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The Third Day of Christmas. Saint Stephen: The Death of a Revolutionary

By Father Lawrence Farley Saint Stephen is usually hailed as the first Christian martyr, but he is more than that. His death was also a boundary, and the blood which flowed from his body as the stones hit him became a river, one which separated the faith of the Christians from the religion of Judaism. For unlike the martyrs who followed him, Stephen was not killed by the pagan Romans, executed under a law which

On the Feast of St. Philip the Apostle

By S. Michael Phillips In the Name of the + Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ! “Philip ran to [the Ethiopian eunuch], and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.” [1] Introduction Before it was a Church of those

More than a Religious Rule

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 30, 2018 The Golden Rule is not too hard for us. It is not unnatural or even extraordinary. For those who are created in the image of God, baptized into Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit, unmitigated compassion and kindness is normal. Every time we act in any way opposite to love we are acting against our own nature. That is what we call sin.

The Implications of Nain

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, October 6, 2019 Usually, we read the New Testament in a very small and limited way. Rarely do we examine the richness of the Gospel, the infinite depths of what they are meant to reveal to us. This is understandable. To be able to see into the depths we have to have in us the mind of Christ that alone can delve into the mysteries that speak

Mary and the Temple

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, September 12, 2017  “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” (Exo 25:8) The center of Jewish life at the time of Christ was the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was presented there at forty days of age. His family traveled to the Temple when he was twelve. He taught there during His ministry and drove the money-changers out. There is a tendency in much modern thought

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Tuesday of Pascha: Indifference

Adapted from a Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, May 16, 2021 Today we revisit the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of our Lord. Many of the familiar characters reappear. Pilate, Joseph of Arimathea, Mary Magdalene, the mother of Joses, Mary the mother of James and Salome. Except for Pilate of course, the faithful and courageous followers of Jesus. Courage does not mean the absence of fear. Fear is very often the fuel for

Form and Substance (Luke 13, 10-17)

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, on December 11, 2017 Archimandrite Nikanor Karayannis Today’s Gospel reading is a clear and stark indictment of formalism in religion. Saint Luke tells us that Christ cured someone on the Sabbath and this was cause enough for Him to come into conflict with the Judaism of His time, which had transformed the commandments of the Decalogue and the Law into a sterile system of obligations and restrictions. The absurdity of the reactions

The Twelfth Day of Christmas Advent. A Secular Kingdom…Where Christmas Never Comes

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, November 27, 2017  Two people are working at a soup kitchen, feeding the poor. One of them is a Christian, the other an atheist. The Christian is doing what he does out of obedience to Christ, in order to serve Christ “in the least of these my brethren.” The atheist is doing what he does because he thinks that generosity is a good thing and that the world would be a

Apostle and Evangelist Luke of the Seventy

The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, was a native of Syrian Antioch, a companion of the holy Apostle Paul (Phil.1:24, 2 Tim. 4:10-11), and a physician enlightened in the Greek medical arts. Hearing about Christ, Luke arrived in Palestine and fervently accepted the preaching of salvation from the Lord Himself. As one of the Seventy Apostles, Saint Luke was sent by the Lord with the others to preach the Kingdom of Heaven during the Savior’s

Unknowing: Listening and Learning

Human history is in a time of great flux, of great cultural and spiritual change. The psyche doesn’t know what to do with so much information. I am told that if you take all of the information that human beings had up until 1900 and call that one unit, that unit now doubles every ten years. No wonder there’s so much anxiety, confusion, and mistaking fact for fiction and fiction for fact! In light of