Nuns from Belarus to speak at St Nicholas this Sunday

Sisters Olga and Natalia, two nuns from the Orthodox Monastery of St. Elizabeth in Minsk, Belarus, will speak at St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, on Saturday July 29 , after Divine Liturgy (about 11 AM).

The monastery is situated on the premises of a state-supported psychiatric hospital that treats about 12,000 patients a year. The sisters offer spiritual help to the mentally disabled adults and children, alcoholics, drug addicts and other disadvantaged people. The monastery has also acquired a parcel of land where about 60 people -- previously homeless, alcoholics, drug addicts, or prisoners -- live and work. The sisters try to help them start a new life. Work has begun on the organization of an orphanage.

On the premises of the monastery are a variety of workshops producing religious items such as hand-painted and printed icons, ceramics, embroidery, beeswax candles, vestments, woodwork, and CDs.

The sisters will speak and show a film about their life and service and accept donations for their charitable work and for the further construction of the monastery.

The sisters should be arriving Friday, and celebrate the services for the Apostles Peter and Paul with us (Friday 6:30 PM, Sat liturgy 9:00 AM) and possibly vigil on Saturday.

Call 972 529-2754 for more information.

The icon was painted at St. Elizabeth's of Soviet-era martyr Pavlin, Bishop of Mogilev (1879-1937)

4th Sun after Pentecost, Freedom and Slavery, Romans 6:18-23, Matthew 8:5-13

4^th Sunday after Pentecost, 2002

Freedom and Slavery

NOTE:

This coming Sunday, June 30/July 13th, 2008) is the 4th Sunday after Pentecost

See the bottom of this post for links to other homilies for this day

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

Freedom. The epistle today mentions freedom. Freedom is a favorite word in our society. So few know what freedom is. The Apostle says, “Being then made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness.” Then he says, “I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh.” He is speaking of an exalted topic that only can be understood with spiritual knowledge, and the only way to obtain this knowledge is by spiritual struggle. Our weak will, desiring to do works of righteousness, being joined to the Powerful Will, to the Everlasting Will of God to make us capable of doing those things which are righteous.

He’s going to give us a way of thinking, sort-of a mnemonic device that you should take to heart and use because it is a very useful device. He says, “as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members servants unto righteousness, unto holiness.” In other words, just as before you were enslaved to various sins, now consider yourself a slave to righteousness. Just as before – or even, God forgive us, even now perhaps – you have been a slave to a particular way of thinking or doing something, think of yourself now as being required to do works of righteousness, just as if you had a taskmaster behind you ordering you to do your work.

Now, he is speaking in the manner of men because of our infirmity.

Actually, the only way to understand how the heart is compelled to do righteousness is to compel yourself. Then you will understand how sweet the Lord is, how beautiful His doctrines are, and how there is nothing more perfect, and more holy, and more fulfilling than to follow God’s law.

So he says, “for when ye were servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.” In other words, you didn’t do righteousness, you did sin, and you couldn’t stop yourself. But what Jesus Christ offers us is the power to become holy! Now He offers us that we would become, willingly, His servants. Now, at the end of the age, those who have been good servants He will call friends, no longer servants. But we, in the here and now with all of our sins and all of our forgetfulness and our intransigence, should consider ourselves to be servants – servants of a Benevolent Master, not having a choice whether we should do righteousness or not. Our Lord commands it so we do it.

“What fruit did we have in these things,” the Apostle asks, “wherein ye are now ashamed?” The things that were unrighteous only gave us pleasure for a season, and then we were unhappy. The end of these things is death. He is giving us another idea here, something we should call to mind often. He is saying, “The end of these things is death.”

In order to be able to think such a thought, we must be able to look towards the future. We must be able to see our actions not in the moment, but after the moment, perhaps even far after the moment. If we think of how unhappy we will be if we commit a sin, we will not commit many sins.

Think of your unhappiness after you have fallen into something that shames you. Think about your unhappiness about such a thing before you sin, and then you won’t sin. The end of such things is death. We know this!

We must learn to live for the future, not to live in the here and now, because after all, aren’t we supposed to be setting our eyes upon the heavenly Jerusalem? Isn’t that supposed to be our goal, our purpose: to become righteous so that we can be in the presence of God and not only not be ashamed, but be happy; to be completely free?

Imagine being completely free. Not freedom as the world defines it, to do what one chooses, choosing things that actually cause enslavement, but to be completely able to be righteous, to not be touched by any sin, to not have any wavering in our heart towards evil.

