Temple Archives - Saint Sophia

Nativity of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John

06/24/2025

The Nativity of the Holy Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, John: The Gospel (Luke. 1: 5) relates that the righteous parents of Saint John the Baptist, the Priest Zachariah and Elizabeth (September 5), lived in the ancient city of Hebron. They reached old age without having children, since Elizabeth was barren. Once, Saint Zachariah was serving in the Temple at Jerusalem and saw the Archangel Gabriel, standing on the right side of the altar

The Friday of the Fourth Week of Pascha. What Happens When We Play (Pray)

05/16/2025

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! ~By Fr. Stephen Freeman, November 13, 2014 In my previous article I compared children’s use of play to the place of ritual words and actions in the life of the Church. I absolutely did not mean to imply that one thing is like the other. I mean to say clearly that they are very much the same thing. And I say this both to change how we understand play as

The Third Wednesday of Great Lent: Let’s Stop Pointing Fingers and Examine Ourselves

03/19/2025

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes at St. Mary Orthodox Church in Cambridge, MA on Sunday, October 18, 2020. The Reading is from Luke 10:16-21 I want to focus on the first verse of today’s Gospel reading from Luke. The Lord said to his disciples, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” The bottom line is this. Our words

Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. The Interplay between Darkness and Light.

02/09/2025

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, February 5, 2022 The Odes of Solomon is a first or second century document known to the Holy Father’s and quoted by a few. Olivier Clement used it to great effect in THE ROOTS OF CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM. Here is the quote. “Blessed are the men and women who are planted…in your garden, who grow like trees and flowers grow, who transform their darkness into light. Their roots

Meeting of the Lord

02/02/2025

Forty days after Christ was born He was presented to God in the Jerusalem Temple according to the Mosaic Law. At this time as well His mother Mary underwent the ritual purification and offered the sacrifices as prescribed in the Law. Thus, forty days after Christmas, on the second of February, the Church celebrates the feast of the presentation called the Meeting (or Presentation or Reception) of the Lord. The meeting of Christ by the

The Third Day of Christmas. Saint Stephen: The Death of a Revolutionary

12/27/2024

By Father Lawrence Farley Saint Stephen is usually hailed as the first Christian martyr, but he is more than that. His death was also a boundary, and the blood which flowed from his body as the stones hit him became a river, one which separated the faith of the Christians from the religion of Judaism. For unlike the martyrs who followed him, Stephen was not killed by the pagan Romans, executed under a law which

The Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. Ho, Ho, Holiness in the Simplicity and Purity of God (Part I)

11/19/2024

By Fr. Stelyios Muksuris “THINK of shepherds who are made wise, think of priests who teach, of women who are delighted, when Gabriel teaches Mary joy, when Elisabeth has inside her own womb John kicking. Anna spreads the good news, Symeon opens his arms worshiping the great God inside a little infant, without despising what they see, but glorifying the greatness of His deity. His deity is revealed like light through hymens of glass, through

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part IX). The Cell and Love of Neighbor

10/14/2024

The Cell and Love of Neighbor The external environment of a society, family or religious community reflects the internal environment of the human beings who form it. Jesus said, “By their fruit you shall know them” (Matt 7:16, NRSV). In the cell the monk’s interior life is formed in such a way that he or she becomes what the cell makes possible. The physical enclosure of the cell houses the activities of God’s transforming Spirit.

Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna

09/09/2024

Saint Joachim, the son of Barpathir, was of the tribe of Judah, and was a descendant of King David, to whom God had revealed that the Savior of the world would be born from his seed. Saint Anna was the daughter of Matthan the priest, who was of the tribe of Levi. Saint Anna’s family came from Bethlehem. The couple lived at Nazareth in Galilee. They were childless into their old age and all their

Why the Orthodox Honor Mary (Part I)

08/05/2024

By Father Stephen Freeman, August 1, 2016 Today (August 1) marks the beginning of the Fast of the Dormition, the annual preparation for the feast of the Falling Asleep of the Virgin Mary. I offer this article as reflection. The most difficult part of my Orthodox experience to discuss with the non-Orthodox is the place and role of the Mother of God in the Church and in my life. It is, on the one hand,

Archive

Nativity of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John

The Friday of the Fourth Week of Pascha. What Happens When We Play (Pray)

The Third Wednesday of Great Lent: Let’s Stop Pointing Fingers and Examine Ourselves

Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. The Interplay between Darkness and Light.

Meeting of the Lord

The Third Day of Christmas. Saint Stephen: The Death of a Revolutionary

The Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. Ho, Ho, Holiness in the Simplicity and Purity of God (Part I)

The Cell, Meeting God and Ourselves (Part IX). The Cell and Love of Neighbor

Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna

Why the Orthodox Honor Mary (Part I)

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