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The Great and Holy Thursday: The Heart that is Open

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, April 9, 2017 Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, Glory to Jesus Christ! It is important to remember as we celebrate Holy Week that it is not about recreating the past. It is about taking the time at this particular moment to open our hearts and minds to Jesus as his Passion is remembered. Few of us take the time to open our hearts and minds to

The Sixth Tuesday of Great Lent: The Awareness of Death

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, April 5, 2020 at St. Mary Orthodox Church in Cambridge, MA. Through this Great Lent we are being forced to look at everything, including our faith, in deeper ways. For example, the crucifixion of Jesus has never been only about his death, but also ours. In Larry Rosenberg’s wonderful book LIVING IN THE LIGHT OF DEATH he says it like this: we are being asked “to come

The First Wednesday of Great Lent: Forgiveness and the Whole Adam

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; (John17:20-21) The Elder Sophrony, together with St. Silouan, wrote about the “whole Adam.” By this, they meant all the human beings who have ever existed and those yet to come. For Silouan and Sophrony, this was something known in the present tense, a “hypostatic” knowledge of the fundamental unity of the human race. Sophrony described it as

The First Monday (Clean) of Great Lent

By Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis, Clean Monday, March 2, 2020 The Journey to the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 Today the Orthodox Church begins the journey of Great Lent. Today is known as Clean Monday. The reason why Lent begins on Monday is that we have a forty day fast PLUS Holy Week. In the Orthodox Church,

Light and Lights

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on January 26, 2022 Protopresbyter Georgios Dorbarakis ‘Because the Lord has prepared it to be his throne and dwelling-place, the soul which has been granted spiritual union with the light of Christ and has been illumined by the moral beauty of his inexpressible glory completely becomes light, completely becomes a persona*, completely becomes an eye. There is no part of such a soul that is not filled with the spiritual eyes of the light;

The Thirty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent: St Anastasia the Roman

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, October 29, 2017 Saint Symeon the Translator We find two Anastasias in the Lives of the saints, both of whom were of prominent and famous families and who confessed their faith. Both were daughters of mighty Rome. The first was married against her will by her parents, but never came together with her husband, nor even slept with him, pretending she was ill, though in reality because he was a pagan.

Holy, Glorious Apostle Thomas

Commemorated on October 6  The Holy and Glorious Apostle Thomas was born in the Galilean city of Pansada and was a fisherman. Hearing the good tidings of Jesus Christ, he left all and followed after Him. The Apostle Thomas is included in the number of the holy Twelve Apostles of the Savior. According to Holy Scripture, the holy Apostle Thomas did not believe the reports of the other disciples about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Today the Orthodox Church Celebrates the Elevation of the Precious Cross

By Georgios N. Manolis, Theologian, September 27, 2019 The Lord’s Precious Cross is the supreme symbol of sacrifice and sanctification for the Church of Christ, Who was crucified and then rose, because the Cross, together with the Resurrection, are the two pillars which support the life for the Church and its members. The honour paid by the Orthodox Church to the Precious Cross on September 14 (though not only on that day) began in the

Saints Joachim and Anna: The Story of the Great Faithfulness and Love

This homily was delivered by His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas at the Ecumenical Vespers Service for the Feast of St. Anna where he was featured as guest homilist at the invitation of His Excellency Archbishop Allen Vigneron at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit, Michigan. When we humans do our human things and live our human lives in cooperation with God, miracles happen, even though the eyes of the world see

Ex nihilo (2)

By Fr John Breck, March 1, 2008 In the prologue to his Gospel, the evangelist John takes up the account of creation given in the first chapter of Genesis, in order to illustrate the story of redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ, the eternal Son and Word of God. “In the beginning,” out of His infinite otherness, with God and as God, the Word comes forth, to create the world and to save it from death