By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 3, 2010 The 15th of August is the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God (her death). Orthodox Christians fast for two weeks prior to this great feast and celebrate it with great solemnity. A question was recently placed by a reader about the “perpetual virginity” of Mary. I am offering this small post to address that question and to look at the place of the Most Holy
Metropolitan Nikolaos (Hatzinikolaou) of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki What a magnificent person our Lady is. She shows us the path and provides us with the way to deification, that is, how each of us can attain a state of likeness with God and communion with him. Our Lady is also a model for our life and a source of strength, with the protection of her intercessions, on this journey of ours. But how is this so?
Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord, Sunday, August 6, 2023 In my reading this week I came across a wonderful quote perfect for a sermon today on the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. It is by Marcus Borg a Protestant biblical scholar with an academic perspective most Orthodox would avoid. No, I do not agree with everything he says, but in his teaching lie
Ioannis Foundoulis The feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God is celebrated on August 15 by the Christian world and is the greatest of those established by the Church in honour of the Mother of the Lord. It may be the oldest of all. The first evidence we have for it dates from the 5th century, round about the time when the 3rd Ecumenical Synod was called in Ephesus (451), at which the
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 13, 2008 On August 15, the Orthodox Church (new calendar) commemorates the Dormition (falling asleep) of the Most Holy Mother of God. The feast is considered to be one of the 12 Great Feasts of the year and thus an integral part of the proclamation of gospel of Jesus Christ. Many who are not familiar with Orthodoxy, or its manner of understanding saints, easily see feast days and the veneration
Sermon preached on Sunday, August 14, 2022 by Fr. Antony Hughes for the Feast of the Dormition A long time ago when my family left our Baptist church we ended up at the Presbyterian church just a few blocks away. It was there that I heard the first sermon about the Virgin Mary. It startled me. The pastor just as plain as day preached that there was nothing special about her. Any girl or woman
~By Stephen Freeman, August 9, 2022 Sir Walter Scott (1808) famously wrote: “O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” A modern pundit has rephrased it: “Always tell the truth…it’s easier to remember.” Lies inevitably create a web of false narratives. In many ways, it’s a metaphor for sin itself. Sin begets sin that begets sin and the web ensnares us into a world of un-truth. A single thread of
~Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, January 24, 2021 Around our Lord was an aura of welcome. “Come to Me,” he said. “Let the children come and do not hinder them,” he told his disciples. The Samaritan Woman came, Zacchaeus came, Jairus came on behalf of his daughter, the Syro-Phoenician Woman for her son, the lepers came for themselves. Even the Pharisees came albeit to challenge him, but in their challenge, I think, there was
Grigoris Sahinoglou The concept of priesthood exists in the Old Testament, though it has a significance and character that is different from that which it assumes in the New. In the Old Testament, before the time of Moses, every head of a family could offer sacrifices to God and there is no lack of instances where this happened, such as when Noah performed a sacrifice after the flood in gratitude to God for his survival
~By Father Stephen Freeman, August 18, 2021 Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of my father’s passing. I have felt the day approaching for a few weeks now. I have also been reflecting on why I feel it so poignantly. The truth is that we know a parent in a unique way, indeed, in a manner that differs even from that of our siblings. What we know is never really the person as they stand, fully themselves.
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