On June 11, on the 1st Sunday after Pentecost, the Church celebrates memory of All the Saints who pleased the Lord by their pious lives. On that day we had a nice service at St. George Church. Our parish Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. After the Gospel lesson he preached the following homily:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today, on the First Sunday after Pentecost, the Church honors All the Saints. The Holy Spirit who descended upon the Apostles on Pentecost, gave birth to the Church, to the community of the Saints. The Saints are the people who followed Christ in their lives hoping to obtain salvation, and those who did obtain it. For the whole mission of salvation of the human race was accomplished in order to make people holy, make them the Saints. The Son of God came into this world to save us, to sanctify us, so we may be united with God”.
“Each of us is called to holiness. We are called to that by being called Christians. God had called us to that through the Mystery of Holy Baptism and through the Mystery of Chrismation. It was no accident that in the Apostolic times the very words “the Saints” were one of the names for Christians. Holy Apostle Paul called the members of Christian communities “the Saints”. Therefore, to become a Saint is a possible task, a natural thing, although to reach sanctity is a supernatural thing because it depends not only on us and on our natural strength. It also depends on God, on His grace. But it definitely depends on our efforts, our talents and our desires. If we wish to please the Lord and try to do it, He will help us by His grace. Then the Holy Spirit will help us and will find His dwelling place, His temple in our souls and bodies. St. Seraphim of Sarov said that the goal of Christian life is to acquire the Holy Spirit. So, if we set such a goal, the Lord will be with us and His Holy Spirit will be acquired. Then we will become holy, as our Lord is holy”.
“Holiness is one of the qualities of God. Only God is truly and always Holy. When we say our daily prayers we pronounce the Angelic thrice-holy hymn, “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!” During Divine Liturgy we sing the Seraphic hymn taken from the Sacred Scripture, “Holy, holy, holy Lord of Sabaoth!” (Is. 6, 3). Thus holiness belongs to God, and the holy people, the Saints are those who became filled with that God’s quality, people who fulfilled God’s plan for humanity. God created man according to His image and likeness and He desired us to be holy. The first people were holy in paradise; only the fall deprived them of that quality. But our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to restore fallen humanity, to return us to holiness and to give us a capability to acquire it”.
“So, today we glorify all the Saints who by their lives showed that it is possible to be holy. Sometimes people say, “nobody is a Saint”. No, the Church shows us that it is possible to be one. And among the Saints you can find different kinds of people. There are those who were poor – the unmercenary physicians or humble desert monks. But there are those who possessed great wealth – righteous kings and princes. There are men and women Saints. There are also children Saints. There are Saints who were monks and Saints who were married. The way to sanctity is open to every person”.
“How can we find that way? It is very simple: we need to live spiritual life in Christ, to keep the Commandments, to receive the Sacraments. This is understood. But there is one more thing mentioned in today’s Gospel lesson: it is necessary to seek God and to inquire what is eternal, not temporary. The Lord says: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Mt. 10, 37). Many, especially not religious people, would say that these are cruel and harsh words. But if you think of it well, you realize that nobody can be more important than God. These words of Christ do not teach us not to love our parents, children or spouses. No! But they teach us that God is above everything and everyone. And our human love for our parents, spouses and children has its source in God who is the Highest Love. If there was no God, there would be no love. If we enjoy the sunlight and the warmth of the day, we realize that it comes from the sun. If there was no sun, there would be no sunlight and warmth. Same thing is with love. Having love in our hearts we have to remember that God is the Source of all love. If there was no God, there would be no love in the world and even no life at all. Nothing can exist without God”.
“Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, the important idea of today’s Gospel lesson is to set our priorities correctly. We ought to love eternal God more than everything else which is His creation, including ourselves and our neighbors. We need to sacrifice many things in our lives for Him like Holy Apostles did. They left everything and followed Christ. But note that the Lord does not demand everyone to sacrifice everything but to give up certain things according to our calling. This is why there are different kinds of Saints, with different endeavors and various ways of life. But all their lives were leading them to God and to His Heavenly Kingdom”.
“Let us then turn to all the Saints in prayer and let us beseech those great and holy people, known and unknown, that they may entreat the Lord to make us live in unity with Him, to help us to follow our Lord Jesus Christ, being inspired by the Holy Spirit!”

During the Litany of Fervent Supplication the Rector had a petition for the suffering country of Ukraine and its people. He also added a commemoration of the “suffering Ukrainian land” at the Great Entrance.

During preparation for Holy Communion the choir director prayerfully performed hymns dedicated to All Saints.

After the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector made some announcements, reminding the faithful of the beginning of St. Peter’s Fast on the next day and explaining the meaning of that fast dedicated to the works of the Holy Apostles.