101 Sermons of the late Metropolitan of Pergamon John (Zizioulas) sheds a whole new light on his character and theology.
In this 480-page book, we meet a shepherd who softens and nourishes the hearts of the faithful with pastoral sensibility, humility, and attention to the needs of the people.
This volume is dedicated to the Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, England, where many of these sermons were preached.
The cover is designed with details from the Metropolitan’s liturgical vestments with delicacy and taste, as a manifestation of “Creation as Eucharist.”
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The sermon is a “ministry” or “priestly service” (Rom. 15:16). The word of God differs from every kind of human word, because it aims at transmitting the will of God to man, to revealing and transmitting to man the message of God’s love, the assurance that “God is with us” throughout our lives.
The goal of the sermon is to translate the message of the Gospel into the language and concepts of each particular era, centering it on the cultural context of a particular time and place. The foundation of the sermon must always remain the Scripture readings, both on Sundays as well as on the feasts of the saints. This is why the sermon is placed in the Divine Liturgy after the holy readings.
—Metropolitan John of Pergamon
