04 19 2026 St Thomas Sunday
Today’s sermon, “The Doubting Believer,” looks at St Thomas (Doubting Thomas) in the light of the connection between doubt and faith. All of us sometimes doubt. What is it that brings us back to faith? Ultimately, it is the conviction that the evidence outweighs our reasons for doubting. In our times, people are far more likely to doubt the claims of religion than they are those of science. The great majority of us have few doubts about human journeys to the moon, the existence of black holes, or the composition of the atmosphere, though most of us have never stood on the moon, or ventured out to a black hole, or even scientifically measured the composition of the air we breathe. We trust (have faith in) the claims of others since we trust their validity. Ultimately, it is the same with having faith in the risen Lord and other claims in the gospels. In the end, we choose to accept or reject the doctrines of our faith based on the credibility of the claims of others who were there to personally witness
Link to Liturgy: https://youtu.be/0dqsL_-z4fI
04 12 2026 Pascha St Nicholas Southbridge
Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
The Link to the Paschal Liturgy: https://youtu.be/wIpkxNdWhbs
THE PASCHAL HOMILY Of Our Father among the Saints John Chrysostom Archbishop of Constantinople
If anyone is devout and a lover of God, let him enjoy this beautiful and radiant festival. If anyone is a wise servant, let him, rejoicing, enter into the joy of his Lord.
If anyone has wearied himself in fasting, let him now receive his recompense.
If anyone has labored from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward.If anyone has come at the third hour, with thanksgiving let him keep the feast.
If anyone has arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; for he shall suffer no loss.
If anyone has delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near without hesitation.If anyone has arrived even at the eleventh hour, let him not fear on account of his delay.
For the Master is gracious and receives the last, even as the first; he gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, just as to him who has labored from the first.He has mercy upon the last and cares for the first; to the one he gives, and to the other he is gracious.
He both honors the work and praises the intention.
Enter all of you, therefore, into the joy of our Lord, and, whether first or last, receive your reward.O rich and poor, one with another, dance for joy!
O you ascetics and you negligent, celebrate the day!You that have fasted and you that have disregarded the fast, rejoice today!
The table is rich-laden; feast royally, all of you!The calf is fatted; let no one go forth hungry!
Let all partake of the feast of faith.Let all receive the riches of goodness.
Let no one lament his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one mourn his transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free.He that was taken by death has annihilated it!
He descended into hades and took hades captive!He embittered it when it tasted his flesh!
And anticipating this Isaiah exclaimed, "Hades was embittered when it encountered thee in the lower regions."
It was embittered, for it was abolished!It was embittered, for it was mocked!
It was embittered, for it was purged!It was embittered, for it was despoiled!
It was embittered, for it was bound in chains!
It took a body and, face to face, met God!It took earth and encountered heaven!
It took what it saw but crumbled before what it had not seen!
"O death, where is thy sting? O hades, where is thy victory?
Christ is risen, and you are overthrown!Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb!
For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the First-fruits of them that slept.
To him be glory and might unto ages of ages. Amen.
04 10 2026 Lamentations at St Nicholas Southbridge
The homily, “Our hope is lost,” is based on the reading from the prophet, Ezekiel. In this Old Testament prophecy of the resurrection of the dead, God brings the prophet to a valley filled with dried-out bones to proclaim the resurrection in a place where there seems to be no hope at all for the multitudes that have been utterly cut off from the land of the living. It is one of the most striking of all the prophecies in the Holy Scripture. Just when there seems to be no life, no hope, no rescue, God steps in.
Link to the Lamentations Liturgy: https://youtu.be/3l57W00O05M
04 09 2026 Twelve Passion Gospels, St Nicholas, Southbridge, MA
The homily, “Through the Cross Joy Comes into All the World,” meditates on the paradox of the horror and humiliation of God-in-the-Flesh dying (in the flesh) on the Cross and the ultimate freedom and joy it brings to all believers. The forces of this world come together in the most predictable way to destroy a perceived threat to their power and stability. At the same time, the Son of God undoes the powers of this world through the very means they sought to destroy Him.
