By Fr. Valery Zakharov
The Lord endows everyone with some talents. Some have
the gift of sharing, some have the gift of caring, some have the gift of
daring, and some have the gift of thanksgiving. Everything we’ve got is a gift from
God. We came into this world naked; we did not have anything. We’ve got what
we’ve got only thanks to his mercy towards us. We may imagine that we earned
this with our hard work, our own efforts, our diligence, which, by the way, is
also granted to us by the Lord. How long does a person have to live in order to
finally comprehend his connection with God and the mercy that the Lord pours
onto us every day and every hour, starting with the least noticeable things
like the ability to breathe?!
Sermon
after the Divine Liturgy on December 17, 2017
Pride engenders antagonism. One’s heart finds peace
when God dwells in it. When we are peaceful, God is with us. The rest is our
pride. I would like this gift of a peaceful heart that the Lord grants to us to
remain with us at all times, so that we wouldn’t get annoyed, bossy and so that
our words would be filled with this spirit of peace, calmness, and love.
Sermon
after the Divine Liturgy in the Boarding Home for
Children
with Special Needs on July 29, 2017
I’m not sure that we have truly mastered the ability
to love. That is why we must exercise it every day, every hour, and every
minute. We have the opportunity to learn to love while we are still alive. Love
is the language of the Heavenly Kingdom. There are no other languages in
Heaven: no English, no Russian, no Czech, no Bulgarian – the Heaven’s only
language is the language of love. We should use the time here on earth to learn
to love. We have everything we need to practise love: there are people around
us waiting for us to share our joy of being with God.
Sermon
after the Divine Liturgy in the Boarding Home for
Children
with Special Needs on July 30, 2017
By Fr. George Glinsky
Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyon wrote, “God became man so
that man could become a son of God.” It was made possible by the advent of the
only begotten Son of God, who came into our world so that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life, and thus revealed his
love. He makes every person free from the bonds of sin and pays for these
slaves with his own Son who becomes sin for us, accepting not only the
limitations of human existence (which had been caused by the Fall) but also the
entire abyss of the sin. Christ experienced the results of excommunication from
God to the full extent. Moreover, it is not just some legal quandary, as some
people tend to think. It reflects the quintessence of our relations with God.
This is why we hear during the Divine Liturgy on Christmas night, God hath sent
forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (cf. Gal.
4: 6). By having that Spirit, we are adopted by God and dare call him our
Father and pray to him like a child talks with his loving parent. Thanks to
being adopted by God and feeling that we are God’s children, we naturally lay a
great deal of trust upon God and expect him to lead us away from the abyss of
this life, with all its troubles, sorrows, and hardships, and to bring us into
the Kingdom of blissful life, the Kingdom of love where, as Apostle Paul wrote,
God will be all in all (cf.: 1 Cor. 15: 28).
Sermon
after the All-Night Vigil on January 10, 2018
When we speak about the salvation that Christ opens to
us, we say that we are waiting for him. He is the object of our aspirations and
the source of our salvation. With that said, we understand that the Lord
imposes some obligations on us. The Lord hopes that our lives will be so pure,
nice, and harmonious as to herald to the whole world about the Risen Lord and
the salvation that He brings. The people who see our good actions will praise
our Heavenly Father and receive salvation through Christ by accepting him as
their Saviour who unlocks the gate of the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, let us
be careful with our lives so as not to carry the filth that we have seen in
this world into the Church but instead uphold the Church as the pillar and the
support of the truth that spreads its light throughout the world.
Sermon
after the All-Night Vigil on January 16, 2018
By Fr. Eugene Pavelchuk
The Church is both divine and human. It provides us
with some kind of a grace-filled environment where we can change and get as
close to the ideal — that is, God — as possible. Each person has his own way of
connecting to God. The Lord said, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect. (cf. Matthew 5: 48).
True freedom can only be found in love.
The devil’s lie is that he wants to tempt our hearts
by passions, attractions, and lust, and divert us from the only true purpose,
which is the source of happiness and real life. It is God who is our life, joy,
and happiness. O Lord, don’t let me be hooked by this lie. Help me to remain
faithful, for yours is the Kingdom, and power, and glory unto the ages of ages.
Amen.
Sermon
after the Divine Liturgy on November 7, 2017
Sometimes people come to church for a confession or
for any other reason, and say, “Father, I have sinned, I rarely go to church.”
“Why do you go to church rarely?” “I have no time.” “How come?” “I’m busy.”
“What are you busy with?” “I have to work 12 hours a day.” What do you say to
that person? What do you say to yourself when you dive deep into the vanity of
this world and prefer to do less important things instead of focusing on the
most important ones? It’s like a cancer patient who doesn’t go to a chemo
because he has no time, he has a lot of work to do. Can you imagine that anyone
says so if they’ve realised that they’re terminally ill? I guess not. Why do
people say so when it comes to the healing of their souls and dealing with God?
It sounds irrational and silly but people still act like that. Instead of
saving their souls — instead of choosing God and prioritising him over
everything else, people are busy dealing with trivial things of vanishingly
minor importance.
Sermon
after the Divine Liturgy on December 12, 2017
By Fr. Rodion Alkhovik
People here on earth are afraid of the smallest
problems. They are ready to quit and abandon everything from the start just to
protect themselves from pain and difficulties. Nowadays we see that people give
up their children, their spouses, and try to run away from their problems with
the help of alcohol and mind-altering drugs. It is God’s grace that can help an
individual to solve these problems and not just put up with them but to stand
strong in the epicentre of those problems. Christians have always been in the
places where there were hardships, sorrows, and death. Common people were
running away from epidemics but Christians went there and died — but they kept
going there because they knew that Christ was there. Christ is where people
suffer and are ill. He says, In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of
good cheer; I have overcome the world. (Cf. John 16: 33).
Sermon
after the All-Night Vigil on December 20, 2017
The purpose of any kind of wealth that a person
possesses lies in sharing it with others. St Ambrose of Optina said that the
Lord makes a person rich in order to test how merciful and magnanimous he will
be as a Christian. There have been many cases when people used to be poor but
merciful and then received wealth and became greedy, selfish, disgruntled, and
angry. It’s easy to get mired in opulence and remain attached to money believing
that money is the meaning of one’s life. There are many people who say they
don’t have enough. We keep thinking about money; we would like to have more
money and better life conditions, and so on. However, the Lord who can see
through our hearts, gives us exactly as much as we need. That’s why if one
trusts in God and thanks him, he will have enough; but if a person is
ungrateful, he will want more and more. Our task is to learn to use the
resources that the Lord gives us, and to thank him for everything.
Sermon
after the Divine Liturgy on December 14, 2017
May 25, 2018
St.
Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION