wine Archives - Saint Sophia

The Participation of Nature in Worship: The Blessing of the Fruits of the Vine

08/20/2026

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on August 6, 2019 Georgios N. Manolis, Theologian According to Saint Basil the Great, nothing exists without due cause, nothing’s fortuitous, everything has some secret and unexpressed wisdom. Thus, regarding plants and their fruits, apart from their ecological importance as producers of eco-systems they’re also schools for rational souls and colleges of the knowledge of God, which train the intellect and lead it from the visible and tangible to the contemplation of things invisible. Plants

The Sixth Wednesday of Pascha. After the Resurrection (3)

05/20/2026

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! ~Archimandrite Elisaios, Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petras ‘When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight’. So we’ve seen how, initially, Christ walked along with the disciples in such a way that they didn’t recognize Him and that then He

The First Monday (Pure) of Great Lent: A Modern Lent

02/23/2026

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 29, 2019 Few things are as difficult in the modern world as fasting. It is not simply the action of changing our eating habits that we find problematic – it’s the whole concept of fasting and what it truly entails. It comes from another world. We understand dieting – changing how we eat in order to improve how we look or how we feel. But changing how we eat in order to know God

The Royal Priesthood in a Secular World

02/16/2026

~By Stephen Freeman, June 22, 2023 St. Peter describes us as a “royal priesthood.” “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…” (1 Peter 2:9) We live in a world metaphor and simile. That is to say, we might call someone a “king” or “priest,” but really only mean that

Priesthood in the Old and New Testaments

07/29/2025

Grigoris Sahinoglou The concept of priesthood exists in the Old Testament, though it has a significance and character that is different from that which it assumes in the New. In the Old Testament, before the time of Moses, every head of a family could offer sacrifices to God and there is no lack of instances where this happened, such as when Noah performed a sacrifice after the flood in gratitude to God for his survival

Mere Morality

08/30/2024

By Father Stephen Freeman, July 14, 2014 What makes an action moral? I use the word to describe something done in an effort to conform to a rule, a law, or a principle. It is a matter of the will and a matter of effort. All societies require some form of moral behavior. If there were no such behavior, life would be unpredictable, unstable, and quite dangerous. Governments encourage some form of morality (it is

Dancing with God

02/22/2024

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, May 7, 2017 at St. Mary Orthodox Church The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (5:1-15) Once upon a time, as all stories of this kind should begin, there were three demons that lived on the top of a fiery and smoky mountain. They got together one day to discuss something very important; how to make a royal mess of things for the human

Epiphany: Eureka!

01/06/2024

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, January 10, 2021 Epiphany means: “a sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something. An intuitive grasp of reality through a simple and striking event. An illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure.” It is not only a religious term. It can refer to any other sphere of human interest as well. For example, there is the famous story of the Greek mathematician Archimedes who,

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Sixth Tuesday of Pascha: Belief and Faith, Water and Wine

05/23/2023

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (3:13-17) The Christian message is very, very simple. God loves the world. He loves us. Seeing his creation falling into death, he sent his Son, to liberate us from death, from sin, from fear and to grant eternal life to all who believe in this simple Gospel. And he has accomplished in taking on human nature and matter the deification of all things. In Holy

The Dormition Fast

08/03/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, August 1, 2021 From the 1st to the 14th of August we fast in honor of Our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God. It’s a strict fast, with fish eaten only on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Savior (6 August). If 15 August falls on a Wednesday or Friday, there is a dispensation only for fish. Fasting is a commandment from God. The first. The oldest of all.

Archive

The Participation of Nature in Worship: The Blessing of the Fruits of the Vine

The Sixth Wednesday of Pascha. After the Resurrection (3)

The First Monday (Pure) of Great Lent: A Modern Lent

The Royal Priesthood in a Secular World

Priesthood in the Old and New Testaments

Mere Morality

Dancing with God

Epiphany: Eureka!

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Sixth Tuesday of Pascha: Belief and Faith, Water and Wine

The Dormition Fast

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