Christ child Archives - Saint Sophia

Presentation of Christ to the Temple

02/02/2023

Introduction This feast, celebrated on February 2, is known in the Orthodox Church as The Presentation of Christ in the Temple. Another name for the feast is The Meeting of our Lord. Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians call the feast, The Purification of the Holy Virgin. About 450 AD in Jerusalem, people began the custom of holding lighted candles during the Divine Liturgy of this feast day. Therefore, some churches in the West refer to

The Thirtieth Day of Christmas Advent: Light into Darkness

12/14/2022

By Fr John Breck, December 2, 2005 The best way to prepare for a feast, I find, is to spend some time looking at and praying before the festal icons. Nativity offers a broad array of sacred images that spell out graphically the biblical Word of the incarnation, the coming of the eternal God in the person of a little child. One of the most striking aspects of those images is the way they blend

Nikitas the Great-Martyr

09/15/2022

The Great-Martyr Nikitas, whom we venerate today, was a Germanic warrior from the Þerving tribe of the Western Goths, which at that time lived in the Danube Basin in what is now Romania and Serbia. At the time in which the Great-Martyr lived, the Goths were coming under severe pressure from the Huns. A civil war between two rival þiudanōs (chieftains), Friþugairns and Aþanareiks, was brewing – partially in response to the urgency of the Hunnish pressures, and partially in response to the

The Thirty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent. Christ’s Family—Our Family

12/21/2021

Melissa K. Tsongranis The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth… First verses from the gospel reading for the Sunday before the Nativity (Matthew 1:1-25) For a long time, in

The Twenty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. The Russian Nativity Icon.

12/10/2020

The Russian Nativity Icon The Russian nativity icon vividly portrays the Christmas perspective of the Orthodox Church. Through symbolism and teaching about Gods incarnation (becoming human) the icon presents Christmas as a “feast of re-creation.” The word icon is a Greek word meaning “image” or “likeness.” The nativity icon is done in an art style dating back to the sixth century Byzantine Empire. Orthodox iconography is a purely idealistic art form. Through the Byzantine style

Α Goth Saint: The Holy Martyr Nikitas

09/15/2020

Nikitas was born in the land of the Goths and was a disciple of their God-bearing bishop, Theofilos, who took part in the 1st Ecumenical Synod in Nicaea in 325. When the leader of the Goths, Athanaric, began to persecute and torture Christians, Nikitas opposed him with boldness and denounced him as an inhumane idolater. He was immediately arrested and tortured cruelly. He not only withstood this, but confessed his faith in Christ with even greater

Fourth Day of Christmas, The Wise Men

12/28/2015

Meditation: The Wise Men When the wise men learned of the plot of King Herod to kill the Christ Child, they did not come back to Jerusalem, but “went another way,” according to St. Matthew. What did Matthew mean when he wrote that the Wise Men “went back another way?” No doubt he meant that they took another route so as to frustrate Herod’s murderous intentions. But is there not more to the words than

Christmas Advent: The Thirtieth Day

12/14/2012

Archive

Presentation of Christ to the Temple

The Thirtieth Day of Christmas Advent: Light into Darkness

Nikitas the Great-Martyr

The Thirty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent. Christ’s Family—Our Family

The Twenty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. The Russian Nativity Icon.

Α Goth Saint: The Holy Martyr Nikitas

Fourth Day of Christmas, The Wise Men

Christmas Advent: The Thirtieth Day

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