Link to the Passion Gospels Service: https://youtu.be/SA2pevQ8ey0
04 08 2026 Unction Service St Nicholas Southbridge
The homily, “Unconditional Forgiveness,” meditates on the unsurpassable love of God for all who repent and return to him. Like the loving father in Jesus’s parable of the Prodigal Son, God receives us back with joy—and not just once! As one of the prayers in this service recalls, God forgives not once but multitudes of times (seventy times seven—meaning without limit) so long as we ask, and so long as we forgive others for their offenses against us.
In the coming days, we will hear the story of human beings at their worst; it is our story, the story of every single one of us. Even when we do our worst, God will forgive. The question is, will we accept this great gift of mercy and love?
Link to Holy Unction Service: https://youtu.be/l4SL92QvRCI
04 05 2026 Palm Sunday, St. Nicholas Southbridge
Today's sermon is taken from the gospels for Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, which together form the Feast of Palms. The two gospel readings give us insight into the reason that Jesus was rejected and crucified, despite performing the greatest of all his miracles—the raising of a man who had been dead for four days.
Dozens of people, quite possibly more, witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus. Some of them were members of the Judean religious and political elites. A number of undercover observers—spies for the Temple authorities—were on hand. There could be no doubt about what happened. Caiaphas, the High Priest, did not deny that Lazarus had been dead; he said that Lazarus must be killed yet again! Why? For purely political reasons. The same applied to Jesus. Jesus, and by extension, Lazarus, whom Christ raised from the dead, were too dangerous. They threatened the entire political system and threatened the people as a whole by bringing in Roman intervention.
The common people were looking for a Messiah who would restore David’s kingdom and drive out the hated foreigners. They welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem as a king like David. They’d seen or heard about Jesus’s power in the raising of Lazarus. The People, too, would be sorely disappointed when Jesus did not overthrow the Romans but proclaimed a kingdom “not of this world.” Their “Hosannah!” would turn into “Crucify Him!” in a matter of days.
The message for us in all this: God did not come to fix things (the world, our personal problems, the political situation); He came to transform and raise up our sin-dead world and lives into a Kingdom beyond imagining, permanent and everlasting.
Link to Liturgy: https://youtu.be/Ap_WttzGY-E
03 28 2026 The Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt (5 Lent) St Nicholas Southbridge
The sermon today, “The Two Marys,” refers to the themes of purity and faithful acceptance (Mary the Theotokos (Birthgiver/Mother of God), and impurity followed by repentance (Mary of Egypt). There is a deep connection between the two Mary’s. Mary of Egypt was named in honor of the Theotokos, and it was a vision of the Theotokos that led Mary of Egypt to repent when a mysterious force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
We are called to emulate both women: the most holy Theotokos in her faithful acceptance of God’s will, and Mary of Egypt in the strength of her repentance.
Link to Sunday Liturgy: https://youtu.be/iCb7IoprI94
Link to the Life of St Mary of Egypt: Venerable Mary of Egypt - Orthodox Church in America
03 27 2026 Deanery Akathist Service St Nicholas Southbridge
Led by His Grace, Bishop Nikodhim, and accompanied by Father Mark Doku (Worcester), Father Gregory Harrigle (Natick), and Father John Daly (Southbridge), along with chanters from St Mary's, and friends from throughout the region, we celebrated the Annual Deanery Akathist at St. Nicholas, Southbridge this year. Our Daughters of St. Nicholas had a wonderful selection of Lenten foods and desserts following the service. Many thanks to their hard work and beautiful presentation!
Link to the Akathist Service: https://youtu.be/E2nigzzqnlA
03 15 2026 Sunday of the Cross-3rd Sunday in Lent-St Nicholas Southbridge
The sermon today has two major points: the Cross as the last and greatest Passover, and the meaning of taking up the Cross as every Christian’s greatest calling. But does this actually mean for you and me? How do we do it?
