On August 30, on the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, we had a nice celebration at our parish. St. George’s Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. Following the Scripture lessons he preached a homily:

“Today’s Gospel is telling us the parable of the vineyard. We heard that story of the owner who built it and was sending his servants to get the fruits in due time. And we heard how the tenants treated them, them and even the owner’s son.”
“In this parable, the vineyard is Israel. The owner is God. Israel is hedged around with natural borders. The wine-press is the altar, the tower is the Temple. The tenants are the Jews. The servants are those sent by God, the prophets and holy ones who reminded the Jews that Israel was not theirs but God’s. But what did the Jews do? They beat and stoned and killed first the servants and then the heir, the Son of God. Why? Because they wanted everything for themselves. And so they ceased to be God’s people, they ceased to be Israel and were cast out of their land and scattered over all the face of the earth. Israel was given to others: the New Israel, the Church, was born.”
“This is why, we should realize that this parable is also addressed today to us, Orthodox of the New Israel. The vineyard is the planet where we Orthodox Christians live. It is hedged around by the presence of the Church. The wine-press is the altar. And the tower is the Church. And the servants are the Saints or the servants of the Church. And we Orthodox should ask ourselves what we have done with God’s Saints who have been sent  for our repentance.”
“In our days the Church of Christ is persecuted in the world. Her voice is hushed.This is done to the servants of God. This is why some day He will send His Son and that will be the Second Coming, the Coming of the Heir.”
“This parable is also addressed to each of us today in a personal sense. The vineyard is our own soul. It is hedged around with prayer, our guardian Angel, our patron Saint. The wine-press is where we offer ourselves to Christ. The tower is our inner church where we pray to God. We are tenants of our God-created souls. The servants sent to us are all those occasions when God speaks to us. He speaks to us in prayer, He speaks to us through the word of His Scriptures, He speaks to us through every opportunity, every encounter, every event that comes into our lives. He speaks to us through the presence of His Church in the world.”
“And how do we react? Do we reject everything sent to us, everything allowed to us, as a chance to do better, to make good our weaknesses? Do we fail to see God? Do we ignore the Church? If so, then we too beat and stone and kill the servants of God. We are warned: the Heir is coming.
At the end of the parable of the vineyard, Christ says: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner, and it is marvelous in our eyes’. The stone rejected is of course the Rock of Faith, Christ Himself, for He was rejected and crucified. And yet He became the head of the corner and it is marvelous in our eyes. Let us too be rocks of faith then, and though the world will reject us, we too shall become heads of the corner, and it will be marvelous in the eyes of God and men. Glory to Thee, O God, glory to Thee!”

Following the liturgical services the Rector and parishioners enjoyed delicious meals and a nice company at the trapeza table during the coffee hour.

On August 28, on the holy day of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, we had a beautiful celebration at St. George Church. Our parish Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. After the Gospel lesson he preached a homily:

