The Most High conqueror of death, the eternal Bridegroom of our souls, the Most Divine Jesus, to Thee my tongue turns, to Thee my spirit matins, to Thee I turn the souls of these longed-for listeners of mine. Where I have sown the seed of Thy Gospel truth, send down the abundant rain of Thy Divine grace, that the fruit of salvation may grow. Accept, O divine Word, my words as a mental sacrifice offered to the glory of Thy holy name and to the salvation of my sinful soul and of this entire congregation. Appear in thought and rejoice us with the light of Thy glorious Resurrection. And even if You find the doors of our heart imprisoned, go inside there, as You passed through the closed doors to Your disciples, breathe in the grace of Your Holy Spirit and Your Divine peace. Tell us again, "Receive the Holy Ghost... peace be unto you" (John 20:22 and 19).

Delivered in the glorious city of Nauplia in the cathedral of the Holy Metropolia in 1714.

Period Two

Homily for the First Week of Lent. On Faith

"And Nathanael answered, and said (to Jesus): Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel" (John 1:49)

When, through pious contemplation, I imagine the beginning, growth, and consolidation of our Orthodox faith, I rediscover mysteries, I find miracles, on the one hand, so numerous that words cannot describe them, and on the other hand, so sublime that it is impossible to comprehend them by thought. Therefore, struck with amazement and joy, I glorify the Most High God, Who taught such faith, exclaiming with David: "Great is our Lord, and great is His might, and His understanding is innumerable" (Psalm 146:5), and I bless the Orthodox people who profess the faith with the words: "Blessed are the people who have the Lord their God" (Psalm 143:15). And so I dare now to ascend this sacred ambo in order to proclaim the glory and greatness of Orthodoxy as much as I can, although the highest word about the Orthodox faith, in order to triumph with its characteristic invincible power, should have been pronounced by the lips of some apostle and disciple of Christ or a divinely enlightened teacher of our Church: they were the chosen trumpets with which the Holy Spirit filled the whole earth from the very beginning with the solemn sounds of the Gospel truth.

On this great day dedicated to the Lord, the day of the gathering in honor of the victory won by Orthodoxy over its enemy, heresies, my thought dwells on the confession of the guileless Israelite Nathanael, who recognizes the One about Whom Moses wrote in the Law and the prophets, and confesses Him in the words to the God-Man Lord: "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel" (John 1:49). This is the first confession of Orthodoxy. But what can be more beneficial and useful than a word about Orthodoxy, proclaimed (oh, if only daily!) by Orthodox teachers to Orthodox listeners? Then the God-planted tree of faith will take root more deeply in the hearts of the faithful, will be watered more often by the pure stream of the Gospel truth, and will bring forth as many pure fruits of eternal life as possible.

O All-Holy Soul, Soul of wisdom and understanding, grant today the light of reason to my mind, that I may understand, and the power of words to my lips, that I may proclaim to others the greatness of Thy miracles, manifested in the Orthodox Christian faith! O Good Comforter, Soul of truth, without Whose help the human tongue cannot theologize, guide my tongue to preach about how this greatest, most miraculous and most divine work of Thy Divine wisdom and power began, how Orthodoxy developed, and how it was established. With this help of the Holy Spirit, for which I pray, I will set forth the word on Orthodoxy, Orthodox listeners, in three chapters. In the first I shall prove that it is all divine from its very beginning. In the second, that it is divine in its development; and in the third, that it is divine in its triumph. From this you will understand that Orthodoxy is an invention and the work of God alone. Therefore, it is the only true doctrine that we must believe, the only true way by which we can be saved.

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Whoever imagines this kingdom of nature, i.e., the general order, heaven and earth, and all that is heavenly and earthly, and discovers so many miracles there, must necessarily admit that only God could have done this. And this is for three reasons. First, because of its miraculous beginning: all this came to be from the bearer, from nothing; no matter preceded it. Secondly, because of its boundless extent: there are so many stars shining in the sky, so many kinds of birds in the air, so many kinds of animals and plants on the earth, so many monsters in the sea. Thirdly, because of its stable equilibrium: all this is observed and preserved with uninterrupted succession, in steady motion, everything is established in a firm order. And only God could have done all this. Therefore, the prophet exclaims in amazement: "For Thy works are magnified, O Lord; Thou hast created all things in wisdom" (Psalm 103:24), and the Apostle testifies: "For His invisible essence from the foundation of the world is conceived, and His eternal power and Divinity" (Romans 1:20). St. Basil the Great says in the Six Days: "The Almighty created the greatest, the Most Wise the best, the Good the useful," and therefore adds that this kingdom of nature is "the school of the knowledge of God and the place of education of rational souls." In the same way, whoever imagines the kingdom of grace, i.e. the assembly of the Orthodox, the Church of Christ and the Christian faith, and discovers here such a loftiness of theology, such a depth of the sacraments, so much light of divine revelations, so much truth in teaching, so much holiness in the law, so many feats in the apostles, so many virtues in the martyrs, so many miracles of the saints, cannot but confess that all this could be done only by God alone.