“For this cause have I obtained mercy: that in me first Christ Jesus might show forth all patience, for the information of them that shall believe in him unto life everlasting.” (1 Timothy 1:16) As we read in this verse, no one is beyond the reach of God’s mercy. Saint Paul, once a blasphemer and […]
Our Spiritual Mother, the Most Holy Theotokos
The Most Holy Theotokos, Ever-Virgin Mary, is honoured in the Church as the true Mother of God, the one who bore the Word incarnate without corruption. She is not a symbolic figure nor an abstraction of idealised womanhood—she is the living Ark of the Covenant, the ladder by which God descended and through whom mankind […]
The Immense Charity of God Toward His People
In today’s world where the love of God is often distorted into permissiveness or sentimentality, the Holy Church proclaims a truth far older and far holier—that divine love is covenantal, cruciform, and consuming. It is not a feeling but a reality, not abstract but sacramental. This brief article reflects on the nature of God’s love […]
Fellowship with Christ Revealed in Love for Others
A strong relationship with Christ cannot be hidden. It manifests itself in how we treat those around us. The Lord said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Love for Christ is not an isolated, internal affair. It flows outward. A man who […]
St. Thomas—A Witness of the Wounds
The Sunday of Apostle Thomas, known in Russian as Antipascha (“opposite Pascha” or “after Pascha”), is the first Sunday following the Feast of the Resurrection. It commemorates the Apostle Thomas’s encounter with the risen Christ eight days after the Resurrection, as recorded in John 20:24–29. This event is central not only to the post-Resurrection appearances […]
Will All Who Believe in the Gospel be Saved?
“All will be saved who believe faithfully in the entire Gospel and order their lives according to its saving commandments. However, those who do not fully believe in the Gospel will not be saved, as Christ declared: ‘But whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments (that is, the Gospel commandments) and teaches men […]
True Faith and Salvation
In this homily I want to offer a bold and uncompromising reflection on a particular statement made by St. Arseny Uralsky, a hierarch of the Old Believers’ tradition, whose teaching stands in stark contrast to the diluted religiosity of the modern age. Citing the words of the Lord from John 3:36 and Mark 16:16, St. […]
The Real Presence of God
In an age of noise, distraction, and spiritual confusion, many have forgotten the reality of God’s presence. They chase after visions, feelings, and signs, thinking that God must be summoned or provoked to appear. But the living God is not like the idols of the nations. He does not hide behind curtains of emotion or […]
Sermon for Holy Pascha – 2025
Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen! Today, my beloved in Christ, we stand not at the grave of a dead teacher, not before the tomb of a fallen prophet, and not at the end of some moral philosophy. We stand before the empty tomb of the Living God. Death has been conquered, the grave […]
Walking the Narrow Way of Christ
The words of our Saviour in Matthew 7:13-14 stand as a sharp rebuke to the easy-going spirit of this present age, and to every soft-hearted delusion which imagines that the Kingdom of Heaven is obtained without effort or cost: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that […]