Welcome to Our Parish!

Tobolsk

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+++~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beautifying the Iconostasis

We ask all of you who wish to donate for this beautifying of the iconostasis. If you are able to help cover the cost ($2,500), you can give your donation to Br. James, the Treasurer, or Victor Durnev, the Assistant Starosta.

+++

Latest News!

Alexander Ilmov has died in Russia

Many of you who have been here many years recall Mr. Alexander Ilmov and his family. He came here when Father John first established the Hathaway Skete Chapel many years ago.

Alexander was instrumental in doing the majority of the repair and remodeling work on the Skete, along with other locations in the area. He returned with his family to Russia many years ago. Today after Liturgy we will sing a short Litiya in his memory; also, Father John asks that those who wish to, may make any financial contribution to his widow and family, which he will arrange to pass on to them. (Leave your donation in the collection basket, or earmark it “Ilmov” on your check.)

Memory Eternal +++

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Homily on The Meeting of The Lord
By St. Theophan the Recluse

What a tender scene the Meeting of the Lord shows us! The venerable elder Simeon, holding the infant God in his hands, on either side of him are the righteous Joseph and the Most Holy Mother of God. Not far away is the Prophetess Anna, an eighty-year-old faster and woman of prayer. Their eyes are all directed toward the Savior. Their attention is absorbed by Him and they drink in spiritual sweetness from Him, which feeds their souls. You can judge for yourself how blessed was the state of these souls!

~Please continue here...

“A True Christian Always Bears Fruit”

A sermon given in the Pskov-Caves Monastery on February 5, 2019, after the Liturgy on the anniversary of Archimandrite John (Krestiankin’s) repose

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

In today’s Gospel text we heard the story of our Lord Jesus Christ’s curse upon the barren fig tree. This is one of the more difficult Gospel passages to understand. The Lord cursed the barren but leafy fig tree when He found no fruit on it. It would seem that it was all sufficiently clear. But Evangelist Mark unexpectedly adds, for the time of figs was not yet (Mk. 11:13); that is, the time of fruit bearing, the harvest, simply hadn’t come yet. But the Lord implacably curses that fig tree, and it withers.

Many hit a dead end at this unexpected, harsh, and seemingly unfair judgment upon the fig tree. But for us standing here in this church today, on the repose day of Archimandrite John (Krestiankin), the very man whose memory we have gathered to celebrate answers this perplexity...

~Please continue here...