Sunday, February 22, 2026: Cheesefare Sunday
ROMANS 13:11-14:4
MATTHEW 6:14-21
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ! Well, the time is upon us. Our contest is at hand. We are being called to awaken out of sleep. We have all been weighed down with the various enjoyments of the flesh and of the world. Our minds are heavy and fuzzy. And our bodies are even heavier.
I encourage all of you as we begin Great Lent to remember, those of you who are older in the faith and those of you who are new, to understand that you are about to experience the grace of the Church. The contest which you are about to enter into, the race that you are to run, the battle that you are about to fight, is not one that you fight on your own, but rather all your brothers and sisters, not just here in the parish, but around the world, we are all in the same contest.
And as we endeavor to pray and to fast, we need to remember that our prayer and our fasting is to a single aim, a single goal, and that’s repentance. Because it’s in our collective repentance that we cast off the works of darkness, as St. Paul mentioned. It’s in our collective repentance that we begin to shed the envy and the strife and the pettiness and all the disputes that weigh us down, that keep us from running as the athletes that we are meant to be.
And it all begins with tonight and the work of forgiveness. And our forgiveness is the first and in many ways the greatest of the weights in which we have to shed. We have to shed the weight of resentment and bitterness and envy and jealousy and worldliness and all the things that cause us to be at enmity with our loved ones. All the things that cause us to be at enmity with our brethren. But more importantly, all the things that cause us to be at enmity with God. Because ultimately, it is God which you are envious of. It is God which you are striving against. Not your brother, but God.
God is the One Who gave your sister the things that you are envious of. God is the One Who gave your brother the thing that you are envious of. God is the One that you are striving against. And in the Great Canon this coming week, we’ll hear of how we were expelled from paradise, and that expulsion from paradise, we begin to become heavy, weighed down.
And so the contest before us of Great Lent is this time in which we prepare. We prepare for repentance, and in repentance, we will enter into the Resurrection. So I encourage all of you, my sons and my daughters, my brothers and my sisters, gird your loins well, because every Lent is a contest, but this one in particular, let us all struggle well.
Let’s not take for granted the time that God has given us, but let us push in. Let all those empty prayers and empty promises we’ve made throughout the year, let them be fulfilled now. There are these moments in your life when the check is due, if you will. Lent is one of those times. Pay the vows you made to the Lord all throughout the year, and you did not come through. Pay the vow to the Lord all those times you promised Him that you would do better, and you didn’t the next day.
Now is your excuse. Now is your time to actually be the person that you want to be so badly, but feel like you can’t. Now is the time, because we’re all in the same boat, and we’re all doing it together. Together, we’re strong. But pay your vows. May God grant all of us good strength in this fast. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, February 16, 2026: St. Symeon the God-Receiver and Prophetess Anna
3 JOHN 1:1-14
LUKE 19:29-40; 22:7-39
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ is in our midst! In the Gospel, we have this enigmatic statement from our Master. He has prepared his supper. He has strengthened and fortified his disciples. And He gives them this word. He says to them, basically, before I sent you out without anything, relying essentially on My provision, on the provision of the Father. But now when you are sent out, get a knapsack. Get provisions needed. He who does not have a sword, let him get a sword. And the disciples come back, and they say, Lord, we have two. And He says, It is enough. It is enough.
This enigmatic statement, like so much of our Lord’s words, there are many things that we can learn from it. But on this day and on this feast, the feast in which we are commemorating the righteous Symeon and the prophetess Anna, we are reminded of swords again. We think of the seven swords that pierced the heart of our Mother. And Symeon utters this word, this prophecy to her.
We think of how her heart is pierced with the flight into Egypt. We think about how her heart is pierced with our Lord being lost three days in the temple. We think of how her heart was pierced by seeing our Lord falsely accused and arrested. We see how her heart was pierced by seeing her Son being mocked and humiliated, suffering pain and torture on the road to Golgotha. We see Our Lady’s heart being pierced with a sword of the ultimate pain of seeing not simply her Son, but God being crucified, being killed. And finally, we see this sword of His being taken down and then ultimately buried.
These swords pierced the heart, according to the prophecy of St. Symeon, the elder Symeon, of our dear Mother. And in the Epistle of the beloved John today, he says to not imitate evil, but to imitate good, and those who do so will be like God. One example our Holy Mother sets, to be wounded and to yet still love the world, to bless the world, to be so firm in her love of God and God’s love for her that she’s able to bear such wounds.
