St. Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church
872 N. 29th St. Boise, ID
an American parish of the Russian Orthodox Church


The weekly homilies are now also available on YouTube in video format:  Homilies

3/24 - Search for Truth


John 1:43-51

The search for truth seems to be ever-present throughout the history of mankind.  Pontius Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” seems to echo down through the halls of time reaching from the Garden of Eden to this very day.  When Adam and Eve “bit the apple” so to speak, they were in search of “truth”.  The ancient Greek philosophers were looking for some definition of truth.  In the modern era, science seems to be a never ending quest for truth.  Everyone wants to find truth.  And everyone who searches for truth following Pilate’s question, “What is truth” is looking in the wrong place.  If we look for truth as a system of knowledge, as a basic gathering of facts, or as an understanding of basic principles - in essence, if we look for truth as some-thing, then we are looking in the wrong place.  Truth is not a what; Truth is a Who.  Pilate stood in the presence of the One Who is Truth and asked “*What* is truth”.  Our first parents walked with the One Who is Truth daily in Paradise, but then looked away for “truth” somewhere else. Philosophers look for truth in a system of understanding and theologians all too often look for truth in a system of belief, forgetting that He Who is Truth can be found only in a relationship, not in a system.  Science seeks to “prove” truth by amassing observable evidence and repeating phenomena, but it misses the all important idea that all these observations and facts point not to a single unified theory, but to a Person. 

In the Gospel today we heard about two men who were seekers for truth, two brothers named Phillip and Nathaniel.  They were not scientists or philosophers or theologians looking for a system, they were instead simple men who hearing that God had promised to send a Person Who would redeem all mankind and reveal the Truth to the world, began to search for that Person.  When Phillip found Jesus Christ (or rather as the Gospel says, was found by Christ), he knew that he had found this very person and so he ran to tell his brother that their search for Truth was fulfilled.  When Phillip told Nathaniel that he had found the One for Whom they had been searching, Nathaniel responded asking for proof.  Knowing that this wasn’t a matter of proof, but of knowing Phillip responded to him with the simple statement, “Come and see.”  Nathaniel came and when our Lord saw him, He reminded Nathaniel of a very personal and private relationship - one which was not revealed to us - simply saying, “I saw you under the fig tree.”  Nathaniel was not convinced by argument, but rather by relationship.  This is important for us as well for we too are seekers after Truth, and we have come seeking Truth.  We will not find Truth in facts and systems, in dogma and doctrine, in systems of belief - we will only find Truth in a relationship with the One Who is Truth.  That One is the God/man Jesus Christ.  God, who has revealed Himself to us by becoming as we are so that we might know Him, so that despite our sinfulness, we might walk with Him again and talk with Him and hear from Him all that is good and true and beneficial to our souls.  We come here seeking Truth and we find the Person Who is Truth.  Now having found Him, we follow Him as He leads us into all Truth - into that ultimate relationship such that we participate His life as He lives in us and we in Him.

How is it that this can be accomplished, how is the path laid out before us.  Our Lord does not abandon us, but rather places us in the company of His servants, in the Church so that we are surrounded by those, who like ourselves are seeking to follow Christ.  But the Church is no ordinary gathering of likeminded people, it is not a “club” or a human organization - but rather it is a divine/human organism.  In the Church we not only follow the path of Christ, but He sends to us the Holy Spirit who guides us in that path, Who strengthens us to walk that path, Who dwells within us sharing the divine life with us even now.  The Holy Spirit unites us not only to Christ but to one another so that we find we are not part of an organization, but we are part of a divine/human organism - the Body of Christ.

