Follow the following link for pictures and a short video of Fr. Maximos's sermon.
http://www.nycathedral.org/
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Archimandrite Maximos visits the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin protection in NYC
On Sunday, February 26th, Archimandrite Maximos, Fr Parthenios and Father Siluan visited the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection in NYC.
Follow the following link for pictures and a short video of Fr. Maximos's sermon.
http://www.nycathedral.org/
Follow the following link for pictures and a short video of Fr. Maximos's sermon.
http://www.nycathedral.org/
Monday, February 27, 2012
St Seraphim on Failings
"You cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of him who gives and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a swamp that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil."
—St Seraphim of Sarov
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Forgiveness Sunday ~~ February 26, 2012
I believe in one God...
Beginning the Forgiveness Vespers
Bow your heads onto the Lord!
Forgiveness Sunday
Dear Brethren in Christ,
Greetings with the arrival of Great Lent!
Today, this last and final day before the 40-Day journey of Great Lent, on this very Sunday, we come in the ancient commemoration to "The Casting Out of Adam and Eve from the Paradise of Old".
What is Man?
Man, every man without exception -- body, soul, and spirit -- is made in "the image of God".
In the person of our forefather, the first man Adam, we all received the "spark" of Divinity, the "first-fruits" of the Spirit, the "in-breathing" of God's very own Divine Breath, "eternity" in our hearts -- the call and summons to be sons of God!
But, we have slipped from our initial bearings.
We have lost our footing.
We have become uncentered and unhinged.
We have been exiled from our ancient delight.
It is for this reason that we now enter symbolically into that time, to use the words of the Holy Prophet Moses, of "The Coats of Skin", that mixed providential blessing of "mortality and corruption", the divinely salvific subjection to that feeling, that sense, that ever-present and gnawing awareness (in both body and soul) of having somewhere, somehow, along the way, "fallen apart"!
We, with Adam and Eve, are cast out of Paradise.
We, with them, are fallen.
We, with them, are subject to the pain, heartbreak and exigencies of our own mortality and corruption.
We, with them, have seen and beheld our own falling apart!
In the glorious and succinct phrase of St. Cyril the Great - ancient Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt: "we suffer the tumult of stupid propensities."
But, as St Athanasius the Great, his predecessor, has told us, "Without temptation, there is no salvation!"
Thus we see the ancient, biblical meaning, often repeated, of "The Time of the 40" -- 40 days or 40 years of "trial and testing".
The number 40 is the image of our earthly wandering, a time of exile and dryness before we reach the Promised Land with Jesus, who is our "New Joshua" who leads His People into "a land flowing with milk and honey", the land of the Resurrection!
And while "The Time of the 40" is a time of mourning with Adam and Eve, a time of fasting with the Children of Israel in the wilderness or with the Ninevites (of the Prophet Jonah's day), it is also a time of joy, a time of revelation - a time of revalourizing our senses and regalvanizing our minds.
In "The Time of the 40" we strengthen our resolve to identify with the Lord Jesus in his time of the 40 days in the wilderness beyond Jordan after His Baptism.
Just as the 40-Day fasting period in the darkening Autumn and Fall of the year (November/December) awaits and prepares for the Nativity in the flesh of Christ our Saviour, so this 40-Day fast awaits the New Springtime of Christ's saving Passion, Harrowing of Hell, and glorious Resurrection!
And so, brethren, let us gladly and warmly forgive and love one another, and "let us call brothers even those that hate us, for the sake of the Resurrection, and so let us cry: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!"
Let us forgive our neighbour (and even our enemy) just as Christ has forgiven us, for, as St John of Kronstadt said:
"Do not confuse man, the image of God, with the wickedness that is in him, for the wickedness is only accidental, his misfortune, a sickness, an illness of the devil; but his being, the image of God, still remains."
In that spirit, let us struggle!
Asking your forgiveness,
Archimandrite Maximos and the Brotherhood of the Holy Cross
Greetings with the arrival of Great Lent!
Today, this last and final day before the 40-Day journey of Great Lent, on this very Sunday, we come in the ancient commemoration to "The Casting Out of Adam and Eve from the Paradise of Old".
What is Man?
Man, every man without exception -- body, soul, and spirit -- is made in "the image of God".
In the person of our forefather, the first man Adam, we all received the "spark" of Divinity, the "first-fruits" of the Spirit, the "in-breathing" of God's very own Divine Breath, "eternity" in our hearts -- the call and summons to be sons of God!
But, we have slipped from our initial bearings.
We have lost our footing.
