October 2021

This Sunday we read the story of the Gadarene, a strange and fearsome man, who lived in the first century Palestine, and who experienced a decisive moment when he met Christ and was completely changed. The real question about this passage is of what importance is it to us who live in an entirely different circumstance and modern time?

Today’s gospel lesson from Luke 16:19-31 tells the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in which Jesus contrasts the uncaring rich man and the needy Lazarus. It is the story of the rich man and the poor man. It was neither the rich man’s wealth nor Lazarus’ poverty that the Parable speaks, but rather their personal relationship to each other and God. Neither wealth nor poverty sends someone to heaven or hell, but rather the manner in which they live in their own situation.

This Sunday in the ecclesiastical gospel lectionary of the Church we commemorate the affirmation of icon Veneration at the Seventh Ecumenical Council 787 AD and the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. The gospel assigned for this Sunday relates to the Holy Fathers working in the field of the Lord.  This is the Parable of the Sower, Luke 8:4-15, where the Sowers seed fell into four distinct types of ground. The Church Fathers, “by giving their time to doing good deeds” and “providing for real needs”, were not only receptive to God’s Word but were also Sowers of the Word for others.

Today we hear the Gospel for the 3rd Sunday of Luke which is entitled, “Jesus Raises the Widow’s Son”. This lesson teaches us that the Resurrection power of Jesus was already at work in His earthly ministry. Actually, this is an account of Jesus’s first resurrection miracle.

St. Innocent Pilgrimage to SiberiaBy: Archpriest John PerichOctober 8, 2021 This week we also commemorate two very important Saints of Orthodoxy in America, including St. Innocent of Alaska and Moscow...