- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (Word DOC format)
Holy Cross
2001
- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (Word DOC format)
Holy Cross 1
2001
- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (mp3 format)
Holy Cross
2003
- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (Русская версия PDF format)
- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (Adobe PDF format)
Holy Cross Rus
2004
Also in Format:
Word DOC
- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (mp3 format)
Veneration Of The Holy Cross
2004
- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (mp3 format)
The Veneration Of The Holy Cross
2007-03-11
- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (mp3 format)
Holy Cross
Two Ways
Mark 8:34-91
2008-03-30
- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (mp3 format)
Adoration of the Precious Cross
Whosover will...
2009-03-22
- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (mp3 format)
Veneration Of The Holy Cross
We cannot see the Kingdom of God come with power unless we follow the way of the cross.
Mark 8:34-9:1
2010-03-07
- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (mp3 format)
Holy Cross
Before Thy Cross We Bow Down And Worship
2011-03-26
SYNOPSIS:Why do we prostrate before the Cross, even on Sunday? An explanation of the hymn before the cross: "Before Thy cross, we bow down in worship, O Master, and Thy holy resurrection, we glorify"
- 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (HTML format)
Holy Cross
What Shall A Man Give In Exchange For His Soul
Mark 8:34-9:1
2011-03-27
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mp3 SYNOPSIS:The Gospel for the Cross asks two great questions, which are *NOT* rhetorical. We must answer every momene the question "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Everything in life - whatever we desire, do, think or say - is an exchange.
- "Seeing then that we have a great high priest..." The reason this epistle, which does not mention the cross is read on the Sunday of the Cross. (mp3 format)
Epistle for Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Hebrews 4:14-5:6
2012-03-17
SYNOPSIS:The Epistle for the Exaltation of the Cross never mentions the cross. There are many epistles that mention the cross; why was this one chosen?
- What is the way of the cross, and what does the Lord mean when He tells us to deny ourselves? What are the answers to the questions? (mp3 format)
Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Mark 8:34-9:1
2012-03-18
SYNOPSIS:The entire Gospel is important, but some passages are absolutely critical to understand and follow. This is one of them. It explains what the way of the cross is, and teaches a principle that we must use literally every moment of our lives - to learn to always make a good "exchange". We explain what the Lord means when He commands us to "deny" ourselves, and what the answers to His questions: "What shall it profit a man..." and "What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" must be. These are not rhetorical questions - you must answer them.
- "There be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power." why did Jesus say this after solemly telling us 4 times to take up the cross? This is very important, if you want to not drop your cross. (mp3 format)
Exaltation Of The Holy Cross
Mark 8:34-9:1
2013-04-07
SYNOPSIS:Immediately after solemnly commanding us in 4 different ways to take up our cross, Jesus gave what might appear to be an out of context prophesy: "There be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power." This prophesy was fulfilled in part by the Transfiguration, but it is much more than that; it is the consolation that we need to take up our cross. When things are difficult, we must be viscerally aware of our the divinity and humanity of our Lord. The Gospel tells us of His divinity, and the epistle of His humanity.
- What should we feel when we prostate during "Before Thy Cross..." (mp3 format)
Sunday of the Cross.
2014-03-22
SYNOPSIS:We must learn how to feel the troparion "Before Thy Cross, we bow down in worship" as we are prostrating before the cross. this is a moment in the church year that we cannot miss, when our body and soul pray as one, and the mystery of life is explained to us in words that cannot be uttered.
- What is "life"? You cannot understand the cross unless you understand life. (mp3 format)
Sunday of the Cross
Mark 8:34-9:1
2014-03-23
SYNOPSIS:We cannot understand the cross, and the way of the cross unless we understand life. What is life? Most people do not know the answer to this simple question or understand why the way of the cross is the only way to have life, or understand what is meant when we are told to "lose our life", or that everything in our life is an exchange - with life or death.
- "Before Thy cross, we bow down in worship O Master.." Explanation of why we do prostrations. (mp3 format)
2015-03-14
SYNOPSIS:Explanation of why we do prostrations before the Cross, when we sing "Before Thy cross, we bow down in worship, O Master, and Thy holy resurrection, we glorify", even though prostrations on Sundays are not done on any other Sunday of the year.
- Prostrations before the cross teach the way of life. (mp3 format)
Mark 8:34-9:1
2015-03-15
SYNOPSIS:The prostrations we do before the Cross teach us the way of life. Our basic problem is selfishness, which always leads to meaningless suffering and death, described by the Lord as "whosoever will save his life shall lose it". The way of life is submission to the will of God, described by our Lord as "taking up the cross". This way is not suffering! It is a way of joy for those who experience it in its fullness. Do the prostrations with this feeling and you will know that you can be totally free!
- Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (mp3 format)
Third Sunday of Great Lent Adoration of the Precious Cross.
Mark 8:34-9:1
2017
SYNOPSIS:On the Sunday of the Adoration of the Precious Cross, we hear the words: "Whosoever will come after me...". These words presuppose that we know our purpose, and have made a free decision to order our life in a certain way. In this world, such a decision is rare. Those who make this decision (and only those) understand the following life-giving command: "let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Such a person understands what "denial" is. The world does not understand. Worldly Christians do not understand. Only a Christian who has decided to follow Christ, and continues to "decide" understands this "denial". It is recognizing what is bad, and not doing it, and the taking up of the cross is obedience to the commandments, with all of one's strength.
- The Cross tells us Jesus knows our infirmities and will help us. (Adobe PDF format)
Sunday of the Veneration of the Precious Cross.
Hebrews 4:15-15:6
2018-03-11
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mp3 SYNOPSIS:The message of the Cross. The Cross tells us Jesus knows our infirmities and will help us. We explore this message from a passage from John Climacus and the Epistle read today. They are both about bringing our infirmities before God, and we know that we will be helped because of the cross.
- How do we obtain boldness? First the cross, then the resurrection. (mp3 format)
Exaltation of the Precious Cross
Hebrews 4:15-16 Mark 8:34-35,9-1
2019-03-31
SYNOPSIS:The epistle today exhorts us: "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace". Where does this boldness come from? The Gospel today explains: we must choose to take up our cross and follow Christ. We look at the readings today, and the hymn of the cross that we sing when we make prostrations: "Before Thy Cross, we bow down and worship O master, and Thy holy Resurrection we glorify!", in light of two spiritual principles: "first the cross then the resurrection", and "first obedience and then following, understanding".