slave Archives - Saint Sophia

The Twenty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent: Descent is Ascent

12/11/2023

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 8, 2019 at St. Mary Orthodox Church There are a number of characteristics that mark Christian spirituality. One of them is this: The Christian path is a first a way of descent. Most other spiritual traditions are about making an ascent. To be sure, St. Paul writes about ascending “from glory to glory.” But first there must be a descent, for example, from the mind to

Who is free?

07/19/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, November 20, 2017 Saint Nicholas Velimirovich The great news which Christianity tells the world every day is that things are judged, as regards their true worth, not by evaluating their external features, but by what they are in essence. We have to judge things not by their colour or shape but by what they mean. And people should be measured not by their status or wealth, that is, by external appearances,

Christ and Nothing (Part VII)

07/16/2020

By David Bentley Hart, October 2003 It is worth asking ourselves what this tableau, viewed from the vantage of pagan antiquity, would have meant. A man of noble birth, representing the power of Rome, endowed with authority over life and death, confronted by a barbarous colonial of no name or estate, a slave of the empire, beaten, robed in purple, crowned with thorns, insanely invoking an otherworldly kingdom and some esoteric truth, unaware of either

Overcoming the Tyranny of History

07/13/2020

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 10, 2015 History is tyranny. A seemingly inescapable part of human life is its history (and the baggage it brings with it). So much that shapes our identity: language, culture, economics, health, personality (and the list goes on), are largely products of history. As such, all of these things are outside of our control, not a part of our choosing. I am white, Anglo-American, lower middle class, with high blood

The Voice of the Natural Will

06/12/2020

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, July 10, 2015 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2Co 3:17) Though many speak of the “free will” of human beings, this is largely a misnomer, or misapplication of the phrase. The choosing that we experience is not the same thing as the will. It is the product of a fracturing of the will and a manifestation of a fundamental

Let us Glory in Temptation. Tackle your Fears Head-On

09/26/2017

Let us Glory in Temptation The devil does not have only one weapon. He uses many different means to defeat human beings: now with bribery, now with boredom, now with greed he attacks, inflicting mental and physical wounds equally. The kind of temptation varies with the different kinds of victim. Avarice is the test of the rich, loss of children that of parents and everyone is exposed to pain of mind or body. What a

The Third Friday of Great Lent: The Reins of Power & You are Utterly Fair, my Love, and there is no Flaw in You

04/01/2016

The Reins of Power In certain cases, the spirit follows the inclinations of nature like a slave. The body takes the upper hand, rouses the passions and drives us to demand selfish pleasure. Then the spirit gives in to the body and even supplies it with the necessary means to satisfy its lusts. This is not the experience of everyone. Those who are holy do not behave like that. In them it is the spirit

The Third Wednesday of Great Lent: Made in the Image of the Trinity we can attain to his Likeness & The Willing Slave of the Spirit

03/30/2016

Made in the Image of the Trinity we can attain to his Likeness The image of God is revealed in us by means of the threefold division of our internal make-up. The Godhead is adored in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Similarly, three parts can be seen in the image formed in accordance with this model, namely in the human being who adores him, who has made everything from nothing, with soul, mind

The Lord’s Prayer (Part VI)

09/26/2014

It is a very common thought in the writings of the early Christian ascetics that man must go through these three stages – slave, hireling and son. The slave is one who obeys for fear, the hireling is one who obeys for reward and the son is one who acts for love. We can see in Exodus how gradually the people of God had become more than slaves and hirelings and the law stands at

The Reality of Love

03/22/2012

“TEACHER/’ THEY SAID, ” WE KNOW THAT YOU SPEAK AND TEACH RIGHTLY, AND SHOW NO PARTIALITY.” —LUKE 20:21 Look at your life and see how you have filled its emptiness with people. As a result they have a stranglehold on you. See how they control your behavior by their approval and disapproval. They hold the power to ease your loneliness with their company, to send your spirits soaring with their praise, to bring you down

Archive

The Twenty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent: Descent is Ascent

Who is free?

Christ and Nothing (Part VII)

Overcoming the Tyranny of History

The Voice of the Natural Will

Let us Glory in Temptation. Tackle your Fears Head-On

The Third Friday of Great Lent: The Reins of Power & You are Utterly Fair, my Love, and there is no Flaw in You

The Third Wednesday of Great Lent: Made in the Image of the Trinity we can attain to his Likeness & The Willing Slave of the Spirit

The Lord’s Prayer (Part VI)

The Reality of Love

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