The Path of the Cross

Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2025 by Mendicant Monk

Sunday, September 15/28, 2025
Sunday after the Exaltation
GM Nicetas the Goth

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Christ is in our midst. I would like to begin this morning with one of the weekday exapastoleiria for the Cross:

The Cross is the guardian of all the world, the Cross is the beauty of the Church, the Cross is the might of kings, the Cross is the support of the faithful, the Cross is the glory of the angels, and a scourge to demons.

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Forefathers and Ancestors of God

Posted on Saturday, December 28, 2024 by Mendicant Monk

Sunday, December 29, 2024

Colossians 3:4-11
Luke 14:16-24
Week of Holy Forefathers

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever. Today as we prepare for the coming of God in the flesh, the Church remembers the holy ancestors of Christ—the forefathers of God. We remember them both in this Sunday and the next when we read the great genealogy in the beginning of St. Matthew’s Gospel. So happy name’s day to all those named Adam, Eve, Abraham, Jesse, David, Zerubabel, Selathiel, Haggai (especially remembered for his prophecy about the Word without Beginning coming to a newly restored second Temple), and of course, Joseph and Mary, the Mother of God. Who all gets counted as a forefather or ancestor of God? We usually use this latter designation for the parents of Mary, Joachim and Anna. However, it is used in the Church’s commemoration of many different types of saints: high priests like my own saint Aaron, patriarchs, prophets, kings, judges, etc. This is the week we remember Christ’s spiritual progeny, as not all of these are related to him by blood but are nevertheless tied to him by adoption and covenant. Next Sunday we will focus more specifically on his physical lineage when we read the genealogy in Matthew’s Gospel. What then does it really mean to be or become part of God’s family? How do we revel in the incredible gift that we are alive and the chain of events that led us to this moment in time had very much to do with many fathers and mothers before us making the choice to love one another?

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Rising Up in the Resurrection

Posted on Sunday, May 26, 2024 by Mendicant Monk

Sunday of the Paralytic
4th Sunday of Pascha
Acts 9:32-42
John 5:1-15

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen. Beloved in the Lord, “This is the first of sabbaths, king and Lord of days. The feast of feasts, holy day of holy days, on this day we bless Christ forevermore.” Why can’t we just get enough of it and move on, already? As I heard from one of our catechumens, whose mother said in surprise, “Didn’t they already have Easter?” I had another conversation with a homeschool mother and evangelical Christian from Ukraine who was helping me to spell “Воистину воскресе” on my cell phone. She was excited to share this moment with another Christian who gets it, who understands the power and significance of the resurrection. Then I said, “We’re just getting this 40-day party started.” She admitted, “You know, there really is something to that idea of feast days. Some members of my church argue that there shouldn’t be special days of remembrance— that we should remember the resurrection all year long.” But in not making any particular day sacred, I responded, they only succeed in making them all the same. It is just another form of the Great Lie, the Great Cosmic cover-up that the resurrection was all a hoax, a mirage, a collective result of wishful thinking on the part of Jesus’ disciples. The Church knows otherwise. And She gives us this 40-day period to celebrate the resurrection, but also to ponder the truth of it, to be convinced by what the book of Acts calls “many convincing proofs that He is alive.” (Acts 1:3)

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The Courage to Believe

Posted on Sunday, April 30, 2023 by Mendicant Monk

Second Sunday of Pascha; Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women

Acts 6:1-7
Mark 15:43-16:8

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen. Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

I had the good fortune this last Friday to attend and sing at the funeral of our parish’s newest member: The servant of God, Lev, in the final moments of his earthly sojourn, consented to his family’s fervent desire that he be baptized and receive Holy Communion as an Orthodox Christian. At his funeral just a few days ago the church sang some of the boldest, most audacious words about our brother’s death and what most assuredly will someday be our fate as well:

Thou alone art immortal, [addressing Christ]/ Who didst create and fashion man; / but we mortals were formed of earth, and unto earth shall we return, / as Thou who madest me didst command and say unto me: / For earth thou art and unto earth shalt thou return, / whither all we mortals are going, / making as a funeral dirge the song: // Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
IKOS of Kontakion after Ode 6, Funeral Service

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Trading Goods and the Gospel

