SSCORRE!

Experiences During the Divine Liturgy

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Experiences During the Divine Liturgy “The Divine Liturgy on earth is a real and live enactment of all that which happens in the Liturgy of Glory of the Jerusalem Above.” Fr. Stephanos Anagnostopoulos Experiences During the Divine Liturgy by Protopresbyter Stephanos Anagnostopoulos is a book which explains about the Divine Liturgy and in addition gives many examples of actual experiences of priests and the

Knowing Saints

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 7, 2016 There are many stories of saints in the Orthodox world, including contemporary ones. Their biographies are sometimes remarkable, sometimes not. Their stories are occasionally marked by miracles, but not always. I cannot think of a single characteristic that makes them like one another apart from their sanctity. And that quality does not make them so much like one another as so completely and truly themselves. I have had

Imitating Christ. Divine Warmth.

Imitating Christ We must live as the Lord requires of us By Abbot Tryphon, December 17, 2019  As we examine how we live our lives as Christians, we look to those who leave an impression of goodness, kindness, and humility, as examples of the person we would like to become. That saintly person, by their every example, exudes the humbleness of the Lord, and love seems to be palpable when we are in their presence.

Thoughts on Questions and Answers. Thoughts on Gratitude.

Thoughts on Questions and Answers By Michael Haldas, July 13, 2016 “We must experience life as Job did—one day at a time and without complete answers to all of life’s questions. Will we, like Job, trust God no matter what? Or will we give in to the temptation to say that God doesn’t really care?” (Life Application Study Bible, Job 1:1) “What defines this consensus, above all—what distinguishes orthodoxy from heresy, the central river from

Sacred Things

What should be our attitude toward icons and other sacred things? By Abbot Tryphon, December 20, 2019  One of the attributes of God is holiness, and is reflected in His people, and in physical objects that have been blessed by the Church for the use of His people in their journey towards Him. Therefore, reverence for these sacred objects and images is the manifestation of the relationship between ourselves and God. “And ye shall be

Greatmartyr Eustáthios Placidas, with his wife and children, of Rome

Before his Baptism, the Holy Great Martyr Eustáthios was named Plakidas (Πλακίδας). He was a Roman General in the reigns of Emperors Titus (79-81) and Trajan (98-117). Even before he came to know Christ, Plakidas devoted himself to charitable endeavors, helping the poor and destitute. Therefore, the Lord did not allow this virtuous pagan to continue in the darkness of idolatry. One day, while hunting in a forest, he saw a remarkable stag which stopped

The Change We Should Believe In

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, February 25, 2016  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Co 3:18) Among the many losses within modern Christianity has been the place of transformation. Nineteenth-century revival movements and theology emphasized a single experience that was associated with salvation. Those who concerned

Holy and Great-Martyr Euphemia

The Holy and Great-Martyr Euphemia is commemorated on September 16th, the day on which she suffered. On this day is commemorated the miracle wrought by her precious holy relics, revealed at the time of the Fourth Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon. This Council was called together in the reign of the Emperor Marcian and the Empress Pulcheria, in 451 A.D., after the death of the Emperor Theodosius the Younger, and was summoned because of the heresy

Greatmartyr Nikḗtas the Goth

The Holy Great Martyr Nikḗtas was a Goth (a Germanic tribe). He was born and lived on the banks of the Danube River, suffering for Christ in the year 372. The Christian Faith was already spreading throughout the territory of the Goths at that time. Saint Nikḗtas believed in Christ and was baptized by the Gothic bishop Theophilos, who participated in the First Ecumenical Council. Pagan Goths started to oppose the spread of Christianity, which

The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross

Saint Helen, the mother of Saint Constantine the Great, when she was already advanced in years, undertook, in her great piety, the hardships of a journey to Jerusalem in search of the cross, about the year 325. A temple to Aphrodite had been raised up by the Emperor Hadrian upon Golgotha, to defile and cover with oblivion the place where the saving Passion had been suffered. The venerable Helen had the statue of Aphrodite destroyed,