Bishop Kirill officiated Sunday services at the Intercession Academic Church

On the 15th Sunday after Pentecost, the Church celebrates the leave-taking of the feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God. After singing the glorification to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, the academic family started to prepare for the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord.

On September 24, the Bishop of Zvenigorod Kirill, Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, officed the All-night vigil at the Intercession Academic Church co-service by the academic clergy.

After reading the Kathisma, Veniamin Polzikov, a student of the Master's propaedeutic course, delivered a sermon.

On Sunday, the Rector celebrated the Divine Liturgy co-served by teachers and students in the priesthood.

After the Sacrament verse, Ivan Konstantinov, a first-year Master's student, delivered a sermon. The preacher drew the attention to the Gospel of the day, in which Christ mentioned the most important commandments pronounced in the Old Testament. They are commandments about love to God and your neighbor.

After the dismissal, the clergy sang the glorification in front of the icon of the Nativity of the Mother of God.

At the end of the service, Bishop Kirill delivered a sermon:

Dear fathers, brothers and sisters, I cordially congratulate you on Sunday and on the leave-taking of the Nativity of the Mother of God, which opens the cycle of annual church services.

The Gospel of the day and Apostolic readings have a special semantic connection. We read passages from the Gospel of John and Matthew. One is dedicated to the pre-feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and the other is an ordinary Sunday reading. Both of them tell about the salvation of people through the incarnation and suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John, an evangelist reminds us that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up (John 3:14). In the desert people were healed when looked at the ascended bronze serpent with faith and were protected from the poison of physical snakes. So, the Christian, who looks with faith at the Crucified Lord Jesus Christ receives the healing from the spiritual poison, which is everywhere. That is why Christ said that the world lies in evil. It is true! Despite the fact the civilization, the world is getting more and more in the abyss of evil. The next Gospel passage recalls the questions asked to Christ by provocateurs. The Lord named two main commandments and then caught them in their own question the Jews could not answer. This question is about the first line of 109 Psalm: “The Lord said to my Lord: “sit by my right hand.” The Greek text says "Εἶπεν ὁ κύριος τῷ κυρίῳ μου". It is clear that the line of the psalm is a prophecy about the Messiah. In Greek a name with an article means the Lord God and without it means the Messiah. Who else can sit be the side of the Lord God Himself? Only the Messiah. But the Savior exposed the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees. David calls the Messiah the Lord, and according to Jewish tradition, Christ had to be from David’s descendants. The Pharisees wanted to disgrace Christ, but put themselves to shame not understanding the depth of Scripture. As holy fathers say, it is no coincidence that the Lord asked that very question. He could have asked them a million more questions that the Pharisees would not have been able to answer. But this question contains an indication that He is the Only Begotten Son of God, not just the Messiah, not just a prophet, but the Lord. St. Theophan the Recluse mentions that two commandments of love mark those who confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true Son of God. There have been different myths genuine insights about God in human history. But one of the main disorders in mankind after the fall of Adam and Eve is distrust of God, disbelief in His absolute and utter goodness. So, if we confess that Jess Christ came and suffered for all of us, then we come over this human unbelief. Distrust pervades any person when he gets into a difficult situation. Then, almost immediately, unbelief hazes our consciousness. Why? What to do with it?

Faith is the only remedy. It can get a person from the depth. The unlimited love of God helps and which made this path open. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). So, in difficult life circumstances, we really confess the Son of God and look at Him, and this is how we are able to overcome that spiritual poison in our life.

Let us pray that our faith does not fail. Christ the Savior also prayed for the apostles so that their faith would not fail. And we must sincerely call on the Mother of God and our saints asking them to strengthen our faith. One of the ascetics even said that we live in such an era that a person who simply keeps his faith and tries to harmonize his life will be rewarded no less than the great ascetics of antiquity, who carried great feats inaccessible to us. May this living faith be the source of life for our souls.

Let me give an example from the works of St. Ambrose of Optina, who spoke about this living faith. A person can sin a lot or a little, accumulate sins, repent. He compared these sins to cutting off a part of a snake's body, and repentance to the regeneration of its body. When a small piece, which means a small sin, is cut off, the restoration will be quicker. Even if you cut some snakes in half, it might survive and recover. But if you hit the snake in the head, it dies. St. Ambrose compared the defeat of the snake’s head with the case when a Christian loses his faith. May the Lord save us thanks to the prayers of the Mother of God and all His saints.

At the end of the service, Hieromonk Cassian (Plosskiy), on behalf of teachers, staff and students of the Academy the Rector on his elevation to the rank of a bishop and presented him some memorable gifts.

Background information:

Clergy served at the All-Night Vigil and the Divine Liturgy: Bishop Kirill, Archimandrite Venedikt (Knyazev), Archimandrite Platon (Igumnov), Archimandrite Hilarion (Farkovets), Archimandrite Luke (Golovkov), Archimandrite Simeon (Tomachinsky), Abbot Meletius (Sokolov), Abbot Lazar (Gnativ), Abbot Philip (Zhilyakov), Abbot Adrian (Pashin), Abbot Cyprian (Yashchenko), Hieromonk Barnabas (Losev), Priest Dimitry Baritsky, Priest Valery (Dukhanin), Priest Alexander (Kuznetsov), Hieromonk Cassian (Flat), Hieromonk Boris (Zelyuchenko), Hieromonk Athanasius (Italo), Hieromonk John (Merzlyakov), Hieromonk Mikhey (Kopytov), ​​Deacon Dimitry Maslov, Deacon Nikolai Goyuk, Hierodeacon Ioanniky (Padzhan).

Chanting performed by two choirs under the conduct of E.V. Borovinsky and K.A. Alekseeva.

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