By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 29, 2019 Few things are as difficult in the modern world as fasting. It is not simply the action of changing our eating habits that we find problematic – it’s the whole concept of fasting and what it truly entails. It comes from another world. We understand dieting – changing how we eat in order to improve how we look or how we feel. But changing how we eat in order to know God
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, February 18, 2018 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; (John17:20-21) The Elder Sophrony, together with St. Silouan, wrote about the “whole Adam.” By this, they meant all the human beings who have ever existed and those yet to come. For Silouan and Sophrony, this was something known in the present tense, a “hypostatic” knowledge of the fundamental unity of
~Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, October 8, 2006 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever! I want to speak about radical compassion, the kind that encompasses everything and everyone. Not only do we see an example of it in the Gospel today, of Jesus toward the widow who had lost her only son, but there
~Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, October 1, 2006 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ! “We cannot do great things,” said Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “but we can do small things with great love.” St. Francis came upon an almond tree in the dead of winter. He said to it, “Speak to me of God” and the
~By Father Stephen Freeman, July 17, 2023 The language of “self-emptying” can have a sort of Buddhist ring. It sounds as we are referencing a move towards becoming a vessel without content – the non-self. Given our multicultural world, such a reference is understandable. It is, however, unfortunate and requires that we visit the true nature of Christian self-emptying. Our self-emptying is deeply tied to shame and the Crucified Christ. As a touchstone, I cite
Sophia Kafkopoulou On 6 January, our Church celebrates Theophany, one of the great feasts of the Lord. Jesus’ baptism is the event which formally confirmed the advent of the Messiah. Although the Lord Himself had no need of the remission of sins, He nevertheless came to John ‘to be baptized by him and to fulfil all righteousness’ (Matth. 3, 13-15). As regards Jesus, the Gospel stresses that, as soon as He entered the waters of
~By Father Stephen Freeman, December 28, 2022 I was browsing through some online material recently and came across a conversation between a non-believing sceptic and a Christian apologist. The question was asked (right off the top): “Why a virgin birth?” The apologist did a decent job of responding, giving a fairly common explanation of “why Christ had to be born of a virgin.” Something about it left me empty. Thinking about it – I believe
~ By John Athanasatos St John Chrysostom is celebrated in the Orthodox Church three times a year. His repose is on September 14 but since that is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Feast was moved to November 13th. In addition, Chrysostom is celebrated on January 27th and again on the Feast of the Synaxis of the Three Hierarchs (Jan 30th), along with St Basil and St Gregory the Theologian. On
On October 18, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Evangelist Luke. He was one of the Seventy who were early emissaries of Christ sent out to do missionary work. After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray the
~ Who was Saint Longinus and what is his story? By Zachary Porcu “Longinus” is the name given to the Roman centurion who had been serving under Pontius Pilate, the governor who oversaw Christ’s execution, and was said to have stood at the foot of the cross, witnesses Christ’s death. According to Eastern Orthodox tradition, St. Longinus was the one who said, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54) following the earthquake that
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