St Theophan the Recluse tells us, “We know what technology teaches us, what mechanics teaches us, law, economics (and so on). But the Church teaches us about the movement of our heart.  Therefore, learn and keep in your heart everything that the Holy Church teaches, and receiving Godly forces through the sacraments, and quickening them through the holy services and prayers of the Church, go unswervingly the Way of Christ’s commandments under the guidance of lawful shepherds, and you will undoubtedly reach the Kingdom of Heaven and be saved.”  The Church throughout the centuries has unerringly taught the path to salvation, has taught us about the movement of the heart to Christ.  The Church is the path toward the One Who is Truth.  From the Church we learn how it is that the heart moves, how that movement can be directed always towards Christ, how that movement is maintained and how we avoid obstacles (sin) in the path of that movement.  All the doctrines, traditions, scriptures, laws, teachings, sermons, examples of the Church serve one and the same purpose, to help us find and stay on the path to Christ.  He came into the world and established this Path, and that path is preserved clear and accessible in the Church - all we have to do is to walk on that path.

Today, on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we celebrate that path, we celebrate the fact that in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church that Path to Salvation has been valiantly maintained straight and true, free and clear of all obstacles and that by the grace of the Holy Spirit, the enemy of mankind has not been able to destroy, block or turn aside that Path.  On this day, when we end the liturgy, we will sing, as we always do this hymn, “We have seen the true light, we have found the true faith, worshipping the Undivided Trinity, who hath saved us.”  When we do, let us also give thanks to God that He has given us this unfading light, this unwavering path, this true faith so that we can come to Him and find the One Who is Truth and share in the life of the Holy Trinity.

3/17 - Forgiveness Sunday - Fr. Matthew Garrett


In the gospel this morning, before telling us how we ought to fast so that we may lay up treasure in heaven, Our Lord says tells us: “if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” And so, just before we begin the Great Fast, we will ask one another for forgiveness, that we might enter into this spiritual struggle having forgiven everyone and sought forgiveness from everyone.

But while we hear our Lord’s words it might seem that first we forgive others and then God, as a consequence, forgives us. The Lord’s forgiveness, however is actually precedes the forgiveness that we offer. We forgive others as a way of entering into the Divine act of forgiveness. Let us consider the parable that our Lord told of the King who called his servant to collect an impossibly large debt. When that servant could not pay, the King ordered that the servant be sold into slavery along with his wife and children until the debt could be paid. When the servant begged the King for patience so that the servant could pay him back, the King did something surprising and merely forgave the debt completely.

This servant, however, then went out to collect a debt from someone else, and by doing so showed himself unworthy of the forgiveness he had already received. In not acting like the King, he had his debt reinstated, and was subjected to cruel torture until he should pay the impossible debt back.

Let us turn for a moment from forgiveness, and look at the theme of the hymns from last night’s vigil. Those hymns did not really focus on forgiveness, but on the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise.

Adam, like the servant in the parable received from God a sum greater than any person could earn in a lifetime. Our Lord gave Adam the gift of life. He endowed Adam and all his descendents with His own image. He created Adam to be like Himself. He set him in an earthly paradise where he had dominion over all of the created order, where his work was without toil, and where he was nourished and satisfied with every good fruit. Adam was given Eve as a helpmeet who was flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. He was given the opportunity to grow in union and communion with His Creator without end. This is the gift that he chose to turn his back on by his disobedience.

However, it is not simply that Adam didn’t obey God’s command, but that he preferred his own will over the infinite blessings that he enjoyed. He was cast out of paradise for choosing to seek his own desires over what had been given to him.

So like the servant in the parable, Adam, with his wife and all his future descendents were sold into slavery, to a life of toil and sorrows which would end in death -- death not as punishment but as a way to escape never-ending and increasing sinfulness. But we are told in the prayers of the Church during the Vigil service that Adam, standing at the gate that guarded paradise, cried out and lamented saying: “Woe is me! No more can I endure the shame. I who was once king of all God’s creatures upon earth have now become a prisoner, led astray by evil counsel. I who was once clothed in the glory of immortality must now, as one condemned to die, wrap myself in the skins of mortality. Woe is me! Who will share my sorrow with me? But, O Lord who lovest mankind, Who hast fashioned me from the earth and art clothed in compassion, call me back from bondage of the enemy and save me.”

