September sermons, 2025.

Sunday September 14, 2025
Fr Gennady Baksheev
 
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 
The Church gives us many things for our contemplation today. 
In the Church calendar, today is the 1st of September and marks the beginning of the Church new year. This is also known as the Indiction, which comes from a Latin word meaning, “to impose.’ This originally referred to the imposition of taxes throughout Egypt and then the Roman empire. It is also on this day that Christ entered a synagogue on a Sabbath day and read the following words from the Prophet Isaiah: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed Me ... to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4, 18:19). And so to commemorate these events, the holy fathers of the First Ecumenical Council decided to begin the New Year on the first of September.

The parable in today’s Gospel reading speaks about the disobedience of the chosen nation of Israel. I will not focus on this today, but will rather focus on its relevance to us.  

There is a common theme that unites today’s epistle reading, Gospel reading and the commemoration of Sts Peter and Fevronia. The epistle reading was from St Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, where he writes about God anointing us with ‘the seal’ which ‘gives us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee’. This is from Chapter 1 verses 21 and 22. This seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit is given to us in the sacrament - or better known in the Orthodox Church as the mystery of chrismation. This mystery is performed together with baptism. The mystery of baptism joins us to Christ, and gives us a new birth into eternal life. It is also the formal entrance into the Church and the communion of believers. The mystery of Chrismation activates that life within us. We hear the following words during a prayer at this mystery: ‘keep the person in your holiness, confirm him in sanctification, confirm him in the Orthodox faith, keep him from the evil one, preserve his soul that he may please God.’ These words about defeating the devil and preserving holiness within us. This begins our path of spiritual growth.

For growth to occur, we need nourishment. We eat and drink food, but this is to our death. In today’s parable, God calls us to a joyous occasion, to that of a wedding feast where Christ is the bridegroom and the Church is the bride. We are called to a feast that is laden with spiritual nourishment, and we are given fattened calves, which are the loaves that we offer to God on the altar table and are given back to us as the Body and Blood of Christ. This is the mystery of mysteries in which we grow in our personal relationship with Christ. We have not done anything worthy to be called to this feast. The entry into the wedding takes place for all people without distinction, for people both good and bad. Let us tremble however, and understand, that we need to lead a pure life after entering the Church as there will be a careful examination by the King. The mysteries are given to us as a means of divine – human union, but what we do with them matters. They don’t circumvent our will. That is, something is expected of us. We need to co-labour with Christ in producing fruit, such as prayer, repentance and virtue. 

The Church gives us an example today of a married couple that lived a life of virtue. I encourage you to read the full life of Sts Peter and Fevronia at home. St Peter became sick one day with leprosy, and when hope of a cure was diminished, he was told in a dream to seek out Fevronia who could heal him. She was of remarkable beauty and goodness, studied plants and had the gift of healing. Peter fell in love with Fevronia and gave his word to marry her as soon as he recovers, but failed to keep his promise when his health was restored by Fevronia. He became fearful as Fevronia was from a lower class. 
Then the same disease returned to Peter, and Fevronia did not refuse to help him again.   Peter repented of breaking his promise, married his benefactress, and was happy with her to the end of his days. As tradition has it, the couple honored one another throughout their lives, and lived honestly, in peace and harmony. They did not have an easy life however but they  were able to overcome all obstacles through their love for each other. For example, there was a time when Peter ascended the Princely throne of the city of Murom but decided to leave his position in the face of slander against his wife. Even in exile from their own city, the wise princess never lost heart, and always found a way out of a difficult situation, and supported her crestfallen husband. Peter in turn never ceased to treat Fevronia with great tenderness and never once reproached her with the fact that she was the cause of their exile. Tradition also has it that they not only died on the same day, but in the same hour. Their commemoration is on July 8th, but this always falls in the Apostles’ fast and so weddings are unable to be served on this day. So another feast day was established to fall on the Sunday closest to the 16th September, as many young couples want to have their wedding take place on the feast day of these two heavenly patrons of married couples. 
 Let us also take up this call to lead a holy life, as did Sts Peter and Fevronia. Amen.

​Saturday,  September 27, 2025: Exaltation of the Cross
by Fr Gennady Baksheev
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The power of the cross was foretold to us in the Old Testament. We can read about the time when Moses held out his arms  raised in the form of a cross during a battle, and giving victory to the Israelites of the Amalekites. He also divided the Red Sea by a blow of his rod on the ground and a blow along the horizon of the sea, making the sign of a cross, which gave the Israelites safe passage from Pharaoh’s army. 

