Reflection on Thomas Sunday
On eighth day, our Lord appears to Thomas, passing through closed doors. When the Lord appeared on the first day of the week, in the evening immediately after his Rising…
Reflections in Christ
Reflection on the Great Feast of our Lord’s Resurrection
On this feast of feasts, I pray that each of us would experience the grace and truth that have come into the world through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ’s Resurrection…
Homily for Holy Friday
Today, we gather around the throne of God, to honor in silence the King who rests upon that throne, as was spoken by the Prophet Habakkuk: The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep…
Homily on Palm Sunday
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. “Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us together, and we all take up thy Cross and say: Blessed is he that…”
Reflection on the Great Feast of Our Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem
In the troparion for this two-day Feast of Palms, we sing: “By raising Lazarus from the dead before thy Passion, thou didst confirm the universal resurrection, O Christ. Like…
Reflection on the Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt
Today is the fifth and final Sunday of Great Lent: though our fasting continues, the Forty Days end this coming Friday, to be followed by the brief but liturgically distinct two-day Feast of Palms, which…
Reflection on Akathist Saturday
Just a few days ago, we celebrated the Annunciation to the most holy Theotokos; now, we dedicate a whole liturgical day to her akathist hymn. This akathist is truly one of the great treasures…
Reflection on the Great Feast of the Annunciation
The creation of the world began with God’s fiat, his “let there be” (Gen. 1:3). Today, the recreation of the world begins with the fiat of the most holy Theotokos, her “let it be” (Lk. 1:38). St. Gregory…
Reflection on the Sunday of Saint John of the Ladder
Our venerable father John, whose memory we keep this day, instructs us thus: “Blessed dispassion lifts the mind that is poor from earth to heaven, and raises the beggar from the dunghill of the…”
Remarks at the Funeral of Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia
His Holiness Patriarch Ilia once explained how one of his hymns came to be written. He said: “There were days, months and years when the church was in a very difficult situation. I could not find the way anymore…