There’s no deeper pain than for a Mother to see her Son being tortured, but how much more so when her Son is innocent? How much more so when her Son is Love Incarnate? There’s no deeper pain, and yet she reviles not, she seeks not vengeance, but even to this day prays for the same world that crucified her Son. So according to the example of our holy mother, who is the first Christian, what are we to make of our Master’s statement when He says, two swords is enough? The temptation could be to see this as “an eye for an eye,” to make sure that you are prepared on the material plane, but this would be a mistake. This would be a mistake.
We know that when our Lord returns, according to the revelation of John, the same beloved who wrote the Epistle this morning, John says in his vision of the apocalypse of our Lord Jesus Christ that He came and he had a two-edged sword coming forth from his mouth. What is this two-edged sword? It’s the Word of Truth, and the Word of Truth cuts. Why? Because the Truth of the Lord is undeniable, and yes, it’s facts, but it’s undeniable in the fact that it is filled with love, and it is in this love that the greatest of wounds happen.
Our Fathers tell us that true judgment is the disappointment of love. Saint Paisios says this, that the greatest pain of judgment is that of disappointment, the disappointment of love, that we look into the eyes of the God Who loved us, created us, and suffered for us, and He would see that we had failed. That disappointment is what cuts us.
What sword is sharper than that? Every word of our Lord is true, and every word of our Lord is filled with the cutting truth of love without fail, the same love that His Mother has for the world even to this day. That’s the same love that he calls for us to pick up and to carry, never one of vengeance, but one of a truth and a love that cuts deeper than any sword ever could. We are blessed to have such a Mother as the Theotokos, and to have her Son as our Master and our King, because both of them usher us into a life that is filled with love and guarded by truth.
These two swords of love and truth, these are the things that defend the kingdom, these are the things that defend the hearts of those who love God and wish to be like Him. Through the prayers of our Holy Mother, may the Lord Jesus Christ grant us the love that cuts.
Friday, February 13, 2026: St. Nicetas, Sts. Cyrus and John; St. Brigid, Sts. Perpetua & Felicity (translated)
2 JOHN 1:1-13
MARK 15:22-25, 33-41
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ is in our midst! In the Gospel, we see our Lord and our Savior. He’s upon the cross. And He is in a place of the deepest of communion. His heart is reaching out; His whole being alive with this impending death. And I use this odd phrase “alive with this impending death,” because in this moment, right before He gives up His spirit, He cries out to His Father, “Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani.”
And in this deepest of communions, we see that man to this day still doesn’t understand the fullness of what this means. Something almost impenetrable. Yes, we can understand certain doctrinal aspects of it. We can see that in His utterance here, there is this severing of an old covenant and the beginning of a new. We see the beginning of the end of the nation of Israel being about a specific genealogy, that covenant ending, but a new one about to begin. This is there. This is true.
But something so much deeper and profound is the mystery, which no theologian has been able to pontificate truly upon, because it is the deep, deep communion between the Father and the Son. And man too often seeks to look into these things and can make errors. This communion is a perfect one between Christ, the Logos, and His Heavenly Father. But there’s even a deep communion between us and our Father. And it goes in a different direction where the Father is seeking to speak with us, to align our hearts with His.
But because of our sins, and our sin oftentimes being manifested in the type of immaturity of spirit, we don’t quite have the faculty or the means to understand what the Lord, what our Heavenly Father is speaking to us. And so oftentimes, this is where error is made. And this error is never instigated or led by the Father. But it too often comes from our seeking to understand on our own time, in our own way. And that lack of immaturity demonstrates itself here, because the Father will speak something and yet we will misunderstand it, we’ll misinterpret it.
Today we commemorate St. Nicetas of Novgorod among all the many saints, St. Brigid, St. Perpetua, and Felicity, St. Cyrus, and John, many saints, but with St. Nicetas in particular.
We see Nicetas has this desire, and we know that this desire is implanted by God because we know the end. But at the beginning and the middle of the story, it is not so clear, because Nicetas in his desire, in the desire that was given to him, he finds himself stumbling through. He wishes for prayer, he wishes to be a monastic, a monk that is close to God, and yet he finds himself in disobedience to his abbot. He finds himself falling into prelest, he finds himself seeking to be a bit further along than he is, and so he finds himself attempting to be a hermit in a cave without a blessing. And as we know, the devil comes as an angel of light and deceives him for a period of time.
