Preparation for Lent

Prodigal Sunday – It is about Heaven & Hell | Fr Barnabas Powell

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Fr Barnabas Powell is the priest of Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, Georgia. He and his family are converts to the Orthodox faith.

Published on Feb 9, 2018
The Prodigal son found that his suffering sobered him up enough to realize he had to get back to the Father. The Elder son refused to enter into joy BECAUSE of his plenty. As we approach Great Lent, learning to know how to get back to the Father is key!

Judgement Is Coming! | Fr Barnabas Powell

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Fr Barnabas Powell is the priest of Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, Georgia. He and his family are converts to the Orthodox faith.

Published on Feb 17, 2015

The Sunday of the Last Judgement (Meatfare) is an annual invitation to honestly face our own need for God’s mercy and a clear revelation that we can’t put off dealing with these truths forever. But we live in a world where saying “Don’t judge me” is an easy tool to shut down the uncomfortable mirror of our own choices. Today, are you awake enough to learn “the right answer before the awesome judgement seat of Christ?”

VIDEO LINK: Judgement is Coming!

What do you desire? | Fr Barnabas Powell

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Fr Barnabas Powell is the priest of Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, Georgia. He and his family are converts to the Orthodox faith.

Published on Jan 30, 2015

What do you desire? If you ever get quiet enough in your soul to drill down to the most basic desire of your heart, you will know who you are! That’s why the Church gives us the story of Zacchaios as the very first hint of the work of Great Lent coming in the next several weeks. The Church prepares us for the work of Great Lent by first confronting us with a man who desired to see Christ more than anything else in his life. And his encounter with Christ changed him and his village forever.

Video LINK: What do you desire?

If I Would Have Known Then! | Fr Barnabas Powell

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Fr Barnabas Powell is the priest of Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, Georgia. He and his family are converts to the Orthodox faith.

Sermon Published on Jun 1, 2016

The Sunday of the Samaritan Woman sees the Lord gently confront a dear lady who didn’t realize Who she was speaking to, and this blindness to just Who Jesus is means she is missing the real point of her life!

VIDEO: If I would have known Then!

Sunday of Forgiveness | Fr Seraphim Holland

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Fr Seraphim Holland of St Nicholas Orthodox Church, McKinney Texas.  Please  check out his church website for more sermons.  http://www.orthodox.net/

The Triodion is a textbook for repentance. Sunday of Forgiveness and the Casting out of Adam from Paradise

We examine the following characteristic hymns from the Triodion and learn the pattern of all repentant, expectant and confident prayer and the purpose behind abstinence.

“Adam was cast out from the delight of Paradise: bitter was his eating, when in uncontrolled desire he broke the commandment of the Master, and he was condemned to work the earth from which he had himself been taken, and to eat his bread in toil and sweat. Therefore let us love abstinence, that we may not weep as he did outside Paradise, but may enter through the gate.”.

“Now the season of virtues has come, and the judge is at the door. Let us not hold back with a darkened face, but offering tears, contrition and giving of alms let us keep the fast, and let us cry: our sins are more in number than the sands of the sea, but forgive each of us, that we may receive an incorruptible crown, Savior of all!”

Why Is There a Judgment? | Fr Tom Soroka

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Fr Tom Soroka is the priest at St Nicholas Orthodox Church in McKees Rocks, PA

The Gospel reading for Judgment Sunday is particularly scary, probably the reason it’s only read once a year.  Lent is almost here to allow us the opportunity to ponder the direction of our lives along with the chance to repent and change our ways.