have read the books.

You have asked the questions.

You have seen what the Church is.

Now trust it.

The Church has been forming saints for two thousand years. It has done so in Syria and Lebanon, in Greece and Romania, in Kyiv and Moscow, in Alaska and North America. It has formed saints in every culture, every language, and every century.

It can form saints here.

It can form saints out of us.

But only if we allow it to do its work.

There are very few places left in modern life where we can lower our defenses, let go of constant evaluation, and simply receive. The Church should be one of those places.

This is one reason our worship is so carefully ordered. The prayers have been tested by generations. The hymns have been handed down through centuries. The services have been shaped by the wisdom of the saints.

The Church knows what she is doing.

Now, I still tell my catechumens and students to keep a little filter active during the homily. The prayers have been vetted by the Church. The sermon comes from me, and I am still a work in progress.

But the larger point remains.

Let the Church form you.

The Church has been creating saints for two thousand years. It is not a cookie-cutter process. Saint Nicholas, Saint Tikhon, and Saint John were very different men. Yet all were united in Christ.

The Church knows how to confront our sins.

It knows how to heal anger, lust, despondency, pride, and despair.

It knows how to help us become more patient, more loving, more peaceful, and more faithful.

You do not need a guru.

You do not need another internet rabbit hole.

You do not need endless searches for the next great spiritual secret.

The saints have already shown us the way.

Pray.

Love sacrificially.

Open yourself to God's grace in the sacraments.

Love God.

Love your neighbor.

This is the calling of every human being. This is the vocation of the royal priesthood. This is the path walked by the saints of Antioch, the saints of North America, and the saints throughout the world.

And it is the path set before us today.

May God strengthen us as we walk it together.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Last Sunday we celebrated Pentecost. We celebrated the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. And today, on the Sunday of All Saints, we celebrate the result. Pentecost is the gift. All Saints is the fruit. The Holy Spirit descended upon the Church, and what did He produce? Saints. Not one saint. Not one type of saint. Saints. A multitude which no man can number. When we look at the saints, one thing becomes immediately obvious: they are not all the same. Some were bishops. Some were monks. Some were mothers. Some were kings. Some were soldiers. Some were fools for Christ. Some were scholars. Some were illiterate. Some spent their lives in deserts. Others spent their lives in crowded cities. Some died as martyrs. Others lived long and quiet lives. There is no single personality type that guarantees holiness. There is no single profession. No single temperament. No single life story. St. Peter and St. John were different. St. Basil and St. Mary of Egypt were different. St. Nicholas and St. Anthony the Great were different. And yet all became saints. Why? Because holiness does not begin with personality. It begins with the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who descended at Pentecost formed each of them according to God's purpose. We often think of saints as extraordinary people. But the Church sees them differently. The saints are what ordinary human beings look like when they are filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit does not erase personality. He transfigures it. The Spirit does not destroy human gifts. He sanctifies them. The Spirit does not make everyone identical. He makes each person fully what God created him or her to be. This is important because every generation is tempted to imagine that holiness belongs only to certain kinds of people. Some people think: "I could never be a saint because I'm not a monk." Others think: "I'm not educated enough," or "I'm too ordinary," or "I'm raising children, " or: "I'm busy with work." But the saints prove otherwise. God sanctifies fishermen and emperors. Widows and soldiers. Teachers and laborers. Children and elders. The question is not what role we occupy. The question is whether we allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify that role. The Church needs holy priests. But it also needs holy mothers. It needs holy fathers. Holy teachers. Holy business owners. Holy doctors. Holy craftsmen. Holy students. Holy retirees. The world does not need more successful people. It needs more saints. And that means people who do ordinary things in an extraordinary spirit. A teacher who teaches with love. A physician who heals with compassion. A parent who sacrifices with patience. A worker who labors with integrity. A neighbor who forgives. A pauper who prays. The difference is not merely what they do. The difference is the Spirit in which they do it. That is why this Sunday comes immediately after Pentecost. The Church wants us to see the connection. Pentecost is not merely a historical event. It is the beginning of a process that continues today. The Holy Spirit is still descending. Still healing. Still sanctifying. Still making saints. And He is doing so here. Among us. In this parish. In our homes. In our daily lives. The saints are not merely heroes from the past. They are proof of what God intends for humanity. They show us what happens when human beings cooperate with divine grace. They are the fruit of Pentecost. And they remind us that the same Spirit who dwelt in them has been given to us. To Him be glory, together with the Father and the Son, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

The first Pentecost was the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. And we should remember who it was who appeared there. It was God who spoke to Moses, who appeared in fire and cloud, who gave the Law to Israel, was the pre-incarnate Word of God—the same Christ whom we know from the Gospel. St. Paul tells us that the Law was a guardian and tutor. It restrained evil. It taught obedience. It preserved Israel until the fullness of time should come. The Law was not the final gift. It was the gift God's people needed at that moment. But humanity's deepest problem could not be solved by commandments alone. We needed more than instruction. We needed healing. We needed forgiveness. We needed life.

So the same Christ who gave the Law came among us in the flesh. He taught. He healed. He cast out demons. He suffered. He died. He descended into Hades. He rose again. At every stage He was giving humanity what humanity needed. And then, after His Resurrection, He ascended into heaven. At first glance, that seems strange. Would it not have been better if Christ had simply remained visibly among us? Yet He Himself tells the disciples: "It is to your advantage that I go away." Why? Because humanity now needed another gift. The Law had been given. The Incarnation had taken place. The Cross had been accomplished. Death had been trampled down. Now Christ would send the Holy Spirit.

At Sinai, the Law was written on tablets of stone. At Pentecost, the Spirit is written upon human hearts. At Sinai, God formed a people. At Pentecost, He fills that people with His own life. At Sinai, God instructed His people from without. At Pentecost, He begins transforming them from within. The Holy Spirit is not an optional addition to the Christian life. He is the very life of the Church. He is the One who unites us to Christ, who makes us temples of God, who heals what is broken, who perfects what is lacking, and who leads us into all truth. Christ ascended so that He might send us exactly what we needed. As St. Nikolai Velimirović loved to remind us, there is no corner of creation into which Christ has not carried His saving love—not Sinai, not Bethlehem, not Golgotha, not the Upper Room, not even Hades itself.

And today we celebrate yet another gift that flows from all of this. This afternoon we will kneel for the first time since Pascha. And in the kneeling prayers we pray not only for ourselves. We pray for the departed. To some Christians this seems strange. Why pray for the dead? What can our prayers accomplish? But the answer begins with Christ Himself. Because Christ did not merely die. He descended into Hades. He entered the realm of death itself. As we sing at Pascha: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life." The Harrowing of Hades was not a symbolic gesture. It was an act of divine love. The Lord entered the place of darkness to bring light. He entered the place of bondage to bring freedom. He entered the place of death to bring life. As St. John Chrysostom proclaims in his Paschal Homily: "Hell was embittered when it encountered Thee below." Death thought it had gained a victim. Instead, it encountered Life Himself. Hades thought it had secured its prisoners. Instead, it found its gates shattered and its captives being led forth into freedom.

If Christ Himself went to those held by death, why would we not pray for them? If Christ sought those in Hades, why would His Incarnate Body—the Church—cease to seek them? The prayers for the departed are not an embarrassment or an afterthought. They are one of the most natural consequences of Pascha. They are a continuation of Christ's own work. The Scriptures show us that death does not sever the bonds of love within the Body of Christ. Our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And those who belong to Him remain alive in Him. We do not claim to know every detail of how God's mercy operates beyond the grave. The Orthodox Church has never attempted to construct a detailed system like the doctrine of Purgatory. We know less than some would like. But we know enough. We know that Christ conquered death. We know that He descended into Hades. We know that love never fails. We know that the Church has always prayed for the departed. We know that the Church's liturgical life—from the ancient Liturgies to the kneeling prayers of Pentecost—bears witness to that practice. And we know that Christians are called to imitate Christ.

