Worship 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. Eyes Wide Open

05/28/2025

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, May 24, 2020 All of us carry things that weigh us down: including beliefs and opinions, little “t” traditions that are unnecessary and burdensome, desires, sins, fears. I could name many others. We saw it in the Gospel of the Samaritan Woman last week. She held tightly to her Samaritan traditions as the Jews did to theirs. Worship here not there, there

Pay Attention! See What You See!

03/22/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 20, 2021 It has been said that the whole of Orthodox theology and teaching can be found in a single, well-executed icon. I believe it to be true. Over the years, I have found that certain icons have been invaluable in efforts to teach a class of inquirers or catechumens about certain aspects of the faith. Those “certain aspects” could easily be expanded until, time permitting, the whole of the

Sacrifice and Worship

10/27/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, November 21, 2017 In the 1970’s, the BBC did a series, “The Long Search,” in which Ronald Eyre explored various religions. To my mind, it remains the best such series I’ve seen. When it came to Christianity, the series wisely presented three separate treatments: the Orthodox, the Catholics and Protestants. In its program on Orthodoxy, Eyre traveled to Romania, which was then under the boot of Ceausescu and official “atheism.” The

The Sacrifice of Worship

09/04/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, May 30, 2017 When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac (Genesis 22), there was no questioning on Abraham’s part about what was intended. He understood precisely what was involved in such a thing. There was wood to be gathered, an altar of stones to be constructed, the victim to be bound, and then the slitting of its throat with the gushing forth of blood, all consummated in the burning

The Sixth Day of Christmas. Is There Room in Your Inn?

12/30/2021

Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis And she gave birth to her first born Son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. -Luke2:7 In the Mexican culture there is a Christmas-time tradition called Las Posadas. In this tradition, a couple dressed up as Mary and Joseph go from home to home, asking if there is any room at “the inn.” Each home takes on the role of an

The Tenth Day of Christmas Advent. “Born of a Woman.”

11/24/2021

By stating that Jesus is “born of woman”—this Mary (as both St. Matthew and St. Luke attest)—St. Paul insists that Jesus is most emphatically human, the “firstborn of all creation.” That this Mary is at the same time a virgin prevents the birth of Jesus from being reduced to what we know or can reproduce from our own experience. Life that is unmistakably human life is before us here, a real baby from an actual

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fifth Friday of Pascha: The Soul Is a Mirror

06/04/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 25, 2017 There are meditations and insights that simply change your life. I recall walking across the campus at Duke some 30 or so years ago. I had been plowing through a book of Orthodox theology (very thick reading). I would read a page and think, and read it again. But I recall very plainly a moment of insight – it regarded some paragraphs surrounding a statement of St. Basil’s.

Struggling with Prayer. Standing in Worship.

01/14/2021

Struggling with Prayer: When prayer becomes a struggle By Abbot Tryphon, November 10, 2019 When we find ourselves struggling with prayer, and feel that it has become dry and lifeless, we are sometimes tempted to stop praying. When our prayer has become a struggle, it is good to remember that God knows our needs, and even knows what we want to say when we don’t seem to know. This is the time we need to

Thoughts on Freedom and Discipline. Thoughts on Condemning.

11/04/2020

Thoughts on Freedom and Discipline, Quotes of the Day, June 29, 2016 “The Christian life involves both freedom and discipline…Freedom is not the absence of constraints but finding the right ones, those that fit our nature and liberate us…Freedom in Christ…means taking every opportunity to serve and to become the best person you can be.” (Life Application Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 9:19-27, Philippians 3:17-21, Pastor Timothy Keller) “A fish is free as long as it

Archive

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

The Sixth Wednesday of Pascha. Eyes Wide Open

Pay Attention! See What You See!

Sacrifice and Worship

The Sacrifice of Worship

The Sixth Day of Christmas. Is There Room in Your Inn?

The Tenth Day of Christmas Advent. “Born of a Woman.”

Struggling with Prayer. Standing in Worship.

Thoughts on Freedom and Discipline. Thoughts on Condemning.

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