During the time of the Roman empire, the Cross was used as an instrument of punishment, something that would evoke fear and aversion. After Christ’s death however, the Cross becomes our instrument and sign of salvation. Through the cross, Christ destroyed the kingdom of the devil. After His death, Christ descended with His soul into hell so as to raise up from it the souls who were awaiting Him. By the Cross, Christ opened the doors of paradise which had been closed after our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, had been banished from it. The Cross was sanctified by the Body of Christ which was nailed to it when He gave Himself over to torments and death for the salvation of the world and the cross itself was then filled with life-giving power. The cross is our weapon and  a sign of Christ’s victory. Invisibly and unceasingly Divine grace gushes forth from the cross to save the world.
 
When Emperor Constantine went into battle against Maxentius, who was in control of Rome, he and his soldiers marked their armour with the sign of the cross and put an end to the persecution of Christians. The emperor’s mother, Queen Helen, embarked on a journey to Jerusalem to restore the holy places and to find the cross. She found the cross around Easter time in 326AD. Then the Cross was erected on a high place, so that the people could see it and render honor to it. At first, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross was celebrated on the second day of Easter. After the consecration of the Great Church of the Holy Resurrection on September 13, 335AD, it was decided to celebrate the feast of the Holy Cross on the following day, September 14, and this has continued to this day. Today, of course, is September 14 in the Church (old) calendar.

Now we continue to raise crosses in churches and monasteries. We use the sign of the cross across our whole lifespan, from the time that we put a cross on around our neck at our baptism through to the end of our lives when crosses will be placed upon our graves. But these are external crosses. Let us continually raise our spiritual crosses, mortifying the passions and the sinful desires of our flesh so that we may die to sin with Christ and also become partakers in His glorious Resurrection. Amen.  
 
Sunday September 21, 2025: Nativity of the Mother of God
by Fr Peter Sheko
 
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today we celebrate the first great feast of the Church year, the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God. In the troparion of the feast we sing: 
“Thy nativity, O Virgin Theotokos, * hath proclaimed joy to all the world; * for from Thee hath shone forth Christ our God, the Sun of righteousness, * Who, having annulled the curse, hath given His blessing, ** and having abolished death, hath granted us life everlasting.” 
Just as the dawn announces the coming of the sun, the birth of the Virgin Mary announces the coming of Christ, the Sun of Righteousness. Her nativity is joy for the whole world for it ends humanity’s long and hopeless waiting. Through her, the One who brings salvation will come. 
The Fathers often call Christ the “Sun of righteousness” (cf. Malachi 4:2). Just as the sun scatters darkness and brings life to the earth, Christ scatters sin and death, bringing true life to the world.
The troparion speaks of the curse, which recalls Genesis: the curse of death, hard work, and separation from God. Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, overturns this curse. Where Eve was disobedient, Mary is obedient. Where humanity was cast out of Paradise, through Her we are offered the blessing of union with God. The Nativity of the Mother of God is the first step in undoing Adam’s fall. 
This is the heart of today’s feast: through the birth of the Mother of God, the way is prepared for Christ’s victory over death. Death, once final, is now transformed into a passage. And eternal life is not a mere extension of earthly days, but communion with God in His Kingdom. 
In the Akathist to the Mother of God we hear: “bridge that conveys us from earth to Heaven”. Today that bridge has been created. God’s plan for the salvation of humanity is revealed, through Her, God becomes Man, and through Her, mankind is raised to God.
The kontakion of the feast reminds us: “Joachim and Anna have been freed from the reproach of childlessness”. In St John of Shanghai and San Francisco’s book “The Orthodox Veneration of Mary the Birthgiver of God”, he explains that Joachim was of the royal line of David, and Anna of the priestly line. Yet they were burdened by grief, disdained by their people for being childless. In their sorrow, they prayed: Joachim on the mountain after being rejected in the Temple, and Anna in her garden in tears. To both, an angel appeared, announcing the birth of a daughter whom they promised to consecrate to God. 
This feast shows us two important truths. First, that God hears the prayers of the faithful, even when all hope seems lost. Joachim and Anna were not abandoned. Their patience and trust became the doorway for the greatest blessing in history. Second, salvation begins in humility. Mary was born quietly, in a modest household, without earthly power or glory. Yet from Her came the Saviour of the world.
What can we learn from this feast? Firstly, to trust God with patience, like Joachim and Anna, especially in times of difficulty. It’s important to remember that God’s timing is not our timing, He never forgets us, His children, and gives when it is the most beneficial for our salvation. Secondly, to learn from the humility of the Holy Virgin Mary. God can only help us when we acknowledge that we need it and when our hearts are pure and humble.
So, as we celebrate today, let us give thanks to God for the gift of the birth of His Mother, the beginning of our salvation. And let us pray with confidence, for She who was born today is our intercessor, quick to hear and to help us.
Through the prayers of the Most Holy Mother of God, may Christ our true God have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

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