Published by Pemptousia Partnership on November 11, 2021 Saint Nectarios of Pentapolis The Road to Happiness Nothing is greater than a clean heart, because such a heart becomes the throne of God. And what’s more glorious than the throne of God? Nothing, of course. Regarding those who have a clean heart, God says: ‘I will live with them and walk among them; and I will be God to them and they will be a people to me’ (2 Cor. 6,
Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, November 20, 2016 The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (10:38-42; 11:27-28) Last week we spoke of action, this week let’s talk about contemplation, the “Mary and Martha” of life. Knowing about Jesus and knowing Him are not the same. Being a Christian and following Christ are not synonymous. Who is it we are actually following? One of my dearest spiritual sons just returned
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, September 12, 2017 “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” (Exo 25:8) The center of Jewish life at the time of Christ was the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was presented there at forty days of age. His family traveled to the Temple when he was twelve. He taught there during His ministry and drove the money-changers out. There is a tendency in much modern thought
Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on the Feast of the Transfiguration, Sunday, August 6, 2017 It is very important that we wrap our minds around the two truths when we are drawn to speak of the Holy Trinity. One, that the doctrine of the Trinity is the beating heart of our faith. Without it there is no Christianity. And Christianity where the Trinity is not central or has been forgotten or ignored has lost
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
Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 18, 2016 at St. Mary Orthodox Church. Holy Orthodoxy has a vision of human nature than is unrelentingly positive. This vision originates in the biblical reference from Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Because this is so, to know the truth of who we are, is to know God. St. Clement of Alexandria wrote that, “…if one
Published by Pemptousia Partnership on September 22, 2021 In our narration of the miracles of our glorious Lady, full of grace, the Mother of God, we shall draw some drops from the boundless sea, to the honor of the all-praised Mother of God. No woman had ever entered the Monastery of Choziba. This is the reason why they were later allowed to do so. There was a certain noblewoman in Byzantium, who suffered from an incurable internal illness
Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on the Feast of the Transfiguration, Sunday, August 6, 2017 It is very important that we wrap our minds around the two truths when we are drawn to speak of the Holy Trinity. One, that the doctrine of the Trinity is the beating heart of our faith. Without it there is no Christianity. And Christianity where the Trinity is not central or has been forgotten or ignored has lost
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, June 26, 2017 I was 19 years old the first time I had a panic attack. I was trying to go to sleep in my dorm room, when suddenly my heart began racing, my mind speeding forward, with what seemed like crazy, desperate thoughts. That was in the early 70’s and the phrase “panic attack” had not been invented. What I did not know was that this was the beginning of
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, January 13, 2020 “No one will know what you’re doing.” I recently took an evening for a movie – a fairly rare undertaking. The movie was Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life, which depicts the story of a Catholic man and his family who refused to take an oath of loyalty to Hitler during World War II. He dies a martyr. The story is based in truth. Living in a small valley in
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