Explore every episode of the podcast Homilies of Father Hans
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| He Forgave the Men Stoning Him to Death — Meet the Apostle James | 23 oct. 2026 | 00:03:49 | |
They threw him off the temple roof and then stoned him while he was still breathing — and with what strength he had left, he prayed for the people doing it. That's the Apostle James, the Lord's own brother and the first bishop of Jerusalem, whose feast Fr. Hans keeps today. James presided over the Church's first council, wrote the New Testament letter that tells us to be swift to hear and slow to speak, and even gave the Church its oldest Divine Liturgy — the one St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom later built on. Fr. Hans tells his story, untangles him from the Church's two other apostles named James, and closes with a blessing for the man in the pews who shares his name. Date: Friday, October 23, 2026 - Divine Liturgy Produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church, Fort Myers, Florida.
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| Why God Loves a Cheerful Giver — Not a Grudging One | 21 oct. 2026 | 00:09:20 | |
He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. How much you give and how you give it is up to you. Do it freely, but do not do it under compulsion or with a grudge. Your particular gifts are for the good of your neighbor and the church. When the heart is clean and grateful, God supplies what is needed. We work with Him. We create. We do not sit back and wait. Fr. Hans calls it becoming a co-creator with Christ — building something instead of waiting to feel like it — and promises that when the heart is right, the provision always comes. Date: October 21, 2026 Produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church, Fort Myers, Florida. | |||
| Their Eyes Opened When the Bread Was Broken | 18 oct. 2026 | 00:14:42 | |
Luke was not one of the original twelve. He heard the gospel while Jesus was still alive and joined the seventy who went out. On the road to Emmaus he walked with the risen Lord and did not know Him. Then they sat down, the bread was broken, and his eyes opened. That is still how the Lord is known. The gospel Luke wrote is addressed to the friend of God—anyone who wants to know Him. The power over darkness is real, but the joy is that your name is written in heaven. Date: October 18, 2026 - Divine Liturgy Produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church, Fort Myers, Florida. | |||
| Why Proof Never Converts Anyone - Only an Encounter With Christ Does | 17 oct. 2026 | 00:24:45 | |
A fifteen-year-old looked Fr. Hans in the eye and said, I don't believe in God. They prayed one short prayer about it and let it rest - until the boy's camera jammed every time he aimed it at a saint's relics, and he came running out of the chapel in tears. Fr. Hans tells that story tonight to make a hard point: no argument has ever actually converted anyone. Only an encounter with Christ does that - and it comes through the word, preached and heard, the way the Apostle Luke first wrote it down. From a doctor turned evangelist to a trembling teenager in Greece, the same thing keeps happening: God meets people exactly where their doubt lives. Date: October 17, 2026, Vespers | |||
| Freedom, Love, and the Apostolic Call to Brotherly Care | 14 oct. 2026 | 00:06:35 | |
Father Hans examines the apostle Paul's profound valuation of Christian brotherhood and communal service. Drawing from the epistle reading, he explains how God's love constrains His omnipotence—God cannot violate His own nature of love, and therefore works through believers who freely give their love to one another. This is not a minor ecclesiastical concern but the interior life of the church itself. When brotherhood flourishes, God dwells and the church thrives. When believers fight and gossip, their hearts close to love, and God will not work. Contrasting the loving God of Abraham with the coercive deities of pagan religions and Calvinist theology, Fr. Han presents Christian freedom as essential to genuine love. He concludes with a powerful testimony of a small Midwestern Antiochian church that was spiritually revitalized when its members repented of division and recommitted to fraternal love. In an era when cultural institutions have collapsed into emptiness, the church remains the only place where authentic meaning, warmth, and genuine community can be found.
Produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church, Fort Myers, Florida. | |||
| The Seed Is the Word of God. Guard Your Heart. | 11 oct. 2026 | 00:35:44 | |
A sower went out to sow. Some seed fell on the path. Some on rock. Some among thorns. Some into good soil. The seed is the Word of God, and it is not neutral. When it is heard, Christ Himself is revealed. But the heart must be prepared, or He will not remain. Guard your heart. You play a role in your own salvation because God made you free. Date: October 11, 2026 Produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church, Fort Myers, Florida. | |||
| We Are the Temple of the Living God. That Is Not a Metaphor. | 27 sept. 2026 | 00:15:48 | |
God said He would live in them and move among them. Fr. Hans says that is not poetry. It is the Church. We are the temple of the living God—not each of us alone, but we, together. You are here because He called you. Separate yourself from what is unclean, and He will be a Father to you, and you will be His sons and daughters. Date: September 27, 2026 Produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church, Fort Myers, Florida. | |||
| Jesus Did Not Come to Invent Worship, He Fulfilled It | 26 sept. 2026 | 00:23:29 | |
People think Jesus came to start a new religion and throw the old prayers away. He did not. He came as Israel's Messiah, and the lighting of the lamps at dusk is still how the Church prays at evening—now naming that light as Christ. We do not get to manufacture worship in our own image. Worship is not how Jesus makes you feel. It is given, sober, and real: the living God coming to us in matter, the way He took a body from His mother. Date: September 26, 2026 Produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church, Fort Myers, Florida. | |||
| The Wound Can Become a Reservoir of Compassion | 24 sept. 2026 | 00:16:05 | |
A young man in a Russian village drank, fought, and nearly killed someone in the road. Then the Mother of God told him his life was ugly to look at. St. Silouan was healed, and the place that had been wounded became prayer for the whole human race. You cannot undo what happened. It has to be healed now. Forgiveness is what opens that door—and the wound, once healed, becomes compassion. Date: September 24, 2026 Epistle: Galatians 5:22–6:2 Produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church, Fort Myers, Florida. https://stpeterorthodoxchurch.com | |||
| The Closer You Draw to Christ, the More Human You Become | 23 sept. 2026 | 00:11:00 | |
We celebrate a conception. Not an idea. A child. Fr. Hans takes the announcement to Zechariah at the hour of incense and says what the Church is really showing us: miracles are not nature broken. They are nature restored—what the world looked like before the fall. Elizabeth conceives in old age because salvation is God's work, and what is impossible for us is possible for Him. The Old Covenant is not thrown away. It is fulfilled. And the closer you draw to Christ, the more human you become, because God is not an angry judge waiting to be satisfied. He is a good God who loves mankind, a Father with His arms already open. Date: September 23, 2026 Produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church, Fort Myers, Florida. | |||
| Orthodox Teaching on Justification: The Nous, Faith & the Church as Israel | 20 sept. 2026 | 00:25:09 | |
A man is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. Fr. Hans says that verse has been badly misread. The law was never a cosmic moral system you could master. It was given through Moses to show us we are bound to death—and that only Christ, the second Adam, can set us free. Truth is not a proposition. Truth is a Person, and He is seen with the heart. Then comes the hard word of the Gospel: take up your cross, and do not be ashamed of Him. Date: September 20, 2026 This podcast episode was produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church in Fort Myers, Florida. | |||
| Repentance & God's Mercy: Orthodox Theology of Forgiveness & Spiritual Healing | 16 sept. 2026 | 00:04:55 | |
Fr. Hans Jacobse examines God's boundless mercy and the healing power of forgiveness in this homily on St. Epthymia. Exploring repentance, grace, and spiritual renewal at St. Peter Orthodox Church's early morning Divine Liturgy. Date: September 16, 2026 Commemorations: Euphemia the Great Martyr, Sebastiana, Disciple of St. Paul the Apostle, Dorotheos the Hermit of Egypt, Melitina the Martyr, Afterfeast of the Holy Cross, Ninian the Enlightener of Scotland, Edith the Nun of Wilton Abbey Epistle Reading: 2 Corinthians 6.1-10 Gospel Reading: Luke 7.36-50 This podcast episode was produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church in Fort Myers, Florida. Visit our parish website at https://stpeterorthodoxchurch.com | |||
| The Elevation of the Holy Cross: Orthodox Understanding of Christ's Redemptive Sacrifice & Theosis | 14 sept. 2026 | 00:25:42 | |
Fr. Han Jacobse explains the theological and historical significance of the Elevation of the Cross (September 14). Drawing from the Gospel account of the Crucifixion, he explores why Christ's death was a voluntary sacrifice, how crucifixion functioned as a method of execution, and why the cross itself is considered sacred and life-giving in Orthodox tradition. The sermon includes the story of Saint Helen's discovery of the true cross and discusses the symbolic power of sacred symbols in Christian faith. Date: September 14, 2026 Commemorations: The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross, Commemoration of the 6th Ecumenical Council Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-24 Gospel Reading: John 19:6-11, 13-20, 25-80, 30
This podcast episode was produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church in Fort Myers, Florida. Visit our parish website at https://stpeterorthodoxchurch.com | |||
| Orthodox Theology of the Cross: How Suffering Becomes Joy Through Christ | 13 sept. 2026 | 00:32:44 | |
Fr. Han Jacobse preaches on Christ's voluntary sacrifice for humanity and how His redemptive work destroys Date: September 13, 2026 (Sunday before the Elevation of the Holy Cross) Commemorations: Sunday before Holy Cross, The Consecration of the Church of the Holy Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre), Forefeast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross, Cornelius the Centurion & Martyr, Aristides the Philosopher, Hierotheos the Righteous of Iveron Monastery, Mount Athos Epistle Reading: Galatians 6:11-18 Gospel Reading: John 3:13-17 This podcast episode was produced by St. Peter the Apostle Orthodox Church in Fort Myers, Florida. Visit our parish website at https://stpeterorthodoxchurch.com | |||