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The Fourth Wednesday of Great Lent: Thoughts on Great Lent, Thoughts on Fasting

03/30/2022

Thoughts on Great Lent By Michael Haldas, February 27, 2017 “Lent is a time for those who are at the “curious” stage to explore the faith deeper. For those who are at the “desire” stage, it is a time to deepen the commitment. For those who are at the “convicted” stage, it is a time to give greater witness. For those out recruiting, it is time to double efforts and recruit even more people to

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian

01/28/2022

Saint Ephraim the Syrian, a teacher of repentance, was born at the beginning of the fourth century in the city of Nisibis (Mesopotamia) into the family of impoverished toilers of the soil. His parents raised their son in piety, but from his childhood he was known for his quick temper and impetuous character. He often had fights, acted thoughtlessly, and even doubted God’s Providence. He finally recovered his senses by the grace of God, and

Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople

01/25/2022

This great Father and Teacher of the Church was born in 329 in Arianzus, a village of the second district of Cappadocia, not far from Nazianzus. His father, who later became Bishop of Nazianzus, was named Gregory (commemorated Jan. 1), and his mother was named Nonna (Aug. 5); both are among the Saints, and so are his brother Caesarius (Mar. 9) and his sister Gorgona (Feb. 23). At first he studied in Caesarea of Palestine,

The Seventh Day of Christmas. The Holy Name.

12/31/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, January 3, 2017 In 1913, a small Russian fleet landed a contingent of soldiers who forcibly removed a group of Russian monks from Mount Athos. This action came at the end of a stormy controversy surrounding the name of God. The monks were known as the Imyaslavsy (“Name worshippers”) and were following ideas that had been promulgated in a text published in 1907. That work, On the Caucasus Mountains, written by the staretz, Schemamonk

The Thirty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent. Let’s Celebrate: The 12 Days of Christmas

12/23/2021

Melissa K. Tsongranis O Christ, what shall we offer You for Your coming on earth as a Man for our sake? Every creature that has its being from You give thanks to You: the angels offer hymns of praise, the heavens give a star: wise men present their gifts, and the shepherds, their wonder; the earth provides a cave and the desert a manger. As for us, we offer You a Mother, a Virgin Mother.

Three Guiding Lights of Truth Faith

01/30/2021

By Very Rev. Stephen Rogers, from The Word, January 2001 As the month of January draws to a close, the Church calls us on the 30th to celebrate the Feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs: St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom. In celebrating these three great teachers of the Church, the Church in its hymnody refers to them as “harps of the Spirit,” “rays of light,” “scented flowers of Paradise,”

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 16

02/12/2020

By Fr. Maximos (Constas) If I sit down to say the Jesus Prayer I will very quickly have certain kinds of thoughts running through my mind, usually very simple distractions such as “I think I left the oven on! I should leave my prayer and go check,” or “I forgot to call my mother,” or “I just got a great idea for a sermon!” All these superficial distractions are the first thing that happens to

Things You Can’t Invent

01/27/2020

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, June 19, 2015 Most of the things in our lives are not of our own making – they were given to us. Our language, our culture, the whole of our biology and the very gift of life itself is something that has been “handed down” to us. In that sense, we are all creatures of “tradition” (traditio=“to hand down”). Of course, these things that are not of our own making and

Truth, Lies and Icons

01/20/2020

By Father Stephen Freeman, June 9, 2015 As verbal beings, we live in a world of icons. We experience the world in an iconic fashion. A major difficulty for us is that we have lost the vocabulary of iconic reality. We have substituted the language of photography. The dissonance between reality and our photographic assumptions has led us to doubt both. Man is an iconographer and needs to re-learn what that means. +++ Franz Kafka

Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa

01/10/2020

Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, was a younger brother of Saint Basil the Great (January 1). His birth and upbringing came at a time when the Arian disputes were at their height. Having received an excellent education, he was at one time a teacher of rhetoric. In the year 372, he was consecrated by Saint Basil the Great as bishop of the city of Nyssa in Cappadocia. Saint Gregory was an ardent advocate for Orthodoxy,

Archive

The Fourth Wednesday of Great Lent: Thoughts on Great Lent, Thoughts on Fasting

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian

Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople

The Seventh Day of Christmas. The Holy Name.

The Thirty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent. Let’s Celebrate: The 12 Days of Christmas

Three Guiding Lights of Truth Faith

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 16

Things You Can’t Invent

Truth, Lies and Icons

Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa

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