“Today we are celebrating the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God. The name of this feast suggests that we do not celebrate the death of the Mother of God. She did not die, but fell asleep. Thus the feast is called the Dormition, Falling Asleep. Being Orthodox Christians, at every Liturgy we pray that we may also have a falling asleep, a similar end of our earthly life. We ask the Lord that a Christian ending to our lives may be “painless, unashamed and peaceful,” and that we may have a “good defense before the dread judgment seat of Christ”.”
“Speaking of the Most Holy Mother of God, we have to remember that She is the holy Virgin and the first Christian Saint. In Her we can see a perfect Christian. And we can see our own vocation as a reality, being accomplished in Her life and death. She is an example for us, but at the same time, we know that because She is the Mother of Christ, She prays for us, and we can ask in our prayers to Her to be with us now and also at the time of our death. And we believe very strongly that She will be there because, as it was said, She became the first Saint of the Church.”
“But speaking about the Blessed Virgin, we have to remember that She was also the first Saint before the Dormition. And the life of the Mother of God can be for us an example of a Christian life.”
“Today’s Gospel lesson which is read for all feasts of the Theotokos, tells us that some woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Jesus: “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You.” (Lk. 11, 27). But the Lord said to her: “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Lk. 11, 28). If Jesus agreed only with the words of that woman, He would confirm the blessedness of His Holy Mother. It would be right. But our Lord always wishes us to do more than just right. He does not tell that the woman is wrong, but He adds: “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” It is good to be the Mother of the Savior, but it is better to hear the word of God and obey it.”
“The Most Holy Mother of God is an example of a human being who obeys the word of God. She did obey when She received that Annunciation that She will bear the Son of God. She was obedient all other days of Her life. That is very important for us. We are Orthodox Christians, and that means that we also have to accept and to be obedient to the word of God. And what is the word of God to us? It is the Sacred Scripture, first of all, the Holy Gospel. The Gospel is like a constitution for us, the main law.”
“Secondly, the Mother of God was a human being who prayed, who was always with Christ, not only physically but spiritually – at the first sign, the first miracle of Christ, She takes the initiative: She was there. And that is also something for us – we are Christians, so we have to stay in the Church. The life of the Church is necessary for us to be saved – not only the Gospel, the word of Christ, but the work of Christ in the community of the Church.”
“And the third thing – this is very important – the Mother of God is an example of obedience to Her own Son. And that is also important for us, because we have the Gospel – the word of the Lord; we have the life of the Church; and then we have our Church hierarchy, the bishops. It is important and necessary for us to be obedient also to the bishop because he is in the Church the icon of Christ. He is not an authority like the civil authorities. He is not a king, but a servant. The bishops and priests are the servants of God and of the people.”
“So we cannot separate the Gospel, Church life and our obedience to Christ, to His icon in the Church which is the bishop. If we accept that, and if we have a life in that spirit, then the end of our life here in this world will be also not a death but a dormition, a falling asleep – a holy dormition – and we will receive from Christ the Kingdom of heaven.”

After the dismissal of the Liturgy the Rector and altar servers performed the rite of glorification in front of the icon of the feast, singing the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the feast.
The Rector also congratulated the faithful on the occasion of this great holy day and on the conclusion of the fast in honor of the Most Holy Mother of God.

On August 23, on the 12th Sunday after Pentecost, Archpriest Igor Tarasov, Rector of St. George Church served the Divine Liturgy in our temple.

Following the Gospel reading he preached a homily in English. He explained the Gospel story about a young man who asked Jesus what to do to have eternal life. The answer of Christ was, “If you want to enter into life, keep the Commandments” (Mt. 19, 16). So, in order to be saved we need to keep the God’s Law. But if the young man in today’s Gospel have kept the Commandments, most of us do not. The young man wished to go further and asked what is lacking. Jesus told him to give up his wealth. This was too hard for the young man because he was attached to his possessions. Thus the Lord said that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God (Mt. 19, 23). When the Apostles were astonished and asked, “Who then may be saved?” (Mt. 19, 25), the Lord proclaimed that things impossible with men are possible with God (Mt. 19, 26). Fr. Igor further preached that without God we cannot do anything for our salvation. We need God’s help, His divine grace. But this does not mean that we can sit back and let God do the work for us. We need to cooperate with Him. And we need to keep the Commandments and live a Christian life. If we do our part, God will do His part. If we do what is possible, God will do what is impossible.  Since we still celebrate feast of the Transfiguration, this holy event teaches us that through Christ we are able to become the partakers of His divine nature, to become divine being human. Thus, the grace of God can assist us in our own transfiguration to become able to be with God in the eternity. And He will make us worthy to enter into His eternal Kingdom.

After the Liturgy dismissal the Rector called the parishioners to make a good preparation for the holy day of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God which will be celebrated next Friday.

On August 19 the Orthodox Christians celebrate great holy day of Transfiguration of the Lord. We had a beautiful celebration of that solemnity at St. George Church. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. Following the Gospel lesson he preached a homily:

