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Synaxis of the Holy, Glorious and All-Praised Twelve Apostles

The Synaxis of the Glorious and All-Praiseworthy Twelve Apostles of Christ appears to be an ancient Feast. The Church honors each of the Twelve Apostles on separate dates during the year, and has established a general commemoration for all of them on the day after the commemoration of the Glorious and First-Ranked among the Apostles Peter and Paul. The holy God-crowned Emperor Constantine the Great (May 21) built a church in Constantinople in honor of

Repentance is like Lightning

~Protopresbyter Georgios Dorbarakis I was in the Evangelismos Hospital. I was concerned about my soul’s unreadiness. When my spiritual guide (the late Elder Epifanios Theodoropoulos) visited me, I said: ‘I’m praying that God will give me a few more years of life, so that I can repent’. He answered: ‘You don’t need years, repentance is like lightning (K. Yiannitsiotis, Κοντά στον Γέροντα Πορφύριο [Close to Elder Porfyrios]. The late author had a close relationship with Saint Porfyrios-

No Inside, No Outside

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, February 6, 2022 No one is “outside” of God, nor can be. Olivier Clement writes that “not one blade of grass grows outside the Church.” The Syro-Phoenician Woman was outside the Jewish fold, yes, but that did not mean she was disconnected from God. Jesus calls her a woman of great faith. Therefore, she must have been very connected with God indeed for all good things, like

The First (Bright) Friday of Pascha. St. Mark the Apostle, the Founder of the Coptic Church

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Coptic Church or the Church of Alexandria is called “Sees of St. Mark”; one of the earliest four sees: Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. St. Mark, The Founder The Copts are proud of the apostolicity of their Church, whose founder is St. Mark; one of the seventy Apostles (Mk 10:10), and one of the four Evangelists. He is regarded by the Coptic hierarchy as the first of their unbroken

Truth and the Times: The Culture Conundrum (Part I)

An Interview with His Eminence Metropolitan Savas of Pittsburgh PRAXIS: Your Eminence, you’ve acquired something of a reputation for your openness to popular culture. How do you reconcile your role as a bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church, a Church that prides itself on its fidelity to tradition, with your willingness to engage the rapidly changing and generally irreverent world of pop culture? METROPOLITAN SAVAS: You say “change” as if it’s a bad thing! I

The Great Messianic Banquet

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, December 12, 2021 We know that Jesus used parables in his teaching. It is important to remember what a parable is. Parables are extended metaphors that use concrete examples to form a brief, coherent story. Parables are not history and their meaning is not immediately accessible. They are meant to draw us in and provoke us to “subvert conventional ways of seeing and living and to invite hearers

Feast of the Holy, Glorious, and All-Praiseworthy Chiefs of the Apostles, Peter and Paul. Synaxis of the Holy, Glorious and All-Praised Twelve Apostles

June 29 THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL The divinely-blessed Peter was from Bethsaida of Galilee. He was the son of Jonas and the brother of Andrew the First-called. He was a fisherman by trade, unlearned and poor, and was called Simon; later he was renamed Peter by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who looked at him and said, “Thou art Simon the son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter)” (John 1:42). On being raised by the Lord to the dignity of an Apostle and becoming

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fifth Tuesday of Pascha: The Man Born Blind

Sermon Preached by Father Antony Hughes on the Sunday of the Blind Man (June 1st, 2003) In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Christ is Risen! This is the last Sunday we will say this to one another. The Leave-Taking of Holy Pascha and the Feast of the Ascension occur this week. But remember, every Sunday Liturgy with only a few exceptions, is a

The Great Messianic Banquet

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, December 12, 2021 We know that Jesus used parables in his teaching. It is important to remember what a parable is. Parables are extended metaphors that use concrete examples to form a brief, coherent story. Parables are not history and their meaning is not immediately accessible. They are meant to draw us in and provoke us to “subvert conventional ways of seeing and living and to invite hearers

Passionately Drunk

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, September 5, 2016  The Philokalia, that wonderful collection of writings by the fathers on prayer of the heart, has as its full title, The Philokalia of the Neptic Saints gathered from our Holy Theophoric Fathers, through which, by means of the philosophy of ascetic practice and contemplation, the intellect is purified, illumined, and made perfect. Little wonder it is known popularly as the Philokalia. That word, Philokalia, means “the love of beautiful things.” It