Daily Meditations Archives - Page 56 of 355

Ascension: The Promise of the Father from Ascension to Pentecost

05/25/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on June 14, 2021 Ascension For forty days after the Resurrection, the Lord Jesus was ‘being seen of His disciples’.[1] He was gladdening the hearts of His disciples with His Presence and initiating them into the mysteries of the Kingdom. Christ appeared to them and opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. At the same time, the Apostles were living with such tension of prayer in His Presence, that His words were engraved in their

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Sixth Wednesday of Pascha: Leave-taking of Pascha

05/24/2023

On Wednesday of the sixth week of Pascha, we celebrate the Leave-taking of the Feast. While most Feasts have their Leave-taking on the eighth day, Pascha, the Feast of Feasts, has its Leave-taking on the thirty-ninth day. The fortieth day is the Feast of the Lord’s Ascension, which marks the end of the Lord’s physical presence on earth. He does not abandon us, however. He has promised to be with us always, even until the

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Sixth Tuesday of Pascha: Belief and Faith, Water and Wine

05/23/2023

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (3:13-17) The Christian message is very, very simple. God loves the world. He loves us. Seeing his creation falling into death, he sent his Son, to liberate us from death, from sin, from fear and to grant eternal life to all who believe in this simple Gospel. And he has accomplished in taking on human nature and matter the deification of all things. In Holy

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Sixth Monday of Pascha: The Community We All Need

05/22/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, May 24, 2017 Communities are not built by pioneers. They are rooted in mutual need and brokenness. Stanley Hauerwas has observed: My hunch is that you don’t just make a community up. You discover that you need one another because you’re in danger. The need, created by various forms of weakness, must be acknowledged and accepted. The “shame” associated with it must be borne by the community as a whole. Without

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and the Importance of the Human Body (3)

05/19/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 14, 2021 Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos Fasting is a theological action, and sin has a theological hypostasis. We don’t avoid sin because it will upset our nervous system or because it’s better for our health to do so. A God who needs things like that isn’t the God of the Gospels, but is Zeus or Cronos and all those who, when they became angry, launched bolts of lightning and did wicked things

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fifth Thursday of Pascha: The Beauty of Mutuality

05/18/2023

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, May 14, 2017 at St. Mary Orthodox Church Here is a most remarkable exchange. Over the years what have we said about the Lord’s encounter with the Samaritan Woman? We have talked about the Lord’s crushing of societal and religious norms in this remarkable encounter. Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans, Jewish men did not speak face to face with women, particularly sinful and impure heretics

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and the Importance of the Human Body (2)

05/17/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 13, 2021 Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos Once upon a time I thought that if a person saw a saint, they’d immediately be astonished, as I was when I saw a man of God. One example would be Elder [now Saint] Païsios with whom we were in close contact for so many years. People would go to him and would change just at the sight of him, without him saying anything at all

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fifth Tuesday of Pascha: Not Religion, But Life

05/16/2023

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, July 3, 2016 The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (4:18-23) In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ! In order to grow more and more into the likeness of God, we must constantly be changing. Growth implies change. In this Gospel we see the birth of Christian discipleship beginning

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and the Importance of the Human Body (1)

05/15/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 11, 2021 Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos The event of Christ’s Resurrection is the continuation not of the Passion, but of providence, that is, God’s undertaking for the salvation of humankind. Had Christ ended up in the grave and remained there, everything would have been in vain. Our faith would have been in vain, our preaching pointless and everything we do to no avail. If we take away Christ’s Resurrection, everything collapses and,

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Friday of Pascha: The Resurrection of the Dead

05/12/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 6, 2021 Metropolitan Meletios of Nikopolis † We people aren’t only bodies. We also have a soul. Even when the body ceases to exist, the soul continues to live. But without the body, it’s as if it’s naked. When it’s separated from the body, it feels stripped. And, until the second coming, it’ll feel poorer, which is why, until the second coming, every soul ‘awaits the resurrection of the dead and life