In the parable, the King hears the cry of the debtor and forgives the debt, releasing him. There are no payment arrangements made, there is no mysterious benefactor who pays the debt for the servant, there is simply forgiveness; because the Lord, whose character we see in the person of the King is gracious, long-suffering, compassionate, and merciful. God hears the cry of Adam and forgives him and all his descendents. In the fullness of time, He passes through the gate which separates man from paradise, entering into this world, taking on the form of a servant, giving commandments of salvation, working wonders, and going to His voluntary passion. He suffers, dies, rises again and then ascends into Heaven making the way for us all, that we might be given the gift of eternal life in union and communion with God. He also gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to accomplish our salvation through the renewal of our nature. We have been given that first gift that was given to Adam, and we are given the even greater gift of Christ’s Incarnation and the reception of the Holy Spirit. We are indebted, and in a sense further indebted by the forgiveness granted.

We must not act like that ungrateful servant, who then goes out to collect the debts that others owed him.  To forgive is the proper response of one who has any degree of gratitude, but more to the point, to forgive is to be like Christ Himself. It is to experience now a foretaste of communion with God by entering into union of our will with His. Saint Gregory Palamas therefore says, “The man who wrongs us causes us so many benefits, if we are willing, that I regard him as a richly laden merchant-ship easily capable of paying off our debt of ten thousand talents and of guaranteeing future riches.”

If we could truly see this, it would be so easy for us to forgive, and yet we so often struggle to forgive others. So we should investigate all the ways in which our Lord has blessed us. We should take stock of all of our blessings, not just the tangible or material ones. Thank God for life itself, thank Him for each breath, thank Him for the beauty of  His Creation, thank Him for parents, children, spouses, friends, neighbors, thank Him for His great plan of Salvation, thank Him for bringing you to His Church – the very body of Christ, thank him for the forgiveness of sins, the food and drink of immortality. Count up all of the things for which you are indebted to Him, and see if the debts of others still seem so large that they can’t be forgiven.

It is a struggle to forgive, particularly if someone has not shown remorse, if they have not repented and sought forgiveness, particularly when someone has hurt us several times before. But let us look at the example of Saint Gerasimos of Jordan whom we celebrate today. Saint Gerasimos removed a thorn from the paw of a lion. In gratitude, the lion stayed near him for the rest of his life. The lion was given the job of guarding over the donkey who brought water up from the river to the monastery. One day, the lion fell asleep, and traveling merchants took the donkey in their caravan, not realizing that it belonged to the monastery. Saint Gerasimos, never forgot that a lion is a dangerous animal capable of harming him or others, and so he assumed that the lion had acted according to its predatory instincts and eaten the donkey. Rather than ridding the monastery of a dangerous creature, Saint Gerasimos merely insisted that the lion himself would have to carry the water to the monastery every day.

We can assume that people, like lions, will never change. More than likely we are right in that assumption. We are capable of changing ourselves, not others. But we don’t forgive expecting change, we forgive because we are like Christ in our love and mercy toward others. It is not an act which comes easily, but is instead a courageous act, countering the offense and hurt that have preceded it. We do unto others, not as they have done unto us, but as God has done for us. Though we are surrounded by so many lions, we don’t react out of fear, but out of love. And it may be that we will find ourselves hurt again, an avoidable hurt, a small version of our Lord’s voluntary passion. But we are told that we should forgive our brother not seven times, or seventy times, but seventy times seven times.

People sometimes disparage one who forgives readily as a doormat, as a weak and pitiful creature. But to forgive is not a passive action, it is a reaching out to take hold of heavenly riches, riches which have been prepared for those who live as Christ lived. Strive today, and throughout this Lenten season to forgive all from your heart, to keep forgiving them, so that in Holy Week when you hear our Lord say from the Cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” you will understand better how difficult is the act of forgiveness, but also how it is possible to do so. In doing so, you will surely be forgiven for all of your failings.

