Preaching the Word of God

Preaching has always been one of the primary means by which the Holy Spirit has worked, and is working, to renew the life of the Church. Herein also lies its priority. Thus, the priority of preaching established by Jesus, lived out in the ministry of the early apostles and the Church Fathers, incorporated into the very Liturgy itself, calls on us to "preach the word…in season and out of season" (2 Tim 4.2) "rightly handling the word of truth" (2 Tim 2.15). At the close of the anaphora or eucharistic canon, the priest commemorates the holy Orthodox patriarchs and the local bishop, beseeching God to "grant them for your holy churches…to rightly define the word of your truth." Thus preserving and proclaiming the faith "once delivered to the saints" through the medium of preaching occupies a central role in the divine economy of salvation. Although directed primarily to those who preach or wish to preach the word of God, the present volume offers much more in terms of spiritual nourishment to all Christians. It is in fact a book that can be read with great profit by everyone interested in a living faith.