Sunday services at the Moscow Theological Academy

On May 28 and 29, Sunday services took place at the Moscow Theological Academy.

On May 28, the Bishop of Zvenigorod Theodorite and the Bishop of Norilsk and Turukhansk Agafangel officed an All-night vigil at the Intercession Academic Church accompanied by the academic clergy.

During the service, Semyon Mikhailov, a first-year Master's student, delivered a sermon:

«According to St. Nilus of Sinai “God accepting people’s faith bestows heavenly gifts on the faithful.” So, Christ saw the sincere faith of an unfortunate blind man and healed him.

This amazing story serves as a vivid example. After all, each of us has been given a great gift of faith, which enables us to receive other heavenly gifts. As that blind-born, we cannot see God from the birth, but with a pure heart we believe that He exists. Only developing the gift, we become completely aware of the Lord. Our faith is our only senses that opens our inner spiritual eyes and let us see the Creator».

On May 29, Bishop Theodorite and Bishop Agafangel celebrated the Divine Liturgy co-served by teachers and students in the priesthood.

After reading the Gospel, Bishop Theodorite addressed an assembly with his archpastoral word.

After the Sacramental verse, John Malevich, a second-year Master's student, delivered a sermon:

When a healed person passes through all these obstacles, his faith becomes much stronger. He recognized the One who healed him as a prophet and then claimed Him as the Man from God. However, his faith reached its peak only through the gift of Christ Himself. He met the Lord for the second time and saw Him as the Son of God and the Messiah. After that, the former blind gained the fullness of knowledge and started worshiping the Lord. At the end, he could see Jesus Christ as the Savior.

Dear brothers and sisters, this gospel passage describes not only the physical blindness, but also the spiritual one. Overcoming everyday difficulties and temptations, we gradually grow and strengthen our faith in a hope to receive from the Lord the gift of spiritual insight.

Background information: 

Chanting performed by a male choir under the conduct of V. V. Chuvilov and a mixed choir led by K. A. Tarelkina.

MThA Press Office

[justified_image_grid preset=c1 flickr_user=164238858@N03 flickr_photoset=72177720299347713]