3/10 - Fulfill Your Destiny


Matthew 25:31-46

The first book of Moses starts out, “In the beginning God created…” A beginning implies an ending – or at least the possibility of an ending.  God created the cosmos and all that exists with both a beginning and an end.  Even though the end has not yet arrived, still we know with certainty that it is coming and that it will arrive.  Our Lord many times spoke of this event – the end of the world and the Great Judgement that would bring the world to its close.  Just before the end, we look for the resurrection of the dead – not just some of the dead but all of the dead, everyone who has ever lived, will be resurrected in order to stand before the throne of God and be judged.  This event is so huge and awesome that it is beyond our ability to imagine it in its fullness.  Every description of the end is incomplete and only shows a small bit of what it will be in its fullness.

We, however, don’t need to comprehend the enormity of the Judgement – the only thing that matters is that we will be judged.  Each one of us will stand before the throne of God and be judged by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  We do not often think of Jesus as the Great Judge of the universe – we look at Him as one full of mercy and compassion who forgives all our iniquities and cleanses us of all unrighteousness.  But this is exactly what makes Him our judge, for He will have given us each every possible opportunity to repent, every possible tool and help for the working out of our salvation, every aid and assistance in overcoming the evil that is within us and developing the virtues of grace and righteousness that God has planted in us.  He will evaluate us to see whether or not we took advantage of those opportunities to repent, the assistance of His grace that He gave to us, and whether we followed the path that He set out before us and walked ahead of us. 

Of what then will this judgement consist?  In the Gospel today we are given a clear picture of this judgement – perhaps not a literal picture for that is still beyond our comprehension, but a clear icon of the essence of this judgment.  All of humanity standing before the throne of the Great Judge are divided into two groups – one He sets on His right hand and the other on His left.  To those on His right, He says, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” To those on His left He says, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”  What is the difference between these two groups? Those on the right fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, sheltered the stranger, clothed the naked, visited the sick and comforted those in prison. And in doing so they did it unto Christ Himself for He said that, “inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”   Those on the left did not do this and so rejected Christ in that they rejected the least of His brethren.

There is a double meaning to this judgement – the material and the spiritual.  The material meaning is clear – our Lord calls us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick and comfort those in prison.  In other words He calls us to be compassionate and kind to others, no matter who they may be.  If we love our neighbor, then we will also love God.  If however we neglect our neighbor, or worse yet are unkind, cruel and devoid of love, then we have no love for God for we do not love our neighbor.  This past week we have been reading the epistles of the Apostle John and he reminds us that if we do not love our brother who we can see, then we cannot love God Who we cannot see.  The heart of this judgement is love – not the love of the world, but the divine love of God.  If the Judge sees His love in us, then He will set us on His right hand; if however, He sees no love, then we will be consigned to His left.

In addition to this material meaning, there is a spiritual meaning to the judgement depicted here.  This is expressed in the saying, “inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these my brethren…”  The “least of these brethren” describes the fruit of the grace of the Holy Spirit in us. God created us in His image and planted in the garden of our heart the seeds of His likeness. When our first parents sinned, that garden was overrun by weeds and wild animals – that is by our passions and by the demons. It was trampled and dug up and everything was overturned.  But God will not be overcome and so some of those seeds were preserved and remained ready to grow, needing only the light and water of the grace of the Holy Spirit to fall upon them.  This grace is given to us in our baptism and those seeds of divine fruit began to put forth sprouts and shoots. We are now given the task of nurturing these tender shoots and sprouts to maturity that they might bear fruit.  These are the “least of these brethren”, these little seeds and sprouts in danger of being overrun and uprooted by the weeds and beasts of the passions and demons.  And so, in the words of St Nicholas (Velimirovic), “If our mind hungers for God, and we feed it, we have fed Christ within us; if our heart is bare of every good and noble thing that is of God, and we clothe it, we have clothed Christ within us; if our soul is sick and imprisoned by our evil being, our evil  actions and we are mindful of it and visit it, we have visited Christ within us.”  Therefore, it is our task to feed the hungry soul with the divine food of the Word of God, to give it to drink of the grace of God, to shelter it under the protection of the Providence of God, to clothe its nakedness by the covering of our repentance, to visit and comfort it with the tender care and compassion of a righteous life.  This is how we bring forth the fruit of grace from this garden of the heart.  If, on the other hand, we neglect this little garden of our heart and allow the passions to grow unchecked and the demons to roam at will then whatever seeds and sprouts might be found are trampled, broken, uprooted and so never bring forth this fruit for which the Great Judge seeks.