Ultimately, that is the deepest reason we pray for the dead. Not because we possess a detailed map of the intermediate state. Not because we can explain every mechanism. But because this is what love does. Love intercedes. Love seeks healing. Love seeks relief. Love seeks salvation. Love refuses to abandon those who suffer. This is what Christ does. And therefore it is what Christians do. The same Lord who gave the Law at Sinai, who became incarnate, who died and rose again, who descended into Hades, and who poured out the Holy Spirit upon the Church, continues even now to seek the salvation of all. And He calls us to join Him in that work: to pray, to love, to intercede, to hope, and to trust that the God who has always given His people exactly what they needed continues to pour out His mercy upon the living and the departed alike.

Today we hear our Lord pray for His people: that they may be one. Not merely friendly, not merely cooperative, but one. And not just one in purpose or organization. He says: "that they may be one, as We are one." This is an astonishing thing. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons, yet perfectly united in love, perfectly united in will, perfectly united in life. And this is what mankind was created for. We were not made for isolation. We were not made for hatred. We were not made for endless suspicion and division. We were made for communion.

The Apostle Paul gives us another image for this mystery. He says that we are one body, with Christ Himself as the head. This is what salvation is: not merely individual forgiveness, but the healing and reunification of humanity in Christ. The Church exists so that the scattered may be gathered together. So that enemies may become brothers. So that strangers may become family. So that what sin shattered may be made whole again.

But if we are honest, we know that we are not doing a very good job of this. We live in a world increasingly defined by division. And the frightening thing is how naturally division now comes to us. Even the tools that were meant to unite us become instruments of separation. Not long ago, new technologies promised to reconnect people. Families separated by distance could remain close. Old friends could reconnect. Communities could stay in touch. And for a moment, it seemed wonderful.

But how quickly did sin find a way to use those same tools for anger, condemnation, mockery, tribalism, and hatred? Love creates communion. Pride creates factions. And pride is endlessly creative. We divide ourselves by politics, by class, by race, by ideology, by education, by culture, by nation, and even by theology. We define ourselves not by what we love together, but by whom we oppose. And once division takes hold, it begins to feel righteous. We become certain that we are the ones who see clearly, and everyone else is blind.

This is not a new temptation. The early Church struggled with it as well. In the fourth century, a priest named Arius became convinced that he understood the mystery of Christ better than the Church herself. He read the Scriptures, formed his conclusions, and became absolutely certain that he was right. When the bishops gathered together at Nicaea and proclaimed the faith handed down through the apostles—that Christ is eternally begotten of the Father, true God of true God, of one essence with the Father—Arius refused to repent.

Now it is easy for us to hear this story and imagine ourselves standing heroically with the saints. We imagine ourselves as Athanasius defending the truth. Or perhaps as Saint Nicholas rebuking heresy. But if I am honest, that is usually not who I am in the story. I am the man who justifies himself. I am the man who explains why his anger is righteous, why his condemnation is necessary, why his enemies deserve contempt, why his divisions are justified. I am the man who says: "I know how the world works. I know who is wrong. I know who is to blame."

And this is where the healing must begin. Because the greatest divisions in the world do not begin in legislatures, or courts, or media, or institutions. They begin in the human heart. Sin always begins there. And sin does not remain private. We often imagine that our bitterness, our contempt, our pride, our hatred remain safely hidden within us. But they do not. Sin has consequences. Sin shapes perception. Sin distorts judgment. Sin affects families, friendships, communities, and nations.

Love creates communion. Pride creates factions. And if pride rules the heart, even good things become corrupted. Policies cannot save us. Technology cannot save us. Political victories cannot save us. Because sin will always find a way to weaponize them. A divided heart creates division wherever it goes.

This does not mean that justice does not matter. It does not mean that laws do not matter. It does not mean that evil should be ignored. But it does mean that the healing of the world begins somewhere much closer than we often imagine. It begins with repentance. Not the repentance of our enemies. Our own.

The saints understood this. Saint Seraphim famously said: "Acquire the Spirit of peace, and thousands around you will be saved." Notice where he begins. Not with controlling the world. Not with defeating enemies. Not with forcing outcomes. But with repentance. With purification of the heart. With peace in Christ.

This is incredibly liberating. Because when we look at the divisions of the world, it is easy to become overwhelmed. It is easy to think: "This can never be healed." But Christ has already shown us how healing begins. I repent of my sins. I learn humility. I learn patience. I learn how to forgive. I learn how to see my brother not as an enemy, but as someone for whom Christ died. And then grace begins to spread outward.

Christ heals my heart. Then my family. Then my friendships. Then my parish. And through the lives of repentant people, the world itself begins to change. This is how the saints transformed civilizations. Not primarily through power. Not through outrage. Not through self-righteousness. But through holiness.

The Lord did not command us to win every argument. He commanded us to love one another. And this love is not sentimental weakness. It is crucifixion. It is humility. It is patience. It is refusing to hate. It is the hard and holy work of becoming one in Christ.

My brothers and sisters, the world is hungry for this kind of witness. Not more noise. Not more fury. Not more factions. The world is hungry for peace. For holiness. For communion. For Christ.

So let us begin where the saints always begin: with repentance.

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

And through that prayer, may Christ heal our hearts, our homes, our parish, and through them, the world.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In this homily on the healing of the man born blind, Father Anthony reflects on how Christ not only gives sight, but gradually heals the whole person. Though baptism opens our eyes to the truth of God and His Kingdom, we still struggle to see clearly through the distortions of pride, fear, anger, and self-justification. The path to true spiritual sight is therefore not certainty or condemnation, but humility, repentance, patience, and trust in the One who already reigns over the world. Enjoy the show!

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Today's Gospel shows us two very important things about the Christ to whom we have given our lives: that He has compassion for human suffering, and that He has the power to heal it.

The man in today's Gospel was not born partially blind. He was born completely blind. And Christ gives him sight so that we may trust not only His love for us, but His power to remake us and remake the world.

Saint John tells us why these signs were given:

"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in His name."

The miracles are not spectacles. They are revelations. They show us who Christ is, and they show us what He desires to do with us.

There is also a symbolic meaning to this miracle, and here we should remember the words of the Lord from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew:

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light."

Now, growing up in Georgia, every time I hear this Gospel, I hear that hymn: "I once was blind, but now I see."

And that is true for us. That is why that hymn resonates so deeply within our souls.

Through baptism and chrismation, through union with Christ, through life in His Church, we have been given new eyes. For the first time, glory to God, we begin to see reality as it truly is. We begin to see God not as an abstraction, but as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We begin to see that life has meaning, that even suffering can become holy, that love is stronger even than death, and that the Cross is not defeat but victory.

But we also know something else.

Even after receiving sight, glory to God for opening our eyes, we do not yet see clearly.

As Saint Paul says, we still see "through a mirror dimly." And like the man healed in stages, sometimes we only "see men like trees walking."

Why?

Because salvation is not magic.

The Lord does not simply wave away every wound, every distortion, every habit of pride and fear the moment we come to Him.

Yes, baptism gives us eyes, but the healing of the whole person takes time.

Our minds were created to resonate, to be in harmony with God, but sin twists the strings out of tune. And alas, we do not only suffer from our own sins; we inherit confusion from a world that itself has forgotten how to see clearly.

And so we live in a very difficult place. We have received sight. We have seen the light. But we are still learning how to see.

Worse than this, we are learning alongside other people whose vision is also wounded.

The world tells us that confidence is clarity, that loudness is wisdom, that certainty is discernment.

But often it is the opposite that is true.

As Proverbs warns us:

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."

The proud man thinks he sees everything so clearly, but the humble man knows that he still needs healing.

And this is where today's Gospel becomes painfully relevant to us.

When we recognize that our sight is imperfect, humility teaches us to move carefully.

How quickly we assume we understand another person's motives. How quickly we justify our own anger. How quickly we become certain that we are right and others are blind.

But the fathers warn us: the blind cannot heal blindness, and if the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch.

This is why humility is so important.

Humility, unlike the world tries to tell us, is not weakness. Humility does not involve pretending that evil is good. Humility is not refusing to act when action is needed.

Humility is the recognition that our own vision is still being healed.

Humility acts as the pause that short-circuits the line between fallen instinct and sinful action: the pause between offense and judgment, the pause that protects us from self-justification and allows us time for repentance.

Humility says: "I may not understand this completely." "My passions may be distorting what I see." "My fears may be speaking louder than wisdom." "My ego may be disguising itself as righteousness."

