garden Archives - Saint Sophia

The Second Monday of Pascha. Identity and the Resurrection of Christ

04/28/2025

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! ~By Father Stephen Freeman, April 20, 2023 There is a strange moment described in the gospels regarding the resurrection of Christ (in fact, there are several such moments). When Mary Magdalen first encounters the risen Lord, we are told that she “took Him for the gardener.” But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in

The Sixth Friday of Great Lent. The Mystery of Holy Week

04/11/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, April 18, 2022 Among the more pernicious ideas that inhabit our contemporary world is the notion that we are all isolated, independent, and alone. Even when we gather, we think of ourselves as but one among many. Among the most glaring exceptions to this form of thought, however, are sporting events. People attend a football game and declare when it is finished, “We won!” or “We lost!” We feel genuine joy at the

The Marriage of Love and Hate

07/23/2024

By Father Stephen Freeman, June 27, 2014 The genius of Dostoevsky lies in the profound theological insight of his tumbled novels. They can be difficult reads for many people – particularly in our modern setting. He has “too many characters” and they “talk a lot.” His characters are complex: I was a scoundrel, and yet, I loved God… Good and evil are in a monstrous coexistence within man. So says Dmitri Karamazov. And this statement

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Second Monday of Pascha: Bookends and the Resurrection

05/13/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 12, 2018 A series of recent conversations with a parishioner turned up the problem of “bookends,” that is, questions of the beginning and the end. It is only natural in our day and age to attack problems in this manner. “How did it start?” is a way of saying, “What is it?” The end, of course, is not so obvious, other than its connection with our insatiable desire to know how

The Sixth Tuesday of Great Lent: The Beauty of the Christ’s Prayer

04/23/2024

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, May 28, 2017 at St. Mary Orthodox Church The Lord seems grounded and focused as he prays this long discourse-like prayer on the eve of his passion. When you might expect that fear and anxiety would distract him and overwhelm him, they don’t. He seems to be utterly non-resistant to the fear he must have been feeling and to the fate that waited for him. That doesn’t

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 Importance of Failure

02/05/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, June 16, 2020 Everybody fails. Imagine sitting in a classroom and being told at the beginning of the term that everyone in the class will fail. There would probably be a dash to the registrar’s office in order to drop the class. But, imagine again, that dropping the class is not an option. You are going to take the class and you are going to fail. Will you listen to the

The Walls of Paradise – and the Fire of God

01/26/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, December 14, 2020 I love walls. Perhaps the most charming aspect of medieval cities are their use of walls. Some surrounded the city and served as protection. Others surrounded smaller areas and prevented easy access and egress (perhaps understandable in a world with lots of animals present). There were other walls that signaled “higher” boundaries. In a medieval world, the “order” of things was thought important: kings and commoners, high-born and

Converted to Love

11/10/2023

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, November 11, 2018 at St. Mary Orthodox Church in Cambridge, MA. The lawyer came to Jesus to put him to the test and then he found himself put to the test by Jesus. The Lord often did that. By answering a question with a question and following with a parable, Jesus sought to challenge and lead those he encountered to see God more clearly and discern more

Look Who’s Talking

09/18/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 6, 2017 Everyone is familiar with that “voice in the head.” By this, I mean the negative voice. It is mean, judgmental, angry, jealous, envious, salacious, just bad. Sometimes it goes quiet. Sometimes it is so overwhelming that it drowns everything else out. One simple question we can ask: “Who’s doing the talking?” This voice is not the product of reasoning. We have not weighed, measured, compared and reached a

Archive

The Second Monday of Pascha. Identity and the Resurrection of Christ

The Sixth Friday of Great Lent. The Mystery of Holy Week

The Marriage of Love and Hate

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Second Monday of Pascha: Bookends and the Resurrection

The Sixth Tuesday of Great Lent: The Beauty of the Christ’s Prayer

The Fifth Monday of Great Lent: A Full Life

The Importance of Failure

The Walls of Paradise – and the Fire of God

Converted to Love

Look Who’s Talking

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