Therefore, let us be diligent in loving our neighbor, whoever he may be. Let us be kind and compassionate towards all mankind, treating every person with whom we come into contact as our Lord Himself – for is this not the outer material meaning of the parable.  In loving our neighbor, we love Christ and we enter into the inner garden of the heart; feed and water the little sprouts of grace, protect and nurture them, sheltering them from every attack from within and without.  We nurture them to maturity and the fruit of the grace of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faith – blossom in our hearts ready to be offered into the searching hand of the Great Judge.  Seeing these fruits in us, He will then call us to come with Him and enter into the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world.

Let us finish by contemplating this kingdom.  This is not a “reward” for “being good” that God threw together after the fall as an enticement to be earned by following His rules.  No this kingdom has been prepared from the foundation of the world.  God is restoring to us that which we lost in our sins.  He meant us to occupy this kingdom even before He created us.  The Garden of Eden in which our first parents were placed by God is the forerunner of this kingdom.  In that paradise, they walked with God, spoke with Him as a friend, partook of His generous provision, drew their life from Him and enjoyed the sweetness of His grace.  This is precisely the kingdom to which we are called – to the paradise where we walk with God, commune with Him, speak with Him as a friend, partake of the riches and sweetness of His grace, draw our life from Him, the One Who is life itself.  This is not a “reward” – this is our destiny, it is what we were created for.  However, it is up to us to choose to fulfill our destiny; we have the freedom to turn our back on it to try to make our own destiny.  This was the rebellion of the devil.  He broke away from God’s love and care for him in order to set up his own destiny – but as a result he only inherited the destiny of everlasting fire – likewise prepared by God specifically as a punishment for the devil and his angels.  Those who rebel against God, who reject the destiny that God has placed before them and go off to make their own destiny follow in the same path established by the devil and inherit their punishment – that is the lot of those on the left.

Brothers and sisters, let us then choose to fulfill our destiny – to nurture the seeds of grace planted in the garden of our heart.  Let us love our neighbor, let us feed, clothe, shelter and comfort the “least of these” the brethren of Christ both in the material world and in the garden of the heart.  Let us labor to bring forth the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our hearts that the Great Judge might not find us barren.  Let us fulfill the destiny of our Lord Jesus Christ and enter into that kingdom which He has prepared for us from before the foundation of the world.

3/3 - All Earthly Cares - Fr. Matthew Garrett


This morning, we heard in the gospel about a son who, moved by desire for the things of this world, asked his father for the portion of goods that falls to him. He was asking for his inheritance not as a last gift of his father, but as a birthright that was due to him. He then took this wealth and his belongings and departed into a far country where he lived according to his desires and passions. Like so many of us, he didn’t set out trying to be evil, just to live his life to the fullest, to experience all of the enjoyable things of this world. So he would have feasted on fine foods, and drank the best wine, sought out the most beautiful women, and the friendship of important or influential people. But because he focused on these temporal and fleeting things rather than on eternal things, he soon found himself without food and drink, without companionship or friendship. He was alone with no one who would help him, and hungering and thirsting for that which can actually satisfy – he found himself empty of any good thing.

So the prodigal son, who before had collected his belongings to hasten to a far off land to live the “good life,” now comes to himself, he collects all that is still redeemable in his soul, and he determines within himself to go back to his father and ask to be made as one of his father’s hired servants, that he might at least have bread for himself and to be near to the one good person he knew, his father. To his surprise, his father has been awaiting his return and accepts him back with great rejoicing, not as a servant but as a son who has died and been brought back to life.

Finding his father celebrating the return of his son, the prodigal’s brother becomes angry. Why celebrate someone who had been so wasteful with the gift he had been given? We see from his reaction that he too wants the finer things of this life. He is not satisfied with just what he has in his father’s house which is an abundance of good things. He wants to spend his life feasting with his friends, enjoying fine foods, the best wine, and the company of men and women. This other son, is no less prodigal for having stayed with his father, because he still desires the things of this world more than the company of his father. He has departed in his heart, even though he did not depart bodily.

