Give Me A Word

In this homily for the great feast of Pentecost, Fr Vincent Temirov demonstrates how Pentecost, like Pascha, is about the transformation of the human condition. In Christ’s Resurrection, we die and are resurrected with Him; at Pentecost, our new resurrected nature is shaped and molded by the Church and is filled with the Holy Spirit. It is our responsibility then, to ensure that we continually open our hearts to this transformation of the Holy Spirit, so as not to let our Orthodox faith become a mere intellectual assent to religious tenets.

On this Sunday before Holy Pentecost, the Rev. Dr Bogdan Bucur gives some historical background on the feast of Pentecost and how it was celebrated in ancient Israel, primarily as a celebration of the giving of the Law. Connecting this to the feast of Ascension, Fr Bogdan points out how Moses ascended Sinai to bring back the gift of the Law to Israel, and Christ ascended to Heaven to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield opens his sermon on the feast of Holy Ascension by calling us to recognize how unique and powerful the Orthodox view of the human body really is. The accounts of our Lord during the 40 days after His Resurrection leading up to His Ascension all involve physical actions–partaking of food, traversing a road, touching the wounds left by the nails and the spear, and finally, Christ ascending bodily up to heaven. Fr Chad encourages us to meditate on three themes in the Gospels having to do with the body: Christ our God becoming incarnate as a human with a body, inviting us to partake in His Body through our physical partaking of the Holy Eucharist, and promising the resurrection of all believers into His Heavenly Kingdom.

The story of Christ’s healing of the man born blind, read on the last Sunday of Pascha, is far from a simple account of one of the many miracles our Lord performed. The Very Rev. Alexander Rentel explains that this story is also a radical warning to the spiritually blind, those who are incapable of seeing the glory of the Lord because of their blind belief in their own knowledge and righteousness. We must take extreme care to always submit ourselves to the Lord in humility and faith.

On the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, Fr Vincent Temirov highlights how gentle the Lord’s interaction with her was–He called her to purify herself first by confessing her sins, and then offered her “living water”. In this same way, we are called to repent of our sins to remove all obstacles which hinder us from partaking in the life of Christ.

At the Divine Liturgy on the day of Commencement for the Class of 2023, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon (OCA) called all in attendance, especially those preparing to begin their ministry to always accept the will of God. This acceptance is the beginning of humility, a virtue that enables us to escape the sins that ensnare us.

Why does the Orthodox Church take care to note the exact midpoint between Pascha and Pentecost? Fr Bogdan Bucur shows us how this celebration is meant to help us understand the deep connection between Christ’s Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. We cannot truly taste the resurrected life of Christ without the Holy Spirit working in us. Father Bogdan invites us to consider what it means to live the life of Christ through receiving the Holy Spirit.

The Sunday of the Paralytic coincides with the commemoration of Saint Alexis Toth this year, and the Very Rev. Dr Chad Hatfield weaves together the missionary work of St Alexis, the need for help expressed by our post-pandemic catechumens, and the healing help our Lord gave to the man lying by the pool for 38 years, encouraging us to see the common thread of the Lord’s great saving work for His people.

When we look at the story of the Myrrhbearing Women, we see that they offered the best of what they could to the Lord, despite the detraction of the disciples. Likewise, advises Fr Bogdan Bucur, we must always strive to offer the best of ourselves—even if it feels like we don’t have much to offer to God, inviting Him to move and work in us. The Lord accepts us even in our sinfulness, turning our humble offerings into something greater and more whole to fulfill His purpose.

On Thomas Sunday, Fr Vincent Temirov encourages us to remember the apostle Thomas not only for his initial doubt in the Resurrection of Christ, but more so for the heartfelt confession he made upon encountering the risen Lord. “My Lord and my God” is one of the most complete acknowledgements of Christ and His nature in the Gospels; we are called to contemplate our Lord’s Resurrection, so that we too may confess Christ like Thomas, in fullness of faith.