The Church thinks this is very important because in every service we say, “deliver us from tribulation, wrath, and necessity.” That necessity is enslavement to unrighteousness. People make excuses for their enslavements all the time. “Well, I smoke because it’s a bad habit I picked up and I haven’t been able to break it.” “I’m always so tired, so I oversleep.“ “You know, with all of the impure things all about, I just have so much trouble having pure thoughts.” These are all excuses. When you say such things, or even think such things, then you are saying, “I’m a slave to unrighteousness. My master is the evil one.”

How can we say such things? We are slaves to righteousness. Our Master is our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lived the life that He requires us to live. And He made us capable of living such a life. So we must consider ourselves slaves to Him. So when it comes time that there is a temptation for you, you have to say, “I can’t do that, I’m a slave. I don’t deserve to do that. I don’t have any right to do that. My Lord has told me to do the other thing. I’m a slave. I don’t have a right. I only have a right to do righteousness.” If you think in such terms, you will be saved from many, many sins.

Let freedom be that which is in your heart, brothers and sisters, which allows you to always choose correctly, and not to be forced to do that which is unrighteous. That’s the freedom God offers. It’s not the freedom that society offers. Their definition of freedom is that you can indulge in pleasures as you wish. But pleasures have a price. Indeed, even good pleasures have a price. Even the happiness that we will have with God has its price—our Lord paid that price. We’ve been bought with a price. So since we’ve been bought with a price, we’re no longer our own. We’re not owned by the devil, nor do we own ourselves – our Lord is our Master, so we must do as He tells us to do. And it just so happens that everything He tells us to do – every single thing – is for our welfare, so that we would become completely free.

All of us have things in our life that we wish we could change. Don’t you hate those things? Don’t just despise that you fall into something again and again? You don’t want to, and yet you do? Well, start thinking of yourself as a slave to righteousness, and then act as a slave would act when considering doing something. You have no right to commit that sin. You have no right to become angry at someone, because your Lord said that you cannot do that. You have no right to have a lustful thought, because your Lord said, “He who looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery in his heart.” And adultery is forbidden. You have no right!

You do have a right to do works of righteousness, and your Lord has given you a blanket blessing to do righteousness in whatever you do. You need not ask Him for permission to do righteousness. But He will check with you; He will require of you works of righteousness. But He allows you to choose, so that you can learn what true freedom really is. Freedom is always to make choices for righteousness – that is what freedom is. Freedom is to have no regrets, no unhappiness, to be complete, whole, lacking nothing.

What a wonderful thing freedom is! And what a terrible thing that this word has been hijacked in our society, to mean something it isn’t, to mean slavery and not freedom. You’ve been made free from sin by your baptism. The Lord has bought you with a price, now we’d best act like we’ve been bought with a price. And he says, “being made free from sin” – that is, being made capable of being free from sin. We’re capable of it. Don’t let anyone tell you differently, including the evil one in your ear. You’re capable of being free from sin because the Lord made you such. The Lord bought you with a price. And our Lord is a good trader; He doesn’t make foolish purchases. You’ve been bought with a price, so you’re capable of being free from sin. But you must give your will to the Lord, and give your struggles to the Lord, in order to realize this perfect freedom. Being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end – everlasting life!

So the Apostle teaches us, as it were, two ways of thinking, two mnemonic devices. One is that when you are presented with the possibility of sin or of righteousness, you say “I am a slave to righteousness. I have no right to commit that sin. I’ve been bought with a price. I’ve been made free as regarding sin. There is nothing compelling me to sin as long as I beg the Lord to help me.” And the other is that when you are presented with the possibility of sin, you think that the end of such things is death. “And if I endure but for a little while, I will have fruit unto holiness, and eternal life.

Every sin, every decision in your life, every fork in the road, you should be thinking these things. You have no right to sin. The Lord has told you. You don’t have a right to do it. He has told you that you must do righteousness. You must follow Him. You must desire to be righteous. And He will help you. But you are not a slave any more – not of unrighteousness. So don’t think of yourself as such. And if you fall into unrighteousness, then beg the Lord to forgive you, beg Him to strengthen your will, beg Him to bring to your mind your sadness in this moment so that in the next moment you will recall it and you won’t fall into sin.

This can only be understood by experience. Experience is the great teacher of the soul. The Lord, bit by bit, as we are capable, gives us enlightenment. But He only enlightens those who are struggling, only those who are trying, only those who know their position. And that is that they are slaves of Him. Now, He is a benevolent Master, and He doesn’t require of us anything, but we had best think that we are required! As soon as we turn towards righteousness even a little, He is there to help us. Let us turn to Him all the time, so that He will help us.

