March 31, 2026

Metropolitan Innocent, also known as Father John Veniaminov, is perhaps the greatest missionary of the Russian Orthodox church, and truly one of the ideal missionary examples within all Christian history. During the 19th century, Innocent’s life and ministry left a lasting legacy on the growing missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox church. From the time of his departure to the Alaskan Islands in 1823, to the culmination of his priestly ministry as Metropolitan of Moscow (the highest clerical rank in the Russian church) in 1868, Innocent helped mold and influence the attitude of this church towards its apostolic ministry. Read more »

March 29, 2026

Putting Faith into action. This is what we’re going to do today in our Saints Constantine and Helen Church. Saint James says, ‘Faith without works is dead.” We show what we believe by what we do and how we live. This is what we’re trying to do today with our Church Family. It’s a day when our faith becomes action, when our prayers take on hands and feet. Read more »

March 22, 2026

How strong is your faith? Not in theory—but in reality. Has your faith actually grown over the past 10 years? The past 5? Even the past year? Or has it stayed about the same… perhaps even drifted? Read more »

March 15, 2026

One day 70 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. Sozhenitsyn saw no reason to continue living and trying to fight the system. He thought his life was meaningless since he would die in this Siberian prison. Read more »

March 08, 2026

A paralyzed man is lowered through the roof and healed by Christ. St. Gregory Palamas teaches about the uncreated light of God that we can encounter. These two powerful images seem unrelated on this second Sunday of Great Lent. Read more »

March 01, 2026

A couple of years ago in my preaching class, something happened that no one in the room expected. One of the students stood up to begin his sermon. He said a few words… and then, right in front of everyone, he took a paper icon and set it on fire. You can imagine what happened next. Some students were visibly shocked. Others were deeply upset. The room filled with tension and discomfort. In fact, the reaction was so strong that a couple of hours after class, I received a phone call from the president of our school asking me what on earth had taken place. Read more »

February 22, 2026

We stand at the threshold of the most sacred journey of the year. We call today Forgiveness Sunday. Tomorrow is Clean Monday, the beginning of our Great Lenten Journey. And in the wisdom of the Church, we receive a fundamental truth: We cannot begin Lent without a forgiving heart. Read more »

February 15, 2026

“Each of us is guilty - before everyone, for everyone and for everything.” This is what Fydor Dostoevsky has the holy Elder, Father Zosima say in The Brothers Karamazov. Read more »

February 08, 2026

This past week I went to see the new movie, Moses the Black. It is not a feel-good movie with a tidy, happy ending. Rather, it is a difficult yet powerful story about redemption - especially the redemption of someone whom society would likely consider irredeemable. Read more »

February 01, 2026

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” This is a challenging question that Saint Paul poses in today’s Epistle Reading. “Who or what shall separate us from the love of Christ?” And then the Great Apostle answers with confidence and joy: “Nothing… neither death nor life, nor things to come nor things present… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Read more »

January 25, 2026

 How many of us feel distracted? Our minds are so preoccupied with many things? We live in a fragmented world. Our attention is constantly divided. Notifications buzz 24/7, screens glow, news cycles never end, and social media demands our eyes, our emotions, and our opinions. Read more »

January 19, 2026

An extremist. How many of us would like to be labeled extremists? We see this on the far right and the far left. We see violent extremists throughout the world. We often link extremists with certain ideologies or religious movements. Read more »

January 18, 2026

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings.” We hear these words in today’s Epistle Reading. Read more »

January 11, 2026

“The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned.” These are the words of hope that the Church proclaims today. Read more »

January 04, 2026

"The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” We hear these words today, on the Sunday before Theophany because the Church wants to place before us a powerful and timely proclamation. These words aren’t simply an introduction to a Gospel of Mark. They are a declaration that something utterly new has entered human history. God has appeared to the world! Read more »

December 28, 2025

“Behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people.” These are the words that the angels proclaimed to the shepherds on the night of our Lord’s birth. Not good news for some. Not good news for only those who are worthy. Not good news for the righteous, the powerful, or those who are legal. But good news of great joy for all people.  Read more »

December 25, 2025

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” The Prophet Isaiah had foretold 1000 years prior to the first Christmas that God would offer to the world His Son as a child! What a gift.  Read more »

December 21, 2025

Remember who you are. Remember what family you come from. Don’t disgrace the family name. Have any of us ever heard such words from our parents or family? Of course, honoring the family name is important. Learning about our roots and appreciating from where we came helps us better understand who we are. Read more »

December 14, 2025

As we draw near to the radiant feast of the Nativity, the Church places before us the words of St. Paul in today’s epistle reading. . “Put off the old nature with all its practices, and put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its Creator” (Col. 3:9–10). These words speak directly to why Christ came into the world at Christmas and what His coming means for our lives. Read more »

December 07, 2025

In our Saints Constantine and Helen Church today, we celebrate our Saint Nicholas Sunday which honors one of the most beloved saints in the entire Christian world—Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra. Yet we also live in a culture that knows him by another name: Santa Claus, Sinter Klaus, Father Christmas. And while the world around us has taken this figure and wrapped him in commercialism, glitter, and shopping lists, there is still something deeply beautiful, deeply Orthodox, hidden inside the popular image of Santa Claus. Read more »