Speech of St. Tikhon (Belavin) on Raising Fr. Sebastian (Dabovic) to Archimandrite

Follows my translation of St. Tikhon’s speech upon the awarding of Archimandrite Sebastian with a staff in Chicago in September 1905.
I congratulate you, all-honorable Archimandrite Sebastian, with your being raised to the rank of archimandrite and being named as the head of the Serbian mission in America. As a native Serbian you had already been [...]

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Periodically repeating toil

The law of fasting would not be given to us, had not the law of the first abstinence been transgressed. The stomach would not be named as an evil-minded thing, had not the pretext for pleasure entailed after it such consequences of sin. There would be no need of the plow and the laboring oxen, [...]

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No light comes from the West

The Eastern light has come to the West — to the uttermost Western end. And blessed be they who, with a clear vision, perceive this light just as it shines in the East. This light, although it came from the East, did not change, but while it shines in the West, it continues to be [...]

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The true hierarchy

Which hierarchy is the true and lawful one? It is the priesthood which has retained and continues to follow these conditions:
1. In the first place such a hierarchy is true, which has received the grace of the Holy Spirit from the Apostles themselves in an unbroken line of succession from one to another. …In the [...]

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