Sermons from St. Herman's

On the feast of Saint Olga of Alaska , Fr. Matthew Howell quotes his friend, Fr. Vasily Fisher who reminds everyone that her life shows us that holiness is possible for each and every one of us. "It's possible" for us to be holy without having a special office; and it is possible for every one to be saintly Christian in every walk of life. Epistle: Hebrews 2:2-10 (For the Synaxis of...

While serving at All Saints of North America Church in Homer, Alaska, Fr. Matthew Howell reminds people that the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus shows that the Gospel is about personal responsibility in that we must care for the person right in front of us. He curates scriptural quotes that relate to this passage and encourages people to be generous without judging the circumstances to whom they...

On the feast of St. Demetrios the Myrrh-Streamer , Fr. Matthew Howell quotes from St. Nikolai Velimirovich about how "love and faith are stronger than worldly glory," and how this is shown through the life and martyrdom of St. Demetrios. Fr. Matthew offers lessons to be learned from St. Demetrios: Courage and conviction to preach the gospel, generosity, and a love for God that outshines...

On the third Sunday of Luke, Fr. Matthew Howell retells the stories from the book of Numbers about the Israelites who desired to return to the slavery of Egypt. He connects that to us by reminding us that we often return to our carnal passions after baptism, and in a way similar to the Israelites in the desert, we complain about God and seek death instead of life. He then explains that moments of...

On the fourth Sunday of Luke and the commemoration of the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council  (commemorated on the Sunday between October 11-17 in the Antiochian Patriarchate), Fr. Matthew Howell preaches about the parable of the Sower and the Seed. He starts by contrasting sequoia trees to table-top bonsai trees, points out that in order to grow strong in the Christian Faith like sequ...

On the second Sunday of Luke, Fr. Matthew Howell makes a guest appearance at Saint George Antiochian Cathedral while traveling in Wichita, Kansas. After introducing himself, he talks about the passage from the Sermon on the Mount in which Christ calls us to love our enemies. Quoting St. Nikolai Velimirovic, he encourages people to activate the virtue of love rather than settling for a passive virt...

On the first Sunday of the Church's readings from Luke for this liturgical cycle, Fr. Matthew Howell compares the Orthodox spiritual life to scuba diving and encourages people to go beyond snorkeling "into the deep." He claims that if we want to be followers of Christ more than fans, we need to go deeper spiritually, scripturally, and sacramentally. Along the way, he shares a story a...

On the Sunday after the Elevation of the Holy Cross, Fr. Matthew Howell tackles St. Paul's statement to the Galatians in which he asserts that it is Christ who lives in him. He points out that we, too, are called to follow God's will so closely that it is Christ living in us more than our ego determining its own way. Fr. Matthew then talks about how to pursue theosis by practicing ascetici...

On the feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross , Fr. Matthew Howell explains what it means to "bleed" in the spiritual life and how it relates to our calling by Christ to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. Fr. Matthew then expounds on the meaning of blood in the Scriptures and asks how much blood we are willing to shed for Christ and His Church? He also goes into what it...

On the Sunday before the Elevation of the Holy Cross, Bishop John Abdalah preaches about the circumcision of the heart at Saint Herman Church in Wasilla while making a pastoral visit on behalf of His Grace, Bishop Anthony. He talks about the humility of Christ, who descended from heaven to take on human nature, is even circumcised, and even descends to the pit of hell in order to raise us up in or...

On the 12th Sunday after Pentecost, Fr. Matthew Howell preaches about the encounter between Jesus Christ and the rich young man who walked away from Christ sorrowful over the idea of selling all his possessions. Fr. Matthew points out that the young man was moral but not holy and that he was too attached to his riches or possessions to be filled with the grace of God and to follow Christ. Fr. Matt...

On the feast of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist , Fr. Matthew talks about the different categories of saints that he fills as a prophet, monastic, martyr and more. Father Matthew then points out how we follow St. John's example in terms of his asceticism, his truth-telling, and his martyrdom either via blood but at the very least in our will to crucify (or martyr) our selfish will. Pre...