In the Church we are instructed time and again not to be attached to the things of this world, which divert us from our proper course, confuse us about right and wrong, weigh down our minds and hearts, and weaken our will’s ability to choose good stunting our spiritual maturity. We must not let ourselves be torn away from our Father by the various passions and temptations that war against us in our bodies. It is curious, then, that the father in this parable throws a huge celebration for a son who had lived according to all his worst desires. Why should the father throw a feast for a son who chased after feasting? Because the father does not live this way all the time. He knows that it is right to live soberly and simply, but to still celebrate the return of his son who is alive again, who had been lost but is now found.

The Church calls us to restrain our passions and appetites, to fast – at times very strictly, to give our wealth into the hands of the poor that we might have treasure in heaven. But the Church also calls us to feast and celebrate the truly wonderful things that have given us life again, that have brought us back to our Father in Heaven.

We stand at the threshold of Great Lent, and we are being called to prepare ourselves to give less care to the needs and wants of our flesh that we might be governed by our spirit and led by God into His Kingdom. To do this, we must repent of the hold that all of these things have had on us. Sometimes God makes this happen by allowing us to suffer loss through no action of our own: we are stricken with sickness, we lose jobs, homes, family; and in these moments we can choose to accept the loss of these things as the prodigal eventually did. We can see in our deprivation a call to return to the one eternal source of all good things. But for most of us, most of the time, we must choose to willingly deprive ourselves, not because we are called to live as miserable unhappy beings, but because none of those things last and are actually cruel masters which keep us from returning to our good and loving Master.

So in the coming days, even before we begin Great Lent, begin to cut off your attachment to worldly possessions, and cast off the things that burden you in this earthly life: the worries and anxiety you have about temporal things, the busyness that traps you in doing things that bring no true profit, the vanity of being important or liked by men, the service you offer to every indiscriminate desire that pulls at your heart, and the lack of faith and hope you have in God’s providence.

And then turn yourself toward God, and begin to journey back to His loving embrace. Seek Him in prayer, seek his instruction in the word of God, and in spiritual labors leading to the acquisition of the grace of God. We are afforded a great many opportunities for such things during the Lenten season, but we must reach out and take them with the same fervour that we currently show toward acquiring worldly things. Seek the bread which comes down from heaven instead of earthly food, exchange your free time for moments of eternity in prayer and attending some of the extra services, and seek to enrich yourself by giving to the poor man.

The Church is not telling us we have to avoid certain foods, drinks, or entertainment because they are inherently evil. As Saint Paul tells us this morning, “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

We must not be brought under the power of food and drink, under the power of the passions of the flesh. To do so is to separate ourselves from the Body of Christ, it is to try to join the members of the Body of Christ to a harlot, one who takes everything from us under the guise of giving something to us. If we are to be inheritors of the Kingdom, we must be Christ’s and not live for ourselves. We will have every good thing that we need in this life, we will still celebrate, eat and drink, we will have friends and companionship as God wills, but we will not be enslaved to the pursuit of them.

Perhaps you have heard similar words before, maybe last year and the year before, maybe you even tire of heeding the same call to repentance and fasting only to find that you can’t seem to rise above the passions and achieve perfection. But such thoughts ought to give some cause for rejoicing. When we see the passions working within us, we are more able to make a determined effort to fight off these attachments and to run toward God with nothing hindering us. Great Lent alone will not bring us to perfection, but it shows us the ropes and chains that bind us to this life, making us captives; and it gives us the tools to try to disentangle ourselves, to cut the ropes and break the chains and to run to our Father.

It is not easy to leave behind the things that have held us captive for so long, but it becomes easier when we see that there is nothing good here in our sin, that the good is only found in the house of our Father. Unlike the prodigal, we know that our Father patiently watches and lovingly awaits our return. Come to yourself, rise up, leave behind the filth and deprivation of your sins, and go, seeking only to serve and be fed.

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