November 24, 2024. The 22nd Sunday after Pentecost and the feast day of the Great Martyr Mina of Phrygia, St. Theodore the Studite, and Blessed Maxim, the Fool for Christ and Wonderworker of Moscow.
Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Holy Martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov, and their Mother Sophia, located at the Patriarchal Compound in Moscow, which serves as the Representation of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District.
Serving with the archpastor were: Hieromonk Antony (Drobiazko), Sacristan of the church; Protopriest Andrei Pavlenko; Igumen Agafangel (Gagua), Vice-Rector of the Almaty Theological Seminary, Doctor of Medicine, Candidate of Theology, and Professor; Protopriest Lev Aznovaryan, Sacristan of the House Church of St. Nicholas at the Scientific and Clinical Center for Otorhinolaryngology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation; Other clergy of the compound.
The liturgical hymns were sung by the church choir under the direction of Anna Rozhnova.
In attendance at the service were: representatives of the Kazakhstan Metropolitan District, parishioners of the church, pilgrims, as well as teachers and students of the Sunday School.
A sermon before Holy Communion was delivered by Protopriest Lev Aznovaryan.
After the dismissal of the Liturgy, the Head of the Metropolitan District congratulated the clergy and faithful on the Sunday and delivered a sermon of exhortation:
“Today’s Gospel reading contains the Lord Jesus Christ’s answer to a lawyer who sought to determine which commandment of God is the greatest and most important. Indeed, if we open the Holy Scriptures, we find a large number of ordinances, laws, and rules. However, as the Savior attested, they all boil down to just two: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.’ When the scribe asked, ‘Who is my neighbor?’ the Lord responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan. If we delve into history, we find that Samaritans and Jews were irreconcilable and hostile peoples. Yet in this story, the one who shows mercy to the Jew who fell among robbers is not his fellow countryman, but a Samaritan. The Gospel presents a beautiful image of forgiving, selfless, and active love for one’s neighbor. Such genuine love knows no national, religious, social, or other boundaries. One of the key purposes of our Christian existence is the well-being of those around us. The gifts we receive through communion with God, in prayers and sacraments, and all that we achieve through the labor of our hands or intellect, must be generously shared with our neighbors. The outstanding preacher of the past century, Archbishop John (Shakhovskoy), wrote: ‘The meaning of life is in infinite, overflowing love.
After one of my acquaintance’s sermons about active love for one’s neighbor, someone approached him and said: ‘Your Eminence, your sermon isn’t for us ordinary people. These words should be directed at the rich and wealthy. How can I help those in need? I don’t have a large purse.’ The bishop replied: ‘Yes, you may not have a large purse, but you must have a big and generous heart.. There are many ways to do good for others. The issue isn’t always about a lack of material means; even those in financial need often crave not just a coin placed in their hand but kindness, empathy, and understanding. Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh recalled a story from his youth. Once, a stern and strict high school teacher stopped in front of a beggar on the street. He gave no money but removed his hat and had a conversation with the man. The beggar was deeply moved and overjoyed. When the observing students asked their teacher how he had managed to gladden the man without giving alms, the teacher replied that he simply apologized for being unable to offer money, as he himself was poor, and then asked about the man’s life and shared something about his own. Metropolitan Anthony remembered how the beggar later said that never in his life had he felt so enriched as he did that day because he had been treated not as a beggar but as a human being. I also recall a saying by the philosopher Ivan Ilyin: ‘Whoever has ever brought joy to another’s heart has thereby improved the entire world; and whoever can love and bring joy to others becomes an artist of life.
As we approach the sacred days of the Nativity Fast, I urge everyone to increase their prayers for the eradication of hatred and malice, for the growth of love, so that people may live in peace and tranquility, offering to God gifts that open the gates of eternity before them.”
From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.
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