On the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, Fr. Matthew Howell expounds on the parable of the wicked servant who begs for mercy from his king for an unpayable debt but refuses to show mercy to his fellow servant. Fr. Matthew does the math conversion from talents and denarii to days, years, and lifetimes of work in order to show that the wicked servant owed more than 3,000 lifetimes of work to the king. Fr...

On the tenth Sunday after Pentecost, guest preacher Deacon Abraham Labrada Santiago talks about Jesus healing the epileptic boy through prayer and fasting. Dn. Abraham harps on the importance of prayer and fasting, and, after recently visiting Spruce Island, ties in stories about St. Herman of Alaska . Previous Homilies by Fr. Matthew Howell for the tenth Sunday after Pentecost:  August 13, 2023 -...

On the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos , Fr. Matthew Howell reads an excerpt from  The Feasts of the Mother of God by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos to explain how the icon of the feast of the Dormition is an icon of the Orthodox Church, which is centered around Christ and the Theotokos. Along the way, he reminds us that if we want a beautiful ending to our life like the Virigin Mary, the...

On the 9th Sunday of the readings from the Gospel of Matthew, Fr. Matthew Howell talks about how Jesus walks on water and tells the disciples not to fear because "I AM." He also uses the epistle reading to point out that boats weather storms based on how they are built in the port ahead of team, so we need to build good spiritual habits to weather the spiritual storms of life. Along the...

On the feast of the Transfiguration , guest preacher Fr. Adam Roberts from Saint Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Katy, Texas preaches about time travel. He talks about how connecting with God transports us through time in a mystical way, and uses examples from scripture to prove his point. However, Fr. Adam insists that more important than time travel is being present with God and working out o...

On the 8th Sunday of readings from the Gospel of Matthew for this year, Fr. Matthew Howell preaches about the feeding of the 5,000. He starts by telling about how his friend and daughter think his homilies are boring, and then launches into his main point about how Jesus wants us to do the best we can with what we have and then leave the impossible up to Him. He explains how with God nothing is im...

On the feast of the Great-Martyr and Unmercenary Healer Panteleimon , Father Matthew preaches about his life and miracles. He expounds on the importance of "giving freely" the gifts, talents, and grace that God gives us to others. He explains that nothing belongs to us and that we must share what God has given us with those around us. Along the way, he references "The A-Team" a...

On the feast of the Prophet Elias (Elijah) , Fr. Matthew Howell talks about how the good works and fiery faith of the prophet stemmed from a lifetime of prayer and quietness that cultivated a deep relationship with the living God. Fr. Matthew talks about how St. Elias was fed by ravens, conquered the prophets of Baal, met God on Mount Horeb, was carried into heaven in a chariot of fire, and spoke...

On the Sunday in which the Orthodox Church commemorates the 630 Holy Fathers of the 4th Ecumenical Council , Fr. Matthew Howell preaches about the Gospel reading from Matthew. He mentions how God's love should radiate through us to illumine those around us so that they can praise God. "Simple, loving, humble, kindness" is the way to love God and love neighbor. He uses as an example R...

On the final morning of the Antiochian Village Camp's Arch Week Program, Fr. Matthew Howell ties a ribbon around the week and reminds the participants that they have been living in reality for the past week. He explains how they can take what they have done and what they have learned with them to their next phase of life and apply the same principles to live a God-centered life. Epistle: Roman...

This homily by Fr. Matthew Howell was given at St. Herman Church on the first Sunday after Pentecost on which the Church commemorates all the saints who have loved God since the beginning of the world. Fr. Matthew latches on to St. Paul's epistle to the Hebrews and claims that the saints are "Weight Watchers" or "Biggest Losers" set "aside every weight, and sin which c...

On the feast of Pentecost , Fr. Matthew Howell preaches about the descent of the Holy Spirit within the Divine Liturgy. He cites many examples in which we pray that the Holy Spirit will descend not only upon the gifts spread forth but also the clergy and people praying. He then talks about the fruits of the communion of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). He finishes by discussing what is needed to li...

On the Sunday after the Feast of the Ascension , as the Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council held in Nicaea in 325 , Fr. Matthew Howell preaches about WHO Christ is (the Divine Son of God) and WHY that is so important, and WHAT exactly the fathers of the first ecumenical council were arguing about (hint: one iota ). He points out that without the Incarnatio...