On October 8, on the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, as well as commemoration of the repose of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, our Parish family gathered for a liturgical celebration. Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy in our temple.

Following the Scripture readings the Rector preached a homily in Russian. He pointed out that the Gospel lesson assigned for this day is about our trust in God. Apostle Peter expressed his human opinion when Jesus told him to try to catch more fish after a night of futile fishing. But he also said, “Nevertheless, at Your word, I will let down the net” (Lk. 5, 5). This situation reminds us of our own life. Often we prefer to act according to our own will, our own understanding of things, not by God’s. The precepts of the Lord tell us not to lie, but we lie and cheat. They tell us to love and forgive, but we are holding grudges and look for revenge. Even the very Christian religion seems to be unpractical to some of the people because it teaches to love your enemy and to forgive while it is not the way most people act. If we do so, we exclude a possibility of a miracle to happen in our lives. Apostle Peter agreed to listen to Jesus despite his human certainty that no fish will be caught, and a miracle happened – the Apostles caught a lot of fish.
The word “nevertheless” is very important here. It is a crucial word in Christian life if it is followed by our trust in God. Let us recall what happened when our Lord was crucified: all the forces of evil were against Him. Judas betrayed Him, the high priests condemned Him, Pilate withdrew and washed off his hands, the crowd shouted, “Crucify Him!” Nevertheless, on the first day of the week what happened? Christ’s Resurrection. On the third day Jesus rose from the dead.
Therefore, we need to trust in God and to build our life according to the word of God. Then a miracle may happen in our life, just as it happened with Peter. And in all our pains and sorrows we should always remember that important word “nevertheless” because the power of Christ may overcome everything and turn evil into good.

The choir prayerfully performed the hymns in honor of Venerable Sergius during preparation for Holy Communion.

Following the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector preached a brief sermon in English stressing the main thoughts of his Russian homily.