TEXTS IN ENGLISH

In one of the Sunday Gospel readings we hear the parable of the Royal Son’s wedding feast.

In a direct historical sense this parable refers to the Jews, who were called, but who disdained the honor of their heavenly calling. However, just like the entire Gospel in general, this particular parable is not limited to a single meaning, but contains greater depths.

Abba Poemen teaches us that we should be careful not to undertake efforts too great for us. This gives the proper perspective in relation to the efforts praised in selections 3 and 4 above. It is better to make slow and steady progress with moderate efforts than to become discouraged or to miss the goal altogether with efforts too great for us.

Sorrow and suffering cleanse a person. By sorrow one becomes stronger; one starts seeing the world and oneself in another light. This is also a manifestation of God’s will when God grants the person something. The person might misunderstand it at first but after such an ordeal, such a cleansing, he or she will see other people differently. He or she will become a different person.

The fact is that the “Christmas spirit” is the best thing that has ever happened to consumer society. It is equated with the unending desire to buy new and more sophisticated things. Even charitable organizations are caught up by all this hype. “Give a kid a Christmas” as one local radio station advertises, really means to allow others to participate in the bliss of consumer heaven . . .

The Angel of our Church has departed to pray for us before the Lord in Heavenly monasteries. Words are powerless to express our grief. These 18 years of the Church life will remain with me forever. I see his inquisitive look, his slightly ironic smile, “Well, how is it going?” “So, have you already felt yourself a priest?”

For the Russian Orthodox belivers, it has been difficult to come to terms with the death of Patriarch Alexy II, who presided over the re-establishment of the Church for almost two decades following Soviet repression. The indefatigable head of the Russian Church sought reconciliation and a bond with society through faith in Christ, against the forces of history and inevitability. However, beyond his death, the memory of Alexy as Patriarch, championing belief, love and forgiveness through God in Russian society, will remain vibrant, meaningful and spiritually strengthening.

Like the captain of a great ship, he guided the Russian Orthodox Church through troubled waters, rejecting those who would take the Church backwards to pre-revolutionary monarchist times, and at the same time rejecting those who would liberalize the Church and make it something other than it had always been.

I gave this talk for the Western New York Council of Orthodox Churches, Sunday Night Lenten Vespers Series, on the evening of the Sunday of St. Grtegory Palamas...

Biografia Archimandrite Gabriel (Vuckovic)

LET'S HELP THE RENOVATION OF LEPAVINA MONASTERY