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Prophet Zacharias and Righteous Elizabeth

On September 5th, the Orthodox Church celebrates the parents of John the Baptist: Prophet Zacharias and Righteous Elizabeth. They are also commemorated on the Nativity of the Baptist on June 24th. Both Elizabeth and Zacharias were of the lineage of Aaron and Elizabeth was the sister of St Anna, mother of the Theotokos. So, Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins. Zacharias served as a priest in the Temple. Both were righteous before God, walking in

Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen! The Fifth Tuesday of Pascha: The Descent of Jesus into Hades (Part VI)

By Father Thomas Hopko He came to them, but we must remember that those who were literally dead were also still somehow alive in the hands of God, even before the Messiah came. When, for example, the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of Christ, tried to catch Him in his words by saying that according to the Levite law of Moses, if a man had a wife, and he died, his brother

The Good News according to the Gospels of Mark and Luke

Mark’s is primarily a gospel of action. Of the four gospels, his includes the least verbal teaching. Jesus is constantly on the move from place to place preaching and healing, preaching and healing, but it is mostly action and narrative. Jesus is the invasion of God’s Big Picture into our small worlds, and he does this much more than he talks about it. We have to look at Jesus’ actions, and how his physical healings