Along with humility comes another necessary thing: trust.

Because one of the hardest things for us is accepting that redemption does not depend upon our control.

We are not the saviors of the world. Christ already reigns over the world.

We feel pressure to judge every situation perfectly, to interpret every motive, to solve every conflict, to prove ourselves good and righteous.

But God knows us. He does not require omniscience from us.

What does He require?

We hear it again and again in the Gospel of Saint John:

He requires faithfulness.

The Lord who opened the eyes of the blind man is still at work healing His people.

How is this healing accomplished?

He has given us the means of healing: prayer, scripture, confession, communion, acts of mercy, holy friendships, holy marriage, parish life shaped by patience, forbearance, and love.

And over time, this healing gains traction.

Little by little, the light grows clearer. Little by little, our vision is healed. Little by little, the knots of pride, fear, anger, and confusion are loosened.

And as this healing takes place within us, the parish itself becomes a place of light: a place unlike the world, where people are not devoured by judgment; a place where people are not moved by manipulation; a place where weakness is met with patience; a place where vulnerability is met with gentleness; a place where repentance and true change are possible; a place where Christ is visible.

The Lord has given us eyes.

Once we were blind, but now we begin to see.

What do we see?

We see the Lord's mercy. We see the Lord's Cross. We see the Lord's love for mankind. We see, glory to God, the path of salvation.

And now along that way, the work of healing continues: not through pride, not through condemnation, not through the illusion of our own righteousness, but through humility, patience, repentance, and trust in God.

May the Lord who opened the eyes of the man born blind also heal the vision of our hearts, so that we may learn to see ourselves, one another, and the whole world in the light of His love.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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From Justification to Repentance: The Samaritan Woman St. John 4:5–42

"He told me all that I ever did." (John 4:29)

There is nothing new in the idea that God knows everything about us. The Prophet David proclaimed it long ago:

"Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in Hades, Thou art there… The darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night shineth as the day." (Psalm 138/139:7–12)

The question, then, is not whether God knows our deeds. The question is: what do we make of that knowledge? What does it mean that we cannot hide from Him?

First, we must remember something essential: God's omniscience is not cold or distant. The One who knows all things is also the One who is quick to save. There is nowhere we can go that is beyond His love. Nowhere we can fall that is outside His reach.

But there is also a harder truth here.

The only way to experience His mercy, the only way to receive His salvation, is through humble repentance.

The Samaritan woman—whom the Church honors as Saint Photini—stood before Christ and heard Him reveal her life: "You have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband."

Imagine the temptation she must have felt in that moment.

To defend herself. To explain. To justify.

Her life—what we might call "serial monogamy"—is exactly the kind of brokenness that our culture normalizes and even celebrates. And the human mind is very good at protecting such patterns.

As we have said before: our fallen moral reasoning often works like this—first we decide instinctively what we want to be true, and then the advocate in our mind builds a case to defend it. We become our own lawyers, our own spokesmen, our own cheerleaders.

We can justify almost anything.

We may even convince others.

But this is not real justification.

Because we are sinners, the only true justification is in the blood of Jesus Christ—who offers Himself "on behalf of all and for all." And yet the fruit of that offering can only be received through repentance.

This is why we celebrate Saint Photini.

Not because of her past.

But because of her response.

St. John Chrysostom points out that Christ does not begin by exposing her sin. He draws her in gently. He speaks first of water, then of living water, then of worship—only gradually revealing the deeper truth. He does not crush her. He heals her.

And when the truth finally comes, she does something extraordinary.

She does not argue.

She does not justify.

She does not run away.

She receives it.

And in receiving the truth, she is freed.

St. Nikolai Velimirovic notes the striking contrast: the woman who once avoided others out of shame becomes the one who runs into the city proclaiming Christ. The one who came to the well alone now becomes an apostle to her people.

What changed?

Not the facts of her past.

But her relationship to the truth.

She encountered the All-Seeing Eye of Christ—and instead of hiding, she stepped into the light.

She saw the truth of her life, repented, and changed. From that moment on, the presence of God was no longer a source of fear, but of illumination: a light in the darkness, a refuge in chaos, and a guide to perfection.

For this reason, she is called Photini—"the Enlightened One."

But her story could have ended differently.

She could have done what we so often do: she could have listened to the clever voice within her mind, the one that explains everything, defends everything, justifies everything. She could have held onto her sense of her own righteousness, her own goodness, her own narrative.

God would not have left her.

He never leaves anyone.

But instead of bringing comfort, His presence would have brought pain.

Because God does not lie.

And those who live in lies cannot be at peace in His presence.

The light of Christ illumines all—both good and evil.

If we let go of our illusions, that light becomes joy. It becomes healing. It becomes life.

But if we cling to our illusions, that same light becomes painful. It exposes what we refuse to surrender.

God's light does not change.

We do.

"The truth of the Lord endureth forever" (Psalm 116:2). And so does His mercy. And so does His patience.

The question is: how will we respond to that truth?

Will we defend ourselves? Or will we repent?

Will we hide in explanation? Or will we step into the light?

Saint Photini shows us The Way.

She heard the truth. She accepted it. She repented. And she was transformed.

In Christ, let us do the same.

Let us choose repentance. Let us choose the light. Let us choose salvation.

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Homily for the Sunday of the Paralytic John 5:1–15; Acts 9

Christ is risen!

What effect do you have on others? Is it like St. Peter's? Do you walk in the midst of broken people, bringing them healing? Do others, recognizing the peace within you, go out of their way just to be near you? Have you attained even a small measure of the purity and goodness—the peaceful spirit—that, as St. Seraphim of Sarov teaches, becomes the salvation of thousands?

These are important indicators—ways to examine how we are doing in this walk of salvation. Some of them are internal and relatively easy to observe: How do I react to praise? How do I respond to criticism? How quick am I to anger, to despondency, to lust? But here is another indicator—an external one: How do people react to us? Do they find peace when we enter the room, or when we leave it?

We need to be honest about this. When it comes to the things that truly matter—in our lives, in our families, in this parish, and in the great story of our salvation—we are always moving in one of two directions: either we are cooperating with grace, with healing, or we are cooperating with corruption.

St. Peter, glory to God, became a man who cooperated fully with healing. But that was not always the case. There was a time when he was driven by pride, fear, and the expectations of others. By the time we meet him in Acts, however, he is no longer just occasionally doing what is right. He has been transformed. He has become the kind of person through whom Christ works.

In today's Gospel, we see the beginning of such a transformation.

The paralytic had been suffering for thirty-eight years—thirty-eight years of waiting, hoping, and being unable to heal himself. We can hardly imagine the weight of that suffering. And what does Christ ask him?

"Do you want to be made well?"

It is a strange question. In some ways, it is obvious—he is lying by the pool, waiting for healing. And yet we must name the desire. Not everyone who is sick truly wants to be healed.

Notice how the paralytic responds. He does not answer the question directly. Instead, he explains his situation. He explains why he has not been healed. "I have no man… When the water is stirred, someone else steps down before me…"

We recognize this, don't we?

This is how we often respond to God—not with repentance, not with surrender, but with explanation. We explain why we are the way we are. We explain why change is so difficult. We explain why our situation is unique.

Much of what we say is not wrong. But it is not healing. It does not open us to grace.

St. John Chrysostom, reflecting on this passage, notes that Christ does not wait for a perfect answer, nor does He require a full confession before acting. But neither does He accept the man's explanations as sufficient. Instead, He goes directly to what is needed—not explanation, but transformation. Christ commands the man to do what he cannot do, and in the command itself, He gives the power to obey.

This is where we must be careful.

When the soul is disordered, it does not remain neutral. It becomes a source of distortion—not only for ourselves, but for others. The problem is not simply "out there." The problem begins within.

And the great difficulty of living in this world is that it teaches us to normalize this condition. It calls distortion authenticity. It calls self-justification wisdom.

But the Church is not here to affirm our condition.

The Church is here to heal it.

The Church is a hospital. But what good is a hospital if those within it refuse to be healed? What kind of peace can we offer if we are at war within ourselves—and with one another?

