Holy Resurrection is a YouTube channel of the Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Church in Lebanon PA USA. Our Parish is part of the Eastern Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church in America. Contact: o.borjan@gmail.com https://www.buymeacoffee.com/holyresurrection Visit this Store:…
The post shares excerpts from St. Paisios the Athonite’s Spiritual Counsels on prayer, focusing on the Elder’s urgent call for fervent intercession to prevent war and calamity. He recounts a spiritual assurance to pray intensely that a Turkish attack be restrained, giving thanks to the Theotokos for protection. St. Paisios teaches that all people are brothers by descent from Adam and Eve, but Orthodox Christians share a deeper spiritual bond, compelling them to pray with greater pain for those suffering. He clarifies that prayer is not a mechanical guarantee of national salvation but an expression of heartfelt sorrow that invites God’s intervention. The Elder calls for spiritual warriors like the Maccabees, urging monastics to prioritize prayer above all tasks because the world is in turmoil. He explains that passions — pride, self-will, shamelessness — act like rusted wires that short-circuit communion with God. Using a radio analogy, he illustrates that to communicate with God we must tune our transmitter to love and our receiver to humility, laboring to acquire divine contact so the mind remains continually with God.
The Elder mobilized prayer from spring to autumn to avert war, receiving assurance to pray fervently for restraint of a Turkish attack on October 16th.
All humans are brothers in flesh; Orthodox Christians are brothers in both flesh and spirit, so we must pray for others with deeper pain.
Prayer is not a mechanical guarantee of salvation but an expression of heartfelt pain that seeks God’s intervention.
Monastics must set aside urgent tasks and devote all strength to prayer, as their purpose is the salvation of souls and helping the world.
This post shares an excerpt from St. Nikolaj Velimirović's homily for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, focusing on the Gospel account of the miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1–11). The saint reflects on the nature of miracles as divine gifts given to awaken humanity from the spiritual dullness caused by sin. In paradise, every moment would be perceived as a miracle, but sin has made God's constant providence seem like mere habit. To rouse us, God grants extraordinary signs — like the catch of fish — that reveal His sovereignty over creation and our total dependence on Him. St. Nikolaj emphasizes that human wisdom, labor, and enterprise are utterly fruitless apart from God's blessing. He contrasts the Tower of Babel, a monument to human pride that was scattered, with the Church and monasteries, which endure because they are built by God. The Gospel scene illustrates this perfectly: the disciples toiled all night and caught nothing, but at Christ's word their nets broke with fish. The lesson is clear: obedience to Christ, not human effort alone, brings true success. The post also includes a brief appeal for monthly support to build a parish church, framing even that material project as a work that must be founded in the heart and blessed by God.
Miracles are divine gifts given to awaken humanity from spiritual blindness caused by sin.
Human labor and wisdom produce nothing good without God's blessing and command.
The Tower of Babel exemplifies the futility of human projects opposed to God's will.
The Church and her institutions endure because they are God's work, not man's.
This post presents an excerpt from a homily by St. Nikolaj Velimirović on the 15th Sunday after Pentecost (Matthew 22:35–46), explaining why Christ calls the second great commandment—love your neighbor as yourself—like unto the first. The homily argues that the two commandments are inseparable because love for God naturally overflows into love for His creatures, just as love for one's mother strengthens love for one's siblings. Whoever loves God easily loves human beings as his brothers in God; whoever does not love God can only deceive himself about loving others, possessing at best a vague pity rooted in self-pity. Christ expanded the meaning of neighbor beyond one's own people to all mankind and gave a new commandment to love one another as He loved us—new because spoken by Him who manifested the greatest love, even commanding love for enemies, since God shines on both the good and the evil, leaving judgment to Him alone. Neighbors are described as the visible field on which we show love for the invisible God; God is moved by our love for neighbors as a mother is moved by a stranger's kindness to her child. The apostle John's warning that whoever claims to love God while hating his brother is a liar underscores that neighbors are a school training us in the perfect love of God. The homily enumerates the chief works of love—mercy, forgiveness, prayer for others, supporting the weak, instructing the ignorant, defending the oppressed—and closes with the image of the faithful as members of one body in Christ, called to assist one another's growth, since when one member prospers or suffers, the whole body shares in it. The post accompanies a video presentation of the homily and includes parish support links; no substantive discussion appears in the comments.
