Reformation Archives - Saint Sophia

The Fourth Friday of Great Lent. The Ladder of Divine Ascent and Moral Improvement

03/20/2026

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 11, 2016 The Fourth Sunday of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church, is dedicated to St. John Climacus, the author of the ancient work, The Ladder of Divine Ascent. It is a classic work describing “steps” within the life of the struggling ascetic. There is an icon associated with this work, picturing monastics climbing the rungs of a ladder to heaven, battling demons who are trying to pull them off. However,

The Third Friday of Great Lent. Good News – Your Debt is Being Cancelled (Part II)

03/13/2026

~By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 27, 2016 This bondage or slavery to sin is also similar to language applied to the devil: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. (Heb 2:14-15 RSV) St. Paul

The Third Thursday of Great Lent. Good News – Your Debt is Being Cancelled (Part I)

03/12/2026

~By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 27, 2016 Recent conversations on the blog have bounced around the imagery of debt in the Scriptures. Contemporary Protestant thought often likes to express the notion of a “sin debt.” The idea runs that God’s righteousness and justice have proper demands. When we fail to keep the commandments, we create a debt for which God’s justice demands payment. Christ’s innocent self-offering on the Cross is seen as the payment for

The Second Monday of Great Lent. The Communion of Tradition

03/02/2026

~By Father Stephen Freeman, June 15, 2023 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life–the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us–that which we have seen and heard we declare to

The Royal Priesthood in a Secular World

02/16/2026

~By Stephen Freeman, June 22, 2023 St. Peter describes us as a “royal priesthood.” “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…” (1 Peter 2:9) We live in a world metaphor and simile. That is to say, we might call someone a “king” or “priest,” but really only mean that

What Do We Need? Love Amidst the Clutter

10/03/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, September 18, 2023 I’ve been slowly making my way through the book, An Empire of Things. It’s subtitle, How We Became a World of Consumers from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-first Centuries, describes the fascinating journey outlined in the text. It tracks the gradual evolution of the modern world as seen in our acquisition of stuff. The average citizen in the 1400’s would have been lucky to have a change of clothes and

Orthodoxy Represents Our Original Incompetency

09/12/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, September 11, 1018 There is one thing to be said about Church-shopping: you can always find a better one… I often see examples of what I would describe as “comparative denominationalism.” It is the comparison of one Church to another (yes, I know that Orthodoxy is not a denomination). Indeed, the drive for a “better Church,” a “more authentic Church,” the “true Church,” the “New Testament Church,” is little more than

The Sixth Tuesday of Pascha. When Miracles Ceased

05/27/2025

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! ~By Father Stephen Freeman, May 10, 2023 One of the stranger ideas that accompanied the Reformation, was the notion that miracles had ended at the time of the New Testament’s completion. Never stated as a doctrinal fact in the mainstream of Protestantism, it remained a quiet assumption, particularly when joined with an anti-Roman Catholicism in which the various visions, weeping statues, and saints’ lives were considered to be fabrications of

The Despair of Modernity – It Might Not Be All Bad

01/13/2025

By Father Stephen Freeman, January 15, 2018 It is a commonplace in the Fathers to describe despair or sadness as the result of failing to get what we want. It sounds quite simple, but it cuts to the very heart of our sadness. There is a melancholy of our age that is born from the expectations of modernity. The mantra of progress and our belief that no matter the problems confronting us, there is always

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Wednesday of Pascha: Mid-Pentecost. The Fall of Constantinople, May 29, 1453

05/29/2024

After the Saviour had miraculously healed the paralytic, the Jews, especially the Pharisees and Scribes, were moved with envy and persecuted Him, and sought to slay Him, using the excuse that He did not keep the Sabbath, since He worked miracles on that day. Jesus then departed to Galilee. About the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles, He went up again to the Temple and taught. The Jews, marveling at the wisdom of His words,

Archive

The Fourth Friday of Great Lent. The Ladder of Divine Ascent and Moral Improvement

The Third Friday of Great Lent. Good News – Your Debt is Being Cancelled (Part II)

The Third Thursday of Great Lent. Good News – Your Debt is Being Cancelled (Part I)

The Second Monday of Great Lent. The Communion of Tradition

The Royal Priesthood in a Secular World

What Do We Need? Love Amidst the Clutter

Orthodoxy Represents Our Original Incompetency

The Sixth Tuesday of Pascha. When Miracles Ceased

The Despair of Modernity – It Might Not Be All Bad

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Wednesday of Pascha: Mid-Pentecost. The Fall of Constantinople, May 29, 1453

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