Now the emphasis that I wish to put on his story is this, there was something that was there, actually. There was something in Nicetas that he was responding to, but in his immaturity, he responded at his own time, in his own flesh, by his own means, and it brought him into error. In the same way in the Gospel today, the error of those seeking to understand what Christ is saying, “Eloi, Eloi, oh, is he calling Elias? He’s calling Elias. That’s what He’s doing. Let’s wait and see if Elias will come for Him.”
They could not understand the deep communing that was happening between Christ and his father. They knew something was happening, but in their lack of spiritual maturity, men misunderstood, and Nicetas, in his lack of spiritual maturity, he misunderstood that what God was speaking to him was a deep communion.
But for a period of time, Nicetas saw that as ambition, and he saw that God’s calling was a calling of a matter of rank, notoriety, privilege. It was no such thing. God was calling him to a still, quiet life, one in which he would hear God clearly.
We will all have these moments. We will all have these moments in which we are to measure our life up to Christ. It begins with the saints. We measure our lives up to the saints, but eventually we want to start looking at our life in the light of Christ, in the events of Christ. And this moment in particular, when this impending doom is coming upon our Lord, we also see the deepest of the communion with his Father. This is also something that we will all have to pattern, whether it’s due to a betrayal here in this world, in this time, in the spring of your youth, or whether it is at those final moments before your spirit leaves.
There will be a time for this beckoning of the deepest of communion with the Father. Do not look for man to understand what is happening. Your loved ones who are with you, who are witnessing what’s happening, they oftentimes will not truly understand what is stirring.
You may not understand what is stirring within your heart, but be still and know that He is God. And allow that deepest of communion to never be sullied by the impetuousness of a rational mind, of an ambitious thought. Let the stillness of love and the humility of trusting in the Father on high be the thing that guides you and anchors you and fulfills that deep calling and communion.
Through the prayers of Saint Nicetas and of all the Saints, have mercy on us. Amen.
Wednesday, February 11, 2026: Translation of the relics of St. Ignatius the God-bearer
1 JOHN 4:20-5:21
MARK 14:43-15:1; MARK 15:1-15
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ! In today’s Gospel, the Evangelist Mark, he’s telling us about Jesus being betrayed. And he speaks about something that’s very sad. He talks about how Judas, who was the friend of Jesus, who was His disciple, betrayed Him. But also Peter, who was also one of the disciples and one of his closest friends, betrayed Him.
And this Gospel is very sad, obviously, because Jesus is, you know, God, and Jesus is so kind and merciful. And Jesus is loyal. Jesus is loyal. I think this is what’s important for us to learn about this virtue called loyalty. And understand why loyalty is so important. See, loyalty is when we stick with someone, when we stay with someone out of love. And even when things become difficult, situations may become difficult, we stick with that person because we love them. When Jesus was being betrayed, he’s being betrayed because Judas didn’t really have that love for Jesus. Judas loved an idea of something. Jesus was not measuring up to that idea. And so Judas betrayed him.
But Peter, Peter is a little different also, because Peter loved Jesus. And Peter thought that he loved Jesus really more than he actually did. But what happened? Peter got scared. And in Peter’s fear, that became more important than his love for Jesus.
This is a really important lesson for us. Because all of us learn something. When we’re very young, we learn loyalty firsthand from our moms. Your mom is one of the first people you learn loyalty from, and your dad, but your mom really, especially because your mom, she loves you. And she cares for you, even when she’s sick, doesn’t she? And she loves you and cares for you. Even when things might be scary, you know, if something happens, like if there’s a dog that’s running and coming at you, most moms will put themselves in front of her child and let herself get chewed up before she lets the dog chew up her kid.
See, that’s love. And that’s loyalty. Right? The mom loves the children that she has more than herself. And this is something that God values so much. And so God has given us moms and dads, right? Dads do the same thing for their wives and for their children. And God gives us this desire in our hearts to be loyal to our children, right? Because we love our children. And by doing that, our children learn to love God.
See, when you watch your mom and you watch your dad and their loyalty to one another, and their loyalty to you, you’re seeing an icon of what God wants for you. God wants you to grow up to be loyal men and women who love their families, who love their wives and their husbands and their children.
But even more importantly, if someone, children, when you grow up, that you’ll be adults who love God, and they will be loyal to God. And that even though the world may not believe in Jesus when you grow up, you know, when you get older, you’re going to have friends and people you work with that do not believe in Christ and may even hate Christ. And this is why it’s so important to learn loyalty now to Jesus. So that no matter what happens, that you stay loyal to Jesus. Because remember this, even though Peter denied Christ, even though Peter wasn’t loyal to Christ, Peter never, Christ never denied Peter. And so Jesus will always remain loyal to us.
