Weekly Sermons

20 Years of Service
October 19, 2014
Twenty years ago yesterday, on the feast of my patron Saint Luke the Evangelist, I was ordained to the priesthood in Tirana, Albania by His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios. Faith and I began our ministry in Albania, and served there for 10 and a half years. We are now approaching 10 years of service here in Webster. Read more »

Entering Into Our Lenten Journey
October 13, 2014
Lent is a season when the Church challenges us to live up to our Christian faith. That which we profess with our mouths on Sunday, we are asked to live out in our lives throughout the week – within our families, among our friends and even strangers, in the workplace, during our hobbies and entertainment, everywhere. Of course, we’re supposed to live out our faith each and every day throughout our lives, but we all realize how hard that is to do. And sometimes we need a special reason, a little “push,” an added incentive, to get us back on track in our spiritual journey. Read more »

The Miracles and Wonders of God - The Crying Icon of Taylor, PA
October 06, 2014
Our God is a God of wonders and miracles. He is not bound by the very laws of nature which He Himself has established. Sometimes in our contemporary, secular and materialistic world we try to insist that science and reason are the only source of truth. Yet we know that the Creator of all stands above all. The miracle of the Kardiotisa icon is just one small example of the unfathomable mysteries of life and of the Creator of Life, God Himself! Read more »

Just Live It
September 29, 2014
JUST LIVE IT! Just WALK It. Just TALK It. Just TEACH It. Just PRAY it. Just GIVE It. Just SHARE It. Just LOVE It. “Be Doers of the Word, and not just Hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Read more »

Humble Faith
September 22, 2014
When we ask God for something, how do we do it? Do we demand? Do we plead? Do we try to bargain? Or compromise? With what attitude do we typically approach God? Read more »

Growing in Faith
September 15, 2014
How strong is your faith? Have you thought about how your faith has changed over the years? Have you nourished it and has it grown over, say, the last 10 years, or has it weakened and withered and become more uncertain? Read more »

The Way of the Cross
September 08, 2014
One day 50 years ago, after suffering many years in the work camps of Siberia, Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, the famous Russian intellectual and dissident, had fallen into despair. Like other prisoners, he had worked in the fields day after day, in rain and sun, during summer and winter. His days were filled with backbreaking labor and slow starvation. On this particular day, the hopelessness of his situation became too much. Read more »

The Essential Question in Life
August 31, 2014
“What does it profit a person if he gains the entire world, and loses his own soul?” May we pause and reflect for a moment upon our own lives, and the direction and spirit in which we live our lives. We live in such a “here and now” society, one which too often focuses on our own egocentric desires and pleasures and one which tempts us to try and fulfill these passions immediately. So easily we can lose sight of life’s essential purpose. Read more »

Giving Thanks in All Circumstances
August 25, 2014
“To give thanks in all circumstances, you need to remember all the things in life for which we can be grateful, and then continuously thank God for them. I never focus on what I don’t have, or on how unfair life is, but I thank God for what I do have, and for the blessings He gives me each and every day. Such an attitude of gratitude radically changed my perspective on life.” Read more »

Calling Out the Beauty in Others
August 18, 2014
"Unless we look at a person and see the beauty there is in this person, we can contribute nothing to him. One does not help a person by discerning what is wrong, what is ugly, what is distorted. Christ looked at everyone he met, at the prostitute or the thief, and saw the beauty hidden there. Perhaps it was distorted, perhaps damaged, but it was beauty none the less, and what he did was to call out this beauty." Read more »

Hark the Herald Angels Sing - Becoming New Creations in Christ
August 11, 2014
Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings… Born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. Here is the “good news of great joy” which Christmas proclaims! Read more »

Be Transfigured
August 04, 2014
Why do we come to Church each week? What are we seeking from our Christian faith? Or maybe we need to ask, are we consciously and seriously seeking anything from our faith? Ultimately, what is our goal as Orthodox Christians in this brief life here on planet earth? Read more »

Inspired In Mexico
July 27, 2014
One friend asked me WHY I would go to Mexico to build a home for some poor family I don’t even know. He obviously didn’t understand our call as Christians to reach out to those in need, to help others less fortunate than ourselves, and to share God’s love in concrete ways, even with those who live in other countries far away. Read more »

Christ's Invitation to Become Disciples
June 22, 2014
Christ’s invitation presents a dilemma not only for his first disciples, but to all future generations, including each one of us. Are we willing to trust Jesus and follow Him, leaving the ways of the world? Are we willing to follow Him and leave behind our world of fear, hatred and violence? Are we willing to follow Him and seek something more than the superficial pursuits and pleasures of many of us? Are we willing to follow Him and set aside our destructive habits and sinful ways, even casting aside our lives of guilt and regret? Read more »

All Saints Day - Fathers Day - A Chrismation
June 15, 2014
Today in our Church we celebrate three very special occasions: 1) In our church calendar we honor and remember all the saints, known and unknown, who have lived before us; 2) In our secular calendar we honor and remember our fathers on this Father’s Day; 3) And in our church family, we celebrate and welcome the entrance of Jared Quill into full communion of our Church Family through the Sacrament of Holy Chrismation. Read more »

What We Believe and How To Share It
June 09, 2014
How many of you have ever had a conversation about your Orthodox Christian faith with a friend? How about with a co-worker, or even a stranger? Have any of you ever had the experience of talking about your faith, and someone looks perplexed at what Orthodoxy is, and they ask, “Are you Jewish?” Read more »

We Live to the Lord and We Die to the Lord
June 02, 2014
The secret to a life of contentment – “God’s grace is sufficient for us, for God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness.” Trusting and believing in God’s grace, remembering that God is always with us and will never abandon us, realizing that in the midst of any challenge or struggle or tragedy, God is not only present, He not only suffers with us in the midst of our challenge, but He is ready to walk with us in any darkness and show us the way out! He will help us conquer any evil we face in our lives, and lead us back into His brilliant light! Read more »

How Will We Welcome Christ?
May 26, 2014
As we remember and celebrate Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem today, on this Palm Sunday, we are challenged to think about how we will respond to Christ’s teaching and life. Like the crowds 2000 years ago, millions of Christians worldwide will enter the churches in praise and worship today and throughout Holy Week. How many will celebrate the joy of Pascha a week from today. And yet, we have to ask ourselves, will we make the commitment to not only worship Jesus, but to follow the path of life that He has given to us? Read more »

Greatness In the Eyes of God
May 19, 2014
How many of us wish to be great in the eyes of God? I would hope that any serious believer would make this a central goal in life – to be considered great in the eyes of God. And yet, how should we understand such spiritual greatness? What makes someone great? Read more »

A Mother's Heart
May 11, 2014
The writer Emerson once said 'People are what their mothers make them.' Abraham Lincoln confessed, “I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother." Someone once said, “Give me a generation of Christian mothers, and I can shape the world!” Read more »

Join our parish email list
Monthly Bulletin


Recent Sermons
CAN WE RECEIVE THE FORGIVENESS OF GOD?
March 17, 2024
The pitcher of water is the same; yet each container receives the water differently. How much each container is filled doesn’t depend on the water being poured, but on the way the container receives the water! Read more »


Our Orthodox Faith
History: The Great Epochs of Orthodoxy
The Church has her origin with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, not with a human teacher, or group, nor a code of conduct or religious philosophy. Read more »