Link to today’s Liturgy: https://youtu.be/QDjd6CJnLMY
03 08 2026 2nd Sunday in Lent St Nicholas Southbridge
Today’s sermon, “What Does it Mean to be Orthodox?” looks at some of the essentials of our Faith: the Creed, the Sacraments (especially Holy Communion), Icons, Prayer (Liturgical and Personal), Tradition, and our Mission to the World.
The second Sunday in Lent is sometimes referred to as the second Sunday of Orthodoxy because St. Gregory Palamas, whom we commemorate today, defended Orthodoxy—especially prayer and spirituality at a time in the 14th century when the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire was collapsing, and Orthodoxy was under siege by the Muslim Turks on one side and hostile Latin Christians on the other. So, what does it mean to be Orthodox and why does it matter today?
Link to today’s liturgy: https://youtu.be/YtxlUqKkmsA
02 08 2026 The Sunday of the Prodigal Son, St Nicholas, Southbridge
This week's sermon, "Our Father's Love: We Are Never So Far Gone that We Can't Come Home," is based on this Sunday's gospel reading. The love and compassion of the prodigal’s father in the parable is a direct image of God’s love for us. The father in the parable sits watching the road, waiting for, hoping for his wayward son to come home. Yes, his son committed grave sins, but that did nothing to deprive him of his father's love. Others might have publicly disowned the youth as an embarrassment, a stain on the family’s name, but this father is different—he yearns to forgive, to have his son back alive, and to rejoice when he returns. That is the nature of Ou+r Father—God, to Whom we pray in every liturgy (and, hopefully, every day of our lives) and Who loves us incomparably more than any human being ever could. He is always waiting for us to turn around (the literal meaning of repent) and come home.
Link to Liturgy: https://youtu.be/vHTkKKUVI-g
02 01 2026 Publican and Pharisee; Presentation of the Lord, St Nicholas, Southbridge
The sermon today, “The Three Humilities,” is grounded in the gospel readings for the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, and the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (February 2nd). The gospels for the beginning of the Lenten Triodion today and the end of the Nativity season (tomorrow) show us three kinds of humility: the Divine Humility of God-in-the-Flesh, the humility of the repentant Tax-collector (Publican), and the poverty of Mary and Joseph (who could only afford to offer a pair of doves for Jesus instead of the more expensive lamb that the rich could afford).
What does all this have to say to us? We live in a society that tells us to celebrate ourselves—our talents, wealth, influence, and power. If we lack those things, we are seen as failures by ourselves and others. Yet the image of true wealth that we are given today is one of humility and poverty. So which do we choose? The world’s ideals (the Pharisee) or God’s? Some tough questions to consider.
Link to today’s Liturgy: https://youtu.be/fsH5OcGkql8
01 18 2026 Sunday Divine Liturgy, St. Nicholas, Southbridge
Today’s sermon, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come,” is taken directly from today’s appointed Epistle reading. What does it mean when St. Paul speaks of another city (home, homeland) that is to come, one that is different in nature from where we live now? And what does knowing that our true homeland has not yet been revealed mean for how we live in the temporary one we are living in now? St. Paul asks us to take a radically new and different look at ourselves and the world around us in the light of our true homeland in God’s Kingdom (or The City of God, as St. Augustine put it).
Link to Sunday’s Liturgy: https://youtu.be/0WIsiEvB2Wc01 04 2026 The Sunday Before Theophany, St Nicholas, Southbridge
Today’s sermon, “Perspectives: Why Each of the Four Gospels Has a Different Starting Point,” examines the specific communities that the gospel writers addressed. Just as we have many different ‘audiences’ today that writers and speakers reach out to, so did the authors of the gospels. In today’s gospel, St. Mark skips the stories of Jesus’s birth (as does St. John in his gospel) and starts with the beginning of the Lord’s ministry as a grown man.
St. Mark is primarily concerned with Jesus’s connection to John the Baptist. St. Matthew is concerned with his connection to the promise given to the Jewish People through Abraham. St Luke is concerned with Jesus’s message to the Gentiles through Adam. And St. John is concerned with the authority of Jesus as the Word of God incarnate. Why these apparent differences of perspective and focus? And how do they all fit together as a single proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah (Christ) who is both God and man?