It is very easy to remain in this disordered state. Our instincts are not neutral; they are wounded. And our minds—brilliant as they are—often serve those instincts rather than correcting them. We use our intelligence to justify our condition instead of correcting it. The mind becomes a kind of spokesman, explaining why we are the way we are and why it is acceptable.

We justify our anger. We excuse our selfishness. We baptize our pride.

Scripture gives us clear examples. Ananias and Sapphira likely thought themselves generous. Simon Magus likely convinced himself that he wanted spiritual power for good reasons. But their self-justifications did not save them. The truth exposed them.

The same danger exists for us.

We are always moving—toward healing or toward corruption. And over time, we will become more of one than the other.

I know you. I love you. You want to be part of the solution. That is why you are here. But wanting to be healed is not the same as being healed. Wanting to be good is not enough.

The paralytic had desire—but he still could not heal himself.

You were created good, and you are called to become more fully what you were created to be. But you are not there yet. Neither am I.

So how are we healed?

There is only One who heals.

Christ does not argue with the man. He does not analyze his situation. He does not accept or refute his explanations. He commands:

"Rise, take up your bed, and walk."

And in that command, there is power.

This is the heart of the matter:

Healing does not come from explanation.

Healing comes from obedience.

So how do we learn from the living Christ?

The answer is not new. We give our lives—our bodies, our minds, our souls—to Him and to His Church. We pray. We enter into the Liturgy. We love our neighbors sacrificially. We learn from the Fathers. We seek wise counsel. We quiet ourselves so that we can hear.

Not because Orthodoxy is simply a system, but because this is where Christ is—healing, teaching, restoring.

The paralytic could not heal himself.

Neither can we.

But Christ can.

And He does.

If we stop explaining, stop justifying, and begin obeying, then—and only then—will we become not part of the problem, but part of the healing.

Christ is risen!

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Homily for the Myrrhbearers St. Mark 15:43–16:8; Acts 6:1–7

Today we celebrate the holy Myrrhbearers: Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the most holy Theotokos, Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Clopas, Joanna, Salome, Mary and Martha, and Susanna—those who loved Christ enough to come to Him even in death.

Their love is beautiful. It is courageous. It is faithful. But it is also, in one very important way, mistaken. They came to anoint a corpse. They came expecting silence, stillness, finality. They came to do one last act of love for someone who was no longer present to receive it. And that is where we must be careful—because we can do the same thing.

We sing again and again, "Christ is Risen!" But how often do we live as if He were not? Think about how we relate to the dead. We remember them. We honor them. We reflect on their words. We study what they said, and we try to apply it to our lives. But we do not expect them to speak to us now. We do not expect them to guide us in real time. And this is exactly how many Christians treat Christ. We treat Him as a figure from the past—a great teacher, whose words are preserved in a fixed collection of texts. If we want to know what He thinks, we go back and study what He said, like we would with Plato or any other historical figure.

Please—do not misunderstand me. We need the Scriptures. We must study them. But if that is all we are doing—if Christ is only someone we study—then we are treating Him as if He were dead. Because if He were truly risen—if He were truly alive—then we would expect Him to still be teaching. And He is.

Christ is alive—not only in heaven—but here and now. He lives in the hearts of the faithful. He lives in His sacraments. He lives most fully as the Head of His Body—the Church. And that means something very concrete: the Church is not a memory. She is not a museum. She is not an archive. She is alive.

And here is where the danger comes in—because just as we can treat Christ as if He were dead, we can also treat the Church as if she were dead. We do this when we reduce her to an institution, when we treat her traditions as relics instead of life, when we experience the Liturgy as repetition instead of encounter, and when we assume that nothing truly happens here—nothing new, nothing real—only the preservation of the past. We do this when we think, "I already know what the Church says," "I'll decide how to apply it," or "I'll take what is helpful." But a living body does not work that way.

If Christ is alive, then His Body is alive. And if His Body is alive, then it speaks—not just in the past, but now. In the hymns, in the prayers, in the canons, in the counsel of those who are faithful and wise, in the real, sometimes difficult life of the parish—where we are taught through living out our salvation with one another, in patience, repentance, and love—and in the quiet voice that speaks when we have learned to be still.

And this leads to the second reaction—the more difficult one. It is one thing to doubt that Christ is speaking. It is another thing to realize that He is. Because "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). A dead teacher can be interpreted. A living Lord must be obeyed. A dead teacher can be studied at a distance. A living Lord sees you, knows you, and calls you to change.

And here is one of the ways we avoid this. We listen to the Church—but at a distance. We listen through podcasts, through videos, through discussions online. We hear sermons, teachings, arguments, explanations. And again, these things can be good. But notice what happens when this becomes our primary way of listening. We receive the words, but not the life. We hear, but we are not known. We learn, but we are not accountable. We can pause it, skip it, choose one voice over another, agree or disagree without consequence. In other words, we remain in control.

But that is not how the living Christ teaches. The living Christ teaches through His Body—a Body that we must enter, a Body that sees us, a Body that corrects us, a Body that calls us to repentance, a Body that we cannot curate or control. You can learn about Christ anywhere, but you can only be taught by Him within His Body. To receive Christ only as content—even Orthodox content—is still, in a subtle way, to treat Him as if He were not fully alive. Because the Risen Christ does not simply inform us; He forms us.

It is much easier to interpret what Christ said two thousand years ago—indeed, much easier to interpret what the Councils and Fathers said hundreds of years ago—than it is to hear what He is saying to you today. Because interpretation can be shaped by our pride, by our ego. Obedience cannot.

So how do we learn from the living Christ? The answer is not new. We give our lives—our bodies, our minds, our souls—to Him and to His Church. We pray. We enter into the Liturgy. We love our neighbor. We learn from the Fathers. We seek counsel. We quiet ourselves so that we can hear—not because this is a system, but because this is where He is: ministering to us, teaching us, healing us, enlightening us.

The Myrrhbearers came looking for the dead. Instead, they encountered the Living One. And that is the same invitation given to us. Do not come here to remember Christ. Do not come here to study Him from a distance. Do not come here as if nothing real is happening. Come here to meet Him.

Because He is not in the tomb. He is not confined to history. Christ is risen. Indeed He is risen—and He is with us, here, now, and always.

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St. Thomas Sunday St. John 20:19–31

Does God hate doubt? Does He shame those who struggle to believe? No. He does something very different.

Christ does not simply want us to know facts about Him. He wants us to know Him. Because He does not say, "I teach the truth." He says: "I am the Truth" (cf. Gospel of John 14:6). This changes everything. Belief is not first about ideas—it is about relationship.

And yet, God does not want us to remain in doubt. He does not want us to be uncertain about His love, His power, or His promise to save us. Because, as He says elsewhere, "Whoever believes in Me shall never die" (cf. John 11:26). Belief is not optional. It is the doorway into life. But notice how He brings people to belief. He does not force it. He does not shame it into existence. He draws it out—patiently, personally, just as He did with Thomas.

So what does it mean to believe in someone? It means you trust them. You trust their intentions, their character, and their power to do what they say. We understand this instinctively. In a healthy marriage, a husband believes in his wife, and a wife in her husband. In a healthy home, children believe in their parents—not because they have proven every detail, but because they have learned to trust who they are.

And when that kind of belief is present, something happens. There is freedom. A husband does not second-guess every word his wife says. A wife does not interpret every silence as betrayal. They are free to give themselves to one another without fear. There is peace. The home is not filled with suspicion or quiet anxiety, but with a steady confidence that they are for one another. There is growth. Because when you are not constantly defending yourself, you can repent, forgive, and become better. And there is joy—not because everything or anyone is perfect, but because love can actually be received and returned.

This is what belief does. It creates the conditions where life—real life—can exist.

And when that belief is gone, the relationship begins to collapse. If a spouse becomes convinced the other is unfaithful, the mind will begin to manufacture evidence to support that fear. Everything changes: suspicion replaces trust, distance replaces unity, and anxiety replaces peace. Without belief, there is no communion—no harmony, no shared life. And where communion is lost, what remains begins to resemble hell: isolation, suspicion, and the slow unraveling of love.

Christ has come to trample down that isolation and to bestow life. Trust and belief are how we share in that victory.

