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The Fourth Day of Christmas. The Holy 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia

12/28/2022

On December 28, the Greek Orthodox Church commemorates the 20,00 Martyrs who were burned alive in the year 303 AD. The Holy 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia At the beginning of the fourth century the emperor Maximian (284-305) gave orders to destroy Christian churches, to burn service books, and to deprive all Christians of rights and privileges of citizenship. At this time the bishop of the city of Nicomedia was Saint Cyril, who by his preaching

The Third Day of Christmas: Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen

12/27/2022

Commemorated on December 27 The Holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen was the eldest of the seven deacons, appointed by the Apostles themselves, and therefore he is called “archdeacon.” He was the first Christian martyr, and he suffered for Christ when he was about thirty. In the words of Asterias, he was “the starting point of the martyrs, the instructor of suffering for Christ, the foundation of righteous confession, since Stephen was the first to shed

The Second Day of Christmas. The Synaxis of the Theotokos

12/26/2022

On the second day of the feast, the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos is celebrated. Combining the hymns of the Nativity with those celebrating the Mother of God, the Church points to Mary as the one through whom the Incarnation was made possible. His humanity—concretely and historically—is the humanity He received from Mary. His body is, first of all, her body. His life is her life. This feast, the assembly in honor of the

Christ is Born! Glorify Him! The First Day of Christmas!

12/25/2022

By His Grace Bishop John Abdalah As Orthodox Christians, we greet one another with this confident exclamation during the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord. With this seasonal greeting we affirm that Jesus, who took on flesh and was born into our world, is indeed the Christ, and worthy of glorification. This greeting is unlike other seasonal greetings about being merry (Christmas), glad (tidings), or happy (holidays). Not that I have any trouble with

The Thirty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent: On the Feast of the Nativity

12/24/2022

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Thursday, December 24, 2015. Listening to the hymns of the Vesperal Liturgy, the Royal Hours, and of Matins today, I was struck by some extremely beautiful things, which spoke of the openness of God towards his creation; of his love and compassion for all his creation, for the entire universe, is wrapped up in the

The Thirty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent: Celebrating Christ’s Nativity

12/23/2022

By Fr John Breck, December 2, 2006 With the hyper-commercialization of Christmas in American culture, it’s important for us to step away from the noise and tinsel, in order to hear once again what Orthodox Christian tradition tells us about the real significance of this feast. This takes us back first of all to the Nativity stories of the Gospels. To interpret those stories, though, we need to turn as well to the ancient liturgical

The Thirty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent: St Anastasia the Roman

12/22/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, October 29, 2017 Saint Symeon the Translator We find two Anastasias in the Lives of the saints, both of whom were of prominent and famous families and who confessed their faith. Both were daughters of mighty Rome. The first was married against her will by her parents, but never came together with her husband, nor even slept with him, pretending she was ill, though in reality because he was a pagan.

A Homily in Preparation for the Celebration of Christmas: According to Saint John Chrysostom

12/21/2022

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – A Homily in Preparation for the Celebration of Christmas: According to Saint John Chrysostom A feast day is about to arrive and it is the most holy, august, and awesome of all feasts; it would be no mistake to call it the chief and mother of all holy days. What feast is that? The day of Christ’s birth in the flesh. It

The Thirty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent: Incarnation to Parousia

12/21/2022

By Fr John Breck, December 2, 2009 Celebration of Christmas, the Nativity of our Lord, invites us to look in a fresh way at the intimate relation that exists between the Incarnation of Christ and his “Second Coming” in glory. Too often Nativity is taken as a feast in and of itself, a family festival so deformed by the season’s commercial pressures that two of its major emphases, cosmic and eschatological, become lost in a

The Thirty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent: Feast Day of Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer the Bishop of Antioch

12/20/2022

The Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, was a disciple of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, as was also Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna). Saint Ignatius was the second bishop of Antioch, and successor to Bishop Euodius, Apostle of the Seventy. Tradition suggests that when Saint Ignatius was a little boy, the Savior hugged him and said: “Unless you turn and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven”

Blog

The Fourth Day of Christmas. The Holy 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia

The Third Day of Christmas: Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen

The Second Day of Christmas. The Synaxis of the Theotokos

Christ is Born! Glorify Him! The First Day of Christmas!

The Thirty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent: On the Feast of the Nativity

The Thirty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent: Celebrating Christ’s Nativity

The Thirty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent: St Anastasia the Roman

A Homily in Preparation for the Celebration of Christmas: According to Saint John Chrysostom

The Thirty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent: Incarnation to Parousia

The Thirty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent: Feast Day of Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer the Bishop of Antioch

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