By Stephen Freeman, January 20, 2016 Tragedy is among the older forms of story-telling. The ancient Greeks can be said to have perfected it, and theorized about it with great care. One need only read the plays of Aeschylus or Sophocles to come away with a deep appreciation of the very nature of tragedy. I will not offer anything like the sophisticated analysis of Aristotle. However, I will make a single observation that seems apt
And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, ”Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of
Celebrating Pentecost, by Matushka Ioanna Callinicos Rhodes After the Ascension of Christ, the disciples were eagerly awaiting the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem as was promised them by Christ. They had no clue as to when this occurrence was going to happen. They never realized what the impact of that moment was going to be and how it was going to affect them. Finally, ten days after the Ascension, the Holy Spirit descended as in tongues
Introduction The Feast of Holy Pentecost is celebrated each year on the fiftieth day after the Great and Holy Feast of Pascha (Easter) and ten days after the Feast of the Ascension of Christ. The Feast is always celebrated on a Sunday. The Feast commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, a feast of the Jewish tradition. It also celebrates the establishment of the Church through the
Parish Leaflet: The Apodosis (Leave-taking) of Pascha May 22, 2017 Admin Parish Leaflets On Wednesday of the sixth week of Pascha, we celebrate the Apodosis or Leave-taking of the Feast of Feasts – Holy Pascha. While most Feasts have their Leave-taking on the eighth day, Pascha, the Feast of Feasts, has its Leave-taking on the thirty-ninth day. The fortieth day is the Feast of the Lord’s Ascension, which marks the end of the Lord’s physical presence on
By Michael Haldas, Quotes of the Day for May 17, 2018 “In raising human nature to heaven by His Ascension, Christ has given us the hope of arriving there ourselves.” (St. Thomas Aquinas) “Because we have so accepted this dichotomous rupture between body and soul as ‘reality’ we often describe our Faith in terms of “saving souls.” We seldom think of our bodies being eternally involved in salvation as well. However, the Second Person of
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 25, 2017 There are meditations and insights that simply change your life. I recall walking across the campus at Duke some 30 or so years ago. I had been plowing through a book of Orthodox theology (very thick reading). I would read a page and think, and read it again. But I recall very plainly a moment of insight – it regarded some paragraphs surrounding a statement of St. Basil’s.
Tapping into the noetic memory of the heart By Abbot Tryphon, February 24, 2019 The heart, in the Orthodox tradition, does not only have a natural operation, as a mere pump that circulates blood. In Orthodox patristic tradition the heart is the center of our self-awareness. Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain (+1809) calls the heart a natural and supernatural center, wherein resides “noetic” memory. Tapping into this noetic memory is manifested as the “incessant
By Michael Haldas, Quotes of the Day for April 14, 2017 “Christ, crucified and risen, is our Paschal lamb, our Passover. United to Him in baptism, our life becomes an unending deliverance from evil…Evil is overcome only by good, which the Son of God Himself demonstrated on the Cross and which believers are called to emulate.” (Orthodox Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, Romans 12:19-21) “The death and resurrection of Christ contain the utter and complete
Man is made up of soul and body By Abbot Tryphon, November 29, 2014 Our Orthodox faith does not teach the duality of body and soul, but rather that the whole of man is made up of both soul and body. Since the soul is the whole man, we do not put the emphasis of our being on the soul at the expense of the body. Because of this teaching, we see the Mysteries (Sacraments)
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