We have an example of experience in the Gospel. When I was thinking about the Epistle and the Gospel today, I thought I wanted to talk about both of them. Well, I can’t do that exactly, but I want to say something about Cornelius. A Centurion, he was a Roman. He was officially of a pagan religion. He couldn’t go into the synagogue. He couldn’t say that he was a Jew. But he had Jewish sacred writings, and he read them, and he loved the Jewish nation, and although he was an occupying soldier, the Jews loved him because he loved them. So when Jesus comes into Capernaum, Cornelius meets Him and says, “my servant lies at home sick of the palsy, paralyzed.” And Jesus says, “I’ll come and I’ll heal him.”

But Cornelius is a man with experience. Cornelius is a man who knows something about righteousness. He knows something about authority. He says, “I’m not worthy that you come under my roof,” partially because he is a pagan, and a Jew is not to go into a pagan’s household – it defiles him. “Only speak the word, and my servant shall be healed, for I am a man under authority, and I have soldiers under me. And I say to this soldier, ‘go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘do this,’ and he does it.” And the inference is, “I know how to do what I’m told, too.”

He was a righteous man – so righteous that the Lord said that He had not found so great faith, not in all of Israel. Now that must have made the Pharisees quite angry, don’t you think? Pointing to an occupying soldier, the hated enemy, of the army that they hoped the Messiah would annihilate, and have their blood flow in the streets, and say, “This man is more righteous than all of you put together.” Why was he righteous? Why did he have such faith? Because he knew about obedience. He expected those under him to be obedient because he was obedient to those over him. So let us know something about obedience, brothers and sisters; let us know something about authority. Let us realize that we are under the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Priest Seraphim Holland

St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney Texas.

Scripture for the 4^th Sunday after Pentecost

Romans 6:18-23 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Matthew 8:5-13 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

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Homilies on the 4th Sunday after Pentecost

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Freedom and Slavery
Romans 6:18-23, Matthew 8:5-13
2002
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2003

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2004

4th week after Pentecost - Tuesday - Matthew 11:16-20

4^th Week After Pentecost – Tuesday

Matthew 11:16-20 But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, 17 And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. 19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. 20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:

Who is who?

"This generation" is the Jews who were not accepting Jesus' preaching and way of life. They found excuses (with excuses in sins) to not follow the righteous way of life. They are also referred to as the "fellows" who would not listen to the rebuke of the "children sitting in the markets" (who are St John the Baptist and Jesus, and, by extension all righteous).

The righteous way of life "speaks" to the unrighteous, whether it be from St John or Jesus, or our poor efforts. They are hearing from their own conscience.

“To make excuse with excuses in sins”

The unrighteous judged the Baptist, because his way of life was too severe for them. He is indicated as one who "mourned". His dedication to righteousness was evident by the way he lived - and their judgment of him was a classic example of the judgment that people heap on others who are righteous because they are not righteous which the Lord described elsewhere: "Is thine eye evil because I am good?" (Mat 20:15) They were chastened by his way of life - it exposed the hypocrisy of their self-indulgence. Rather than repent, they used judgment of St John, with a fabricated charge (having a devil) to mollify their conscience.

They also judged Jesus, whose way of life did not appear to be as severe as St John's, so He is indicated as one who has "piped". This does not mean that Jesus way of life was frivolous merrymaking, but rather, that in the eyes of the Jews, his way of life was not as severe and physically self-mortifying as the Baptist's. Amazingly, they considered Jesus to be guilty of their sins, which they did not recognize in themselves (gluttony and drunkenness).

The self-indulgent sinner will be inherently judgmental of others, and very often, judges another for the very sins they commit. Feeling superior to others keeps us from seeing our own sins. Their prejudice against publicans and "sinners" made it easier to take the focus off themselves. Seeing someone who epitomized the love of God by loving all men cut them to the quick and challenged their prejudices.

In essence, both righteous men were judged for the same reasons - their conduct pricked the conscience of the Jews, and an unrepentant person does not want to be reminded of his sins, so he manufactures reasons to reject the person who pricks his conscience.

"But Wisdom is justified of her children"

Wisdom is another title Christ uses for Himself. The OT uses this title extensively also. The children of Wisdom are those who follow His way of life.

Justified is a word that encompasses righteousness. We are justified when we become righteous. Jesus is saying that He, Wisdom, will have righteous children - Christians.

We have the wrong idea of "justice" in our culture, which thinks of it as something that is imposed as a punishment on someone who has done wrong, or when something is given to someone to correct a wrong. This is not justice, but fallen human nature looking out for its own interests. Justice does not involve revenge or punishment. It is to live in a certain way - the way which Wisdom has taught us.

