Constantine Archives - Saint Sophia

Church New Year. Beginning of the Indiction: Ecclesiastical New Year

09/01/2025

Commemorated on September 1 The first day of the Church New Year is also called the beginning of the Indiction. The term Indiction comes from a Latin word meaning, “to impose.” It was originally applied to the imposition of taxes in Egypt. The first worldwide Indiction was in 312 when the Emperor Constantine (May 21) saw a miraculous vision of the Cross in the sky. Before the introduction of the Julian calendar, Rome began the

The Fifth Wednesday of Pascha. Memory of Emperor Constantine with his Mother Helen

05/21/2025

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Church calls Saint Constantine (306-337) “the Equal of the Apostles,” and historians call him “the Great.” He was the son of the Caesar Constantius Chlorus (305-306), who governed the lands of Gaul and Britain. His mother was Saint Helen, a Christian of humble birth. At this time the immense Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern halves, governed by two independent emperors and their corulers called “Caesars.” Constantius

The Fourth Monday of Great Lent. The Church is the Cross through History

03/24/2025

By Father Stephen Freeman, April 14, 2023 St. Paul wrote that he had determined to restrict his preaching to the Cross. (1 Cor. 2:2) This was not an effort to diminish the gospel. Rather, it was an effort to rightly understand the gospel. One of the great temptations of Christianity is to allow itself to become a “religion,” that is, to serve whatever role that religions of any sort play within a culture and the

Jerusalem: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

10/09/2024

By Father Lawrence Farley One day several years ago, before my own trip to the Holy Land, I asked a parishioner who had been there how he had liked the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during his visit to Jerusalem. “Grand,” he replied. “Confusing, but grand.” Having been there myself, I now quite understand what he meant by “confusing.” The church there is confusing because it is the heir (some would say “the victim”) of

The Universal Elevation or Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of Christ – Commemorated on September 14

09/14/2024

The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Creating Cross of the Lord: The pagan Roman emperors tried to completely eradicate from human memory the holy places where our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and was resurrected for mankind. The Emperor Hadrian (117-138) gave orders to cover over the ground of Golgotha and the Sepulchre of the Lord, and to build a temple of the pagan goddess Venus and a statue of Jupiter. Pagans gathered at this place

The Twenty-Second Day of Christmas Advent: Saint Nicholas, the Saint of the Seas

12/06/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on December 6, 2021 Alexandros Christodoulou Saint Nicholas was born at the south-east corner of Asia Minor, in the town of Patara, in the 3rd century (at the time of the persecutions of Diocletian and Maximian) of devout and rich parents, who had been childless for many years. From an early age it appears that God had destined him for a life of sanctity and of dedication to Himself. The fact he became a

May 29, 1453: The Day Constantinople Fell

05/29/2023

By Philip Chrysopoulos, May 29, 2021 The fall of Constantinople, which occurred on May 29,1453 was the final phase of the Byzantine-Ottoman Wars (1265-1453) and the darkest page in Greek history and in the Orthodox Church. The seat of the Byzantine Empire for a millennium, Constantinople was the main target of the Ottomans. Ascending to the Ottoman throne in 1451, Mehmed II began making plans to conquer the Byzantine capital. The Byzantine empire had been declining in power

The Feast Day of Saint Athanasius the Great

01/18/2023

Saint Athanasius was born in Alexandria between 293 and 298 AD into a wealthy, Greek family that was able to provide him with a rigorous secular education as he grew. Not only did Saint Athanasius have a very knowledgeable command of the Greek language but he was also fluent in the Coptic language spoken in Alexandria. The monk and historian Tyrannius Rufinus wrote a famous story of Saint Athanasius’s childhood. One day the then Bishop

The Fifth Wednesday of Great Lent. The Monastic Life: The Way of Perfection, Part II

04/06/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, June 16, 2015 By Prof. Georgios Mantzaridis Christian monasticism has always been associated with stillness or silence, which is seen primarily as an internal rather than an external state. External silence is sought in order the more easily and perfectly to attain inner stillness. This stillness is not the same as inertia or inaction, but awakening and activation of the spiritual life. It is intense vigilance and total devotion to God. Withdrawing

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Friday of Pascha: Equal of the Apostles and Emperor Constantine with his Mother Helen

05/21/2021

The Church calls Saint Constantine (306-337) “the Equal of the Apostles,” and historians call him “the Great.” He was the son of the Caesar Constantius Chlorus (305-306), who governed the lands of Gaul and Britain. His mother was Saint Helen, a Christian of humble birth. At this time the immense Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern halves, governed by two independent emperors and their co-rulers called “Caesars.” Constantius Chlorus was Caesar in the

Archive

Church New Year. Beginning of the Indiction: Ecclesiastical New Year

The Fifth Wednesday of Pascha. Memory of Emperor Constantine with his Mother Helen

The Fourth Monday of Great Lent. The Church is the Cross through History

Jerusalem: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Universal Elevation or Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of Christ – Commemorated on September 14

The Twenty-Second Day of Christmas Advent: Saint Nicholas, the Saint of the Seas

May 29, 1453: The Day Constantinople Fell

The Feast Day of Saint Athanasius the Great

The Fifth Wednesday of Great Lent. The Monastic Life: The Way of Perfection, Part II

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Friday of Pascha: Equal of the Apostles and Emperor Constantine with his Mother Helen

Categories

Archives

View Our Live Stream Services

Keep In Touch

Stewardship Application

Daily Meditations

Worship Schedule

Light a Virtual Candle

Text-to-Give in 2 easy steps!

1) Text 202-899-7801 to include your donation amount

2) Follow the link to complete the one-time registration