10/25/2026
From the Sermon on the Sower and the Seed
By St. Bishop Nikolai of Žiča and Ohrid
"Today's Gospel sets forth Christ's well-known parable of the sower, which in its outward appearance depicts a very ordinary event, but in its inner core conceals the Lord Jesus Himself, human souls, the Gospel teaching, and the cause of ruin as well as the path of salvation for human souls—all at once.
A sower went out to sow his seed. How simple, yet how solemn a beginning! That is to say: the time for sowing arrived, the frosts and snows prepared the earth, the plowers plowed, spring arrived, and—the sower went out to sow. The sower went out from his house, to his field, to sow his seed—not someone else's, but HIS OWN.
The Sower is Christ, and the seed is the life-giving teaching of the Gospel.
And Christ borrows from no one, but truly sows His own seed. The sower went out—but from where did He go out, and to where? The Son of God went out from the eternal bosom of His Father, yet without separating Himself from that bosom.
Human souls are His field; and He went out onto His field. The field represents human souls; the different parts of the field signify different kinds of human souls. Some souls are like the ground by the wayside; others are like the rocky ground of the field; others are like the thorny patch on the field; and the fourth are like good soil, far from the road, and clean of stones and thorns.
Now, why does the sower not cast seed only on the good soil, but also on the path, on the rocks, and among the thorns? Because the Gospel good news is public, not secret; not secret and not restricted only to a certain number of people. God desires salvation for all human souls, for He wants all people to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4) and does not want anyone to perish.
The fact that three parts of the seed perish is neither the fault of the sower nor of the seed, but of the soil itself. Neither Christ nor His holy teaching will be to blame that many people will perish, but those people themselves. For they will not invest effort and love to nurture the received seed; to defend it from weeds; to deepen it into the fertile depth of their soul and to preserve it until it bears fruit and harvest comes.
And His disciples asked Him, saying: What does this parable mean? And He said:
The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear, but then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, lest they believe and be saved. Just as travelers trample the seed along the path and birds peck at it, so the devil tramples and pecks at God's crop, the word of God in the heart of man. Therefore, a wise master builds a fence around the field and separates the path from it; and so a wise person fences off the path through their heart, so that the evil spirit does not walk on it, trampling and destroying all that has been sown by God in the human heart.
Those on the rock are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, believing for a while, but in time of temptation they fall away. First they receive it with joy, then they believe for a while, and finally they fall away out of fear.
The word of God grows most successfully during external storms and winds, like pines in the mountains. But the coward, who received the word of God with joy, becomes frightened by the storm and winds, abandons the word of God, rejects it, and clings again to his earthly nature. Wavering in faith is serving one master while promising service to another. The wavering actually serve the devil, while promising their service to God.
And that which fell among thorns are those who hear, and going on their way—are choked by the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature. Cares are thorns, love for riches is thorns, earthly pleasures are thorns.
God's word cannot thrive in any shadow. It thrives only on a field where it is the supreme crop, casting shade on everything else. By 'cares' here are meant cares for bodily life; by 'riches'—external enrichment; by 'pleasures'—worldly, bodily, fleeting, and corruptible pleasures.
Apostle Peter says: Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you (1 Pet. 5:7). Only one single care is commanded to us by Christ the Lord—care for the soul, for the salvation of the soul. That is the greatest care, and when it is taken care of, everything else is taken care of by itself. All other small cares choke the seed of this greatest care.
True pleasure, therefore, and wealth, joy, and gladness are found in the word of God.
And that on the good ground are those who hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. The good ground represents good souls, souls thirsty for truth and hungry for love. Having said this, He cried out: He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
The philanthropic Friend of mankind cried out—the sole Friend of those upon whom black birds of prey have descended like upon an abandoned carcass; He cried out to point out the danger; He cried out to point out the one and only narrow path to salvation from the corruptible burning and smoldering of this world; the meek and Gentle Lord cried out, because what is at stake here is nothing less than the salvation of human lives—not about garments, nor houses, nor property, but about life itself.
Glory and praise be to our living and life-giving Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit—the Trinity one in essence and undivided, now and ever, throughout all time and all eternity.
Amen."