“Today we celebrate the great feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Once more time in our life we are spiritually present on the Mt. Tabor. Through the eyes of faith together with the holy Apostles Peter, James and John who came to that mountain along with the Lord Jesus Christ we are seeing the glory of God during the sacred moments of that holy event. This happened not long before the holy Passions and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
”You know that the Son of God who came down to our earth for the sake of eternal salvation of the people, appeared not in His Divine glory. If He did so, He would blind us, the sinful people, with His Divine light. But He came to us in a humble appearance, covering His divinity with the image of man. Here, on the mountain of Transfiguration, He showed Himself in the shining of His glory in which He is staying forever and in which He will be seen by those of us who by his or her life will become worthy of that.”
“On the mountain of Transfiguration along with the Lord holy Apostles saw the Prophets Moses and Elijah. Moses lived 16 centuries before the birth of Christ, and Elijah 9 centuries before. That means that Moses and Elijah aren’t dead, they are alive. They were alive on the day when the Apostles saw them, they are living today, and they will be living in the infinite ages because God in Whom we believe, as the Scripture says, “is not God of the dead but of the living” (Mt. 22, 32). In the Lord all are living. Thus the Apostles seeing the Prophets who for that moment appeared from the heavenly world, saw the confirmation of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: “He who believes in Me has life everlasting” (Jn. 6, 47).”
“It is then understood why holy Prophets Moses and Elijah appeared at the time of Transfiguration. We may ask then why the Lord chose only three of His disciples to follow Him to the Mt. Tabor and to sow His glory only to them. St. John of Damascus explains that saying that holy Apostle Peter was taken because he confessed the faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Such a faith needed to be confirmed, and it was confirmed when Jesus showed His Divine nature. Holy Apostle James was chosen because he was the one who was to die first for Christ, to be baptized in the bath of blood shed for the Lord. And, finally, holy Apostle John the Theologian was chosen to come with the Lord to the Mt. Tabor because He was the special disciple, a virgin saint, the one who had to write in his Gospel that “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1, 1). And He saw in the Transfiguration that the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, was with God.”
“Yet another reason why our Lord did not show His Divine nature to all of His Apostles was because He did not wish to show it to His betrayer, to Judas. Transfiguration had to be a secret until the death and Resurrection of Christ. Now that secret is revealed to us, the Christian people. Let us then be worthy of it. Let us not allow the sin to destroy our relations with God and His trust to us. Let us be watchful because sin deprives us of the joy to see the Lord and to be with Him in eternity.”
“Therefore, we are asking today that the Lord Who transfigured upon the Mt. Tabor may enlighten our souls. We are asking that the everlasting light of His divinity may shine for us the sinners and may show us the way we should follow to pass our earthly life. May it shine to make us worthy of the dignity we are given, the dignity to be the dwellers of the heavenly Jerusalem.”
“Dear brothers and sisters! Let us live with the Lord and let us die with the Lord. And may our heart learn to foretaste the joy to see the Lord, to worship Him and to be with Him forever!”

The choir was prayerfully singing festal hymns, especially during the time of preparation for the Communion.

After the Prayer behind the Ambo the Rector performed the traditional blessing of fruits brought by the parishioners to the temple.

Following the Liturgy dismissal Fr. Igor congratulated faithful on the occasion of the great holy day of the Lord. He also expressed his condolences to Anastasia Flora for the loss of her father-in-law who passed away a day ago. The Rector asked to pass his sympathy to her husband, Elisey Flora.

After the Prayers of Thanksgiving after Holy Communion the Rector performed the Memorial service (Litia) to commemorate the newly departed Milodrag Flora.

On August 16, on the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy in our parish. After the Gospel reading he preached a homily in English:

“Our Gospel lesson for today is telling us a story, a parable about a merciful king and an unmerciful lender (Mt. 18, 23-35). It is supposed to teach us to forgive. Let us interpret that parable to understand it better.”
“The king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants is God. He is our Master and Benefactor, and we are His servants and we owe Him a lot. But God is merciful and forgiving. His mercy is unlimited. That unlimited mercy and forgiveness of God is illustrated by today’s parable. The king forgives the debt of his servant, so God forgives a multitude of our sins. Thus, a debt to the king described in today’s parable is a sin against God. We are in debt to God because we commit sins. This debt originates with our neglect of God’s will.”
“Ten thousand talents the servant owed to the king is an impossible sum. It was more than a laborer could earn during his all lifetime!  Thinking of that we may see that we owe God all our life. It is a gift from God. But this life of ours is full of sins and mistakes. It could be impossible to pay this debt off. But God is merciful as the king in this parable. A hundred denarii is contrasted to the 10,000  talents. It was equivalent to about a hundred days’ wages. Thinking of that we may understand that our fellow men are usually owing us much less than we owe God.”
“Just as the king in the parable showed mercy toward his servant who fell down before him and asked to have patience with him (Mt. 18, 26), so does God show love toward us if we ask for forgiveness, if we repent. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, we need to fall before God asking Him to be patient with us, we need to ask for His mercy. The best way is to show not only humility and sorrow, but true repentance – a desire to make things better, a desire to change for better.  We need to practice receiving the Mystery of Confession. True confession provides that no matter how great and terrible our sins are, if we sincerely repent, we receive forgiveness, our sins are absolved. Our debt is written off.”
“And on the other hand, just as the king showed strictness toward the servant when he found out that the servant himself had no compassion, so does God shows strictness toward us if we do not repent our own sins or do not forgive others for their trespasses against us. Our Lord Jesus Christ concludes today’s parable saying, “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Mt. 18, 35).”
“Dear brothers and sisters! Today’s Gospel parable teaches us that because God forgives us, we in return are obliged to grant this gift of forgiveness to others. When each Christian forgives from his heart, true reconciliation and healing come to the Church by God’s grace. Therefore, let us ask God to forgive our debts to Him which are great, and let us forgive others their debts to us which are certainly not so great. Let us grow in love and forgiveness, so the Lord will bestow His mercy and compassion on us.”