Link to today’s liturgy: https://youtu.be/SNzEcd5IRXA
12 21 2025 Sunday of the Holy Ancestors of Christ St Nicholas, Southbridge
Today’s sermon, “People Like Us” focuses on the surprising stories of the Lord’s ancestors and what they have to say to us about the choices we make.
Link to Liturgy: https://youtu.be/lGQqtewqz4M
12 14 2025 Sunday of the Holy Forefathers St Nicholas Southbridge
Today’s sermon, “The Lord’s Banquet Guests: Heaven Will be Filled with the Lowly,” is based on the appointed gospel reading for the day. The self-righteous and judgmental, those who rejected the Lord’s anointed, excluded themselves and insulted God’s generosity. There is a clear warning to us today. If we are not willing to embrace the broken, the poor, the sick, and the just plain scary people who were open to Jesus’s message in His own time, then we will find ourselves in the position of the Pharisees and others in those days. We will cut ourselves off and lose the Kingdom of Heaven.
Link to the Liturgy: https://youtu.be/nDO10hgrtww
12 07 2025 Bishop Nikodhim Visitation St Nicholas Southbridge
His Grace, our bishop, Nikodhim, paid a visit to our parish for our patronal feast day today. The Hierarchical Liturgy was beautiful, and the ceremonies were unique to a bishop’s visitation. Our small choir sang superbly.
His Grace’s sermon focuses on the mercy of God toward the woman who had been tormented by a severe illness for 18 years. He mentions how some of the religious leaders were angry when Jesus healed her on the Sabbath, and how that shows us that God’s mercy is not limited to certain days. The leaders attempted to stand in the way, but the lesson for us is to become vessels through whom God’s mercy can flow—not for our own glory but for his.
Link to today’s Liturgy: https://youtu.be/3v72X-bpZNU
11 30 2025 Feast of St Andrew the First Called, St Nicholas, Southbridge
The homily today, “The Quality of Mercy is Not Strained,” focuses on the Orthodox Church as the Church of Mercy. We ask the Lord’s mercy, we speak of His mercy, perhaps a hundred times in every Divine Liturgy. We use the term so often that it is easy to overlook the magnitude of its importance to our salvation—and the salvation of the whole world. Without mercy, there is no love, no forgiveness, no true repentance, no hope for finding a way out of the darkness.
As we move deeper into the Nativity Fast (Advent), let’s aim to redirect our thinking toward the mystery of the coming feast of our Lord’s birth—Christmas, when God’s Mercy and Love took flesh among us.
Link to today’s Liturgy: https://youtu.be/XJipii-csVw
11 23 2025 Sunday Divine Liturgy St. Nicholas Southbridge
Today’s sermon, “The Thankless Fool,” focuses on the story of the rich man who failed to show gratitude to God and love for his neighbor. He thought he had it all and would retire in comfort, only to die and leave his wealth behind. It was his attitude that brought him to a bad end. What does this have to teach us?
Link to today’s Liturgy: https://youtu.be/Z3xBUvOQt40
11 16 2025 Sunday Divine Liturgy St Nicholas Southbridge (Feast of St Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist)
The sermon today, “St Kosmas the Aetolian (Shen Kozma Berati): Patron of Role Model for St Kosmas Academy”
A new school is being formed in Worcester, MA, grounded in the classical tradition and Orthodox faith. St Kosmas is our patron and role model because he helped found almost 100 grammar schools and 10 high schools in the region that is now Greece and Albania. The measure of his achievement was his martyrdom near the city of Berat, in modern-day Albania. The holy teacher and preacher was too successful for the Muslim Turkish authorities and other vested interests of his time (the mid-18th century). He was martyred by hanging without trial for the good work he did in preserving our faith in a time of persecution.
Our Nativity project this year is raising funds for the new school, which we hope will open a kindergarten and perhaps a first grade next fall. Over the following years, we hope to add grades until we ultimately have a K-12 school. We invite you to join us in our project of hope in our troubled times.
