Monastery of the Transfiguration

A homily by Fr. Radu Bordeianu, the assistant priest at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Pittsburgh and Assistant Professor at Duquesne University on the occasion of the tonsure of a nun to the Little Schema. The beautifully woven homily intertwines the history of monasticism with the continued relationship between monastics and faithful "in the world" today and emphasizes how we are all part of the one body of Christ. We learn the Old Testament roots of the Church being called the bride of Christ and what that means for a monastic whose soul is wed to Christ.

Homily on the Feast of St. Seraphim and the occasion of the tonsure of a rasaphore nun.

A homily given by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon on the feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple where we celebrate the prelude of the fulfillment of the prophecy of David, that he would find a dwelling place for the Lord of Glory. The ark of the Covenant, the Temple at Jerusalem, even mighty Mount Sinai were not able to bear the descent of the Glory of God - it would fall to a person to do this - the All-pure Mother of God. She offers us the hope that we also may become the dwelling places of the Glory of God.

A homily on the Feast of John Chrysostom on the gospel readings for bishops from the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 10. What are the qualities of a shepherd? Do we know the voice of our shepherd? We hear the voice of the Lord in the Divine Scriptures. We must recognize His voice when we read the scriptures.

A reflection on 3 roles of the angels who: constantly give glory to God, are messengers of the Good news, and who are God's defenders and defenders of God's people, and how we can imitate them.

Even when the world seems to cascade out of control around us, Jesus remains with us.

Fr. Lysack speaks about what it really mean to forgive seventy times seven. When Peter asks if he should forgive his brother 7 times, he is really asking, "Should I forgive him many times; should I act justly?" Christ's answer closes any book of ethics as he says that we should forgive "with infinite compassion." Is this even possible for us? What does it mean for us?

Sometimes the Gospel seems to go from tragedy to tragedy. There is great evil in the world, and the beheading of St. John is a horrific thing. We cannot deny that horrible things can happen to saintly people. However, reading other passages of the Gospel, we know that St. John gave his life for Christ. God uses the horrific act to actually limit evil.

Bishop Michael compares the three disciples' experience on Mount Tabor in the New Testament with the Old Testament experiences of God on various mountains. What is the experience of Mount Tabor for Peter, James, and John? What is it for each of us? It must be more than a yearly pilgrimage to the monastery for the feast day.

Fr. Tom Soroka from St. Nicholas Orthodox Church near Pittsburgh speaks at the Bright Saturday liturgy at the Monastery about where we go from here after the exhaustion and intensity of Holy Week and Bright Week. Each day of Bright week we proclaimed the Resurrection to all creation, as if for each day of creation. St. Thomas Sunday brings the 8th day, the fulfillment of all, when we receive bread and wine in the Kingdom.

Archbishop Nathaniel speaks about Lazarus Saturday at the Monastery in 2014.

St. Nicholas Church in Magadore, OH (OCA) invited Mother Christophora to speak at the Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers for the Akron area. Mother spoke about restoring the human icon and the role that monasteries have in aiding this restoration today.

Fr. Maxym Lysack, pastor of Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church in Ottawa, Canada was visiting the monastery and gave an enlightening homily on the famous passage on the Church from St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. The Church is not an institution, but rather a revelation of a person, Jesus Christ.

Fr. Radu Bordeianu, who teaches at Duquesne, gave a very simple, yet lovely homily about a blessed end to life and church community.

Mother Christophora was asked to give the homily at the Pan-Orthodox Sunday Lenten Vespers service for the Youngstown, Ohio, area. Vespers was held at St. John the Baptist (OCA) in Campbell, Ohio. She spoke about the monastic saints commemorated on the Sundays of Lent and then spoke about a contemporary monastic, Mother Alexandra, and what she might have to say to us today.

Homily given on the Sunday of Orthodoxy at the monastery.

Homily given on Forgiveness Sunday at the monastery.

From a Lenten series on repentance delivered at the Orthodox Christian Women's conference in Montreal in March of 2008.

From a Lenten series on repentance delivered at the Orthodox Christian Women's conference in Montreal in March of 2008.

From a Lenten series on repentance delivered at the Orthodox Christian Women's conference in Montreal in March of 2008.