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Pentecost: The Descent of the Holy Spirit

In the Old Testament Pentecost was the feast which occurred fifty days after Passover. As the Passover feast celebrated the exodus of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt, so Pentecost celebrated God’s gift of the ten commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the new covenant of the Messiah, the Passover event takes on its new meaning as the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection, the “exodus” of men from this sinful world to

The Third Wednesday after Pascha. CHRISTOS ANESTI! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Feast Day of Saint Pachomios

Saint Pachomios was born of pagan parents in the Upper Thebaid of Egypt. He was conscripted into the Roman army at an early age. While quartered with the other soldiers in the prison in Thebes, Pachomios was astonished at the kindness shown them by the local Christians, who relieved their distress by bringing them food and drink. Upon inquiring who they were, he believed in Christ and vowed that once delivered from the army, he

Saint Gregory of Nyssa

Born into the one of the most illustrious Christian families of late antiquity, Saint Gregory of Nyssa was the younger brother of Saint Macrina and Saint Basil the Great. He joined the family in about 335 AD, the middle child of the nine living children of his mother. Like his older brothers, Naucratius and Basil, Gregory was educated first by his grandmother, Macrina the Elder. His father, who taught Basil, died before Gregory was old

The Fortieth Day of Christmas Advent. Christmas Eve.

A WOMAN I KNOW, whose family owns a retail business in a small town, once commented, “Christmas is not a pleasant time at our house.” I found this a sad commentary on what Christmas has become for so many of us: a time of increased anxiety and stress and discord. We lash out at loved ones because we’re spending money we can’t afford to spend, or, as with this woman, because Christmas is what makes

The Great and Holy Wednesday. No More Debt

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 13, 2015 It is a situation that has become all too familiar: overwhelming debt that cannot be repaid. It is an image that the Scriptures know full well. But it is a situation that is easily seen from two sides – and only one of them belongs to God. The two sides are simple: the one who owes the debt and the one to whom the debt must be paid. And

The life of Saint Anthony the Great, the Anchorite of Egypt, and The Father of All Monks

On January 17, we commemorate the venerable and God-bearing Father Saint Anthony the Great. Our venerable and God-bearing Father Saint Anthony the Great was born into a wealthy family in upper Egypt about 254 AD. Also known as Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, and Anthony the Anchorite, he was a leader among the Desert Fathers, who were Christian monks in the Egyptian desert in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. The Orthodox Church

The Eighth Day of Christmas. Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia

Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, “belongs not to the Church of Caesarea alone, nor merely to his own time, nor was he of benefit only to his own kinsmen, but rather to all lands and cities worldwide, and to all people he brought and still brings benefit, and for Christians he always was and will be a most salvific teacher.” Thus spoke Saint Basil’s contemporary, Saint Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium. Saint

Stillness and Silence: Being Present to God, Ourselves, and the World

While still living in the palace, Abba Arsenius prayed to God in these words, “Lord, lead me in the way of salvation.” And a voice came saying to him, “Arsenius, flee from men and you will be saved.”1 Having withdrawn to the solitary life he made the same prayer again and he heard a voice saying to him, “Arsenius, flee, be silent, pray always, for these are the sources of sinlessness.”2 The call of Abba

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part X) The Cell and the World

The Cell and the World  Is anachoresis a rejection of the inhabited world? Is the solitude and inwardness of the cell a selfish endeavor? The desert abbas and ammas helped form a wider Christian monastic tradition that combines seeking God with conversion of life. In the cell the monk risks all in the battle between the ego (subjectivity) and openness to the Other. Through ascetic praxis the boundaries of the self are extended beyond itself