This is what makes today's Gospel so important. Christ is worthy of our trust. His intentions toward us are not hidden: He loves us and desires that we share eternal life with Him. His power is not uncertain: He has risen from the dead. And He has not left us empty-handed. He gives us Himself—His Body and His Blood—so that this trust is not abstract, but lived, received, and renewed.

You have already begun this. You have united yourself to Christ. You believe in His love, and you have accepted it as your own. You believe in His power, and you are learning to live in it.

But the fallen mind will still produce doubts. That is what the fallen mind—especially the intellect—does. It generates possibilities, questions, fears. And that is not, by itself, a problem.

Do not be afraid of your doubts. In any real relationship, questions must be brought into the light—not during the Liturgy, but within the life of the Church, within this community, where truth can be sought in humility and trust. You are not the first to ask hard questions. Some of the greatest minds and the greatest saints have wrestled with them.

If your questions come from love—from a genuine desire to know God—then working through them becomes a holy act. Because honest dialogue leads to deeper communion. Not every thought needs to be followed—only the ones that lead us toward Christ.

And this leads us to another kind of questioning—a kind that works against the asker's salvation. Questions that come from pride, from mockery, from a desire not to know but to dismiss. "I'm only asking questions." But pride blocks the way to truth. Because the problem of our salvation is not lack of information—it is a prideful and poisoned heart. And no amount of facts can heal that. Only repentance can.

And Christ shows us one more thing. He is patient with doubters like Thomas, but He is not patient with those who "believe" in the wrong way—those who cling so tightly to false beliefs that they harm others in the name of God. The Pharisees were not condemned because they questioned, but because they refused to be corrected. And even more, because they refused communion. Their questions were designed to show their own righteousness and served as a barrier to communion—a barrier to love.

So what are we to do?

Believe. Not harshly. Not defensively. Not with fear. But gently, patiently, and with love.

Trust Christ—His love for you, His power to save you, and His promise to give you life. And bring your questions to Him honestly. Because He is not afraid of them. He will meet you in them. And He will lead you—from doubt, into trust, and from trust, into life.

Palm Sunday reveals both our love for Christ and our temptation to abandon Him when He does not meet our expectations. This homily invites us to see ourselves in the Gospel, to embrace the deeper work of transformation, and to follow the King who leads us not to comfort, but to life through the Cross.

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Palm Sunday Homily 2026

For the Jews two thousand years ago, today was the culmination of their long waiting: the Messiah had come to save them.

"Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!"

It is a great day for us as well—the end of Great Lent, the celebration of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We take up the first fruits of spring—palm leaves and pussy willows—not just as decoration, but as a sign of renewal. The winter of waiting is over. Christ has come among His people.

As the Church sings in the Triodion:

"Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us together, and we all take up Thy Cross and say: Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord."

And more than that: He has come into our lives.

This feast is not only about what happened in Jerusalem long ago. It is about the moment when Christ entered into our own story—when we first recognized Him as Lord, when we opened our hearts to Him, when we felt the relief of His presence. For many of us, that moment was marked by healing: the easing of despair, the forgiveness of sins, the restoration of hope.

And so we cried out:

"Hosanna in the Highest—the King has come to save!"

Not just Israel.

Me.

But here is where the Gospel becomes dangerous for us.

Because the people who cried "Hosanna" were not wrong to rejoice.

They were wrong about what that joy meant.

They loved Christ because He met their expectations. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He gave them hope that their visible, worldly problems would be solved.

Of course they loved Him.

And we do the same.

We love Christ when He meets our expectations: when He brings peace when He answers prayers the way we want when He restores what we think should be restored

We love the Church for the same reason: when it comforts us when it feels like home when it confirms what we already believe

We cry "Hosanna" when Christ—and His Body, the Church—fit into the life we already want.

But then something happens. Christ moves beyond our expectations. He refuses to remain what we first loved Him for.

And here the Church gives us words that both celebrate and correct us. In the hymns of this feast, we sing:

"Seated in heaven upon Thy throne and on earth upon a colt, O Christ God, Thou hast accepted the praise of the angels and the song of the children who cried unto Thee: Blessed art Thou who hast come to call back Adam."

He comes as King—but not the kind of king we expect.

He comes not to confirm our plans—but to restore Adam.

And this is why Lent has prepared us.

All through the season, in the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, we have been taught how to read Scripture:

"I alone have sinned against Thee." "I am the one who has fallen."

We are not spectators in the Gospel. We are participants.

So when the crowd turns from "Hosanna" to rejection— we do not say, "they did this."

We say: "I am capable of this."

We are the ones who welcome Christ when He fits our expectations —and are tempted to abandon Him when He does not.

And this is not just about Christ in abstraction. It is about Christ in His Body—the Church.

We love the Church when it gives us what we expect: beauty stability meaning

But when the Church calls us to something harder— to repentance to forgiveness to self-denial

—we can become disappointed.

Even resistant. Even tempted to step back.

But that later moment—the moment of disappointment— is often more important than the moment of joy.

Because that is the moment when Christ is no longer fitting into our life— He is transforming it.

And this transformation is not accidental.

As Maximus the Confessor teaches, the spiritual life is the purification and reordering of our desires. We begin by loving God for what He gives us—but we are called to love Him for Himself. What begins as expectation must be healed into communion.

We see this even in the Liturgy. In the Great Entrance, Christ comes among us. He is received with honor and reverence.

But then a turn is made; the stairs up the amvon to the altar are the mountain of Golgotha. And His throne is revealed—not as a seat of earthly glory— but as an altar of sacrifice.

And the hymns of this Great Feast prepare us even for this. We sing:

"Today the Master of creation and the Lord of glory enters Jerusalem seated on a colt. He hastens to His Passion, to fulfill the Law and the Prophets."

The One we welcomed in joy— is already going to the Cross.

This is the truth the crowd did not expect. And it is the truth we struggle with.

Christ does not come simply to solve our problems. He comes to transform us.

Not to meet our expectations— but to purify them.

Not to give us the life we imagined— but to give us His life.

So today we are given a choice. When Christ meets our expectations, we rejoice.

But when He overturns them—when He exceeds them—when He leads us through the Cross— what will we do then? Will we turn away? Or will we follow Him still?

Some saw this day as the end—the fulfillment of everything they had hoped for. But it was not the end. It was the beginning. The beginning of a path that leads through suffering, through death— and into resurrection.

So do not make your heart a place that welcomes Christ only on your terms. Do not turn your heart into a tomb for the King. Let it be His throne.

Receive Him not only in triumph—but in sacrifice. Not only in consolation—but in transformation.

Because He will not remain what we expect. And thanks be to God—

He will become something far greater.

"Let us also, like the children, bear the symbols of victory, and cry out to the Conqueror of death: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord."

The life of St. Mary of Egypt shows that healing begins when we are willing to let go of what we think we cannot live without. Her struggle with memory and desire mirrors our own battles with distraction and constant stimulation. In these final weeks of Lent, we are invited to simplify our lives, endure the discomfort, and turn again toward the peace that comes from God.

