baptism Archives - Page 8 of 9

The Remembrance of Death (Part II)

06/17/2016

By Father Steven Kostoff Taken in isolation, “remembrance of death”—especially among those who “have no hope” [1 Thessalonians 4:13]—can have a horrible effect upon the soul. It only makes sense to forget about it! The Christian practice of the “remembrance of death” needs to be the result of a lively faith in Christ, the Vanquisher of death, for it to be the spiritually positive practice it is meant to be. Saint Paul has said it

Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen! The Third Thursday of Pascha: What Christ Accomplished on the Cross (The Consequences of Christ’s Redemptive Work, Part III)

05/19/2016

By Hieromonk Damascene The Consequences of Christ’s Redemptive Work, Part III The aim of the Christian life, says St. Seraphim of Sarov, is to acquire the Grace of the Holy Spirit. [31] We receive the seed of that Grace within us at Baptism. And then, through our sacramental life in the Church, through a life of prayer and virtue, practicing the commandments of Christ, we are to cultivate and nurture this seed of inward baptismal

The Lord’s Prayer (Part IX)

09/24/2015

The fact that Christ and we become one, means that what applies to Christ applies to us, and that we can, in a way unknown to the rest of the world, call God our father, no longer by analogy, no longer in terms of anticipation or prophecy, but in terms of Christ. This has a direct bearing upon the Lord’s Prayer: on the one hand, the prayer can be used by anyone, because it is

Pentecost: The Descent of the Holy Spirit

05/31/2015

By Father Thomas Hopko In the Old Testament, Pentecost was the feast which occurred fifty days after Passover. As the Passover feast celebrated the exodus of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt, so Pentecost celebrated God’s gift of the ten commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the new covenant of the Messiah, the Passover event takes on its new meaning as the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection, the “exodus” of men from

The Fifth Thursday after Pascha: Consecration as Death and New Life

05/07/2015

By Rev. Deacon Drew Maxwell Consecration can be a reminder of our own baptisms and an encouragement to truly live our lives in the light of God’s Kingdom. The fact is, any consecration, whether it is a consecration of our church or the consecration of our persons, is an end and a beginning; a death and a birth. Our baptismal ceremony is a mystical recreation of Christ’s death and resurrection. In the font at baptism,

Second Friday after Pascha, Christ is Risen!

05/02/2014

In the Early Church the rite of Christian initiation was not divided. Three of the sacraments belong together: Baptism, the Holy Chrism (Confirmation), and the Eucharist. The Initiation described by St. Cyril, and later on by Cabasilas, included all three. Sacraments are instituted in order to enable man to participate in Christ’s redeeming death and thereby to gain the grace of His resurrection. This was Cabasilas’ main idea. “We are baptized in order to die

Renewal Monday, Christ is Risen!

04/21/2014

It is necessary to explain that Easter is much more than one of the feasts, more than a yearly commemoration of a past event? Anyone who has, be it only once, taken part in that night which is “brighter than the day,” who has tasted of that unique joy knows it. But what is that joy about? Why we can sing, as we do, during the Paschal liturgy: “today are all things filled with light,

The Destiny of Eros: The Nuptial Way (Part II)

02/13/2014

Marriage is chaste because it integrates the erotic relationship of the two persons into their communion within the Church; as their mutual love is expressed through their complementary natures, each gives the other to the world. For nine centuries there was no distinctive rite of marriage for Christians. The couple would marry, then go together to communion. For a man and a woman whose life is rooted in Christ, their love is something they have

The Lord’s Epiphany in the Jordan

01/06/2014

Like the liturgical celebration of the Lord’s Nativity, the festival of His Epiphany in the Jordan at the time of His baptism is inaugurated with a prefeast celebration of five days. And also like the services of the Nativity, many hymns of the Epiphany prefeast are patterned after those of the springtime Pascha of the Lord’s death and resurrection. Once again just a few words in many of the songs are changed from those sung

Beheading of the Holy and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

08/29/2013

The divine Baptist, the Prophet born of a Prophet, the seal of all the Prophets and beginning of the Apostles, the mediator between the Old and New Covenants, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, the God-sent Messenger of the incarnate Messiah, the forerunner of Christ’s coming into the world (Esaias 40: 3; Mal. 3: 1); who by many miracles was both conceived and born; who was filled with the Holy Spirit while yet

Archive

The Remembrance of Death (Part II)

Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen! The Third Thursday of Pascha: What Christ Accomplished on the Cross (The Consequences of Christ’s Redemptive Work, Part III)

The Lord’s Prayer (Part IX)

Pentecost: The Descent of the Holy Spirit

The Fifth Thursday after Pascha: Consecration as Death and New Life

Second Friday after Pascha, Christ is Risen!

Renewal Monday, Christ is Risen!

The Destiny of Eros: The Nuptial Way (Part II)

The Lord’s Epiphany in the Jordan

Beheading of the Holy and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

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