love Archives - Saint Sophia

Persons in Communion: The Disciplines of Communion (Part II)

08/28/2024

The training of our consciousness enables us to recover an immediacy of response to anybody’s face, however spoilt, haggard, or careworn, and precisely because it is such. God loves this person here and now, in their very ordinariness, their cowardice, their loneliness, their sin. Our consciousness being awakened, the eye of the heart is opened, and we begin to see with the eyes of God. Then we can put ourselves in the other’s place, share

Persons in Communion: The Disciplines of Communion (Part I)

08/27/2024

We can…give an outline of the disciplines of communion. The first thing, before love is even mentioned, is humility, and what humility becomes when it is exercised towards another person, that is, respect. Respect rejects all self-interested curiosity, all possession of souls. Some people undergo a strict regime of self-denial to free themselves from carnal desire, only to fall prey to a more exquisite desire, that for souls. This must be identified and overcome, especially

The Marriage of Love and Hate

07/23/2024

By Father Stephen Freeman, June 27, 2014 The genius of Dostoevsky lies in the profound theological insight of his tumbled novels. They can be difficult reads for many people – particularly in our modern setting. He has “too many characters” and they “talk a lot.” His characters are complex: I was a scoundrel, and yet, I loved God… Good and evil are in a monstrous coexistence within man. So says Dmitri Karamazov. And this statement

The Extraordinary Love of God

06/27/2024

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 29, 2013 Luke 6:31-36 (2nd Sunday of Luke) Again we are reminded that God is merciful and compassionate and that we are to follow his example, but this is more than mere imitation. The imitation of God is one thing, but we are called to do more than that; we are called to become divine, not just to be merciful, but to become Mercy. The transformation

Sunday of Pentecost

06/23/2024

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on June 7, 2009 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ! St. Gregory the Great writes this on the Great Feast of Pentecost: “My friends consider the greatness of this solemn feast that commemorates God’s coming as a guest into our hearts!” He comes to us to transform us from within in a movement

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Thursday of Pascha: On the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

05/30/2024

Sermon Preached by Father Antony Hughes on Sunday, May 9, 2004 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Christ is Risen! Each encounter with Christ in the New Testament is unique. Each encounter is open and free. Nothing with God in His dealings with humanity is formulaic or pre-planned. Never is anything forced. Some come away from meeting the Lord happy and some go

The Fifth Monday of Great Lent: A Full Life

04/15/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, May 15, 2018 What constitutes a full life? In a consumer culture, I would suppose a full life to be one of maximum consumption, enjoyment, and productivity. We like being happy. Would a full life include suffering? The answer to such questions, for Christians, are found in Christ Himself. Christ alone fulfills what it means to be truly human. So, what does that mean? Christ does not flee from suffering. We are

The Fourth Wednesday of Great Lent: Time

04/10/2024

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on August 5, 2021 Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae For God, time is the waiting period between when he ‘knocks at the door’ and we open it wide for him (‘If someone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter and dine with them and they with me’ (Rev. 3, 20). In this sense, time also denotes our freedom and the respect which God has for his creatures. God doesn’t enter our heart through

The First Wednesday of Great Lent: How Elder Iosif Resolved the Issue of a Priest-Monk Who Mocked Him

03/20/2024

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on August 18, 2021 Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of the Vatopaidi Monastery The humility, goodness and love which Elder Iosif [Vatopaidinos, (1921-2009)] bore in his soul moved God and were the solace of our brotherhood, who looked to him as our guide. Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol tells of an event which shows the extent to which God was well-pleased with the spiritual labours of the Elder and also reveals the careful attention required in a

Return to Paradise (The Friday of Cheese-Fare)

03/15/2024

By Metropolitan Anthony Bloom 6 March 2022 In the person of the old Adam, the human race fell, when it sinned against love; and God’s dread judgement will be a crisis (i.e. judgement) for human love. Humankind was called to total unity of the whole of our lives with God, through love, but fell because it wanted to learn the secret of being through cold logic and the blind perception of the flesh. And it

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Persons in Communion: The Disciplines of Communion (Part II)

Persons in Communion: The Disciplines of Communion (Part I)

The Marriage of Love and Hate

The Extraordinary Love of God

Sunday of Pentecost

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Thursday of Pascha: On the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

The Fifth Monday of Great Lent: A Full Life

The Fourth Wednesday of Great Lent: Time

The First Wednesday of Great Lent: How Elder Iosif Resolved the Issue of a Priest-Monk Who Mocked Him

Return to Paradise (The Friday of Cheese-Fare)

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