metanoia Archives - Saint Sophia

The First Wednesday of Great Lent. The Nature of Repentance

02/25/2026

~Sermon preached by Dn. James Wilcox on Sunday, January 12, 2025 Matt. 4:12-17; Eph. 4:7-13 [Seven weeks ago] we witnessed the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry which began with Christ’s baptism in the Jordan…. [and] the first declaration of His public ministry, which is the call to “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” Now when we hear the likes of such a statement — this call to “Repent!” — it often conjures up

Sunday of The Parable of the Publican and Pharisee

02/01/2026

The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee is the first Sunday of a three-week period prior to the commencement of Great Lent. It marks the beginning of a time of preparation for the spiritual journey of Lent, a time for Orthodox Christians to draw closer to God through worship, prayer, fasting, and acts of charity. It is also on this day that the Triodion is introduced, a liturgical book that contains the services from

On Palm Sunday

04/13/2025

Sermon preached on Palm Sunday, April 17, 2022 by Fr. Antony Hughes I wish the East and West would celebrate the Resurrection on the same date. Still, I confess, that I am blessed when they don’t because that means I can celebrate Easter with my brothers at the prison in Concord which I did last night. It was beautiful and very moving listening to them sing and pray together with Dn. Tom, my friend and

The Fourth Wednesday of Great Lent: Metanoia and Repentance

03/26/2025

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 20, 2020 Knowing, as we do, that scripture for one person can be a call to an exemplary life of love, self-sacrifice, and compassion and for another an invitation to the exact opposite, it is very important not only that we read scripture, but also how we translate it. That is why I love the old adage that scripture is not in the reading, but in

The Third Wednesday of Great Lent: Let’s Stop Pointing Fingers and Examine Ourselves

03/19/2025

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes at St. Mary Orthodox Church in Cambridge, MA on Sunday, October 18, 2020. The Reading is from Luke 10:16-21 I want to focus on the first verse of today’s Gospel reading from Luke. The Lord said to his disciples, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” The bottom line is this. Our words

The Opposite of Faith

02/05/2025

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, February 25, 2024 In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. One God. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever! I haven’t really preached since this past Christmas because of my illness so I’m going to give it a go today. We’ll see what happens! It’s interesting Metropolitan Saba is endearing himself to me quite a bit. He wrote a wonderful piece

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part II)

10/02/2024

During the Roman imperial persecutions of Christianity martyrdom was esteemed as the highest offering of one’s self to God. Martyrdom in blood, red martyrdom, was the most esteemed path toward sainthood. When the persecutions ended a new path to heaven led, for many, to the desert and a life of self-denial, white martyrdom. As we have seen, the first step was withdrawal, anachoresis. This was accompanied by xeniteia, or “indifference toward worldly values,” through non-attachment

The Slow Road to Heaven – Why the Spiritual Life Doesn’t “Work”

06/17/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, January 30, 2018 We live in a world of practicality, a fact that has produced the marvels of technology that power us along and connect the world in its web. I have a nearly two-year-old grandson who has grasped some of this connection for many months now. He loves buttons – not the ones on your shirt – but the ones on any device. If there is a button in reach,

The First Tuesday of Great Lent: On the Beginning of the Great Fast

03/19/2024

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes at Forgiveness Vespers at the start of Great Lent on Sunday, March 13, 2016 I always look forward to this night because it is so beautiful, so quiet, so peaceful, so instructive. We have begun the great fast again, and I’ve been thinking about it: every year we go through the Fast, we reach Pascha, we have a great celebration, and then we start life all over again as

The Sins of Our Fathers – the Epigenetics of Shame

07/03/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 27, 2017 There is a new word and a new idea in science: epigenetics. It is the study of how the environment and experience alters our body – and alters it in a way such that it becomes part of our genetic legacy. It is, to the mind of some, a genetic form of inherited sin. That’s more than I know, and more than I care to say. But it

Archive

The First Wednesday of Great Lent. The Nature of Repentance

Sunday of The Parable of the Publican and Pharisee

On Palm Sunday

The Fourth Wednesday of Great Lent: Metanoia and Repentance

The Third Wednesday of Great Lent: Let’s Stop Pointing Fingers and Examine Ourselves

The Opposite of Faith

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part II)

The Slow Road to Heaven – Why the Spiritual Life Doesn’t “Work”

The First Tuesday of Great Lent: On the Beginning of the Great Fast

The Sins of Our Fathers – the Epigenetics of Shame

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