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ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Bright Monday: George the Great Martyr and Triumphant. Prefiguration of the Resurrection in the Easter Canon.

Reading George, this truly great and glorious Martyr of Christ, was born of a father from Cappadocia and a mother from Palestine. Being a military tribune, or chiliarch (that is, a commander of a thousand troops), he was illustrious in battle and highly honoured for his courage. When he learned that the Emperor Diocletian was preparing a persecution of the Christians, Saint George presented himself publicly before the Emperor and denounced him. When threats and

The Third Monday of Great Lent: The Fullness of Lent

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

The Nativity of the Theotokos: Arise, O Lord, Thou and the Ark of Thy holiness

By Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick, September 8, 2010  The Nativity of the Theotokos, September 8 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. In the Book of Exodus, after the Hebrew people left the land of Egypt, they wandered in the desert for some forty years before they finally came to the Promised Land. During this time, they met with God on the holy mountain

Goodness and a Word in Due Season

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, May 8, 2017  There is an old mystical Jewish belief that when God created all things, He did so by speaking their names (in Hebrew, of course). It was further believed (and here’s the mystical part) that if you could manage to speak that name in the right way, you, too, could cause it to be. The instinct behind this is true, regardless of our inability to do such a thing.

The Invitation

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, December 11, 2016 Salvation is about relationship. We cannot be saved alone. It starts at the very beginning when God says, “Let us make humanity in our own image.” The Hebrew writer gloriously uses the plural: God speaking to God. And gradually the mysterious mutuality of God in Trinity is revealed from the opening verses of Genesis, to the Oak of Mamre, to the Incarnation, the Baptism,

The Fourth Thursday of Great Lent: The Cross Tells Us

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 9, 2018 at St. Mary Orthodox Church in Cambridge, MA. The Bronze Serpent is a strange and interesting thing. In Hebrew it has a name, “Nehushtan,” which means “a brazen thing, a mere piece of brass.” It is a derogatory name. Even though Moses made it at the instruction of God, as scripture says, it became an object of derision, so much so that, King Hezekiah

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

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

The Lord’s Prayer

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, December 11, 2017 James W. Lillie In an interview with an Italian TV network, Pope Francis of Rome said recently that the current language of the Lord’s prayer ‘is not a good translation.’… The problem, as he sees it, is that the prayer asks God to ‘lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’. But, says Pope Francis, it’s not the Lord Who tempts. ‘It is not He that

Saints Joachim and Anna: The Story of the Great Faithfulness and Love

This homily was delivered by His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas at the Ecumenical Vespers Service for the Feast of St. Anna where he was featured as guest homilist at the invitation of His Excellency Archbishop Allen Vigneron at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit, Michigan. When we humans do our human things and live our human lives in cooperation with God, miracles happen, even though the eyes of the world see

From the Prayer of Jesus to Prayer of the Heart

By Fr John Breck, May 1, 2010 Archimandrite Placide Deseille is Higoumen of the Monastery of Saint Anthony the Great, St.-Laurent-en-Royans, France, and professor at the St. Sergius Theological Institute in Paris. The following thoughts are adapted from a talk he gave at a local parish on 6 March 2008, originally published by the Service Orthodoxe de Presse (SOP), supplement no. 327, April 2008. The expressions “Prayer of the Heart” and “Prayer of Jesus” or