St. John Chrysostom Archives - Page 4 of 8

The Work That Saves

03/01/2019

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 17, 2015 Do we cooperate in our salvation? Do our efforts make a difference? These questions lie at the heart of a centuries-old religious debate in Christianity. Classically, the Protestant reformers said, “No,” to these questions, arguing that we are saved solely and utterly by God’s grace, His unmerited favor. The Catholic Church replied that “faith without works” is dead and that faith alone is insufficient. This debate, with various

The Thirty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. The Voice Calls Out to Us.

12/20/2018

EVEN NOW THE VOICE CALLS OUT TO US, asking that we turn, bidding us again to prepare the way of the Lord. And most of us, most of the time, will break our hearts trying to respond as we should. Repentance—that turn of heart and mind—is not so easy to accomplish, nor do our preparations of “the way” ever feel quite complete. Still and always, the voice calls to us from the wilderness and calls

‘A Lover of Knowledge’—St Mark the Ascetic

10/05/2018

Today we celebrate the memory of the Holy Mark the Ascetic (5th c.), also known as St Mark the Monk. Although St Mark wrote some very important hesychastic treatises, which have been included in the Philokalia, little is known about his life. An ascetic and wonderworker, he was made a monk at the age of forty by his teacher, St John Chrysostom. Mark spent sixty more years in the Nitrian desert in fasting, prayer and

The Great and Holy Pascha. Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

04/08/2018

The Lord rises from the dead, as a Bridegroom comes forth from the chamber. This was accomplished by the power of God, as the general resurrection will, in the last day, be accomplished by the power of God. And in the Resurrection the Incarnation is completed, a victorious manifestation of Life within human nature, a grafting of immortality into the human composition. The Resurrection of Christ was a victory, not over his death only, but

The Great and Holy Saturday. Knocking Down the Gates of Hell

04/07/2018

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 30, 2016 The Swedish Lutheran theologian, Gustav Aulen, publish a seminal work on types of atonement theory in 1930 (Christus Victor). Though time and critique have suggested many subtler treatments of the question, no one has really improved on his insight. Especially valuable was description of the “Classic View” of the atonement. This imagery, very dominant in the writings of the early Fathers and in the liturgical life of the

Three Guiding Lights of True Faith

01/30/2018

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,”

Inner Stillness: Contemplation as Transformation

01/24/2018

SPIRITUAL AUTHORS TELL us that we need to spend some time every day being still, either seated or standing. They encourage us to have a “prayer word”-the Jesus Prayer, the single name “Jesus,” some other short prayer, or silence. Our quest for a spiritual life pivots on quiet time and intimacy with Christ. Our quiet time can be part of our personal prayer rule as directed by our spiritual father. The usual directive is to

Inner Stillness: Stillness Opens Us to Prayer

01/10/2018

IN HIS BOOKLET The Power of the Name, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware writes: When you pray you yourself must be silent.… You must be silent; let the prayer speak. Silence is not merely negative-a pause between words-but highly positive; it is an attitude of attentive alertness, of vigilance, and above all of listening. The person who prays is the one who listens to the voice of prayer in his own heart, and he understands that this

The Thirty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. What do I want for Christmas?

12/19/2017

By Fr. Vasile Tudora As we approach the holy night of Nativity, comes a time when we ask ourselves the timeless question: what do I want for Christmas? If one looks around, generally electronics are popular with men, jewelry with women, gaming consoles with teens, and so on; as we could expect, mostly material things. I have yet to hear one answering, “I want the gift of prayer,” or of spiritual discernment, or unwavering faith.

The Twenty-Third Day of Christmas Advent. Ho, Ho, Holiness in the Simplicity and Purity of God (Part II)

12/07/2017

By Fr. Stelyios Muksuris Every year it seems the feast of our Lord’s Nativity in the flesh becomes more and more secularized. Atheists would advocate a humanistic approach to the festival of lights, seeking to “demythologize” the festival by stripping it of its Christocentric character. Christmas, they would claim, is about the magnanimity of the human spirit to transcend the fallen world by loving others and graciously giving to them. Any notion of a miraculous

Archive

The Work That Saves

The Thirty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. The Voice Calls Out to Us.

‘A Lover of Knowledge’—St Mark the Ascetic

The Great and Holy Pascha. Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

The Great and Holy Saturday. Knocking Down the Gates of Hell

Three Guiding Lights of True Faith

Inner Stillness: Contemplation as Transformation

Inner Stillness: Stillness Opens Us to Prayer

The Thirty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. What do I want for Christmas?

The Twenty-Third Day of Christmas Advent. Ho, Ho, Holiness in the Simplicity and Purity of God (Part II)

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