Following the dismissal of the Divine Liturgy the Rector preached a brief sermon in Russian to stress the main thoughts of today’s Gospel lesson. He also reminded parishioners about the Dormition fast that began on the past Friday, as well as invited them to attend the Liturgy on the coming feast of Transfiguration (on Wednesday, August 19).

On August 9, on the 10th Sunday after Pentecost and on the feast of the Holy Great-Martyr Panteleimon, we had a nice liturgical celebration in our church. The Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. Following the Scripture readings he preached a homily in Russian. An English version of that homily is as follows:

“Today’s lesson from the Gospel is about casting out the demon. It is again about faith. We spoke about faith last time. Today we may be convinced again how faith is important.”
”The child possessed by a demon described in today’s Gospel was tormented in different ways. Sometimes he would fall into the fire, at other times he would fall into the water (Mt. 17, 15). In other words the demon, who lived inside the son, was trying to destroy him by burning him to death or drowning him, in order to occupy that soul to all eternity.”
“The falling into fire and water also show us how the demons abuse God’s creation. Fire is not a tool with which to burn and destroy, but a gift of God for heating, cooking and other useful activities. Water is not a tool with which to drown, but a gift of God for drinking and washing and other useful activities. Moreover, we can see how fire is also a symbol of the fire of passion and anger which can possess those who are attacked by demons, and water is a symbol of the waves of melancholy which can also possess those who are attacked by demons.”
”We may wonder how did the demon get inside the man’s son and possess him? To this question we have the reply of Christ: “O faithless and perverse generation” (Mt. 17, 17). The demon came into possession of the son through unbelief, faithlessness. Not only the son’s unbelief, but also the unbelief of the father and others around the son who could have cared for him and given him faith. However, as with everything that God allows to happen, there is a positive, providential aspect to this illness. It is clear that because of the illness of the son, the father has been brought to know humility. Thus he calls Christ, “Lord” and asks, “Have mercy on my son” (Mt. 15, 17). This shows humility, not pride. God gives His grace to the humble ones. Thus the possessed son of the humble father was healed.”
”Understanding that, we may still ask: What is the solution to the sickness of the son? The answer is “prayer and fasting”, for this is how Christ casts the demon out of the son (Mt. 17, 21). Prayer and fasting are the deepening of faith. The Fathers of the Church call prayer and fasting a “two-edged sword”.”
“Prayer and fasting are the most important actions of faith. If we do them, we show our faith. And we know that faith is able to work great miracles. Today we celebrate feast of the Holy Great-Martyr and Healer Panteleimon. He performed many miracles during his life. His first miracle was made even before he we became a Christian. St. Panteleimon believed in Christ but was not yet baptized when he encountered a child who was bitten by a snake. The child was dead or dying. St. Panteleimon began to pray fervently to Jesus Christ. And a miraculous thing occurred: the child became healed and the snake exploded into pieces. See, how great things the Lord accomplishes if we believe and pray!
In other words, where there is prayer and fasting, there is faith. And as St. Theophan the Recluse wrote: “Where there is no prayer and fasting, there are the demons”.”
“Referring to the word of St Theophan, we could say therefore that much of the modern world has become the dwelling-place of demons. It seems that each day that passes brings us news of some new instability, some new disaster and misfortune.”
“The fact is that, whenever we are faithless and cease to pray and to fast, then we lose the protection of the grace of God and we are besieged by demons and the world falls into fire or water. For instance, sometimes we can hear that terrible crimes happen in small towns. These are the places where nothing could ever happen.  In Russia before the Revolution people said the same thing, but holy men like St Theophan the Recluse, St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, St John of Kronstadt and many others, all correctly prophesied that if people did not return to faithfulness, to prayer and fasting, then a great disaster would befall them. And so it happened and Russia became the favorite resort of the demons: “Where there is no prayer and fasting, there are the demons”.”
“Dear brothers and sisters! As today’s Gospel has made clear, you need prayer and fasting, thus you need faith. It is all a question of faith. Let us then be faithful.”