Even if we fall, God always makes room for forgiveness. And this is the most important reason why we should be loyal. Because Jesus is the one Person that will never betray us. Jesus is the one Person that our loyalty will always go rewarded. Always. Jesus will never fail us. If we’re faithful to Him, He’ll be faithful to us. But even if we fail, even if we stumble, He’ll still be faithful to us. So it’s important that we learn that loyalty is something very important to God, but it should be very important to us. We should be people who want to be loyal to our loved ones, but especially be loyal to God. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, February 9, 2026: Translation of the relics of St. John Chrysostom
1 JOHN 2:18-3:10
MARK 11:1-11; JOHN 10:9-16
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ! In the epistle of John the Beloved, he warns of the spirit of antichrist going out into the world, and yet there is one still to come. At the end of this Epistle, he says that those who are of God cannot sin. Those who are of God cannot sin. It’s puzzling to us, because especially in this modern, dark age, we, those of the faithful, we recognize that we do have sin. We do commit sin. So how are we to understand the words of St. John?
The temptation can be to relegate it to another time. And this is very common for people. They say, “Well, these things were of a different age. People lived differently. They had different dispositions. They were closer to the coming of the Christ, and so therefore they had the strength to live in ways that were seemingly impossible to us.” And I think that there is some validity to that type of argument, but I don’t think it’s accurate, actually. I don’t think it really communicates what’s happening, not just in the Epistle itself, but the spirit in which John was trying to communicate to people who were, shall we say, being crushed under the heel of not just a political occupation, but rather the weight of the world and of the devil.
One of the mistakes people can make is they can project a naive perspective, a naive vision, a naive interpretation of the faith, and especially of those ancient times. No, I don’t think it’s a matter of people having lived necessarily different or sinless as opposed to now.
You see, today we are commemorating St. John Chrysostom, the translation of his relics, and thanks be to God we have his relics with us today. But what’s interesting is St. John, if you study St. John, you study the homilies of St. John, the life of St. John, you are struck with something pretty profound, actually. And it’s something that’s especially profound in this modern time, and that is this: St. John was always, shall we say, exhorting the people.
We know from the writings of St. John that the people were loud even then, not just on Sundays in Kansas City. We realize from the writings of St. John that there were various debaucherous acts that were still being practiced among the faithful, even in his time. So what are we to do with this? I think we can start to see that St. John – the Beloved, not St. John Chrysostom – St. John the Beloved is speaking about something fundamentally deeper.
Getting back to St. John Chrysostom. St. John, as we are all familiar with, was exiled and died in harsh exile. Let us be clear: Exile is not going to the Cayman Islands for a rest. He went to a godforsaken place with such poverty that the very trip itself essentially killed him. Yes, we just had a cold snap, and it was cold, it was difficult – it was nothing compared to what St. John endured. It killed him. And St. John dying in this extreme poverty, the last words he uttered was this, “Glory to God for all things.”
Glory to God for all things. What am I talking about? Have you ever been betrayed? Do you know the bitterness that can arise in you, and choke out the very life in your spirit? Have you ever suffered chronic pain? On and on and on. All these things that St. John suffered, and yet he says, “Glory to God for all things.”
How is that? Because St. John’s love, not just for God, but for the people, it allowed him to see, not with some naive eyes, but with transfigured eyes. He had the vision of Christ, and he saw things, he saw people as Christ saw them. He saw the people of God as Christ saw them.
Glory to God for all things. What does this mean? It means that those who are in Christ, even to what the world may say is sin, for the faithful, it becomes the place in which they learn. For the faithful, it becomes the place in which they are purified. For the faithful, it becomes the place in which they are deified. All things have their place. Yes, including the quote-unquote sin of the faithful.
This is a powerful mystery, and one that we must be very careful and not play with. Because as St. Paul says, So we’re not speaking of this. We’re not speaking of some distorted moralistic teaching. We’re talking about something profoundly mystical. That God in His wisdom preserves His people, even in the midst of what everyone else would say is sin.
In the Gospel today, the first Gospel, the Lord commands the disciples to go and to untie a colt, mysteriously. What is this colt? Who are these people who have the colt? Why is it that they were able to hear this word and say, “Okay”? Because God arranges things in such a way that they are beyond our understanding, and yet they have their purpose. This was the same donkey that He rode into [Jerusalem on]. And yet the context in which He arranged that is mysterious, and we’ll not know it really until the end of the age.
