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The Orthodox Church of St. John the Russian

Sermons

Listen to and read sermons from our clergy to deepen your understanding of the Orthodox Christian faith.

7th Sunday after Pentecost; Ven. Anthony of the Kiev Caves

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

So today I wanted to discuss a little bit, some very basic concepts that are essential for our salvation. And the first is the Word of God. And we have this very simple saying, "the Word of God," this is the Word of God. But the question really is, what is the depth of the Word of God? And we live, I think, a miracle. We're living in a miracle. And each and every one of us here, and those who belong to us but are not here, we have a very profound gift. And it manifests itself, I think, essentially, through the Word of God.

Faith Scripture & Tradition Salvation
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5th Sunday after Pentecost

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

"For He, namely Jesus, has not put the world to come of which we speak in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place saying, 'What is man that You are mindful of him, or the Son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.'... 'I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.' And again: 'I will put My trust in Him.' And again: 'Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.' Inasmuch as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed, He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham." And we are the seed of Abraham. "Therefore, in all things, He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted."

Family Discipline
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1st Sunday after Pentecost; All Saints

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

Yesterday we celebrated our parish feast with St. John the Russian. Metropolitan Nicholas was here, and he was very joyful and very beautiful in every way. And very consoling. Metropolitan Nicholas is a very wonderful and warm man. And he notices everything and he gave forth all kinds of praise for the beauty of the church and the cleanliness of the church and the wonderful meals that were made by the parishioners, which was wonderful. And this morning, at 12:15 a.m. while I was fast asleep, he sent a note and thanked us for our hospitality and congratulated everyone for all of the wonderful work that they had done to make the feast so beautiful. So, glory to God. And it's a wonderful thing to know your hierarch and to know that he loves you and he supports you. So we're very, very blessed in that regard.

All Saints Theosis Faith
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5th Sunday of Pascha; Samaritan Woman

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

So the gospel that we heard last week and the gospel we hear this week have a very close relationship in terms of pointing the way to salvation. Last week, we heard about the paralytic by the pool of Siloam, and it's very fascinating because the pool of Siloam had five porches. It was also the pool where the sacrifices, after being slain, were washed. And here, there was this long tradition—a living tradition, meaning that it was actually alive and producing phenomena—of the water stirring from time to time. And the first person who stepped into the water would be healed. As a result of this reality, there was a multitude of people, and the paralytic was near the pool. The remarkable thing about him is that he was a paralytic, and here he is at the side of the pool. How is he going to get into the water? Only the first one, by the way, was healed. And so he had this profound difficulty.

Faith The Church Salvation
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3rd Sunday of Pascha; Myrrhbearing Women

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

Today I'd like to address, as much as possible, the whole question of beauty, beauty in our lives, and how it affects us. In 1869, the great Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote a novel called "The Idiot," and in this novel, he proclaimed that "beauty will save the world." In 1970, over 100 years after Dostoevsky made this proclamation, the Russian Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, during his lecture upon receiving the Nobel Prize, remembered Fyodor Dostoevsky and again stated, "Beauty will save the world."

Theosis Liturgy Suffering & Healing
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Antipascha: 2nd Sunday of Pascha; St Thomas Sunday

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

So traditionally on the Sunday following Pascha, I read the epistle of our Metropolitan, Metropolitan Nicholas. This is his first year as the head of the church, and it's a tremendous responsibility because the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia is not only in America, but it's in Europe, South America, and so on. It's a very large group of parishes and dioceses. The responsibility of the Metropolitan, of course, is tremendous, and we are very blessed. He'll be visiting us for our feast day on June 10th. Our feast day is actually the 9th, but he's going to come on the 10th, so we'll have him here. He is a wonderful, actually young man—he's not even 50 yet—and the Synod of Bishops elected him as the Metropolitan. He's a wonderful man, a wonderful man of prayer, and while he doesn't know all of us by name, he prays for all of us before the throne of God.