--- Today the Church gives us one of the most extreme lives in all of Christian history: St. Mary of Egypt. And if we are not careful, we will put her at a distance. We will say: "That's not me." "That's not my struggle." "That's not my life." But the Church does not give her to us as a curiosity. She gives her to us as a mirror. Mary began in complete disorder. Not gradually. Not reluctantly. She threw herself into a life of passion—seeking pleasure, attention, and control. And she is very clear: she was not even doing it for money. She was doing it because she wanted it, because she loved it, because it gave her a sense of freedom. And then comes the turning point. She tries to enter the Church in Jerusalem—to venerate the Cross. And she cannot. An invisible force prevents her. Everyone else walks in. She cannot. And suddenly, she sees—not just what she has done, but what she has become. That moment breaks her. Not into despair—but into repentance. She turns to the Mother of God, asks for mercy, and is finally allowed to enter. She venerates the Cross. And then she leaves—not just the Church, but the world. She goes into the desert. And here is where we often misunderstand her life. We imagine peace, clarity, instant transformation. But that is not what she experienced. Listen to her own words. She says that in the desert she was tormented by the memory of her old life: "The mad desire for songs and wine seized me… I longed to sing obscene songs… the memory of the things I was accustomed to filled my soul with great turmoil." She had left everything behind, but everything had not yet left her. And this is important. Because it tells us: removing ourselves from temptation does not immediately remove temptation from us. For years—years—she struggled. With memory, with desire, with imagination, with everything she had fed her soul. But she stayed. She endured. And over time, something changed. The passions lost their power. The memories lost their sweetness. And she found something greater: peace, clarity, freedom, union with God. Now here is where we need to be careful. Because it is very easy to say: "Well, that's her. She was dealing with extreme passions." But we are not so different. We also live in a world of constant stimulation—constant input, constant distraction. Not through wine and song in the same way, but through something else: social media, endless news cycles, commentary, outrage, entertainment, noise. And we do not just encounter these things. We consume them. We return to them. We depend on them. And like St. Mary, we often tell ourselves: "This is freedom." But what happens when we try to step away—even for a little while? We feel it. The pull. The habit. The restlessness. The desire to check, to scroll, to see what we are missing. And here is the question that reveals everything: what do we think we are missing? Because this is where the illusion lies. We think: "If I am not plugged in—if I am not consuming—if I am not aware of everything—then my life is being wasted." But St. Mary shows us the opposite. From the outside, her life looks wasted. No productivity, no recognition, no audience, no relevance. And yet—she becomes radiant with holiness, clear in mind, free in heart, alive in God. So now the question turns: whose life is wasted? The one who withdraws from distraction and struggles toward freedom, or the one who is constantly stimulated but never at peace? St. Mary did not lose her life in the desert. She found it—but only after enduring the pain of letting go. And this is where her life meets ours—very concretely, especially now. Because we are in Great Lent. And Lent is given to us for exactly this purpose: to simplify, to remove distractions, to reorder our lives toward God. Many people focus on food. And that is good. But it is only part of the pattern. Because for most of us, our greater excess is not meat and dairy. It is stimulation. And this is part of why the fast exists. Fasting is not just about what we give up. It is about what is revealed. When we fast from food, something happens. Our system is stressed. We feel hunger. We feel irritation. We feel weakness. And suddenly, we begin to notice our thoughts, our habits, our reactions. The fast makes visible what is usually hidden. And this is not a failure. This is its purpose. Now consider this: if fasting from food reveals this much, what might happen if we fast from stimulation? If we step away from constant input, constant scrolling, constant reaction? For most of us, this will be even more revealing—because this is where we are most attached. And so here is a simple challenge. We have two weeks left before Pascha. Two weeks. And in two weeks, we will hear that the Lord receives even the one who comes at the eleventh hour. So let us use this time well. For these next two weeks: simplify. Deliberately. Intentionally. Greatly reduce the time you spend on your devices—not a little, greatly. You will feel the pull. You will feel the temptation. You will feel the restlessness. That is not a sign that something is wrong. That is the point. It reveals what has taken hold of us. And like St. Mary, you may find that even when the external stimulus is gone, the memory remains. But stay. Endure. Redirect. Return. Because the same principle applies: what we repeatedly attend to forms us. If we fill our minds with noise, we will become restless. If we fill our hearts with distraction, we will become fragmented. But if we endure, if we simplify, if we turn toward God, then slowly, quietly, something changes. The noise loses its power. The pull weakens. And we begin to taste something better: peace, clarity, the presence of God. And so we end with this: St. Mary was not missing out. She was being healed. The world says: "Stay connected. Stay informed. Stay engaged." The Gospel says: "Be still—and know God." So again: whose life is wasted?

In this episode, we look at how the Church's pre- and post-Communion prayers prepare us not just to receive the Eucharist, but to be changed by it. They help us see our need, turn us toward God, and then teach us how to carry His presence into daily life. Communion becomes not just something we receive, but something we learn to live.

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PRE-COMMUNION PRAYERS (UOC-USA PRAYER BOOK)

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us.

Glory to You, our God, glory to You.

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

О Heavenly King, the Comforter, Spirit of Truth, everywhere present and filling all things. Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life, come and dwell in us, cleanse us from every impurity and save our souls, O Good One.

Thrice-Holy Hymn

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3 times)

Small Doxology

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Prayer to the Holy Trinity

All-Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our transgressions. Holy One, visit us and heal our infirmities for Your Name's sake.

Lord, have mercy. (3 times)

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our Daily Bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.

For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Lord, have mercy. (3 times)

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Invocation to Jesus Christ

Come, let us worship God, our King.

Come, let us worship and bow down before Christ our King and our God.

Come, let us worship and bow down before Christ Himself, our King and our God.

Psalm 22

The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.

He settles me in a place of green grass; beside restful water He leads me.

He restores my soul; He guides me on the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.

For even if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because You are with me. Your rod and Your staff comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows.

Behold, Your mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will live in the house of the Lord for the length of my days.

Psalm 23

The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and all who live in it.

For He has founded it above the seas and prepared it above the waters.

Who will ascend into the mountain of the Lord and who will stand in His holy place?

One whose hands are harmless and whose heart is pure, who has not received his soul in vain and has not sworn deceitfully to his neighbor.

He will receive blessing from the Lord and mercy from God his Savior.

This is the kind who seek the Lord, who seek the Face of the God of Jacob.

Lift up your gates, you rulers and be lifted up, you eternal doors and the King of Glory will come in.

Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory.

Psalm 115

I kept my Faith even when I said I am greatly afflicted.

I said in my amazement: "Every person is a liar!"

What shall I give to the Lord for all that He has given me?

I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord, in the presence of all His people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

Lord, I am Your servant – and the child of Your handmaiden. You have burst my bonds apart.

I will offer to You the sacrifice of praise and I will call upon the Name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, Jerusalem.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Alleluia, alleluiа, alleluia, glory to You, our God. (3 times)

Tropar, Tone 8

Lord, born of a Virgin, overlook my faults, purify my heart and make it a temple for Your Spotless Body and Blood. Cast me not from Your presence for You have infinitely great mercy.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;How can I who am unworthy, dare to come to the Communion of Your Holy Things? For even if I should dare to approach You with those who are worthy, my garment betrays me, for it is not a festal robe and I shall bring about the condemnation of my sinful soul. Lord, Lover of mankind, cleanse the pollution from my soul and save me.

Now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.Great is the multitude of my sins, Birth-Giver of God. To you, Pure One, I flee and implore salvation. Visit my sick and feeble soul and intercede with Your Son and our God, that He may grant me remission of my sins, for You alone are blessed.

First Prayer – Saint Basil the Great

Lord and Master, Jesus Christ our God, Wellspring of Life and Immortality, Maker of every visible and invisible thing, Co-eternal and Co-everlasting Son of the Everlasting Father: in the abundance of Your Goodness, You were incarnate in these latter times, and crucified and buried for us ungrateful and graceless people. Through Your own Blood You have renewed our nature corrupted by sin. Immortal King, though I am a sinner, accept my repentance, incline Your Ear to me and hearken to my words. I have sinned before heaven and before Your Countenance and I am not worthy to gaze upon the immensity of Your Glory. For I have provoked Your Goodness, I have transgressed Your commandments and I have not obeyed Your ordinances. But, Lord, since You do not remember evil, but are long suffering and have great mercy, You have not given me over to destruction for my lawlessness, but have continually awaited my conversion. For You, Lover of Mankind have said through Your prophet, "I desire not the death of sinners, but that they may turn from their evil ways and live." Because You do not wish, Master, that the work of Your Hands should perish, neither, do You take pleasure in the destruction of humanity. Rather, You desire that all people should be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth. Therefore, even I, though I am unworthy of heaven, earth and of this transitory life, having given myself completely to sin becoming a slave to pleasure and defiling Your Image – yet being Your creation – I despair not of my salvation in my wretchedness. But, emboldened by Your infinite Compassion, I draw near. Therefore, Loving Christ, receive me also as You received the harlot, the thief, the publican and the prodigal. Take away the heavy burden of my sins, You Who take away the sins of the world, Who heal all human infirmity, Who call to Yourself those who are weary and heavy-laden, granting them rest. You came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Cleanse me from every stain of flesh and spirit and teach me to achieve perfect holiness in fear of You, that receiving my share of Your sacred things, I may be united to Your Holy Body and Blood and may have You dwell and abide in me with the Father and Your Holy Spirit. Yes, Lord Jesus Christ, my God, may the partaking of Your Most Pure and Life-Giving Mysteries bring me not to condemnation, nor may I partake unworthily of them. Grant that I, even to my final breath, may receive my share of Your sacred things without condemnation and thereby receive communion with the Holy Spirit as a provision for the journey to eternal life and an acceptable defense before Your Dread Judgment Seat. Lord, grant that I, together with all Your elect, may also be a partaker of immaculate good things which You have prepared for those who love You, with whom You abide and are glorified to the ages. Amen.