But nevertheless, glory to God for all things. God in His mysterious way has everything fit in just such a way that He preserves his people. And in preserving His people – even in the midst of exile, poverty, pain, betrayal – they cry out to Him, “Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord!”
This is only possible for those who have been touched, those who have been shepherded, and those who have been loved by the Christ. Through the prayers of St. John Chrysostom, Lord, help us to see with new eyes that all things in Your hands are for the good of Your people. Amen.
Sunday, February 8, 2026: Sunday of the Prodigal Son, New Martyrs of Russia
1 CORINTHIANS 6:12-20
LUKE 15:11-32
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ is in our midst! Today, with this well-known parable of the prodigal son, there is so much that we can reflect on. We can reflect on the disposition of the older son, his bitterness, his resentment. We can reflect on the selfishness of the younger son, his willingness to take what his father – and safe to assume his grandfather and his forefathers, had struggled to earn and to pass down to him – to take it, it means nothing to him. In fact, to have such disdain for his father, to essentially say, “I wish that you were dead.” I wish that you were dead, because you only inherit inheritance from one who has passed on. So to say, “Give it to me now,” is basically saying, “I wish you were dead.”
So this profound selfishness of the son, we could meditate on all these things. But this year, I think we should meditate on the goodness of the father, and here’s why. Because the same goodness of the father, the father who saw his son, who wished him dead, and ran out to him in love and abandon, who cared not for anything except for the love of his son. This father who was not tethered down by bitterness, he rightly could have said, “Well, at least let him come to me.” This same father who could have said, “Well, it’s good that he’s not dead, but we’ll save the calf for the older son.” The same father could have said, “Hmm, I’m glad he’s back, but maybe I should teach him a bit more of a lesson. Maybe I will make him a hired servant for a couple months.”
This was not found in the father. He was filled with generosity, with love, with forgiveness. He’s filled with hope. The thing I want to share with all of you is: understand this. That same generosity and hope, that same love, all the good things that we see in the father, that was there present in both sons. In times of stress, in difficult times, we see who we really are. That’s who you really are. And even more than this, in these moments where we are tempted, on a, shall they say, psychological or rational level, it would have made sense for anyone in this room to say, “Well, he’s back,” and to not have that generosity. That would make sense, but this was not in the father. The father’s love defied everything that is rational and normal to us. That was in each one of his sons.
In the Epistle today, St. Paul said that all things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial. And he talked a lot about sexual immorality and the sinning against oneself. I would say to all of you to consider this: What is it that causes us to leave our inheritance? Don’t think money. Don’t think status in life. Think about the selflessness, the mercy, the generosity. Think about all these things that God has put inside of us. What causes us to leave that?
Because that’s who we are truly supposed to be. And yet we find ourselves hating our Father, running from Him. We find ourselves embittered like the older brother, self-righteous, indignant. Both the older brother and the younger brother hated their father. They both did. But hear this warning: At least the prodigal wasn’t deluded anymore. He came to himself and he realized, “All that my father has… He’s generous even with the servants.” He came to himself, but the older one, the good boy, he was so deluded. He was so deluded that he thought that he was being good and righteous like his father. And he wasn’t.
They both missed and they both squandered their true inheritance. It wasn’t the money. It wasn’t the calves. It was the love. It was the generosity. It was the things that live on forever. This is what both sons squandered. And so this is our inheritance as Orthodox Christians. The generosity, the love, the long-suffering, the patience, the self-control. All these things demonstrated by the father are in us if we choose.
And this is the key thing. We must choose these things. Because of all the things that the father did to demonstrate his goodness, the one that is most terrifying is the strength of giving freedom to his children, to both of them. The father did not constrain the younger one from running. He let him do what he was going to do. He let him slip into madness. And make no mistake, the father was not ignorant of the self-righteousness and the bitterness and the delusion of his older son. But how was he to cure his son of this? By forcing him? No. He has to wait for him to also come to himself and to see. The father is generous. The father is kind. The father is long-suffering. But above all these things, the father is wise. Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us.
Friday, February 6, 2026: St. Xenia of St. Petersburg, St. Sophia of Shamordino
1 JOHN 2:7-17; GALATIANS 3:23-29
MARK 14:3-9
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Christ is in our midst. Amen. Holy devotion. When we think of the Lord, what comes to our mind? Are we riddled with guilt? Are we riddled with a tainted sense of obligation? Are our hearts filled with fear? Not the fear of disappointment, but the fear of a slave, the fear of punishment. What are our hearts filled with when we think of the Lord?