Link to Liturgy: https://youtu.be/Tvvz6dNMxkA
11 02 2025 Sunday Divine Liturgy St Nicholas Southbridge
Today’s sermon, “Lazarus is at Our Gate: Do We See Him?” is based on the appointed gospel reading in which poor Lazarus, whom the Rich Man ignored for decades, dies and goes to the bosom of Abraham (heaven) while the Rich Man ends up in torment for his cold-heartedness.
The question we face as individuals and as a church community is whether our eyes are closed to the suffering around us or open and seeking ways to help others. Do we see the poor and demeaned in our midst as our brothers and sisters, or do we find excused to let them suffer? The stakes are very high, indeed.
Link to today’s Liturgy: https://youtu.be/BgyY65To8Zc
10 19 2025 Sunday Divine Liturgy St Nicholas Southbridge. Third Sunday of Luke, Prophet Joel, St. John of Kronstadt
The sermon today, "Are Miracles Still Possible in Our Age of Unbelief?" is based on the Epistle and Gospel readings for this Sunday.
Europeans and North Americans live in a time where miracles are considered impossible. They are either misunderstood science, the figments of overactive imaginations, or outright deceptions. The only miracles acknowledged by the great minds of our age are the human-made wonders of technology and Artificial Intelligence. We, not God, are the miracle workers.
But there are still places on Earth where people are open to the wonderful works of God, though those places are considered backward and unenlightened. And yet, the future of the Church is in the hands of those so-called ignorant people. When the rich and mighty of the world are finally exhausted by their attempts to play God, it will be the humble and faithful believers of the Global South who will bring the living, miraculous faith that opened a vision of heaven to St. Paul and raised the son of the widow of Nain at the hands of Jesus.
Link to today’s Liturgy: https://youtu.be/SszbRuOZXSs
10 12 2025 Sunday Divine Liturgy, St Nicholas, Southbridge
Today’s sermon, “Good Soil for Growing the Word of God,” is based on the gospel for the day. How do we become good soil for growing our faith? What is the process? How do we persevere?
Link to today’s Liturgy: https://youtu.be/mvBVoftJR0U09 28 2025 Sunday Divine Liturgy, St. Nicholas, Southbridge
The sermon title today, “Now Is the Acceptable Time! Now is the Day of Salvation!” is taken from the appointed Epistle reading and the appointed Gospel reading for today.
Jesus calls us to become disciples, and the first commandment to being a disciple is to become a “fisher of men,” meaning to bring others to Christ—starting right here and now.
But first, I have to ask myself about my own faith. Am I really a disciple of Christ? Do I truly believe that Christ dwells in my heart, that I am first and foremost a Christian, and that God comes before all else in my life? This is the definition of a Christian, and it is tough to follow. The good news is that if we give ourselves to Christ, He will supply what is lacking in us.
If we are unsure about our faith, now is the time to make a decision. This is the acceptable hour. This is the day the Lord has made for us to turn to Him, and it is a choice we must make each and every day for the rest of our lives. If we’re afraid of the cost of discipleship, then let’s remind ourselves that everything good we treasure finds its end and fulfillment in Him. And what is not good, is best letting go of, anyway. Let’s start now. There has never been a better time to begin.
LINK TO TODAY’S LITURGY: https://youtu.be/w3EWs2qz5cs
09 21 2025 The Sunday After the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, St. Nicholas, Southbridge
The sermon, “Take Up Your Cross and Follow God’s Foolish Way,” is based on today’s appointed Gospel reading and the epistle from last week (The Feast of the Cross).
To be a Christian is to be a bearer of the Cross. St Paul teaches us that the foolishness of God is wiser than any kind of human wisdom. The unconverted world will see the way of the cross as empty of good philosophy and practical politics—basically a useless waste of time better spent on personal growth and in working towards a better world.
But philosophy has led us to death-dealing political ideologies, and self-worship ends with the grave. This world’s wisdom has proved foolish and empty. So, why not give the foolishness of the Cross a try? We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Link to today’s Liturgy: https://youtu.be/758JRg6RNJs