Posted on Friday, February 10, 2023 by Mendicant Monk

Sharing the Good News on the Silk Road

Talk by Dcn. Aaron Friar

Boston Trinity Academy, Trinity Term, February 10, 2023

The Gospel of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ has been preached and is known to thrive in some of the most diverse and exotic places on the planet. The Silk Road with its many varieties of cultures, languages, and peoples is no exception to this rule. “The Silk Road” is a term coined by a German geologist and explorer in the late 19^th century to describe not a single route but a network of roads stretching from Xian, China in the east to as far west as Venice, Italy and as far south as India. While different parts of these roads were more or less active at different times in history, there are two periods of intense activity I wish to speak about today. The first spans the 7^th – 10^th century when the Byzantine Roman Empire and her capital city of Constantinople (New Rome) provided the midpoint and gateway for this road. The second period is the 13^th-15^th centuries when the Mongol Empire and its peace (Pax Mongolicus) greatly protected and encouraged trade on the eastern end of the road in China.

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Beyond the Hope of Redemption?

Posted on Saturday, November 12, 2022 by Mendicant Monk

22nd Sunday After Pentecost

Galatians 6:11-18
Luke 8:26-39

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever. How much destruction can sin really cost? To what depth is a man ready to fall before he repents and returns to his real self? Is there such a thing as falling too far, a soul falling beyond the hope of redemption? If there ever was one such a soul, he is depicted in this morning’s Gospel according to Saint Luke. He is a soul who is falling so far as to be without a name. He is simply referred to as the demoniac, his possession by evil demons being so complete it seems to have swallowed up the man and he does not even speak with his own voice. Saint Ambrose of Milan says, “We are authors of our own tribulation. If someone did not live like a swine, the devil would never have received power over him. If he did receive power, it would be power not to destroy but to test him. After the Lord’s coming, the devil could already not corrupt the good. So perhaps he now does not seek the destruction of all people but only of the fickle.”

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The Posture of Prayer

Posted on Sunday, February 13, 2022 by Mendicant Monk

2 Timothy 3:10-15
Luke 18:10-14

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory Forever. For those who came to vigil yesterday evening, we heard for the first time what might be called the theme song of Great Lent. If you were not there to hear it, perhaps the choir might sing it during communion. Today marks the opening of the book of the Lenten Triodion, which literally means the book of the three odes. It’s theme song also speaks of an opening:

Open to me the doors of repentance, O Life-giver, For my spirit rises early to pray towards thy holy temple. Bearing the temple of my body all defiled; But in Thy compassion, purify me by the loving kindness of Thy mercy.

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Beyond Mere Appearance

Posted on Sunday, November 7, 2021 by Mendicant Monk

Sunday November 7, 2021; 20^th Sunday after Pentecost

Galatians 1:11-19
Luke 16:19-31

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever. A classic Danish film portrays the theme of this morning’s gospel in the person of a French maid. Babette’s Feast features a penniless woman cast out by circumstances in her home country to foreign land in the north. Like poor Lazarus, she arrives at the home of two unmarried sisters cold, alone, and in need of help. But if a person were to conclude that Babette’s outward circumstances defined her inward disposition, they would be wrong. For while she was poor in possessions, her artistic soul made her rich beyond the reach of mere circumstance. As the apostle says, “…being poor, yet making many rich“, she managed in the end to exhaust her entire bank account towards a feast for her friends.

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Becoming a Fool for Christ

Posted on Saturday, August 14, 2021 by Mendicant Monk

8th Sunday after Pentecost

1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Matthew 14:14-22

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ, glory forever. Saint Basil’s Cathedral which sits on the southern edge of Moscow’s Red Square has stood for almost five centuries as the symbol of all of Russia. With its 11 smaller chapels all united under a network of colorful iconic domes, it is a testimony to the protection of God over this ancient land and victory over the enemies of his peaceful Kingdom. The natural question asked by most visitors to this grand temple has a surprising answer. Who was St. Basil? After which great saintly monarch, patriarch, or general is this grand symbol of Russia named?

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Resurrection Healing

Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2021 by Mendicant Monk

4^th Sunday of Pascha of the Paralytic

Acts 9:32-42
John 5:1-15

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Christ is risen! Truly he is risen! The Pascal Canon declares “This is the chosen and holy day, the first of Sabbaths, King and Lord of days, the Feasts of feasts, Holy Day of holy days on this day we bless Christ forever more.”

And on this Sunday of the never-ending day of the resurrection we remember a man who seemed to possess never-ending suffering. The paralytic in today’s Gospel had been by the pool of Bethesda for 38 years. Yet he does not waver in his desire and perseverance to be healed, even when as he confesses that he has no man to help him into the healing pool. The question put to him by the Lord is quite striking and may even sound offensive to some of us, “Do you want to be healed?”

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