Today we commemorate St. Xenia of St. Petersburg. We also commemorate the nun Sophia of Shamordino. Both these women having a period of their life being marked by a measure of devotion to their husbands. But ultimately, their devotion was fulfilled, completed in their devotion to Christ. This devotion is one that is marked with the fear – not the fear of punishment, but the fear of disappointment.
This devotion is marked by obligation, not the obligation of dry, barren duty, but the obligation of devotion. Their love is marked by the same love as the woman who poured out the costly spikenard, anointing the Lord Jesus. The Lord says in the Gospel, she’s done a good thing unto Me, preparing Me for burial.
It’s in this remembrance, knowing of the Lord’s sacrifice, this is what drives their devotion. This is what should drive our devotion. Interestingly enough, when we think about St. Xenia, we can remember her devotion to her husband, Andrei, who dies in a game of poker, dies in his passions. And yet, her devotion to him causes her to be wandering about the streets, wearing his coat, being called by his name.
But I would say to you, her devotion was so much greater for Christ. In fact, it was the trust that she had that Christ would see her works, see her devotion, see her obligation, and see her holy fear, that she would abandon the conventional pleasures of life, if you will. And undertake the hard podvig of being a Yurodivy, not simply being homeless and being without shelter, but being derided, being ashamed. Not so unlike that woman who strove humbly, but courageously in that room, filled with religious leaders, filled with men, and exposed herself in a very intimate way, caring not about any derision, but driven completely by devotion.
This is a place beyond morality. This is a place beyond the conventions of religion. This is a place of eternity, of love. We still remember her works. This is what should drive us. In fact, it is the thing that, beyond driving us, inspires us, because we love Him Who loved us first, who laid His life down for us.
And may we too be driven by devotion. We may not have costly spikenard, but we have our tears. We have our faith. We have our willingness to be humiliated or derided, just like St. Xenia. We can offer these things in devotion. Through the prayers of St. Xenia, the nun Sophia of Shamordino, Lord have mercy on us and accept our devotion.
Wednesday, February 4, 2026: Holy Apostle Timothy, St. Anastasius
2 PETER 3:1-18
MARK 13:24-31
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Christ is in our midst!
Have you ever been watching a movie, maybe with some friends or some family, and there always seems to be somebody who wants to talk throughout the whole movie? Do you know what I mean? Or you’re watching a movie and there’s always somebody who is kind of commenting on what’s happening. You know, “Oh, it really wouldn’t happen this way,” or “Oh, no, no, no, this is actually like this.”
You know what I’m talking about? It’s really hard for you to enjoy the movie, because this person or people, they have what we call a running commentary. They’re always talking about what’s happening in the movie and not allowing you or anyone else to enjoy the movie, to see how the plot is moving along, what the end of the movie is going to be like.
Does this make sense? Yeah. Well, in the Epistle today, St. Peter is talking about people who are scoffers. People who kind of like watching the movie, you know, the narrative or the plot line of this world, which is this: God created the world; God sent His Only-Begotten Son, Jesus, to save the world, to help the world become what it should be; and Jesus is coming again one last time.
And when Jesus comes again, He’s coming to make the whole world be brought together and cleaned, I mean, whole. Now, to us, two hours is a long time, right? Like sitting through Liturgy is a long time, huh? It’s hard sometimes, right? You get the wiggles and it’s hard to sit still. That’s how adults feel when it’s tax time. It’s hard for us. It just takes forever.
Well, the apostle also said that a thousand years to us is like a day to the Lord. And a day to the Lord is like a thousand years to us. So the thing is, is God’s timing isn’t like our timing. And so because of that, there’s lots of people who they’ll say, “Oh, Jesus isn’t coming back. My grandma used to say this stuff. Oh, Jesus isn’t coming back. That’s something they say to scare people.” And instead of watching the movie, they would rather talk and give a running narrative of what they think is going to happen, and the whole time things are happening right before their eyes. And they can’t see it because they’re too busy talking about what they think versus what’s actually happening. Right.
And the sad thing is sometimes that can distract other people also. Other people cannot pay attention to the movie, to the signs that are given because everyone else is too busy talking. So what are we to do? What are we to do? Well, we should never become scoffers ourselves. And even though people may feel the need to talk and to give commentary, the best thing that we can do is we can keep our eye looking for Him who is yet to come. Because Christ will still come.
