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Persecution of the Faithful; An Example from the Life of St. Nektarios

12/07/2022

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Persecution of the Faithful; An Example from the Life of St. Nektarios Throughout Church history the faithful have been persecuted by those outside of the Church, but sometimes by those within the Church. While the former is mostly easier for the faithful to recognize at the time that it is happening, sometimes the latter is only revealed to the entire

The Twenty-Third Day of Christmas Advent: The Eternal Mystery

12/07/2022

By Fr John Breck, December 2, 2004 I’m sorry this column can’t be accompanied by sound. One of the most precious components of Orthodox Christianity, perhaps especially in the Russian tradition, is its store of melodies to liturgical hymns that are heartbreakingly beautiful. I just came across a fine example, tucked away in the iTunes folder of this laptop. It’s a contemporary variant of a hymn sung normally at Annunciation, composed by Fr Paul Jannakos.

The Twenty-Second Day of Christmas Advent: The Real Santa Claus – Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra

12/06/2022

By Fr. Luke A. Veronis, December 19, 2021 Sinter Klaas, the Dutch name that we Americans transliterated into Santa Claus, obviously refers to Saint Nicholas, one of the most beloved of all saints throughout the world, and whose memory is actually celebrated today on December 6th/19th. Travel across Europe and you can literally find thousands of churches named in honor of St. Nicholas. Greece and Russia look upon St. Nicholas as the patron of their

The Twenty-First Day of Christmas Advent. Venerable Savvas the Sanctified

12/05/2022

Commemorated on December 5 Saint Savva the Sanctified was born in the fifth century at Cappadocia of pious Christian parents, John and Sophia, and his father was a military commander. Journeying to Alexandria on military matters, John and Sophia left their five-year-old son Savva in the care of an uncle. When the boy was eight years old, he entered the nearby Monastery of Saint Flavian. The gifted child quickly learned to read and became an

The Eighteenth Day of Christmas Advent: Blood Brothers of the Incarnation

12/02/2022

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 8, 2016 My childhood in the 1950’s had the innocence of the time, fed by stories of our elders and the clumsy movies. We played soldiers (everyone’s father had been in the Second World War) and “Cowboys and Indians.” Despite the clear bias of the movies and the slanted propaganda that passed for history, almost everyone wanted to be an Indian. Cowboys never seemed terribly romantic, while the Indians clearly

The Seventeenth Day of Christmas Advent: Saint Filaretos the Charitable (1 December)

12/01/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, December 1, 2017 Saint Filaretos was a fine example of virtue, especially that of performing good works. He lived at the time of Emperor Konstantinos Porfyroyennitos (Constantine Porphyrogenitus) and his mother, Eirini of Attica (joint reign 780-797). Filaretos was born in the village of Amnia in Gangra, Paphlagonia of devout parents. He married a woman called Theosevo and the couple had three children. He was a farmer and from his income gave

Persecution of the Faithful

11/30/2022

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Persecution of the Faithful Throughout Church history the faithful have been persecuted by those outside of the Church, but sometimes by those within the Church. While the former is mostly easier for the faithful to recognize at the time that it is happening, sometimes the latter is only revealed to the entire body of the Church years later. What is important

The Sixteenth Day of Christmas Advent: St. Andrew—The First Called of the Apostles

11/30/2022

By Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis, November 30, 2021 He Was the First to Be Called—We are Called as Well The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples; and he looked at Jesus as he walked and said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” And they said to him,

The Fifteenth Day of Christmas Advent: Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos: Christmas’ Deeper Meaning (Part I)

11/29/2022

Published by Pemptousia, December 6, 2014 By Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos Every time we stand before the Lord either in prayer or in celebration in Church of an event from the life of Christ, or we are in any other way experiencing the presence of the Lord, two basic things happen, which are attested by the Church and the experience of the Saints: Firstly, we are feeling joy because we are experiencing the Lord’s abundant

The Fourteenth Day of Christmas Advent. Eternal God: A Little Child

11/28/2022

By Fr John Breck, December 1, 2007 Thanksgiving is over and we are moving toward what one of our wise and dedicated priests refers to as “Getmas.” He is as frustrated and dismayed at what exuberant commercialism and American popular religion have done to Christmas as I am with the relentless efforts to transform our national feast of Thanksgiving into “Turkey Day.” These campaigns are insidious and they’ve been highly effective: God—the true God who

SSCORRE!

Persecution of the Faithful; An Example from the Life of St. Nektarios

The Twenty-Third Day of Christmas Advent: The Eternal Mystery

The Twenty-Second Day of Christmas Advent: The Real Santa Claus – Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra

The Twenty-First Day of Christmas Advent. Venerable Savvas the Sanctified

The Eighteenth Day of Christmas Advent: Blood Brothers of the Incarnation

The Seventeenth Day of Christmas Advent: Saint Filaretos the Charitable (1 December)

Persecution of the Faithful

The Sixteenth Day of Christmas Advent: St. Andrew—The First Called of the Apostles

The Fifteenth Day of Christmas Advent: Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos: Christmas’ Deeper Meaning (Part I)

The Fourteenth Day of Christmas Advent. Eternal God: A Little Child

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