Nativity Archives - Saint Sophia

The Eighth Day of Christmas. The Circumcision of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia

01/01/2026

On the eighth day after His Nativity, our Lord Jesus Christ was circumcised in accordance with the Old Testament Law. All male infants underwent circumcision as a sign of God’s Covenant with the holy Forefather Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 17:10-14, Lev. 12:3). After this ritual the Divine Infant was given the name Jesus, as the Archangel Gabriel declared on the day of the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos (Luke 1:31-33, 2:21). The Fathers

The Fifth Day of Christmas. 14,000 Infants (the Holy Innocents) slain by Herod at Bethlehem

12/29/2025

14,000 Holy Infants were killed by King Herod in Bethlehem. When the time came for the Incarnation of the Son of God and His Birth of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Magi in the East beheld a new star in the heavens, foretelling the Nativity of the King of the Jews. They journeyed immediately to Jerusalem to worship the Child, and the star showed them the way. Having worshipped the divine Infant, they did not

The Thirty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent. On the Feast of the Nativity

12/23/2025

~Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Christmas Eve – December 24, 2012 In the Western Rite on Christmas Eve the Prologue from St. John’s Gospel is read. It is a good choice for this night. Do you remember it? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…” “En arxn ain ho Logos…” John equates Jesus, the Son of God, with a word that came to

The Thirty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent. Christmas Time

12/22/2025

By Father Stephen Freeman The feast of the Nativity of Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ, draws near and the anxiety of the world increases. There are those who worry that the feast is surrounded by too much commercialism. Others fear that religion will once again invade their safely guarded secular spaces. These are only the most vocalized anxieties – busyness consumes our lives. I think of the words from the Dr. Seuss character,

The Thirty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent. On the Sunday Before the Nativity

12/18/2025

Sermon Preached by Father Antony Hughes on Sunday, December 21, 2003 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ! In a few short days our greeting to one another will change. In a few short days we will commemorate and celebrate the pivotal event in all of history: the birth of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Do you really know who He

The Thirty-Second Day of Christmas Advent. The Manifestation of God’s Infinite Love

12/16/2025

Archimandrite Georgios Kapsanis, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Gregoriou † Christmas, which by God’s Grace we’re celebrating again this year, gives us the opportunity to delve deeper into the mystery of God’s love. His gifts to us are manifold and priceless. The greatest of them, however, is the incarnation of His Only-Begotten Son, without which we would still be hopeless prisoners of the devil and of death. Saint Gregory Palamas says: ‘What depth of

The Twenty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. On the Feast of the Nativity

12/10/2025

~Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2013 I don’t know if you knew Professor Jaroslav Pelikan. He was a wonderful historian, a theologian, a Lutheran who converted to Orthodoxy in the last part of his life. He was an amazing man. He said something that I’ve kept in my mind since I heard it: that “the problem with the church is that we have lost a sense of the cosmic

The Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. The Lord Christ’s Net

11/19/2025

~Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord 2020 The Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn still visible is a beautiful sight, reminding us of the Christmas Star, although it most likely is not the same. Of course, the Adventists among us are speculating that Christ is soon to return. So they have been for over 2,000 years. Our message to them is, “What are you waiting for?

The Fourth Day of Christmas Advent. The Significance of the Birth of Christ for the Human Race

11/18/2025

Every year, in an atmosphere of joy and delight, the Church celebrates the Birth of Christ, and sings wonderful hymns to God Who became incarnate and re-formed our degenerate human nature. Orthodox hymnography and theology emphasize the great anthropological significance of the divine incarnation: we have been saved from hopeless degradation and from the chaos of destructive hatred by the love of God, which took on flesh and bone within history through the person of

The First Day of Christmas Advent. Fasting from the Sentiments of the Feast

11/15/2025

By Father Stephen Freeman I have a favorite Joni Mitchell song. In her very mournful style she sings about the season before Christmas: It’s comin’ on Christmas, They’re cuttin’ down trees, They’re puttin’ up reindeer and singin’ songs of joy and peace. Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on…I would teach my feet to fly! It is a melancholy tune, echoing the bittersweet experience of the culture Christmas. We love

Archive

The Eighth Day of Christmas. The Circumcision of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia

The Fifth Day of Christmas. 14,000 Infants (the Holy Innocents) slain by Herod at Bethlehem

The Thirty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent. On the Feast of the Nativity

The Thirty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent. Christmas Time

The Thirty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent. On the Sunday Before the Nativity

The Thirty-Second Day of Christmas Advent. The Manifestation of God’s Infinite Love

The Twenty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. On the Feast of the Nativity

The Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. The Lord Christ’s Net

The Fourth Day of Christmas Advent. The Significance of the Birth of Christ for the Human Race

The First Day of Christmas Advent. Fasting from the Sentiments of the Feast

Categories

Archives

View Our Live Stream Services

Keep In Touch

Stewardship Application

Daily Meditations

Worship Schedule

Light a Virtual Candle

Text-to-Give in 2 easy steps!

1) Text 202-899-7801 to include your donation amount

2) Follow the link to complete the one-time registration