Second Prayer — Saint John Chrysostom

Lord my God, I know that I am not sufficiently worthy that You should come under the roof of the house of my soul, for it is entirely desolate and fallen in ruin and You cannot find in me a worthy place for Your head. But, as You humbled Yourself from on high for our sake, humble Yourself not to the measure of my lowliness. As You took it upon Yourself in the cave to lie in the manger for dumb animals, so take it upon Yourself now to enter into the manger of my ignorant soul and into my defiled body. Since You did not disdain to enter and eat with sinners in the house of Simon the Leper, so take it upon Yourself to likewise enter also into the house of my humble, leprous and sinful soul. As You did not cast out the harlot, a sinner much like me, who came and touched You, so have compassion on me, a sinner, coming to touch You. Since You did not detest the kiss of her sin-stained and unclean mouth, detest not my mouth, which is stained even worse and more unclean than hers as well as my sordid, unclean and shameless lips, nor my even more unclean tongue. Let the fiery coal of Your Most Pure Body and of Your Precious Blood bring me the sanctification, enlightenment and strengthening of my humble soul and body, a relief from the burden of my many transgressions, protection against every operation of the Devil, an aversion and hindrance of my base and evil habits, a mortification of my passions, an accomplishment of your Commandments, an increase in Your divine Grace and an entrance into Your Kingdom. For I do not come to You, Christ my God, in presumption, but having been given full confidence by Your Ineffable Goodness, I approach, lest I stray far from Your communion and become the prey of the wolf of souls. Therefore, I pray, Master Who alone are Holy; sanctify both my soul and body, my mind and heart and my emotions and affections. Renew me entirely, implant Your Fear in my members and make Your sanctification indelible within me. Be my helper and foundation, govern my life in peace and make me worthy to stand at your right hand with Your saints. Through the prayers of Your Most Pure Mother, the pure and immaterial Powers that always serve You and of all the saints who have been well pleasing to You from the ages. Amen.

Third Prayer – Saint Simeon the Translator

Only Pure and Spotless Lord, Jesus Christ, Wisdom of God, Peace and Power: moved by Your ineffable mercy and love for all mankind, You took up our whole nature from the chaste and virginal blood of the one who wondrously conceived You through the coming of the Holy Spirit and by the favor of Your Eternal Father. In that nature you took it upon Yourself to undergo Your life-giving and saving Passion – the cross, the nails, the spear and death itself. Mortify in me the soul-destroying passions of the body. As you despoiled the dominion of Hades in the tomb, bury in me the spirit of evil. You raised fallen Adam through Your life-bearing Resurrection - so raise me for I am immersed in sin and counsel me in the ways of repentance. You made divine the flesh You assumed and honored it on Your Throne at the Right Hand of the Father in Your Glorious Ascension. By the communion of Your Holy Mysteries make me worthy of a place at Your Right Hand with the saved. You made Your sacred disciples precious vessels by the coming of the Comforter, the Spirit – confirm me also to be a receptacle of His Coming. You promised to come again to judge the world in righteousness – grant that I shall go to meet You in the clouds with all Your saints. For You have made and formed me that I may unceasingly praise and chant hymns to You with Your Eternal Father and Your All-Holy, Good and Life-Creating Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Fourth Prayer – Saint Simeon the Translator

Christ my God, as though standing before Your Dread Judgment Seat which does not regard personalities awaiting judgment and rendering an account of the evils I have committed: so today before the day of my condemnation appears, I stand before Your Holy Altar in Your Sight and in the Sight of Your awesome and holy angels. Bowed low by my own conscience, I offer my wicked and lawless actions, triumphing over them by declaring them. Lord, I know my iniquities have increased beyond the number of hairs on my head. The multitude of Your loving kindness is immeasurable and the mercy of Your Goodness and Forbearance beyond description and there is no sin which overcomes Your love for all mankind. Therefore, all marvelous King and merciful Lord, cause Your wondrous mercy to touch even me, a sinner. Receive me, a sinner, as I return to You, as You received the prodigal, the thief and the harlot. As You received those who came at the eleventh hour unworthily, so receive me also, a sinner. I know that You will set these sins I have committed before me and require an accounting of the sins which I have knowingly and unpardonably committed, but neither convict me with fitting judgment, nor chastise me in Your Anger. Lord have mercy on me for though I am weak, I am also the work of Your Hands. You have granted me to revere You, Lord, but I have done evil in Your Sight. Against You only have I sinned, but I beg You, Lord, judge not Your servant for if You will severely mark iniquity, who will survive it? For I am in a sea of sin and am neither worthy nor sufficient to behold and gaze upon the height of heaven for the multitude of my innumerable sins. Who will raise me up? Who has fallen into such evils and transgressions? Lord God, in You have I hoped. Have mercy on me, God, according to Your great mercy and do not reward me, as my deeds deserve. Rather convert, uphold and deliver my soul from the evils implanted in it and from fearsome designs. I will praise and glorify You all the days of my life. For You are the God of those who repent and we glorify You with Your Father without beginning and Your All Holy, Good and Life-Creating Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Fifth Prayer – Saint John of Damascus

Lord and Master Jesus Christ our God, You alone have the power to absolve sin. Because You are Good and love all mankind, forgive all my iniquities committed in knowledge or in ignorance. Make me worthy to partake without condemnation of Your divine, glorious, pure and life creating Mysteries, that I may incur neither punishment nor an increase in my sins, but receive cleansing, sanctification, a pledge of the Life and the Kingdom to come, protection, an aid, a turning aside of my adversaries and the blotting out of my many transgressions. For You are a God of Mercy, Loving Kindness and Love for all mankind and we glorify You Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Sixth Prayer – Saint Basil the Great

Lord, I know that I partake unworthily of Your Pure Body and Your Precious Blood, my Christ and my God. Yet emboldened by Your Loving Kindness I come to You for You have said, "Those who eat My Flesh and drink My Blood abide in Me and I in them." Therefore, be merciful, Lord and do not rebuke me, a sinner, but deal with me according to Your mercy. And let these Holy Things afford me healing, cleansing, enlightenment, protection, sanctification of soul and body, the averting of every fantasy, evil practice and operation of the devil which works within me. Let them give me confidence and love for You, amendment of life and perseverance, an increase in perfection and virtue, the fulfillment of Your Commandments, communion of the Holy Spirit and a provision for the journey to eternal life and an acceptable answer at Your Dread Judgment Seat, but neither for judgment nor condemnation. Amen.

Seventh Prayer - Saint Symeon the New Theologian

From lips besmirched and heart impure, from unclean tongue and sin stained soul, receive my pleas, my Christ. Neither overlook my words, my way of speech, nor my annoyingly persistent cry. Grant me the boldness to express all the things for which I long, my Christ, and teach me all that it is fitting for me to do and say. More than the harlot have I sinned. When she learned where You were visiting she brought myrrh, boldly came there and anointed Your Feet. As You, Divine Word, did not cast her out when she came in eagerness of heart, detest me not. Rather give me Your Feet, I pray, for my embrace and my kiss. With the torrent of my tears, as with an ointment of great price, let me dare to anoint them. Purify me, O Word, in my own tears and cleanse me with them. Forgive my errors; grant pardon, for You know the multitude of my sins. You also know the wounds I bear. You see the bruises of my soul. Yet You know my faith, You see my eager heart and hear my sighs. From You, my God, Creator and Redeemer, not one tear is hidden, nor even part of one. Your Eyes know my imperfection, for in Your Book are found those things which are yet unfashioned. Behold my lowliness; behold how great is my weariness. Then God of the entire world, grant me release from all my sins, that with a clean heart and conscience filled with holy fear and a contrite soul, I may partake of Your most pure and spotless Mysteries. The one who eats and drinks with a pure heart has life and divinity. For You have said, my Master, that "those who eat of My Flesh and drink of My Blood do indeed abide in Me and I am likewise found in them."

