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Reading Beneath the Words

07/12/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, January 3, 2016  The relationship between Old and New Testaments is much less straightforward than most people realize. A majority of Christians, particularly in our contemporary world, probably assume that their relationship is mostly historical, that the Old Testament is about things that happened before Christ while the New Testament speaks of Christ Himself and things that come later. That is “sort of” true, but not the real story. The New

Monday of the Holy Spirit

06/21/2021

On the day after every Great Feast, the Orthodox Church honors the one through whom the Feast is made possible. On the day following the Nativity of the Lord, for example, we celebrate the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos (December 26). On the day after Theophany, we commemorate St John the Baptist (January 7), and so on. Today we honor the all-Holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, Who descended upon the Apostles at Pentecost in

Wednesday before the Holy Feast of Pentecost

06/16/2021

From Pascha to Pentecost, by Protopresbyter Dr. George D. Dragas The Pentecostal Period. The word, Pentecost means “the fiftieth” and is used to designate the great event of the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Epiphoitesis) upon the Apostles and the Church on the 50th day after the Resurrection of Christ, just ten days after His Ascension into Heaven. Before His Passion, the Lord spoke to his Disciples about the gift of the Holy Spirit, which

The Sixth Thursday of Pascha: The Ascension of our Lord

06/10/2021

“AND ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN….” Rev. George Florovsky, D.D. “I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God, and Your God” (John 20:17). In these words, the Risen Christ described to Mary Magdalene the mystery of His Resurrection. She had to carry this mysterious message to His disciples, “as they mourned and wept” (Mark 16:10). The disciples listened to these glad tidings with fear and amazement, with doubt and mistrust. It was not

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Sixth Wednesday of Pascha: The Apodosis (Leave-taking) of Pascha

06/09/2021

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

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Sixth Monday of Pascha: Bookends and the Resurrection

06/07/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 12, 2018 A series of recent conversations with a parishioner turned up the problem of “bookends,” that is, questions of the beginning and the end. It is only natural in our day and age to attack problems in this manner. “How did it start?” is a way of saying, “What is it?” The end, of course, is not so obvious, other than its connection with our insatiable desire to know how

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Monday of Pascha: The Kingdom of God Is Not a Choice We Make

05/24/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 29, 2008  Part of the spiritual landscape of American religion is the sizable role played by choice in a culture shaped in the free market – with freedom as a mythic symbol. It is not unusual to hear American politicians describing solutions to social problems as a matter of “trusting Americans as consumers.” It is as though we could “shop” our way out of life’s difficulties. And thus it is that Calvinism,

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Tuesday of Pascha: Sentenced to Immortality

05/18/2021

A Paschal Homily, by Blessed Justin Popovich                                                                             Sentenced to Immortality Man sentenced God to death; by His Resurrection, He sentenced man to immortality. In return for a beating, He gives an embrace; for abuse, a blessing; for death, immortality. Man never showed so much hate for God as when he crucified Him; and God never showed more love for man than when He arose. Man even wanted to reduce God to a mortal, but God

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Second Friday of Pascha: The Boundaries We Draw and the Boundaries God Draws

05/14/2021

By Stephen Freeman, May 1, 2008 I pushed the envelope a little in my last post, intentionally pressing against what I understand to be false boundaries created by an inadequate understanding of Scripture and a view of the world that establishes limits at places they need not be. I am not an enemy of boundaries – indeed – without them we would not exist – at least not as Persons. Even though the Orthodox faith

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