Daily Meditations Archives - Page 4 of 381

February 10, Feast Day of Agios Haralambos the Miracle Worker

02/10/2026

On February 10, the Greek Orthodox Church commemorates the Feast Day of Agios Haralambos. Saint Haralambos guarded his people much as a shepherd would guard his flock, therefore, he is considered to be the protector of shepherds and their flocks. This great saint, Haralambos, was a bishop in Magnesia who suffered for Christ in his 113th year. When a terrible persecution began during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus, the elderly Haralambos did not hide from

God and the Self – Dragons and the Treasuries of Grace

02/09/2026

~By Father Stephen Freeman, June 30, 2023 Beloved, we are children of God, and it doesn’t yet appear what we shall be. But we know, that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (1John 3:2) You are dead, and your life is hid in Christ in God. (Col. 3:3) Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will save it. (Lk. 17:33)

Sunday of the Prodigal Son. So It Shall Be With Us

02/08/2026

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, February 20, 2022 The question behind much of the great Karl Rahner’s work is this: “which do we love better: the little island of our own certainty or the ocean of incomprehensible mystery?” I find in the Parable of the Prodigal Son two essential ingredients in the recipe for grace. I have mentioned them before. They are Radical Acceptance and Unconditional Positive Regard. Who in Holy Scripture

St. Photius of Constantinople

02/06/2026

~By Father Jeremy, February 6, 2019 Today, February 6th, we commemorate a man who has been hated in the West and revered as a great saint in the East. Some historians say he was second to St. John Chrysostom in influence on the Constantinopolitan throne. On the other hand, some scholars call him the “Father of the Great Schism.” As of January 2019, I am working on a thorough research project regarding the life of

Repressed Guilt and the Phenomenon of Projection

02/05/2026

Archimandrite Symeon Krayiopoulos † What is projection? It’s when someone projects onto others whatever it is that’s inside themselves. To put it more analytically, so that we all understand: people who’ve committed a sin and have repressed the guilt created by it, have, along with the guilt, also repressed their moral conscience; they’ve also repressed the valid law of God and replaced it with their own. It follows that everything they think, judge and decide

Grace and the Handbasket

02/04/2026

~By Father Stephen Freeman, July 4, 2023 A difficulty arises when making cultural observations – things rarely turn out as expected. The Roman Empire fell once upon a time, although the fall wasn’t nearly as clean and final as Gibbons imagined and it wasn’t really the Roman Empire that fell. But ever since the “Roman Empire fell” people have been rehearsing the lessons learned and expecting its repeat. Yet the empires (or whatever is expected to fall)

The Feast of Christ’s Reception as Fulfillment of the Ritual of Mosaic Law

02/03/2026

~Theodore Rokas The recent feast, the Reception of the Lord, is the feast which is celebrated exactly forty days after that of His Nativity. The name of the feast in Greek comes from a verb meaning ‘to go out and meet or welcome someone’ [Hence the depiction of Symeon in icons as being at or outside a door. WJL]. As regards the determination of the celebration of the feast on 2 February, this was decided

ON THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE

02/02/2026

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Today’s Feast has no fewer than four different names. Each name recalls a different aspect of this Feast. What are they? First of all, today’s Feast is called the Presentation of Christ. This is because it commemorates the Presentation of Christ by His Mother in the Temple at Jerusalem exactly forty days after His Birth. As we can see from

Sunday of The Parable of the Publican and Pharisee

02/01/2026

The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee is the first Sunday of a three-week period prior to the commencement of Great Lent. It marks the beginning of a time of preparation for the spiritual journey of Lent, a time for Orthodox Christians to draw closer to God through worship, prayer, fasting, and acts of charity. It is also on this day that the Triodion is introduced, a liturgical book that contains the services from

Memory of Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries Cyrus and John

01/31/2026

The Church commemorates Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries Cyrus and John, who offered everything for free, with love and divine enlightenment for those who suffer. Saints Cyrus and John lived under the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284-305). St. Cyrus came from Alexandria and St. John from Edessa, Syria. When the persecution of Diocletian broke out, Saint Cyrus went to a seaside place in Arabia and, after being tonsured as a monk, settled in this place. Saint