Holy Land Archives - Saint Sophia

The Fifth Wednesday of Pascha. Memory of Emperor Constantine with his Mother Helen

05/21/2025

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Church calls Saint Constantine (306-337) “the Equal of the Apostles,” and historians call him “the Great.” He was the son of the Caesar Constantius Chlorus (305-306), who governed the lands of Gaul and Britain. His mother was Saint Helen, a Christian of humble birth. At this time the immense Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern halves, governed by two independent emperors and their corulers called “Caesars.” Constantius

The Sunday of Orthodoxy

03/09/2025

~By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 7, 2009 The first Sunday of Great Lent is always observed as the “Sunday of Orthodoxy” in our Churches. It marks both the return of the icons to the Churches following the end of the Iconoclast Controversy, but also as a summation of all the Holy Teachings of the faith which Orthodoxy holds and for which many have died. Most of our parishes will have a procession around the Church

The Jordan River

09/10/2024

By Father Lawrence Farley The Jordan River does not just flow through the length of Palestine. It also flows through the length of the Christian Church. The Orthodox especially love the Jordan, since all our baptisms take place in it: when the priest prays for the water in which the candidate is to be baptized, he prays that God may “grant unto it the grace of redemption, the blessing of Jordan”. Thus wherever the church

Martyr Longinus, the Centurion Who Stood at the Cross of the Lord

10/16/2023

He stood transfixed at the foot of the Cross, watching and wondering, full of awe and amazement. And then all at once, something was born in him – a spark of faith, a brand-new beginning. And his life was changed forever. The divine Matthew the Evangelist describes the moment of his conversion to Christianity with enormous power: So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things

Saint Nectarius Kephalas, Metropolitan of Pentapolis

11/09/2022

Commemorated on November 9 Saint Nectarius, the great wonderworker of modern times, was born Anastasius Kephalas in Selebria, Thrace on October 1, 1846. Since his family was poor, Anastasius went to Constantinople when he was fourteen in order to find work. Although he had no money, he asked the captain of a boat to take him. The captain told him to take a walk and then come back. Anastasius understood, and sadly walked away. The

Today the Orthodox Church Celebrates the Elevation of the Precious Cross

09/14/2022

By Georgios N. Manolis, Theologian, September 27, 2019 The Lord’s Precious Cross is the supreme symbol of sacrifice and sanctification for the Church of Christ, Who was crucified and then rose, because the Cross, together with the Resurrection, are the two pillars which support the life for the Church and its members. The honour paid by the Orthodox Church to the Precious Cross on September 14 (though not only on that day) began in the

The First Friday of Great Lent: The Sunday of Orthodoxy

03/19/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 7, 2009 The first Sunday of Great Lent is always observed as the “Sunday of Orthodoxy” in our Churches. It marks both the return of the icons to the Churches following the end of the Iconoclast Controversy, but also as a summation of all the Holy Teachings of the faith which Orthodoxy holds and for which many have died. Most of our parishes will have a procession around the Church

The Great and Holy Tuesday. The Pilgrimage of Holy Week

04/03/2018

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 21, 2016 The apex of the year for Orthodox Christians is easily Holy Week and Pascha. I had the opportunity in 2008 to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. To receive communion in the tomb of Christ, or to stand at Golgotha is no little thing. And yet, the services of Holy Week within one’s own parish are a greater thing. I say this not only from my own

Archive

The Fifth Wednesday of Pascha. Memory of Emperor Constantine with his Mother Helen

The Sunday of Orthodoxy

The Jordan River

Martyr Longinus, the Centurion Who Stood at the Cross of the Lord

Saint Nectarius Kephalas, Metropolitan of Pentapolis

Today the Orthodox Church Celebrates the Elevation of the Precious Cross

The First Friday of Great Lent: The Sunday of Orthodoxy

The Great and Holy Tuesday. The Pilgrimage of Holy Week

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