My Master and my God, this saying of Christ is completely true. For one who shares in these Divine and Deifying Graces is not alone, but is with You, Christ, the Triple Radiant Light Who enlightens the whole world. You see that for this I have drawn near to You with tears and contrite soul. Thus, I dare to hope in Your good deeds for us, I partake – both rejoicing and trembling – for I am but grass in fire and behold, a strange wonder! I am refreshed with dew, beyond all words, just as in ancient times the bush burning with fire was not consumed. Therefore, thankful in mind and heart, thankful with all my body and all my soul I worship You, magnify and glorify You, my God for You are blessed both now and to all the ages. Amen.

Eighth Prayer - Saint John Chrysostom

Lord Jesus Christ, my God, absolve, remit, forgive and pardon me, of all the errors, transgressions and trespasses which I have committed before You – whether in knowledge or in ignorance, in words, deeds, thoughts or intentions. Through the intercession of Your All-Pure Mother, Your heavenly hosts and all the saints, who through the ages have been faithful to You, count me worthy to partake without condemnation of Your Holy and Precious Body and Blood for the healing of both soul and body and for the elimination and the cleansing of my evil thoughts. For Yours is the Kingdom, the Power, the Glory, the Honor and the Worship of the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Ninth Prayer – Saint John of Damascus

I stand before the doors of Your temple and I refrain not from evil thoughts. But You, Christ my God, justified the tax collector: You showed mercy to the woman of Canaan and opened the Gates of Paradise to the Thief. Open to me the depths of Your love for all mankind and receive me as I draw near and touch You, even as You did the harlot and the woman with the issue of blood. The latter merely touched the hem of Your garment and immediately received healing and the former, clinging to Your Pure Feet, obtained the release from her sins. But, I in my pitiful state, dare to receive Your Whole Body. May I not be consumed, but receive me even as You received those others and enlighten the feelings of my soul, cleansing my sins; through the prayers of the one who gave You birth without seed and of the heavenly powers, for You are blessed to the ages of ages. Amen.

POST-COMMUNION PRAYERS (UOC-USA PRAYER BOOK)

Glory to You, O God! (3 times)

Lord my God, I thank You that You have not rejected me, a sinner, but have allowed me to be a partaker of Your Holy Things. I thank You that You have permitted me, though unworthy, to have a share in Your Most Pure and Heavenly Gifts. Master and Lover of Mankind, Who for our sake died and rose again and gave us these Awe-inspiring and Life-giving Mysteries for the benefit and sanctification of our souls and bodies: let these Gifts be for the healing of my own soul and body, for the averting of every adversary, the illumination of the eyes of my heart, the peace of my spiritual powers, an unashamed faith, an unfeigned love, the realizing of wisdom, the observance of Your Commandments, the receiving of Your Divine Grace and the inheritance of Your Kingdom. Preserved by them in Your holiness, may I always be mindful of Your Grace, no longer living for myself, but for You, our Master and Benefactor. May I then pass from this life in the hope of Eternal Life and attain to the Everlasting Rest where the voice of those who feast is unceasing and the unending delight of those who behold the beauty of Your Face is inexpressible. For You, Christ our God, are truly the ineffable joy and desire of all those who love You and all creation sings Your praise to the ages of ages. Amen.

Second Prayer following Communion

By Saint Basil the Great

I thank You, Christ, Master and God, King of the Ages and Maker of All Things, for all the Good Gifts You have given me and especially for the participation in Your Most Pure and Life-creating Mysteries. Therefore, I pray, Gracious Lord, Who loves all mankind, that You preserve me under Your protection and beneath the shadow of Your Wings. Grant that even to my final breath, I may partake worthily and with a pure conscience of Your Holy Things for the remission of my sins and for Eternal Life. For You are the Bread of Life, the Wellspring of Holiness, the Giver of all Good and we glorify You, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Third Prayer following Communion

By Saint Simeon the Translator

You Who willingly give Your Flesh to me as Food, Who are a Fire burning the unworthy; let me not be consumed, my Creator. Rather, enter into all my members – my joints, my inner being and my heart. Burn the thorns of my iniquities. Purify my soul and sanctify my reasoning. Strengthen my joints and bones. Enlighten my five senses. Bind me completely with reverence for You. Always shelter, guard and keep me from every soul-corrupting word and deed. Cleanse, purify and harmonize my being. Beautify me, grant me understanding and enlighten me. Show me to be the Habitation of Your One Holy Spirit and no longer the abode of sin, that having become Your Dwelling Place because of the Communion of Your Holy Mysteries, every evil deed and passion may flee from me as from fire. As intercessors, I bring all the Saints: the leaders of the Bodiless Hosts, Your Forerunner, the Most Wise Apostles and with them, Your undefiled, Most-pure Mother. Accept their prayers Christ, my Merciful One and make me a Child of Light. For You, Good One, are the only Sanctification and Enlightenment of our souls and to You, as God and Master, we worthily render glory day by day. Amen.

Fourth Prayer following Communion

May Your Holy Body, Lord Jesus Christ our God, be for me Life Eternal and Your Precious Blood for the remission of my sins. May this Eucharist grant me joy, health and gladness. At Your Dread Second Coming make me, a sinner, worthy to stand at the Right Hand of Your Glory, through the intercessions of Your All-pure Mother and of all Your saints.

Fifth Prayer following Communion

To the Birth-Giver of God

All Holy Lady, Birth-Giver of God, light of my darkened soul – my hope, my shelter and refuge, my consolation and joy; I thank you for accepting me, the unworthy one, as a communicant of the Most-pure Body and Precious Blood of your Son. In that you gave birth to the True Light, enlighten the intellectual eyes of my heart. As the one who carried the Fountain of Immortality in your womb, enliven me, slain by sin. Merciful Mother of the Most-merciful God, full of loving kindness, have mercy on me, grant me contrition and compunction of heart, humility in my thoughts, and the ability to recall my reasoning from its captivity. Make me worthy, until my final breath, to receive the sanctification of the Most Pure Mysteries without condemnation, for healing of soul and body. Grant me tears of repentance and confession, that I may chant hymns and glorify You all the days of my life, for blessed and glorified are You to the ages. Amen.

Master, now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3 times)

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

All-Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our transgressions. Holy One, visit us and heal our infirmities for Your Name's sake.

Lord, have mercy. (3 times)

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our Daily Bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.

For Yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Depending upon which Liturgy was celebrated, one of the following Tropars and Kondaks are said.Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom

Tropar, Tone 8

Grace shining forth from your mouth like a beacon has enlightened the universe, disclosing to the world treasures of generosity and showing us the heights of humility. Since you instruct us by your words, Father John Chrysostom, intercede with Christ God, the Word Himself, to save our souls.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Kondak, Tone 6

From heaven you received divine grace and by your lips you teach all to worship the one God in Trinity, All-blessed and Venerable John Chrysostom. Worthily do we extol you, for you are an instructor who reveals things divine.

Now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Liturgy of Saint Basil the GreatTropar, Tone 1

Your voice has gone out to all the earth and it has received your word. By it you taught divine doctrine making the nature of things, which exist, clear and giving good order to human behavior. Venerable Father and Royal Priest Basil, intercede with Christ our God, that He may save our souls.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Kondak, Tone 4

You appeared as an unshakable foundation of the Church passing down an inviolate dominion to all mortals, sealing it with your teachings, Venerable Basil, revealer of Heaven.

Now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.Bohorodychnyi, Tone 6

Protection of Christians not put to shame, unwavering Mediation before the Creator; despise not the prayer of sinners, but because you are good, quickly come to help us who call on you in faith. Be swift to intercede and make haste to supplicate, Birth-Giver of God, who always protects those who honor you.

Lord, have mercy. (12 times)

More honorable than the Cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim. You, Who without defilement did bare God the Word, true Birth-Giver of God, we magnify You.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen

Lord, have mercy. (3 times)

Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayers of Your Most Pure Mother and all the saints, have mercy on us. Amen.