Following the Liturgy dismissal the Rector congratulated the Malyshew family on the occasion of the first-year birthday of Yelena Malyshew. Little 1-year old Yelena is our youngest parishioner who was borought to the church almost every Sunday and all this time participated in our Eucharistic life receiving Holy Communion. Traditional Polychronion (“Mnogaia leta”) was sung.

After the services our celebration continued at the trapeza table. A toast to little Yelena was made and a cupcake with a candle presented along with the singing of “Happy Birthday”. The Rector and parishioners enjoyed delicious meals and a nice company.

On August 2 the Church celebrates feast of the Holy Prophet Elias (Elijah). This year it fell on the 9th Sunday after Pentecost. Rector of St. George Church, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy in our temple. Following the Scripture readings he preached a homily:

”In today’s Gospel we hear how our Lord came to His disciples walking on the water in the midst of a storm. We hear how St. Peter through faith joins Him on the water. Then Peter becomes distracted by the storm and cries out “Lord, save me!” (Mt. 14, 30). Our Lord reaches out and catches him and says “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Mt. 14, 31).”
”In this Gospel we see the power of faith. We see that if we have faith we can perform miraculous things. Our Lord reminds of this when he says the following “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Mt. 17, 20) and again “Truly I say unto you, If you have faith, and doubt not, you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if you shall say unto this mountain, be removed, and be cast into the sea; it shall be done.”(Mt. 21, 21).”
“Celebrating today feast of the Holy Prophet Elijah we could recall another miracle with the waters. The holy man took his mantle, rolled it up and struck the water, and the water of Jordan divided, so Elias and Elisha could cross the river walking on the dry bottom (2 Kings, 2, 8). Many other miracles performed the holy Prophet. They all were done due to his firm faith. God worked them through His holy man. And the most astonishing miracle happened to Elijah was his taking up to heaven in a fiery chariot. We know that every man has to die due to the sin of Adam. But some holy people were exempt from that. The Old Testament Patriarch Enoch did not die but was taken by God (Gen. 5, 24). And Prophet Elijah was taken by God like into heaven (2 Kings, 2, 11-12). We should also recall that the Most Holy Mother of God was taken into heaven along with Her body and soul, after Her Dormition. But that happened after our Lord accomplished His mission of salvation, so heaven became open to the people. The Most Holy Theotokos was taken there along with Her body and She did not taste death. But before the redemption holy people could not reach Heavenly Kingdom. Enoch and Elijah did not die, but were not transferred to heaven. The Holy Fathers point out that they were taken by God to some secret place where they await the Last Judgment. All these astonishing things happened to them because of their great faith.”
“When we have faith we embark on a spiritual path that leads to God. That path often appears dangerous. As we see with St. Peter getting out of the boat and walking on water in the midst of a storm. Elijah also did have fears and doubts, but God comforted him and he proceeded on his path of godly life. But if we have any doubt as we walk this spiritual path then the troubles and cares of this world overwhelm us. We become preoccupied with the storms that are around us because we lose our focus on God. This is what happened to St. Peter when he began to sink. He lost his focus on the Savior and placed his focus on the storm around him. When he did this he lost the grace that was given to him when he stepped out of the boat in faith. This should remind us as our Lord said “without Me you can do nothing” (Jn.15, 5).”
”When we lose our focus on the Lord and get caught up in the storm of temptations around us we have a choice to make. That choice is, do we place our trust in the Savior to help us or do we allow the temptations to overcome us. This is the same choice that St. Peter was confronted with as he was sinking in the water. When we are in this situation we can do two things the first is call out as Peter did “Lord, save me!” or “curse God, and die.”(Job 2, 9) as Job’s wife told him in the midst of his afflictions.”
”If we choose to follow St. Peter’s example and cry out “Lord, save me!”, then we will find that the Savior is ready to reach out His hand and pull us out of the storm of temptations just like he did for Saint Peter in the Gospel. This example shows us that the Lord is always there for us. How can we not see that the Lord is there for us then why do we doubt? It is because we are fainthearted and do not place our trust in the Lord. There are many examples for us in the Scripture that show us that we should rejoice in the Lord and trust in Him when we are in our greatest affliction. As we said, some of those examples concern holy Prophet Elijah whom we honor today.”
“With the remembrance of these examples we should not be given over to despair but should be strengthened in our faith that the Lord will save us so that we can say as the Blessed King David said “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. Your vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto You. For You have delivered my soul from death: will not You deliver my feet from falling” (Ps. 56, 11-13).”

