Symeon Archives - Saint Sophia

The Feast of Christ’s Reception as Fulfillment of the Ritual of Mosaic Law

02/03/2026

~Theodore Rokas The recent feast, the Reception of the Lord, is the feast which is celebrated exactly forty days after that of His Nativity. The name of the feast in Greek comes from a verb meaning ‘to go out and meet or welcome someone’ [Hence the depiction of Symeon in icons as being at or outside a door. WJL]. As regards the determination of the celebration of the feast on 2 February, this was decided

The Twenty-Second Day of Christmas Advent: Saint Nicholas, the Saint of the Seas

12/06/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on December 6, 2021 Alexandros Christodoulou Saint Nicholas was born at the south-east corner of Asia Minor, in the town of Patara, in the 3rd century (at the time of the persecutions of Diocletian and Maximian) of devout and rich parents, who had been childless for many years. From an early age it appears that God had destined him for a life of sanctity and of dedication to Himself. The fact he became a

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 9

11/07/2019

By Fr. Maximos (Constas) The metaphors used by Scripture and the Church are not random and arbitrary, and the deeper you dig into any particular symbol the more meaning it will generate. Those who work with plants and gardening, or maybe biologists who know about reproduction, and the activity of seeds and sperm will be able to unpack even more insight. But the thing about a seed is that seeds remain dormant until they are

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 1

09/12/2019

By Fr. Maximos (Constas) I was intrigued by the organic connections that the feast of the Presentation which we’re still celebrating and obviously of the Mother of God with the Crucifixion and Resurrection, largely through the prophecy of Symeon, who at this remarkable moment in the Temple says that this Child is a sign that will be spoken against and is set for the rising and falling of many in Israel, and turning to the Theotokos he

The Third Day of Christmas Advent. St. Ephraim the Syrian: If he was not flesh (Part I).

11/17/2016

St. Ephraim the Syrian: If he was not flesh . . . And if he was not God . . . The facts themselves bear witness and his divine acts of power teach those who doubt that he is true God, and his sufferings show that he is true man. And if those who are feeble in understanding are not fully assured, they will pay the penalty on his dread day. If he was not

The Great and Holy Saturday: On the Lament of the All-Holy Theotokos (Part III)

04/30/2016

On the Lament of the All-Holy Theotokos When She Embraced the Precious Body of our Lord Jesus Christ A Homily of our father Among the Saints Symeon the Metaphrast, Archbishop of Thessaloniki (15th Century) Part III O how bitter is this burial! You granted life to those in the tombs, but lie dead before my very eyes. Once You were wrapped in swaddling clothes; now I shudder to see You in a shroud. As a

The Great and Holy Thursday: On the Lament of the All-Holy Theotokos (Part I)

04/28/2016

On the Lament of the All-Holy Theotokos When She Embraced the Precious Body of our Lord Jesus Christ A Homily of our father Among the Saints Symeon the Metaphrast, Archbishop of Thessaloniki (15th Century) Part I In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen Now I understand, O sweetest Jesus, why those Persians, who came to Your Nativity, brought not only gold as to a king, and

You Were Presented in the Temple

02/02/2016

By Father Stanley Harakas On February 2, our Orthodox Church celebrates a beautiful moment in the life of Christ – The Presentation of Christ at the Temple. According to the Jewish practice at that time, the first-born son of a family was to be brought forty days after his birth to the Temple in Jerusalem for sacrifices to be made. Since the coming Messiah was expected to be a first-born son, it was done in

Renewal (Bright) Monday, Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

04/13/2015

Bright Monday On Bright Monday the Church commemorates the Sweet-Kissing (Glykophilousa) Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. Like the Iveron Icon (March 31), the Sweet-Kissing Icon was also saved from the iconoclasts by a pious woman in the ninth century. It also traveled miraculously upon the sea, arriving at Mt. Athos, the “Garden of the Theotokos,” where it was honored by the monks. A nobleman named Simeon was an iconoclast who shared the emperor Theophilus’s

Archive

The Feast of Christ’s Reception as Fulfillment of the Ritual of Mosaic Law

The Twenty-Second Day of Christmas Advent: Saint Nicholas, the Saint of the Seas

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 9

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 1

The Third Day of Christmas Advent. St. Ephraim the Syrian: If he was not flesh (Part I).

The Great and Holy Saturday: On the Lament of the All-Holy Theotokos (Part III)

The Great and Holy Thursday: On the Lament of the All-Holy Theotokos (Part I)

You Were Presented in the Temple

Renewal (Bright) Monday, Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

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