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The Fifth Wednesday of Great Lent. The Beauty and Sanctity of All He Has Made

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, August 23, 2020 Forgiveness, offered, isn’t always accepted or passed on. The unforgiving servant is the New Testament version of the narcissist. Receiving extravagant mercy from his master and caring only for himself, he refuses it to his fellow servant. “Why ask forgiveness when I’ve done nothing wrong,” the narcissist asks? For such a person there are rarely second thoughts and no effective arguments. It is vain

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Bright Friday: Feast of the Life-Giving Fountain (Zodochos Peghe)

By Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis After this, Jesus went down to Capernaum, with His mother and His brothers and disciples; and there they stayed for a few days.  The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  In the temple, He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business.  And making a whip of cords, He drove them all, with the sheep and

The Third Tuesday of Great Lent. The Beauty and Sanctity of All He Has Made

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, August 23, 2020 Forgiveness, offered, isn’t always accepted or passed on. The unforgiving servant is the New Testament version of the narcissist. Receiving extravagant mercy from his master and caring only for himself, he refuses it to his fellow servant. “Why ask forgiveness when I’ve done nothing wrong,” the narcissist asks? For such a person there are rarely second thoughts and no effective arguments. It is vain

Unity, the One Cup and the Fire of God

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, February 14, 2016  Ecumenism is back in the news and with it comes a deluge of misunderstanding and theological confusion. For while “unity” and the very concept of “one” are actually inherently mystical, most who write about and discuss the topic substitute a merely human, political and administrative notion. Two key verses are frequently drawn from the 17th chapter of St. John’s gospel:  Now I am no longer in the world, but

The Sixth Friday of Great Lent: Let’s Get Out of This Place

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 11, 2020  The Saturday before Palm Sunday is known as Lazarus Saturday among the Orthodox, and they celebrate Christ raising him from the dead just prior to His entrance into Jerusalem (gospel of John). It is a feast that offers something of a preview of Christ’s resurrection, and a foretaste of the General Resurrection at the End of the Age. Some years back I sat in a cave that is purported to

God and the Box

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 24, 2015  It is a commonplace that you “cannot put God in a box.” It is an affirmation of the transcendence of God and of the limits of human understanding. It is also a common rhetorical ploy to shut down a theological discussion. But, let’s think a little more about the box. I am deeply averse to statements that begin: “God cannot.” They are often little more than bad theological

And the Word Became Flesh

By Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis, December 24, 2018 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. John 1:14 The Gospel accounts of the Nativity are limited to a mere forty verses. In the Gospel of Matthew, there are 19 verses about the Nativity. The Gospel of Luke has 20. The Gospel of Mark makes no mention of the Nativity. It begins with the Baptism of Christ. The Gospel of John

Lazarus Saturday

Saturday of the Holy and Righteous Friend of Christ, Lazarus Introduction On the Saturday before Holy Week, the Orthodox Church commemorates a major feast of the year, the miracle of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he raised Lazarus from the dead after he had lain in the grave four days. Here, at the end of Great Lent and the forty days of fasting and penitence, the Church combines this celebration with that of

Monday after the Ascension. John’s End—The Purpose of the “Book”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:30-31 But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain

Saturday of Lazarus. I AM the Resurrection and the Life

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. John 11:25-26 (Gospel on the Saturday of Lazarus) A few years ago, an older parishioner passed away. She had lived a long life, and she was a person of great faith. The night before she passed away, I visited her in a