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Homily on the Birth of the Theotokos

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on September 8, 2020 Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios “Your birth, Oh Theotokos, brought joy to the whole world, for from you dawned the sun of righteousness, Christ our God.  Freeing us from the curse, He gave us His blessings.  Abolishing death, He granted us eternal life.” Apolytikion (the Dismissal hymn) of the Nativity of the Theotokos The birth of the ever virgin and Mother of God, Mary, which is celebrated on the 8th of September, is the

The Responsibility of Love – 11th Sunday of Matthew

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on September 2, 2019 Metropolitan Ieronymos of Larisa and Tyrnavos One of the features of our society is a sense of lawlessness. It’s a belief common to all that certain people get treated in a preferential way, that, while laws exist, they aren’t applied- or at least not equally- to everybody. At the same time, it’s seen as ‘reasonable’, only to be expected in practice, for us to exploit whatever ‘opportunities’ we’re presented with

The Grandeur of the Mother of God (Part I)

Monk Arsenios of the Skete of Koutloumousiou, the Holy Mountain 28 August 2023 When the most glorious and richest kings on earth have in mind to build their throne and their royal palace as a whole, they don’t leave a stone unturned until they find the most precious material that nature is able to offer, so that the palace won’t lack the slightest thing in terms of luxury goods. And if they themselves were able

The Beauty of Nature as a Stimulus for Spiritual Enquiry

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on August 12, 2020 Protopresbyter Vasileios Kalliakmanis, Professor of the Theological School, A.U.Th. The way of life in large cities has degenerated in recent years. Pollution of the atmosphere, accumulation of garbage, electromagnetic and noise pollution, lack of greenery, the ecological crisis, the commute between home and places of work, traffic congestion as well as the alienation and isolation of people, despite the flourishing social networks, have all contributed to the heavy atmosphere. Permanent

Love and Being

~By Fr. Stephen Freeman, July 21, 2025 Perhaps the most intriguing statement in the New Testament is St. John’s simple, “God is love.” As mysterious and awesome as the revelation of the Divine Name (“I am that I am”) to Moses might be, St. John’s statement gives a content that echoes and enfolds the death and resurrection of Christ itself. Indeed, any other statement about God runs the risk of obscuring this essential revelation. More

Sunday of the Prodigal Son. So It Shall Be With Us

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, February 20, 2022 The question behind much of the great Karl Rahner’s work is this: “which do we love better: the little island of our own certainty or the ocean of incomprehensible mystery?” I find in the Parable of the Prodigal Son two essential ingredients in the recipe for grace. I have mentioned them before. They are Radical Acceptance and Unconditional Positive Regard. Who in Holy Scripture

The Twentieth Day of Christmas Advent. Saint Barbara the Great Martyr

Saint Barbara was from Heliopolis of Phoenicia and lived during the reign of Maximian. She was the daughter of a certain idolater named Dioscorus. When Barbara came of age, she was enlightened in her pure heart and secretly believed in the Holy Trinity. About this time Dioscorus began building a bath-house; before it was finished he was required to go away to attend to certain matters, and in his absence Barbara directed the workmen to

The Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. The Word became flesh (John 1:14) A Sermon on the Nativity of Christ

Saint John of Kronstadt The Word became flesh; that is, the Son of God, co-eternal with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit, became human — having become incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. O, wondrous, awesome and salvific mystery! The One Who had no beginning took on a beginning according to humanity; the One without flesh assumed flesh. God became man — without ceasing to be God. The Unapproachable One

The Path of the Good, the True, the Real

~By Father Stephen Freeman, July 25, 2023 Imagine a character in a story who is wraith-like, barely existing. His every move threatens to draw him deeper into non-existence. As it stands, others around him are only able to see him moments at a time. He often disappears for whole days at a time as he lapses into such ghostly non-being that he cannot be seen at all. Each step he takes either diminishes his existence

The 9-11 Cross at Ground Zero

When someone says 9-11 almost everyone in America will know that it refers to September 11, 2001, the day of the infamous attacks on the United States by 19 hijackers who flew two airline passenger jets into the World Trade Center in New York, one into the Pentagon near Washington DC, and one that crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, while it was undoubtedly bound for the Capitol or White House. 9-11 became a