After the Liturgy dismissal the Rector preached a short sermon in Russian to convey the main ideas of his English homily. He also congratulated our younger parishioner and altar server, Ilia Kay, on the occasion of his name day. Fr. Igor praised Ilia’s great devotion to the serving in the altar and his great love for the Church services and wished him all God’s blessings and protection of his patron, Holy Prophet Elijah. Traditional Polychronion (“Mnogaia leta”) was sung.

Following the service the Rector performed the blessing of the cars of some parishioners who desired to have it done on this feast of St. Elias who is honored as a patron Saint of the drivers.

On July 26 our parish celebrated 8th Sunday after Pentecost, as well as Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the six Ecumenical Councils. On that day we also celebrated feast of St. Vladimir which was transferred to Sunday due to this year’s Millennium jubilee of the Holy Equal to the Apostles Prince of Rus’.
St. George’s Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. After the Scripture readings he preached a homily:

“Today we heard the Gospel story of a miraculous feeding of the five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Our Lord Jesus Christ worked a great miracle: a large number of people were fed with such a small amount of food. It is interesting that this miracle is described in all 4 Gospels. It makes us understand how important this event was among the other works of our Savior.”
“The Gospel of Matthew which we heard today tells that Jesus seeing so many people following Him He “was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick” (Mt. 14, 14). After that, also due to His compassion He decides to feed these people with 5 breads. This is a very elementary work – to feed the hungry, a basic work of mercy. And the Lord does it in a perfect, miraculous way. We might consider that this is the fulfillment of His mission – to heal the sick, to feed the hungry and to make everybody happy. Many Jews expected their Messiah to do just that – to build a perfect society, to give enough food, a lot of wealth and to make Israel strong and independent country. But we should know that the real mission of the Son of God was not directly related to the things of this world. He brought us salvation from sin, not from poverty or starvation. He came to redeem us from the captivity of the evil one, and not to provide us with a good lifestyle. Our Lord wished to give us the real and eternal life, a life truly abundant, and not just good life here on earth.”
“Many people wished to build a better society, to make a good life only here, on earth. For instance, the Socialists used to exclaim: “First feed the hungry and then demand them to be moral!” They promised good life here if they overthrow the governments and the kings and build their societies based on social justice. But when they succeeded, they created much worse life with more oppression of the people, and they could not solve even social problems. The hungry were still around and even grew in their number.”
“This is why our Lord Jesus Christ in the very beginning of His mission, when He was tempted in the wilderness, rejected the proposal of the devil to command the stones to become bread. If He did He could feed all the hungry, to solve a social problem. But Jesus said: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4, 4). Only the knowledge of the will of God can make us happy. Without that knowledge we won’t be able to solve any social problem.”
“Therefore, the significance of the miracle of feeding those 5 thousand people with 5 loaves of bread is not about giving food. It is about making the people partakers of the divine presence, making them connected to God. This miracle is the image of the Holy Eucharist, a mystery in which our earthly bread becomes the Body of Christ. The same Jesus Christ becomes multiplied as those 5 loaves of bread to be consumed not by 5 thousand men, but by all the faithful who are willing to receive Him. Christ is not divided; He remains the same. As it is written in today’s Epistle, Christ does not divide. Yet in every church, at every Divine Liturgy Christ is being distributed to the partakers of the Holy Communion. Christ cannot be consumed. Yet every time we receive Communion we consume Him. Isn’t that a miracle? And this miracle happens every time we participate in the Liturgy.”
The Rector further spoke about the great mission of St. Vladimir who baptized our ancestors, the people of Rus’, more than a millennium ago. In this way our holy Baptizer made our people also the partakers of the divine presence, made them members of the Body of Christ.
The Rector concluded saying, “Keeping this in mind, let us appreciate our Lord Jesus Christ and His saving gift of the Eucharist He gave us. Let us strive for eternal, spiritual and truly real things instead of temporary, material and passing things of this world. For were our treasure is, our heart will be also.”