We have become uncentered and unhinged.
We have been exiled from our ancient delight.
It is for this reason that we now enter symbolically into that time, to use the words of the Holy Prophet Moses, of "The Coats of Skin", that mixed providential blessing of "mortality and corruption", the divinely salvific subjection to that feeling, that sense, that ever-present and gnawing awareness (in both body and soul) of having somewhere, somehow, along the way, "fallen apart"!
We, with Adam and Eve, are cast out of Paradise.
We, with them, are fallen.
We, with them, are subject to the pain, heartbreak and exigencies of our own mortality and corruption.
We, with them, have seen and beheld our own falling apart!
In the glorious and succinct phrase of St. Cyril the Great - ancient Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt: "we suffer the tumult of stupid propensities."
But, as St Athanasius the Great, his predecessor, has told us, "Without temptation, there is no salvation!"
Thus we see the ancient, biblical meaning, often repeated, of "The Time of the 40" -- 40 days or 40 years of "trial and testing".
The number 40 is the image of our earthly wandering, a time of exile and dryness before we reach the Promised Land with Jesus, who is our "New Joshua" who leads His People into "a land flowing with milk and honey", the land of the Resurrection!
And while "The Time of the 40" is a time of mourning with Adam and Eve, a time of fasting with the Children of Israel in the wilderness or with the Ninevites (of the Prophet Jonah's day), it is also a time of joy, a time of revelation - a time of revalourizing our senses and regalvanizing our minds.
In "The Time of the 40" we strengthen our resolve to identify with the Lord Jesus in his time of the 40 days in the wilderness beyond Jordan after His Baptism.
Just as the 40-Day fasting period in the darkening Autumn and Fall of the year (November/December) awaits and prepares for the Nativity in the flesh of Christ our Saviour, so this 40-Day fast awaits the New Springtime of Christ's saving Passion, Harrowing of Hell, and glorious Resurrection!
And so, brethren, let us gladly and warmly forgive and love one another, and "let us call brothers even those that hate us, for the sake of the Resurrection, and so let us cry: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!"
Let us forgive our neighbour (and even our enemy) just as Christ has forgiven us, for, as St John of Kronstadt said:
"Do not confuse man, the image of God, with the wickedness that is in him, for the wickedness is only accidental, his misfortune, a sickness, an illness of the devil; but his being, the image of God, still remains."
In that spirit, let us struggle!
Asking your forgiveness,
Archimandrite Maximos and the Brotherhood of the Holy Cross
Saturday, February 25, 2012
The Venerable Bede - Faith
"You believe that God is one. You do well.
The demons also believe, and they tremble." (James 2:19)
They alone know how to believe in God who love God, who are Christians not only in name but also in action and [way of] life, because without love faith is empty. With love, it is the faith of a Christian —without love, the faith of a demon.
—The Venerable Bede, "Commentary on James"
Friday, February 24, 2012
Everyone shall give an answer to God for himself.
"Do not be irritated either with those who sin or those who offend; do not have a passion for noticing every sin in your neighbour, and for judging him, as we are in the habit of doing. Everyone shall give an answer to God for himself. Everyone has a conscience; everyone hears God's Word, and knows God's Will either from books or from conversation with other people. Especially do not look with evil intention upon the sins of your elders, which do not regard you; "to his own master he standeth or falleth." Correct your own sins, amend your own life."
—St. John of Kronstadt
The Perfect Person's Rule of Life:
The Perfect Person's Rule of Life:
The perfect person does not only try to avoid evil. Nor does he do good for fear of punishment, still less in order to qualify for the hope of a promised reward.
The perfect person does good through love.
His actions are not motivated by desire for personal benefit, so he does not have personal advantage as his aim. But as soon as he has realized the beauty of doing good, he does it with all his energies and in all that he does.
He is not interested in fame, or a good reputation, or a human or divine reward.
The rule of life for a perfect person is to be in the image and likeness of God.
—St. Clement of Alexandria
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Sunday of the Last Judgement ~~ Feb 19, 2012
Hierodeacon Michael censing the church
Candles for prayers
Fr Zosima, Fr Cornelius and Rdr Bill
Fr Siluan
Archmandrite John
Icon of Meeting of the Lord
Hierodeacon Michael censing the altar
Censing the church and people
Getting ready for the Gospel
Reading the gospel
Rdr John
Rdr Bill listening to the gospel
Fr Michael reading the Gospel
Fr Zosima preaching on the last judgement
View into the altar
The altar
Rdr Elias
Archimandrite Maximos
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