Sermon preached by Dn. Jeff Smith on Sunday, September 1, 2024 Good morning! Christ is in our midst. In today’s gospel, Jesus introduces himself in Nazareth among the people where he had been brought up. He proclaims that the prophecies he reads to the congregation in Isaiah have been fulfilled in their midst. He reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
Published by Pemptousia Partnership on August 6, 2019 Georgios N. Manolis, Theologian According to Saint Basil the Great, nothing exists without due cause, nothing’s fortuitous, everything has some secret and unexpressed wisdom. Thus, regarding plants and their fruits, apart from their ecological importance as producers of eco-systems they’re also schools for rational souls and colleges of the knowledge of God, which train the intellect and lead it from the visible and tangible to the contemplation of things invisible. Plants
George Mantzarides, Professor Emeritus of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 15 August 2023 In the hymnography of the Orthodox Church, the Mother of God is called ‘god after God, holding second position to the Trinity’. Some people may feel that these terms are excessive and dogmatically unfounded. This is certainly not the case, however, since they convey the quintessence of Orthodox theology and anthropology. The Mother of God isn’t merely the
~By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 14, 2024 Mary, the Theotokos, was described by St. Irenaeus in the 2nd century, as the “New Eve.” Like Eve, she is the “mother of us all,” if we have the eyes to see her properly. She is a quiet figure in the New Testament – not a preacher or worker of miracles. We see the story of her humility and openness to God as she embraces His condescension: “Be
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
Published by Pemptousia Partnership on August 7, 2020 Archbishop Stylianos of Australia † The time from August 1 to 15 is a period in the Church’s year during which the Orthodox soul turns to Our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God, with eyes full of contrition. For the two weeks before the feast of the Dormition, the bells ring at sunset and crowds of the faithful go to sing the Great Paraclitic Canon. Of course, we have
Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of the Vatopaidi Monastery Nowadays when science and technology are flying, when cultures converge and there is a crisis in values, even the word ‘death’ is avoided and anything reminiscent of it is ignored and discarded. Modern man views death as something negative and as a loss; we usually say for the departed: ‘We’ve lost him’. Whoever does not have the proper knowledge about this issue of death, he is trying to
Saint Gregory Palamas If ‘the death of the saints is precious and the memory of the righteous is blessed’, with how much greater praise should we keep the memory of the ‘saint of the saints’ through whom the whole of sanctity came to them, that is the memory of the Ever-Virgin Mother of God? This is what we do when we celebrate the anniversary of her holy Dormition or transferal, in which, even though she
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 7, 2019 In my childhood, it was not unusual to hear someone ask, “Who are your people?” It was a semi-polite, Southernism designed to elicit essential information about a person’s social background. The assumption was that you, at best, could only be an example of your “people.” It ignored the common individualism of the wider culture, preferring the more family or clan-centered existence of an older time. It was possible
Elder Ephraim of Arizona † Every time we celebrate the Dormition of the Mother of God, it’s as if we’re having Easter – the Easter of the summer. Our Lady the Mother of God prepares Easter for us. A glorious crossing “from death to life”. A second Easter, holy spotless, life-giving for the human race, because today “the laws of nature are overcome”. “How the source of life goes towards life, passing through death”, says
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