1/26/2020
Bishop Mitrophan (Znosko-Borovsky)
“I am the Resurrection and the Life,” Christ said also to us. He is the source of our resurrection.
The Holy Church warns us of the terrible power of sin, and calls us who stand before the doors opening to the Holy Forty Days, to force ourselves and tear ourselves away from the maelstrom of everyday vanity.
The Gospel calls to purity and a pious life us who await the “day of the Lord”.
The experience of the spiritual life of our brothers in Christ, who achieved knowledge of the purpose and meaning of life, provides examples of the attitude with which we must enter the opening gates of the Holy Lenten days.
What is required of us, dear brothers and sisters, in these evil times? One thing is required of us: Faithfulness!
The human heart, weak, sinful, but longing for salvation, is the new manger of Bethlehem on which Christ lays, as soon as the repentant soul cries out to Him in contrition.
The apostolic reading that we heard today, listing the righteous ones of the Old Testament, the ancestors in the flesh of Jesus Christ, shows us by their examples how we must believe and live to be worthy to be called children of God.
For us, Orthodox Christians, thanksgiving is a testimony to God’s presence in the life of the world and man.
Today the Gospel reading talks about Christ’s immeasurable works of love and mercy, which surpass the mind.
The Nativity of the Virgin Mary is the day that heralds the nearing to humanity of the awaited Light, which would lead mankind out from the power of darkness.
The great righteous one reminds us that love for God is inseparable from standing in the truth.
Always concentrated, introspective, decisive, and brave, Andrew comes up in the Gospels at especially important and crucial instances.
The feast of the Meeting of the Lord tells us about an event that moves our souls—the aged elder Simeon holds in his arms the Divine Infant forty-days-old, and bids farewell to earthly life, raising the immortal hymn to God: Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace…”
Bishop Mitrophan Znosko-Borovsky
In Christ shone forth true life over the world, and this light is inextinguishable and unconquerable, although it is surrounded by an impenetrable, thick darkness; it is stubbornly surrounded from the light by the hidden evil will of the sons of rebellion.
