By Fr. Stephen Freeman, October 15, 2015 Whoever wants to become a Christian must first become a poet. – St. Pophyrios of Kavsokalyvia St. Porphyrios made this statement in the context of love and suffering: That’s what it is! You must suffer. You must love and suffer–suffer for the one you love. Love makes effort for the loved one. She runs all through the night; she stays awake; she stains her feet with blood in order to
By Father Stephen Freeman, January 6, 2015 For an Orthodox priest, the services of the Church involve many “comings and goings.” Part of any service takes place within the altar area, which is usually enclosed by an iconostasis, a wall on which icons are hung. The wall does not truly separate one area of the Church from another so much as it marks one area off from another – the space of the Church is
By Tenny Thomas The Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos is the first major feast of the new Church Year (Eastern Orthodox), which begins on September 1st. Why was this day selected since it is not in the Holy Scripture? History shows that St. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, built a Church in Jerusalem, which was dedicated to the Nativity of our Lady. It was said to be consecrated on the date of
The Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Bible Readings: Epistle: Galatians 4:4-7 Gospel: St. Matthew 2:1-12 Liturgical Services: Christ is born, glorify Him. Christ has come from the heavens. receive Him Christ is on earth, elevate Him. Sing unto the Lord, all the earth. And you nations, praise Him with joy, for He has been glorified —Vesper Service of the Nativity Your Nativity, O Christ our God, has shed the light of knowledge
But the road from Bethlehem to Zion is long, and is leading us through Gethsemane and Golgotha. Already in Bethlehem the newborn Godchild is presented with funeral offerings by the Wise Men from the East. “Today God leads the Wise Men to worship through the star, prefiguring His three-day burial in gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” The very doors of the Bethlehem cavern are nearly stained with the innocent blood of the children who were killed
By Father Stanley Harakas Q: I have asked many persons this question, but I have as yet not received a satisfactory answer. Maybe there is no answer. The question is, “Why was humanity created by God?” I know the “how” and the “circumstances,” but not the “why.” – D.A.C., Augusta, GA. A. One way of answering your question would be to say simply, we have no direct revelation on the subject in the Bible, and so
By Father Stanley Harakas Yes, indeed, what does it mean to love God? We understand to love to mean many things. It is, in truth, as the poet says, “a many splendored thing.” The question is very real for Christians because the leader of our Faith, Jesus Christ, commanded us to love God. He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
CREATION OF ANGELS (5) The Holy Scriptures do not mention exactly when the angels were created, but the Church in its holy tradition, through the writings of its holy fathers, chiefly St. John of Damascus, St. John Cassian, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. Ambrose of Milan, St. Dimitri Rostov, St. Dionysios the Areopagite – all of them believe that they were created from “nothing” prior to the sensible material world and
The Bible is a scented garden, delightful and beautiful … Let us seek in the fountain of this garden “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” We shall taste a joy that will never dry up, because the grace of the Bible garden is inexhaustible. ~ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS, AN EXACT EXPOSITION OF THE ORTHODOX FAITH, 4. 17 REV. DR. EUGEN J. PENTIUC The fourth-century exegete and theologian St. Gregory of Nyssa passionately
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