And now here’s the trick: Christ is coming again on the clouds, like it said in the Gospel. But before then, perhaps Christ will come for each one of us at some point in time at the end of our life. So whether Christ is coming at the end of our life here now or Christ is coming for everyone one last time, He’s still going to come. And the question is, will we be paying attention or will we be distracted? The key thing is for us to keep focused, which is so hard, but we have to. Because we don’t want to miss that glorious day when our Lord and Savior comes for us. Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers and the Apostle Peter, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.
Monday, February 2, 2026: St. Euthymius, Day of the Angels
Christ is in our midst. Blessed Seraphim Rose of Platina asked St. John of Shanghai about the end of the world, and when it would come. How would we know? St. John began to relay to him the Gospel.
St. Seraphim, Blessed Seraphim, he says to him, but the Gospel’s been preached to all the nations already. Why has the end not yet come? St. John replies to him, a Gospel has been preached, but not the Orthodox Gospel. It has not been preached to the whole world.
The first Gospel today speaks about the Gospel going forth to all the nations. And then our Lord, He goes on to speak about how men will basically hate those who are bringing the Gospel, the raging of the nations. And this raging of the nations is not about bringing religion to man. It’s not about bringing a type of Christianity to man, because that Christianity has been brought and preached worldwide. Much preaching, writings, books, televangelists, all giving their opinion, all giving their spin on what Jesus says, Who Jesus is. And yet, the end has not yet come.
The second Gospel today, the Lord lifting up His eyes, looking upon his disciples, and proclaiming the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Now we start getting somewhere. We start understanding something. And yet it’s still abstract, isn’t it? The poor, the meek, those who mourn.
How are we to really understand this in the light of the Gospel has to be preached to the nations, that brings forward the kingdom? Today we are commemorating St. Euthymius the Great. St. Euthymius is one of these many lights that have illumined the universe. St. Euthymius, being one of the great pillars of monasticism, reveals something very powerful to us, which is this Gospel that St. John of Shanghai was speaking about. You see, the Gospel is lived out in its entirety in obedience. And monasticism is the expression of holy obedience, or at least it’s supposed to be.
And that expression of holy obedience is the Orthodox Gospel. It is the Gospel that the world needs to see, and it is the Gospel that the world has yet to see, actually. Because as I said a couple of minutes ago, the world’s heard plenty of yapping, plenty of televangelists and books, but what the world has not seen is the Angelic Life.
The world has not seen what it looks like for mortals, for men and women to become something other, to become like angels. This the world has not yet seen. And part of this is because it’s difficult, and we find ourselves in a conundrum, because as the world grows older, monasticism grows weaker. We see less and less opportunity for this obedience. We see less and less opportunity for this cutting off of the will. We see less and less opportunity for the greatest of love.
St. Euthymius preached obedience, incessantly preached obedience. He says that a monastic is to cut off their will. And yet even in this we find a mystery. St. Euthymius at one point, pursuing deep hesychia, deep silence, was bidden to come back to a monastery where his friend had been given charge, and he would not return. And you say to yourself, Aha, even the great St. Euthymius didn’t obey. No, he did obey. He obeyed something higher. And this is the key for us. It’s not in how we interpret the thing, it’s in how it is.
And in order for us to see how the thing is, whatever the situation is: Where is Christ? And this is the key. Because the obedience isn’t just obedience in regards of discipline. The Stoics do that. The obedience isn’t just the obedience of making yourself exercise, or accomplish a task that you like. This means nothing. The obedience rendered unto God, rendered unto Christ, now this is something.
Why? Because He is obedience. He’s the very incarnation of it. He’s the embodiment of it. He who thought it not robbery to be equal with the Father. He Himself eternally gives Himself up in obedience to a shameful, painful death. Not in a moment in time, but for all eternity. His very image is Him upon a cross, ashamed, naked, beaten, broken, holy, perfect, dignified, and obedient.
May God help us. May God help us to be faithful to this true vision of what the Gospel is. Because as the Gospel said also, those who endure to the end, these are the ones who are saved. Through the prayers of St. Euthymius, Lord Jesus Christ, grant us life-saving obedience.
Sunday, February 1, 2026: Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee
2 TIMOTHY 3:10-15
LUKE 18:10-14
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ! Saint Paul, in his Epistle today, he says that even men at that time, evil men, will increase, growing worse and worse. Deceiving others, and being deceived themselves. Deceiving others, and being deceived themselves. What a terrible, horrific thing, to be deceived. It’s terrible. And we look upon people who deceive others, rightfully so, as wretched. But understand that, to be deceived, and in this context, to be deluded, is a terrifying thing, it’s madness. It’s hellish.
