Moscow Theological Academy Hosts Presentation of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) Sermons

On June 11, 2025, a presentation was held in the Great Hall of the Moscow Theological Academy for three collections of sermons by St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Crimea, published by "Kinoviya", the cultural and educational center of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra. 

Archimandrite Simeon (Tomachinsky), director of "Kinoviya", associate professor at the Moscow Theological Academy, and author of the foreword to the collections, congratulated everyone present on the feast day of St. Luke and recalled words cited in his autobiography, "I Loved Suffering":

"My calling from God was to preach.".

St. Luke considered preaching the main work of his life, and it was for his efforts in creating sermons that he was awarded the title of honorary member of the Moscow Theological Academy in 1957.

A special guest, Protodeacon Vasily Marushchak, a cleric of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Simferopol and author of a dissertation and several books on Archbishop Luke, spoke about numerous instances of miraculous help from the Crimean saint in difficult and seemingly irresolvable life circumstances. According to Father Vasily, testimonies of such events arrive almost daily; St. Luke continues to help, heal, and guide people who have sometimes lost all hope for a resolution to their problems. 

Father Vasily also urged the students of the Moscow Theological Academy to continue their academic research on Archbishop Luke's legacy, as there is still plenty of material for such work. A part of the source material — a collection of his typewritten sermons — is stored in the MThA library, and this is what was used to prepare the current edition of the saint's selected sermons.

The presentation was also attended by Archimandrite Alipy (Kastalsky-Borozdin), director of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra's publishing house; Konstantin Malakaev, the editor of the book and an MThA professor; and others. 

Before the presentation began, the Moscow Theological Academy choir performed "O Heavenly King" and the troparion to St. Luke of Crimea. 

The meeting concluded with the results of a competition for the best quote from St. Luke's works. The winner was Natalia Mishina, a professor at the Academy, who was awarded a copy of the three-volume set. 

The event was live-streamed by the theological and academic portal "Bogoslov". 

During preparation for publication, the sermons most interesting to a modern reader were selected and grouped by topic: 

• The first book is "On Ailments of the Soul and Body".
• The second is "On Virtues".
• The third is "On Passions". 

More than half of the sermons are being published for the first time. 

The collections of St. Luke's sermons will be available for purchase at the bookstores of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and the Academy.

Kinovia/MThA Press Office