3rd Sun after Pentecost - 2008. The Light of the Body is the Eye, and other homilies

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The light of the body is the eye.
Matthew 6:22-33
2008

Matthew 6:22-33 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you

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Independence Day

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (U.S. Declaration of Independence)

Like all human governments, ours is an institution of this world, established as a matter of expediency "in the course of human events." And yet there is much that we have to be thankful for in this nation. Our nation acknowledges fundamental human rights, granted by God, which have often been denied in the course of history. We have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom to worship as we wish -- freedoms which many Orthodox Christians have not had during the Church's 2000-year history.

Let us be thankful for this gift, and let us show our gratitude to God by using it properly. How do we properly use our life, our liberty, our right to pursue happiness? By pursuing true life, true liberty, and true happiness. Our Lord said, Happy are the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, the peacemakers, the merciful, those who are persecuted for righteousness sake (Matthew 5:1-12). Let us use the freedom given us, imitate the life of our Lord, and thus attain to the fullness of life, liberty, and happiness!

There is nothing hidden / Нет ничего сокровенного

St. Theophan the Recluse. Thoughts for every day of the year

Translated from the Russian text below. Corrections are welcome.

(Rom 8:22-27; Mt 10:23-31). "There is nothing hidden, that shall not be revealed; nothing secret, that shall not be made known". It follows that no matter how much we hide our sins now, it will be of no use in the end. The time will come -- and is it far away? -- when everything will be made known. So what should we do? There is no need to hide anything. If you have sinned, go and disclose your sin to your spiritual father. When you receive absolution, the sin vanishes, as if it never existed. After that, nothing will ever be revealed or disclosed. But if you hide your sin and don't repent, then you are storing it up within yourself, so that it may be revealed as your accuser in due time. God has revealed all of this to us in advance, so that we may even now eliminate the accusation against us sinners at His righteous and fearful judgment.

Святитель Феофан Затворник. Мысли на каждый день года

из Веб-страници days.pravoslavie.ru

(Рим. 8, 22-27; Мф. 10, 23-31). "Нет ничего сокровенного, что не открылось бы, и тайного, что не было бы узнано". Следовательно, как ни прячемся мы теперь с грехами своими, пользы от этого нам никакой нет. Придет срок, а далеко ли он? - и все выйдет наружу. Как же быть? Не надо прятаться. Согрешил - иди и открой грех свой духовному отцу твоему. Когда получишь разрешение, грех исчезнет, будто его не было. Нечему будет потом быть открываему и являему. Если же спрячешь грех и не покаешься, то сбережешь его в себе, чтоб было чему обнаружиться в свое время на обличение тебя. Все это нам наперед открыл Бог, чтоб мы еще теперь ухитрились обезоружить Его праведный и страшный суд на нас грешных.

The Law of the Flesh / Закон Плоти

In today's epistle reading the Apostle Paul says, "in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. . . . O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

How clearly he has set forth for us the fruits of our fall into sin! Truly, who can deliver use from the body of this death? The Apostle answers, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." Thus we see that while the law of the flesh continues to war in our members, we need not live according to it, we are not subject to its power. Why?

Because "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." For "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Christ Jesus, our Saviour, gives us the ability to live not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit - the ability to serve not the law of the flesh but the law of God, not the law of death, but the law of Life! Glory to our compassionate Lord!

Russian version (Corrections are welcome):

В сегодняшнем чтении сказано Ап. Павла, "знаю, что не живет во мне, то есть в плоти моей, доброе; потому что желание добра есть во мне, но чтобы сделать оное, того не нахожу. Доброго, которого хочу, не делаю, а злое, которого не хочу, делаю. . . . Бедный я человек! кто избавит меня от сего тела смерти?"

Как дивно он обясняет плоды нашего грехопадения! Вероятно, кто может избавить нас от сего тела смерти? Апостол ответут, "Благодарю Бога моего Иисусом Христом, Господом нашим. Итак тот же самый я умом моим служу закону Божию, а плотию закону греха." Так мы видим что пока закон плоти постоянно пребывает внутри нас, нам не надо жит по нем, мы не порабошен нему. Почему?

"Потому что закон духа жизни во Христе Иисусе освободил меня от закона греха и смерти." Ибо "Бог послал Сына Своего в подобии плоти греховной в жертву за грех и осудил грех во плоти, чтобы оправдание закона исполнилось в нас, живущих не по плоти, но по духу." Христос Иисус, Спаситель наш, даст нам возможност жить не по плоти, а по духу, не служить закон плоти, а закон Божий, не закон смерти, а закон Жизни!