And in order to be at least a little ready for us to perceive this incomprehensible phenomenon, the Holy Church commands us by her Ustav: "On the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, we dare not touch cheese, eggs, or fish," since the veneration of the Cross consists in the mortification of the flesh.

Merciful Lord, by the invincible and Divine power of Thy Cross, preserve, bless and save us! Amen.

September 14 (27), 1993

Sermon on the Feast Day of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian and St Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

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

If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not love, then I am a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I can move mountains, and have not love, then I am nothing... And now abide these three: faith, hope, love; but love is the greatest of them (1 Corinthians 13:1-2:13).

Our friends, today is the day of the repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, and today is the day of the glorification of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

The Holy Church celebrates the memory of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian three times a year, and the memory of him always invariably warms our souls.

For a long, very long time, he alone was the ruler of our attention and love on this day, September 26. But three years ago, God's Providence imperiously placed next to the Apostle of Love another of its chosen ones, the First Hierarch, Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and All Russia. The glorification of the First Hierarch, which took place on this very day, and the memory of him, revived by the discovery of his incorrupt relics, flow into the powerful stream of church memory, which preserves, by the will of God, the traditions of every person who lived by God, who lived by the Church, and especially places on the candlestick of church feasts the names of those who fulfilled the will of God and the teaching of God in their lives in all their fullness.

Thus, two candles are now burning in the Church with the imperishable light of Tabor, illuminating our way to heaven with their lives.