In the Gospel today, we have a publican and a Pharisee. We have one man who has been deluded, and another one who is coming out of delusion. The publican, the cares of the world, the seduction of riches, of power, these are the things that would lead a man to oppress his brethren. This would lead a man to live a life contrary to God’s nature. This delusion is what the publican was under. However, and more terrifyingly, we have a Pharisee who is in full-blown delusion. A man who has taken the very things that would be given to him for his salvation, and has turned them into a complete disdain and affront of God.
Worse than a demon. Worse than a demon, because demons understand that they’ve chosen to come against God. And demons have the honesty to own their disdain for God. The Pharisee thinks that he serves God. The Pharisee thinks that he loves God, but actually he’s affronting God.
You see, God does not give us fasting and alms because he’s pleased with fasting and alms. God gives us fasting and alms so that we can become humbled, so that we can become transparent, so that we can be like Him, so that we can be in fellowship with Him. But when we lose sight of that, something terrible happens. We become deluded with our prayers, and our vocations, and all of our religious costumes.
The Pharisee did something absolutely unspeakable. He misrepresented God. The way that parable should have gone down is this: The Pharisee going up into the temple saw the man who was a publican and prayed for him. The Pharisee went up into the temple and saw the man who was the publican and had empathy for him. The Pharisee who went up into the temple and saw the publican lowered himself before the man.
This is what God does. This is what the Pharisees were called to do. This is what we’re all called to do. This is what the Church is called to do. But when we fall into comparison and we start judging our brother or our sister, understand unequivocally, without any subtlety, without any nuance, you are disdaining God. And the more you try to fight to justify your judgment and your comparison of your brother and your sister, just understand the more that you are entrenching yourself into this demonic state because you are affronting God. You are disdaining God.
Comparison leads to judgment, and judgment leads to deicide. The killing of God. You strike your neighbor down, you’re striking God. Now, the publican on the other hand – this is not to justify his injustice or his cruelty, quite the opposite. In fact, his injustice and his cruelty was the very thing that awoke him out of his delusion. He realized who he was, and he humbles himself.
One man compared, and in doing so disdained God. The other one had simplicity, had humility, had honesty. He saw who he actually was. He didn’t blame the Romans, he didn’t blame the Pharisees, he didn’t blame his parents, he blamed himself. And in doing that, God justified him. The Pharisee looks at the other and compares and judges and disdains God. The other one has his eyes only on himself. That is true spirituality.
Our tradition, our Church, our faith is not about judging others, comparing others, debating others, proving you’re right above others. Our tradition, our faith, our spirituality is about looking at yourself. And as we approach Holy Lent, what an opportunity. Don’t look at your brother’s plate. Keep your eyes on your own plate. Why? You’re eating beans and lentils instead of steak and hot dogs. God doesn’t care. But He will begin to care if you begin to exalt yourself because you’re not eating faux meat, you’re going hardcore. You see all these little tricks that come in to make us feel good about ourselves?
Last week we talked about Zacchaeus. And how Zacchaeus’ insecurities caused him to become a bit of a villain. But those insecurities rightly used his short stature, facilitated him seeking God. Because Zacchaeus sought God, God came to him and gave him grace. And Zacchaeus became this example of repentance.
The publican sees his sinful self honestly. And that honesty allows him to be humble before God and God justifies him. The Pharisee, on the other hand, he takes the things of God. God robed him in dignity. God gave him authority among the people. God opened the Scriptures and the teachings of the traditions to him. And he used that to spit in God’s face and to disdain God.
Holy Lent comes. And Holy Lent comes for you to seek God. Not for you to show everyone else how righteous you are. Not for you to lose a couple pounds. Lent is here for you to actually give the tithe of your time out of the whole 365 days. And for once in the year, go for it. Actually seek God. Don’t play church. Don’t play holy person. For once. Everyone is trying to do the same. Hopefully. Get after it. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t be a Pharisee. We come and we pray; we don’t come and we perform. We fast; we don’t diet. We pray; we don’t prance. May God grant us spirits that not only will be humbled, because here’s the key: May we have spirits that actually love God above ourselves. And if we have that, then God will justify us. And God will be most pleased.
Through the prayers of St. Mary of Egypt, Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to actually pray and to seek Your face. Amen.