Paradise Archives - Saint Sophia

Sunday of the Paralytic

05/11/2025

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Excerpt from a Homily by Saint John Chrysostom If someone’s really knowledgeable about gold mines, they wouldn’t be able to bear not examining the smallest vein for the wealth it contained. So, in the Scriptures, it’s impossible without loss to pass over the merest jot. We must investigate everything since everything’s uttered by the Holy Spirit, and there’s nothing written in them to distract us. Consider, for instance, what the

The Fifth Monday of Great Lent. By the Rivers of Babylon: Inconsolable Home-Sickness

03/31/2025

Mihaïl Koutsos Psalm 136. By Jeremiah to David, on captivity 1 By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 We hung our instruments on the willows, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, and our abductors asked for mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion’. 4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you,

The Fourth Tuesday of Great Lent. The Joy of the Annunciation

03/25/2025

~By Fr. Andreas Agathokleous The Feast of the Annunciation lends a pre-Paschal feeling to Great Lent, during which it always falls. The atmosphere of compunction recedes and gives way to the joy of the great feast. This is why we have a dispensation to eat fish. The hymns, the celebrations and all the other things associated with a Feast of the Mother of God dispel the spirit of mourning of Lent and offer us the

The Third Thursday of Great Lent. The Sign of the Cross in the Old Testament

03/20/2025

~By Theodore Rokas In his first epistle to the Corinthians, Saint Paul mentions that ‘the Jews seek a sign’ (1 Cor. 1, 22), that is they wanted a supernatural sign, such as resurrection of the dead, or healing of the demonically possessed, which would make them believe in the preaching concerning the Cross. So they sought this supernatural sign, ignoring and ignorant of all the signs and wonders that God had shown them in the

The Mystery of Christ’s Baptism

01/06/2025

By Stephen Freeman This week, the Church moves from the feast of Christmas to the feast of Theophany – the celebration of the Baptism of Christ. The intent of this feast is not to celebrate a succession of historical events (the Baptism of Christ is at least 30 years later than His birth). Rather this feast takes us into the depths of the mystery of Christ and His salvation of the world. Many Christians, reading the gospel accounts of

The Twelfth Day of Christmas Advent. Saint Stylianos, The Protector of Children

11/26/2024

Saint Stylianos was born in Paphlagonia, Asia Minor, between 400 and 500. He was blessed even from his mother’s womb. As he grew up, by the grace of God he increasingly became a dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. From childhood he displayed the rare qualities of his blessed life. When he was young and still an adolescent, although, of course, he was of the flesh, he never allowed desires to pollute his spirit and soul.

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Tuesday of Pascha: The Imposition of Paradise

05/28/2024

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 1, 2013 Luke 4:16-22 The Lord’s first sermon was, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, meaning, repent of the belief that the kingdom is not at hand. Jesus reveals the kingdom’s presence already in the world. He, his preaching and his signs make this abundantly clear. The kingdom is present in the suffering of the world and in its healing. All things, including our suffering,

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

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

Words from St. Isaac of Syria

03/11/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, October 4, 2021 St. Isaac stretches love and mercy to its farthest limits, occasionally beyond the bounds of canonical understanding. He remains a saint of the Church and his words are very important to hear. Let yourself be persecuted, but do not persecute others. Be crucified, but do not crucify others. Be slandered, but do not slander others. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep: such is

Archive

Sunday of the Paralytic

The Fifth Monday of Great Lent. By the Rivers of Babylon: Inconsolable Home-Sickness

The Fourth Tuesday of Great Lent. The Joy of the Annunciation

The Third Thursday of Great Lent. The Sign of the Cross in the Old Testament

The Mystery of Christ’s Baptism

The Twelfth Day of Christmas Advent. Saint Stylianos, The Protector of Children

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Tuesday of Pascha: The Imposition of Paradise

The Fifth Monday of Great Lent: A Full Life

Return to Paradise (The Friday of Cheese-Fare)

Words from St. Isaac of Syria

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