Following the Liturgy dismissal the Rector and the altar servers came out of the sanctuary to the middle of the temple and performed the rite of Glorification before the image of St. Vladimir singing the troparion and kontakion in his honor.

After the service the Rector congratulated our Warden and Choir Director Olga Roussanow on the occasion of her past name day, the memory of the Holy Equal to the Apostles Princess Olga celebrated two days before. Traditional Polychronion (“Mnogaia leta”) was sung.

Our celebration continued at the trapeza table where the Rector and parishioners enjoyed delicious meals and a nice company. A toast to Olga Roussanow celebrating her name day was made by the Rector, and a “Mnogaia leta!” was sung again.

On July 19, on the 7th Sunday after Pentecost, Archpriest Igor Tarasov, Rector of St. George Church, served the Divine Liturgy in our temple. After the Holy Gospel lesson he preached the following homily in English:

”Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today’s Gospel is about healings of the blind men and of a man who was demon possessed. There are many similar stories of healing in the Scripture. And we should notice that each time our Lord Jesus Christ performs the miracle of healing He asks: “Do you believe? Do you believe that I am able to do this?” When our Lord asks these questions he is knocking at the door of the hearts of men. He is looking for an opening to be let in, so that not only healing, but salvation may occur. This is described for us in the Book of Revelation of St. John where it says “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him” (Rev. 3, 20).”
”While the Lord knocks at the door of our hearts, it takes action or faith on our part to let Him in. We must then also knock at His door and ask for salvation. This is confirmed in the words of our Lord when He says “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Lk. 11, 9).”
”We see both of these aspects of knocking at the door in today’s Gospel. The first knock is in the two blind men calling after Jesus “Son of David, have mercy on us.” (Mt. 9, 27) St. Simeon the New Theologian describes this knock at the door by the blind men in the following manner: “He who prays according to the flesh, and does not also have spiritual understanding is like the blind man that cried out “Son of David, have mercy on me!” But another blind man when he received his sight and saw the Lord, no longer saw Him as the Son of David, but as the Son of God. (Jn. 9, 35-38)” Thus, any knock at the door must be to bring us to God. This is why Christ does not immediately respond to these men. Jesus does not respond because He wants their thirst for God to increase.”
“The second knock is when Jesus asks them “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Mt. 9, 28). Our Lord does this so that they may publicly proclaim their action of faith when they say “Yes Lord.” This should remind us that our faith is not just a personal thing that we keep to ourselves. Faith is something that must be proclaimed in order to bring others to faith.”
“When the men respond with the words “Yes Lord”, they leave their fleshly or earthly understanding behind and embrace the spiritual understanding. This is accomplished through their use of the word ‘Lord’. They no longer recognize Jesus as the Son of David but as the Lord, the Son of God, the God-Man, the Savior of the world. Thus, they are not only healed of their infirmity but they are brought to salvation. This is confirmed by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans when he says “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom.10, 13).”
”All too often we seek after God through miraculous signs of His action in creation and fail to see the spiritual miracles that occur around us. St. John Chrysostom speaks of this in the following manner: “Do not therefore seek signs, but the soul’s health. Seek not to see one dead man raised; nay, for you have learned that the whole world is arising. Seek not to see a blind man healed, but behold all now restored unto that better and more profitable sight; and do you too learn to look chastely, and amend your eye.””
“So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, seek not after miracles. Seek rather after salvation for Christ is knocking at the door of your heart. Open the door of your hearts to Him that you may enter into the New Creation and receive the spiritual miracles that will change you and the world around you. Though this change you will be able to respond truly: “Yes, Lord, I believe” and to receive according to our faith.”