The second commandment is like the first: love for God naturally extends to love for His creatures as brothers.
Without love of God, supposed love of others is at best self-pity; the apostle John calls such a person a liar.
Christ's command to love enemies is new because He manifested the greatest love; judgment belongs to God alone.
Neighbors are the visible field where love for the invisible God is shown; the chief works of love are mercy, forgiveness, prayer, and defense of the oppressed.
This post shares the third installment of an ongoing Orthodox catechism series based on "The Life" by Dr. Clark Carlton, hosted by a priest associated with Holy Resurrection parish. This session focuses on the Person of Christ: who Christ is to the faithful Orthodox Christian, what He has done for us, and why His work was necessary for our salvation. It also considers the revelation given to us in the account of His dwelling among us — the mystery of the Incarnation as the foundation of Christian faith and life. The series is presented as a set of recorded lectures, with the full collection available as a podcast for those who wish to follow the entire catechism from the beginning. Alongside the lecture, the post includes the parish's ongoing appeal for building a future church home, framed with the reflection that "every temple is built first in the heart" and that small, steady offerings given in faith become a quiet work of grace. Readers are invited to become monthly supporters or give one-time gifts toward the building fund. The post also lists various ways to support the channel and parish ministry, including memberships, patronage, a shop, and written work by the priest. There is no discussion in the comments; the post stands as a straightforward announcement and invitation to learn. For those seeking a structured introduction to Orthodox teaching on Jesus Christ — His person, His saving work, and what His coming among us reveals — this lecture offers an accessible entry point within a broader, orderly course of catechetical instruction rooted in Orthodox tradition and Scripture.
Third class in a catechism series based on "The Life" by Dr. Clark Carlton
Topic: the Person of Christ — who He is, what He has done, and why it was necessary for us
Considers the revelation of Christ's dwelling among us (the Incarnation)
This post presents a penitential homily drawn from St. Maximus the Confessor's 'Discourse on the Ascetic Life' (chapters 31–34), as found in the Russian edition of his Selected Works translated by A. I. Sidorov. The homily is a sober examination of conscience: it laments that Christians who have received God's grace often live in negligence and vice, and asks pointedly how we can bear the name of Christ while having nothing of Christ within us. The speaker weaves together the voices of Scripture—Jeremiah's fountain of tears, Moses' warning that Jacob grew fat and forsook God, Micah's mourning that the godly man has perished from the earth, the Psalmist's 'there is none who does good,' and the Apostle Paul's prophecy to Timothy about lovers of self and money in the last days—showing that these ancient laments are fulfilled in us today. The heart of the message is that by living according to the flesh rather than the Spirit, we forfeit the name of sons of God and become temples of evil instead of temples of God. Like the Jews who claimed God as their father but were told 'you are of your father the devil,' we risk the same rebuke if we transgress the commandments. True children of God are led by the Spirit and bear its fruits—love, joy, peace, longsuffering—while faith without works is dead, for 'even the demons believe and tremble.' Those in whom Christ truly lives bless those who revile them; those who act against His commandments make of themselves a den of thieves instead of a house of prayer. The post also includes appeals to support the building of a parish church and links to the channel's other resources.
St. Maximus the Confessor's homily asks how we can bear Christ's name while lacking anything of Christ within us.
Old Testament laments—Jeremiah, Moses, Micah, the Psalms—and Paul's prophecy of the last days are shown to be fulfilled in negligent Christians today.
Living by the flesh rather than the Spirit makes us temples of evil instead of temples of God and forfeits the name of sons of God.
Faith without works is dead: true believers bear the fruits of the Spirit and bless those who revile them.
Holy Resurrection
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