Fr. Alexander Schmemann Archives

The Fourth Friday of Pascha. When Death Dies (II)

05/08/2026

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! By Fr. Stephen Freeman, February 22, 2022 One of my earliest experiences within my present parish was the sudden death of a beloved parishioner. She died in a car crash only three days after her Chrismation at Pascha. As the Church staggered through the days of our mourning and her burial, each day seemed to exactly parallel the events of Holy Week which we had just completed. Indeed, when someone

The Fourth Thursday of Pascha. When Death Dies (I)

05/07/2026

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! By Fr. Stephen Freeman, February 22, 2022 Christianity is not reconciliation with death. It is the revelation of death, and it reveals death because it is the revelation of Life. Christ is this Life. And only if Christ is Life is death what Christianity proclaims it to be, namely the enemy to be destroyed, and not a “mystery” to be explained. Religion and secularism, by explaining death, give it a

The Friday of Cheesefare (Forgiveness) Sunday: Forgiveness for All the Sundays to Come

02/20/2026

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

The Royal Priesthood in a Secular World

02/16/2026

~By Stephen Freeman, June 22, 2023 St. Peter describes us as a “royal priesthood.” “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…” (1 Peter 2:9) We live in a world metaphor and simile. That is to say, we might call someone a “king” or “priest,” but really only mean that

Mary as the “Secret Joy” of the Church

10/13/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, September 12, 2023 Fr. Alexander Schmemann wrote: …When investigating the history of Mariological piety, one discovers that it is rooted not in any special revelation but, primarily, in the experience of liturgical worship. In other terms, it is not a theological reflection on Mary that gave birth to her veneration: it is the liturgy as the experience of “heaven on earth,” as communion with and the knowledge of heavenly realities, as

Mary: The Blessing of All Generations

08/14/2025

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

The Third Friday of Pascha. A Pascha of Beauty – In a Soviet Prison – 1928

05/09/2025

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! ~By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 8, 2018 Serge Schmemann, son of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, in his wonderful little book, Echoes of a Native Land, records a letter written from one of his family members of an earlier generation, who spent several years in the prisons of the Soviets and died there. The letter, written on the night of Pascha in 1928 is to a family member, “Uncle Grishanchik” (This was Grigory

The First Wednesday of Great Lent: Recommitting to the Gospel

03/05/2025

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, December 6, 2020 In the year 313 AD an imperial edict proclaimed Christianity to be the preeminent religion of the empire. Something was lost in that moment. I am not the first to say it, nor will I be the last. What was largely lost was the prophetic voice of the Church. The Church was from the beginning a counter-cultural movement. It became an arm of the

Forgiveness for All the Sundays to Come

02/28/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, February 25, 2023 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

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Monday of Pascha: When Death Dies

05/20/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, February 22, 2022 Christianity is not reconciliation with death. It is the revelation of death, and it reveals death because it is the revelation of Life. Christ is this Life. And only if Christ is Life is death what Christianity proclaims it to be, namely the enemy to be destroyed, and not a “mystery” to be explained. Religion and secularism, by explaining death, give it a “status,” a rationale, make it

Archive

The Fourth Friday of Pascha. When Death Dies (II)

The Fourth Thursday of Pascha. When Death Dies (I)

The Friday of Cheesefare (Forgiveness) Sunday: Forgiveness for All the Sundays to Come

The Royal Priesthood in a Secular World

Mary as the “Secret Joy” of the Church

Mary: The Blessing of All Generations

The Third Friday of Pascha. A Pascha of Beauty – In a Soviet Prison – 1928

The First Wednesday of Great Lent: Recommitting to the Gospel

Forgiveness for All the Sundays to Come

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Monday of Pascha: When Death Dies

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