fullness Archives - Saint Sophia

The Fifth Monday of Great Lent: A Full Life

04/15/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, May 15, 2018 What constitutes a full life? In a consumer culture, I would suppose a full life to be one of maximum consumption, enjoyment, and productivity. We like being happy. Would a full life include suffering? The answer to such questions, for Christians, are found in Christ Himself. Christ alone fulfills what it means to be truly human. So, what does that mean? Christ does not flee from suffering. We are

The Fourth Wednesday of Great Lent: Time

04/10/2024

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on August 5, 2021 Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae For God, time is the waiting period between when he ‘knocks at the door’ and we open it wide for him (‘If someone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter and dine with them and they with me’ (Rev. 3, 20). In this sense, time also denotes our freedom and the respect which God has for his creatures. God doesn’t enter our heart through

The Third Monday of Great Lent: The Fullness of Lent

04/01/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 9, 2022 This article comes to mind as we celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts on these Lenten Wednesdays and Fridays. There is nothing to compare to them in the Christian liturgical world. It’s hard to think of fasting in the midst of such a feast. Orthodoxy has a number of “favorite” words – all of which fall outside the bounds of normal speech. Though we commonly use the

Teachings (3)

08/11/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on November 13, 2021 Saint Nectarios of Pentapolis Love Seek love. Every day, ask God for love, because with love comes the whole host of other good things and virtues. Love and you’ll be loved by others. Give your whole heart to God, so that you may dwell in love. ‘Those who abide in love abide in God; and God abides in them’. (1 Jn. 4, 16). You must be very careful in your

Monday of the Holy Spirit: The Orthodox Church as Continuous Pentecost

06/05/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on June 23, 2021 Saint Justin Popovich Who is Jesus Christ, who is both God and human? What in him is God and what is human? How do we recognize the God in him and the human? What did God grant us in the person of Jesus? All of this is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, the ‘Spirit of Truth’. In other words, he reveals the truth about Jesus, about the God

The Third Monday of Great Lent: Mystery as Reality

03/13/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 13, 2018 C.S. Lewis once discussed the question of how angels (and such things) could pass through a wall. His response was intriguing: he suggested that they could do so not because they were less substantial, but because they were more substantial. Just as a rock is more substantial than water or air, so, he posited, an angel (or such) is more substantial than our materiality. Of course, this is completely arguable and unprovable.

The Second Monday of Great Lent. The Mystery: Up-Borne, Fulfilled

03/06/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 31, 2017 Orthodoxy has a number of “favorite” words – all of which fall outside the bounds of normal speech. Though we commonly use the word “mystery” (for example), popular speech never uses it in the manner of the Church. I cannot remember using the word “fullness,” or even “fulfilled,” in normal speech. More contemporary words have come to replace these expressions. This doesn’t mean that an English speaker has

Around the Corner

10/05/2020

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, September 7, 2015 Among the most appealing aspects of CS Lewis’ children’s fiction is at the point that I would describe as “turning the corner.” It is not that he creates a fantasy world, but that the fantasy world he creates somehow intersects with the world in which we live. It is the discovery that at this moment, quite unexpectedly, the back of an old wardrobe is a door into another

The Fifth Friday of Lent. The Fullness in Lent

04/03/2020

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 18, 2014 This article keeps coming to mind as I celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts on these Lenten Wednesdays and Fridays. There is nothing to compare to them in the Christian liturgical world. It’s hard to thinking of fasting in the midst of such a feast. Orthodoxy has a number of “favorite” words – all of which fall outside the bounds of normal speech. Though we commonly use

Sharing Freely Our Knowledge

01/21/2013

Sharing Freely Our Knowledge Often we think that we do not know enough to be able to teach others. We might even become hesitant to tell others what we know, out of fear that we won’t have anything left to say when we are asked for more. This mind-set makes us anxious, secretive, possessive, and self-conscious. But when we have the courage to share freely with others all that we know, whenever they ask for

Archive

The Fifth Monday of Great Lent: A Full Life

The Fourth Wednesday of Great Lent: Time

The Third Monday of Great Lent: The Fullness of Lent

Teachings (3)

Monday of the Holy Spirit: The Orthodox Church as Continuous Pentecost

The Third Monday of Great Lent: Mystery as Reality

The Second Monday of Great Lent. The Mystery: Up-Borne, Fulfilled

Around the Corner

The Fifth Friday of Lent. The Fullness in Lent

Sharing Freely Our Knowledge

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