~Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, February 11, 2007 There was a remarkable and fiery lay preacher who lived in France in the late nineteenth century by the name of Leon Bloy. He railed against the wholesale rejection of God in French society of his day and the complacency of the Christian believers who remained. His style was often offensive but it mirrored his intense spiritual life which was, to many, equally offensive.
Saint Anthony the Great is known as the Father of monasticism, and the long ascetical sermon in The Life of Saint Anthony by Saint Athanasius (Sections 16-34), could be called the first monastic Rule. He was born in Egypt in the village of Coma, near the desert of the Thebaid, in the year 251. His parents were pious Christians of illustrious lineage. Anthony was a serious child and was respectful and obedient to his parents.
~Georgios D. Papadimitrakopoulos The holy hieromartyr Dionysios was a member of the Court of Areios Pagos, and was more prominent than anyone else because of his wealth, fame, prudence and wisdom. He embraced faith in Christ when he heard Saint Paul preach on the rock of the Areios Pagos and received holy baptism. He was consecrated bishop of Athens, succeeding the holy and wise Ierotheos on the Episcopal throne. From his predecessor, Dionysios learned divine
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
By Fr John Breck, December 30, 2007 Back in the early 60s I had to catch the subway each morning on the east side of Manhattan, to get to my seminary intern position. From our tiny 6th floor walk-up apartment on York Avenue, I passed by a run-down tenement building not far from the mouth of the station. Two or three times a week two guys were huddled against the stoop of the building, passing back
Published by Pemptousia Partnership, July 11, 2015 “Other monks and nuns lived out their days alone….in small wood-and-mud huts; they kept a cow or two, and accepted gladly the gifts of an occasional loaf or basket of vegetables from local farmers. The desire for a solitary life and time to spend simply yearning for God…must have drifted through the hearts of even the busiest abbot in the most bustling monastery.” (Bitel, op.cit.) Monastic life was seen
WHO WAS ST. MARY MAGDALENE? St. Mary Magdalene, called by the Orthodox Church both Myrrh-bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostle, is commemorated on July 22/August 4, as well as with the other Myrrh-bearers on the second Sunday after Easter. Born in the seaport town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, she played an important role during Christ’s ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection. The Gospels provide the little that we know about St. Mary Magdalene, from whom Christ cast
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, December 1, 2015 You are not saving the world. In fact, you barely make a difference. These are harsh words. They are meant like a splash of cold water to wake us up from the dream in which we live. They are by no means meant to say that you don’t matter. In fact, you have infinite value. But your value is not based on saving the world or making a difference. I’ll
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, October 16, 2015 Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony. – Monty Python and the Holy Grail The comic genius of Monty Python often shows it face when interjecting the present into the past. The charming Arthurian legend of the transmission of Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake is
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, September 11, 2015 “If math should suddenly disappear, it would set physics back – a week.” Nobel Prize Winner – Richard Feynman Mathematician’s response: But that week would be the one in which God created the universe. Galileo is said to have remarked that the universe is a wonderful thing, written in the language of mathematics. There is a remarkable correlation between things as we see them and math. Particle physicists have
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