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THE FAST OF THE DORMITION OF THE HOLY THEOTOKOS

By St Nino Orthodox, August 15, 2016  For fourteen days of August, during each year, the Holy Orthodox Church enters into a strict fast period in honor of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary. The eminent Orthodox theologian, Father Sergei Bulgakov, beautifully expresses the high regard which the Orthodox Christians have for the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, for her special role in the salvation of mankind, when he affirms, “The warm

The Fast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin (Part II)

By Father Leonidas Contos, LOS ANGELES, August 2, 1962 Orthodox theology refuses to see Mary as only the physical instrument of Christ’s birth. She is seen as a cooperating instrument in the work of redemption. Christ did not save the world, so to speak, automatically. He was not on earth as an alien thrust in, but lived as part of humanity, sharing its weakness, knowing its need. The grace He released into the world became

Ascended in Glory (Part II)

Most of us memorized John 3:16 in church school. Those familiar words contain the whole of the mystery of God’s ineffable love for us: “God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son,” that through His sacrifice death might be conquered, and we might receive the gift of eternal life. The great feast of Christ’s Resurrection, Holy Pascha, enables us to recall and to relive His victory over death. That victory becomes our

Destiny and Eros: Monasticism, the Fulfillment of Eros, Obedience, Chastity, Poverty

Like John lying on his Master’s breast at the Last Supper, and later, in old age, seeing the dazzling face of the Lord of the universe, the monk is fascinated by the incomparable beauty of the Risen Christ. In him eros is altogether robed in the beauty of love and light, all the more beautiful because it shines through the disfigurement of the Passion and the Cross. There is no more room here for another