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The Secret of Happiness

08/06/2021

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – The Secret of Happiness “…I do not experience misfortune because misfortune happens when a person seeks his own desires…. I always strive to conform my will to the will of God, and by doing so, I count myself always happy…. more than anything I take care for this, that I would be in union with God and accord with His will.” Excerpted from Instructions

The Light of Christ and the Transfiguration

08/06/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 5, 2020 My attention was drawn to the event of the Transfiguration during my college years. It was then that I first read a book on St. Seraphim of Sarov, who himself was transfigured in a famous incident in his conversation with Motivilov. There, on a snowy winter’s day, the saint shown with a brilliant light, and Motivilov felt effused with warmth and joy. It caught my attention in the

The Dormition Fast: August Theophanies

08/05/2021

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, August 10, 2014 The Reading is from the Gospel of St. Matthew. (14:22-34) The month of August is a month of theophanies. A theophany, from the Greek, literally means a “revelation of God”, not “from God”, but “of God.” The Transfiguration of Jesus is a theophany. God reveals himself present in Jesus Christ in this world. He shares his light and energy with us and with all

The Dormition Fast: Why Mary Has Always Been Honored

08/04/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 13, 2018 This Wednesday (August 15) is the Feast of the Dormition, the Falling Asleep of the Virgin Mary. I offer this article as a reflection. The most difficult part of my Orthodox experience to discuss with the non-Orthodox is the place and role of the Mother of God in the Church and in my life. It is, on the one hand, deeply theological and even essential to a right understanding

The Dormition Fast: The Holy Theotokos

08/03/2021

By Abbot Tryphon, March 20, 2017 The veneration of the Holy Virgin in the Ancient Church All the early reformers, including Luther and Calvin, believed Mary to be Ever Virgin. The practice at the time of Jesus was to refer to all cousins as siblings, so none of the early Christians believed Mary had born any children other than Jesus. Furthermore, the veneration of the Virgin did not begin with Rome, but began in the

The Dormition Fast: The Earth Stood Still

08/02/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 20, 2014 Orthodox Christians commemorate the death (Dormition) of the Virgin Mary during the month of August (New Calendar, the 15th, Old Calendar, the 28th). For those for whom such feasts are foreign, it is easy to misunderstand what the Orthodox are about – and to assume that this is simply a feast to Mary because we like that sort of thing. Flippant attitudes fail to perceive the depths of the mystery

How to Deal with Crisis in a Spiritual Manner

07/30/2021

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – How to Deal with Crisis in a Spiritual Manner “…God does not wish to make people suffer, neither does He cooperate with the tribulation which is afflicting us. Hardship, anxiety and suffering never originate from God but are either caused by the devil or by our own actions. Nevertheless, no matter where these come from, the main task is to try to

The Life of the Cosmos

07/30/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, January 15, 2016 What does it mean to be alive? This is a question whose answer would seem so obvious that it is hardly worth asking. And yet. A recent comment drew attention to a different way of thinking about what is “alive.” I will offer some quotes from the comment and then some observations of my own. I give special thanks to Justin. Everything is alive. Everything. We encounter the

The Mystery of Death

07/29/2021

The Mystery of Death Death can be a mystery precisely because the triumph over death is not a mystery By Abbot Tryphon, December 16, 2019 As a priest and monk of the Russian Orthodox Church, I am comfortable with the mystery of death, as all Christians should be. Death can be a mystery precisely because the triumph over death is not a mystery. As the Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemann wrote, “in essence, Christianity is not

Jesus and the Bible: Many Ways of Knowing

07/28/2021

Unknown to many post-Reformation Christians, early centuries of Christianity—through authoritative teachers like Origen, Cyril of Alexandria, Augustine, and Gregory the Great—encouraged as many as seven “senses” of Scripture. The literal, historical, allegorical, moral, symbolic, eschatological (the trajectory of history and growth), and “primordial” or archetypal (commonly agreed-upon symbolism) levels of a text were often given serious weight among scholars. These levels were gradually picked up by the ordinary Christian through Sunday preaching (as is still

SSCORRE!

The Secret of Happiness

The Light of Christ and the Transfiguration

The Dormition Fast: August Theophanies

The Dormition Fast: Why Mary Has Always Been Honored

The Dormition Fast: The Holy Theotokos

The Dormition Fast: The Earth Stood Still

How to Deal with Crisis in a Spiritual Manner

The Life of the Cosmos

The Mystery of Death

Jesus and the Bible: Many Ways of Knowing

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