The Church Love & Mercy
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Fifth Sunday of Lent; St Mary of Egypt

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

This Sunday we celebrate St. Mary of Egypt, and we also celebrate the Elder Zosimas, who was introduced to St. Mary and brought to repentance. This is the last Sunday where the Gospel is one of preparation. Next Sunday we have the Entrance into Jerusalem, or Palm Sunday, as we enter into the beautiful and somewhat demanding events of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.

All Saints Salvation Suffering & Healing
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Third Sunday of Lent; Veneration of the Precious Cross

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

We're at the midpoint of our pilgrimage which leads to Holy Week, and of course, with Holy Week comes the celebration of all the events of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. So, here we are remembering the cross on which Christ was crucified.

Salvation Discipline
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First Sunday of Lent; Sunday of Orthodoxy

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

Today is the First Sunday of our Great and Holy Lent, and on this day, we celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy and the restoration of the veneration of the holy icons in the Church. From 726 to 843 AD, a movement came out against the Church called Iconoclasm, where the veneration of icons was prohibited.

The Church Scripture & Tradition Faith
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Sunday of Meatfare; Sunday of the Last Judgment

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

Today, we are anticipating the beginning of our great Holy Lent, a time when we prepare ourselves, and as a community, we prepare to enter into the glory of His resurrection. This preparation is outlined from Sunday to Sunday with various themes. As we anticipate the beginning of Great Lent, today we have the Gospel on Judgment, and it is a very, very powerful Gospel.

Salvation Love & Mercy
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Sunday of the Prodigal Son; Synaxis 3 Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

And I say this because we are being invited to go on a pilgrimage together, which is called Great and Holy Lent. And it’s actually difficult to some degree. Eating immodestly and giving up many of the pleasures of our life and denying ourselves meat and dairy products for those who are strong enough to endure this for several weeks leading to the resurrection, the crucifixion and then the resurrection of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. So here we have the prodigal son which is announcing this struggle that we face.

Scripture & Tradition Feasting & Fasting Salvation
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Sunday of Zaccheus

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

And so it is that our Savior saw him there, and he understood, our Savior understood who he was, he knew through the Holy Spirit, he knew that he was a tax collector, and he knew that he was despised, but he also saw the capacity for repentance in Zacchaeus. He understood that Zacchaeus could change. And when Jesus came, 'Make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.'

Feasting & Fasting Salvation
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32nd Sunday after Pentecost; Sunday after Theophany

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

I think that if we are going to enter into the reality of the baptism of Christ and enter into the renewal of our baptism, we need to treat our inner life as though it’s a child, and that we need to prepare, as it were, special food. And so our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ allows us to prepare ourselves for Holy Communion, so that we can participate in this ineffable mystery of the body and blood of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Sacraments The Church
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28th Sunday after Pentecost; Sunday of the Forefathers

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

Saint Spyridon was very early. The dates are basically from 250. He was born in AD 250 and lived perhaps to 336, and he was a shepherd, and so he tended his flocks. And shepherding was—as we also know about the shepherds who were attending their flocks waiting for the Nativity—shepherding was a night job, actually, because the dangers for your flocks came at night to snatch away your sheep. And so this is an amazing thing. So the shepherd had to be attentive and alert during the night and in order to see whether these wolves or other enemies would come and steal away the sheep. And it’s a wonderful analogy, is it not, of the shepherding of the flock of the Holy Church?

The Church All Saints
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27th Sunday after Pentecost; Ven. Sabbas the Sanctified

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

So here we have the Word of God as the essential weapon that we need to push back these huge and remarkable temptations. And obviously we are blessed in our Holy Orthodox Church to have the Word of God so prevalent throughout the divine services. Obviously our divine services are made up of the Word of God or commentary on the Word of God. And so we are able to have this profound blessing of being wrapped up, as it were, in God’s Word during divine services. But what do we do at home? What do we do at home? Do we actually immerse our minds in God’s Word in such a way that that Word, which is filled with power—this is the great mystery of the Church—is that Word is not a system of concepts alone.