After the dismissal of the Liturgy he Rector preached a short sermon in Russian to stress the main thoughts of his English sermon.

On July 12, on the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, as well as feast of the Holy Major Apostles Peter and Paul, our parish held a nice liturgical celebration. Our Rector, Archpriest Igor Tarasov served the Divine Liturgy. After the readings from the Holy Gospel he preached a homily in Russian. An English version of that homily is as follows:

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today we celebrate the 6th Sunday after Pentecost and feast of the Holy Major Apostles Peter and Paul. Today’s first Gospel reading is a continuation of the story about our Lord Jesus Christ told last Sunday. A week ago we heard that Jesus was asked by the people of the country of Gargesines to leave their region. Thus “He got into a boat, crossed over and came to His own city” (Mt. 9, 1). This was the city of Capernaum which served as our Lord’s headquarters. Now we hear of another miracle Jesus performed: healing of the paralytic. The Gospel lesson of today tells us about the divine power of our Lord Jesus Christ. It shows us three signs of such a power Christ had as the Son of God.”
“First power is that He knew the secrets of hearts. Hearing that Jesus grants the paralyzed man forgiveness of sins, the scribes who were present there start thinking that Jesus is blaspheming. But Jesus reads their minds and argues with them openly. Only God can fully know the secrets of our hearts, only God can read our minds. Second power is that Jesus could grant the forgiveness of sins. No one but God can forgive sins. The scribes were correct in that. But they had no faith that Jesus is God. Thus He has a power to forgive sins. Here we see the third sign of the divine power of Christ – that He can heal the disease merely by His word.”
“Today’s first Gospel lesson may teach us also about our reception of the divine power coming from our Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to be His Church, a gathering of people which constantly practices the reception and acquiring of that power. And in order to be the Church we need faith.”
“Today’s second Gospel lesson is dedicated to the feast of St. Peter and Paul. It is also about faith necessary for acquiring the divine power from Christ. When Jesus asked His Disciples what they would say about Him, St. Peter expressed their faith and confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt. 16, 16). That kind of faith of the Apostles made them able to receive the Holy Spirit and to become the Church. The Lord speaks about this Church in our second Gospel lesson. He tells Peter that on him, as on the rock, He will build His Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it (Mt. 16, 18). The Church is founded on a solid rock, on the faith of the Apostles expressed by Peter when he confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And that very faith allowed the Apostles to receive from Christ the power to bind and loose the sins of men. The Lord today in the Gospel is telling Peter, “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Mt. 16, 19). If in today’s first Gospel lesson the people are amazed that Jesus forgives the sins of the paralytic, then according to the second Gospel reading, a similar power is possessed not only by Christ, but also by His Church, personally by the Apostles. And that power the Apostles transmitted to their successors, the Bishops. And by today Christ continues to forgive our sins, but through His Church, through the power He gave to her because of the faith of His Disciples.”
“The faith of Peter was the same as the faith of other Holy Apostles. This is why we believe that all of them were that ‘rock’, that foundation on which Jesus could build His Church. Roman Catholics believe that Jesus gave His power only to St. Peter and to his successors, the Bishops of Rome. Thus Catholics think that the Bishop of Rome has universal jurisdiction over all the Church. We, Orthodox Christians, believe that not only Peter, but all the Apostles possessed that power and those keys of the Kingdom of Heaven because they shared the same firm faith with St. Peter.”
“Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, in order to receive the gift of the life-giving, healing and forgiving power of Christ, we need faith. We need such a faith that Jesus saw in St. Peter and in all His Apostles. Similar faith was seen in those people, the paralytic’s friends who brought him to Jesus. Their collective faith became a reason for Christ to perform the miracle of healing. And collective faith of the Apostles became a reason of granting them the power to bind and loose the sins of men. The same faith makes us the Church of Christ. And then not only on St. Peter, as Catholics think, but on all other Christians believing in Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord founds and builds His Church. He founds it on a rock of faith. And we are called to be such a rock.”
“May our faith, the faith of Christ and the faith of the Apostles save us!”

After the Liturgy dismissal the Rector performed the rite of Glorification in the middle of the temple singing the troparion, kontakion and magnification of the feast.Following that the Rector preached a short sermon in English conveying main ideas of his Russian homily.

After the liturgical service we continued to celebrate feast at our trapeza enjoying delicious meals and a nice company.