COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL ABOUT THE HEALING OF THE GADARENE DEMONIAC

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

After the death of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, cassettes were found among his things, with talks on selected parts of the Gospel of St. Mark. We present to your attention one such talk, dedicated to the healing of the Gadarene demoniac. This translation of the Russian text is published with the kind permission of the Nicaea Publishing House, which published Vladyka Anthony’s book Awakening to a New Life: Talks on the Gospel of Mark [in Russian], with these hitherto unpublished talks of his.

What the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council Have Done For Our Salvation and Sanctification

Archimandrite John Krestiankin 

“Most glorified art Thou, O Christ our God, Who hast established our Fathers as luminous stars upon the earth, and through them didst guide us all to the true Faith” 

(troparion for the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council).

Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are… Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us (John 17:11, 20-21). We need to bring this prayer of the Savior to mind more and more often, in order not to stray from the path within the darkness of the godless world; in order not to be deceived by the bright, shrill light of ungodly doctrines; in order to be with God always; and in order to remember that this unity is possibly only in God’s Church.

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost "The Legion of Demons and Herd of Swine"

Saint Theophylact of Ochrid

Luke 8:26-39

From The Explanation of the Gospel of St. Luke

26-33. And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is across from Galilee. And when He went forth to land, there met Him out of the city a certain man, possessed by demons for a long time, who wore no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Son of God most high? I beseech Thee, torment me not. (For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he broke the bands, and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.) And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many demons were entered into him. And he besought Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought Him that He would suffer them to enter into them. And He suffered them.

Encomium on the Decapitation of the Great Forerunner

St Theodore the Studite

Dear, God-fearing Christians. The feast which we have gathered here to celebrate together today is radiant and filled with divine joy. It is rightly called radiant because it shines from the very name of him whom we are honouring today, since he is called the lamp of the light. He is not, of course, a lamp who illumines us with material light, because then his radiance would not be enduring and constant and would be lost every time some obstacle moved in front of it. But it is light that shows the brilliant radiance of divine grace in the depths of the hearts of those who have gathered to celebrate his memory and who elevate their minds to think upon the sufferings of the righteous man, so that gazing with the eyes of our souls upon his blessed martyrdom, we shall be filled with spiritual joy.

Who is Christ to us? – On the 15th Sunday of Pentecost

Metropolitan Merkury of Rostov and Novocherkassk 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

I cordially greet you all — reverend Fathers, brothers, and sisters — on this Sunday. Today at the Divine Liturgy we heard a passage from the Gospel in which the Holy Apostle transmits a slice of human life. It is very similar to the reality in which we all live. Just as in ancient Palestine, the Word of God is heard in all the churches. Then it sounded from the Savior’s mouth, and now it sounds from the pages of Holy Scripture.