Feasting & Fasting Scripture & Tradition Discipline
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26th Sunday after Pentecost

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

And I am certain that this is what’s going on in our very profoundly ill society. And I’m sorry to be a voice, as it were, for darkness in this sense. I mean, exposing darkness does involve darkness, actually. When you expose darkness, you feel the darkness. And nevertheless, it’s such a serious issue that, I mean, it’s time for us, in a sense, through prayer, through any way we can, to pull the scales off our eyes and look at what’s going on, because it is swallowing up now at least a third generation.

Discipline Family
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22nd Sunday after Pentecost; Hieromartyr John Kochurov

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

And I hope, hidden somewhere behind my veil of pride, I learned a little humility. And because I think that you can’t be a priest, I don’t think, really, unless you learn and absorb the gift of humility. And humility takes very many forms. I would say in my case, if I had any humility, I hid it behind—I did a good job with that. But nevertheless, humility leads to obedience, and obedience leads to the kingdom of heaven. And I think that we need to be obedient. We need to be humble and fight our pride, be humble and obedient. Humility and obedience are two sides of the same coin.

Discipline Love & Mercy
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21st Sunday after Pentecost

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

And I think about this and it seems to me that what we have done in our society—forgive me for dragging this up—but what we have done in our society is that we’ve created some institutions, as it were, to take care of people, which has separated them from community. And I mean, I’m sure that Ariadne remembers in her experiences, and I remember in my experiences where, you know, when I was a child living in New Hampshire, we had poor people around us and you could feel their poverty. You could feel their pain. It was visceral. You knew who them. And that feeling, that living feeling that you had caused people to be kind to these folks and to make sure they got food and to pass clothing on to them.

Scripture & Tradition Love & Mercy Liturgy
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20th Sunday after Pentecost; Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

And when you go in the doors, which is just like us coming in the doors here, we enter the church. And the first thing you come to is the anointing stone. And if you'll notice here, we have a table. That's what we'll call it—a table. And above the table is the cross. And so when I came to this realization that here you are in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—this was just so wonderful because we already had this. We used to put our Plashchanitsa, which is the body of Christ, which we use during the burial service—we had this table here with the Plashchanitsa on it during Holy Week.

The Church Sacraments
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19th Sunday after Pentecost

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

And one of the things that I repeat over and over again is that when we read the Word of God, first of course we encounter descriptions of events and we encounter words of instruction. And what we're reading right here, these incredible words—but in reality we can approach the reading of Holy Scripture in faith, in profound and deep faith. And if we do that, we will receive not just simply the words, but through the words, the light of Christ will shine into our hearts and our minds and change us. The light of Christ will change us and purify us and root out, as it were, with love and compassion and gentleness, all of our passions.

All Saints Suffering & Healing
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18th Sunday after Pentecost

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

And so it was with Adam and Eve. They laid all care upon God, and the light came down into them, and at that time the mind was at one with the heart, and it entered the heart, and then it shined out or shone out around them. And wherever that light fell, so there was peace and tranquility. And the lion and the lamb were able to lie down together without violence and without hostility. And so it is that we have this idea—this not just this idea, but this living reality—of Adam and Eve in Paradise.

Theosis Love & Mercy
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17th Sunday after Pentecost; Repose of St John the Theologian

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

And what's interesting is you have a net—it has strings which cross each other, right? And the strings are the warp and the woof, and one represents truth, and the other represents eternal love, which is what our Lord and God and Savior brought to us, is eternal love for our salvation. A love that is, in a sense, imposing—imposing in gentleness and kindness, but nevertheless imposing in that He shines His light and His love upon us to gather us.

Salvation The Church
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16th Sunday after Pentecost; Sunday after Elevation

Archpriest Spyridon Schneider

And the thing is, is that in our own relationships, you know, we are stewards of God's love and grace. And it's so easy to have something come up that irritates us and, you know, causes us to even, you know, have anger and frustration, and then we act on that anger and frustration, and of course, anyone around us becomes upset. And it's really fascinating because it's totally completely counterintuitive. I mean, the idea that our frustration and anger with one who is, you know, maybe it's our husband or our wife or our children, that our frustration and anger is going to result in calm, loving dispositions and lead to peace and to love and tranquility—it's actually going to make the situation much worse.

Salvation Family
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