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The Synaxis of St. John the Baptist and Forerunner of Christ

The Synaxis of St. John the Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord is an Orthodox feast day established in honor of this saint. The Church has a custom of glorifying those righteous servants of God who most closely served in a celebrated event on the day following certain great feast days. On the next day after Holy Theophany, or the Baptism of the Lord, we celebrate the Synaxis of the Forerunner and Baptist John, who

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Thursday of Pascha: Life Uncircumscribed

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, May 30, 2021. Three Post-Resurrection Gospel readings feature water. Last week it was the story of the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda. This week it is the Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s Well and next week Jesus heals the Blind Man with mud made from his own spittle. Water is a symbol for new life, for cleansing and rebirth. It is from water that all life evolved

Path of Descent: A Clod of Earth

The path of descent involves letting go of our self-image, our titles, our public image. I think this is one of the many meanings of the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). What is at stake here is not just false images of God (which mostly serve our purposes), but also comfortable images of ourselves. That’s probably what the saints meant when they said we have to move to