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What Christians Are in This World

09/19/2020

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – What Christians Are in This World “True Christians live in this world as travelers, pilgrims, and sojourners, and they look ever toward their heavenly homeland with faith and with the eyes of the soul, and they strive to reach it….” (From Journey to Heaven: Counsels of the Particular Duties of Every Christian, Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk) Adult/Family: “… We were created for the eternal by our Creator,

God and the Box

09/18/2020

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 24, 2015 It is a commonplace that you “cannot put God in a box.” It is an affirmation of the transcendence of God and of the limits of human understanding. It is also a common rhetorical ploy to shut down a theological discussion. But, let’s think a little more about the box. I am deeply averse to statements that begin: “God cannot.” They are often little more than bad theological

Christ and Nothing (Part XI)

09/17/2020

By David Bentley Hart, October 2003 The only cult that can truly thrive in the aftermath of Christianity is a sordid service of the self, of the impulses of the will, of the nothingness that is all that the withdrawal of Christianity leaves behind. The only futures open to post-Christian culture are conscious nihilism, with its inevitable devotion to death, or the narcotic banality of the Last Men, which may be little better than death.

Great Martyr Euphemia the All-praised

09/16/2020

The Miracle of Saint Euphemia the All-Praised: The holy Great Martyr Euphemia (September 16) suffered martyrdom in the city of Chalcedon in the year 304, during the time of the persecution against Christians by the emperor Diocletian (284-305). One and a half centuries later, at a time when the Christian Church had become victorious within the Roman Empire, God deigned that Euphemia the All-Praised should again be a witness and confessor of the purity of

Α Goth Saint: The Holy Martyr Nikitas

09/15/2020

Nikitas was born in the land of the Goths and was a disciple of their God-bearing bishop, Theofilos, who took part in the 1st Ecumenical Synod in Nicaea in 325. When the leader of the Goths, Athanaric, began to persecute and torture Christians, Nikitas opposed him with boldness and denounced him as an inhumane idolater. He was immediately arrested and tortured cruelly. He not only withstood this, but confessed his faith in Christ with even greater

Elevation of the Cross

09/14/2020

The Elevation of the Cross, celebrated on the fourteenth of September, commemorates the finding of Christ’s Cross by Saint Helen, the mother of the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century; and, after it was taken by the Persians, of its recovery by the Emperor Heraclius in the seventh century at which time it was “elevated” in the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem. From this latter event the “universal elevation” of the Cross was celebrated

The Cross and 9/11

09/11/2020

When someone says 9-11 almost everyone in America will know that it refers to September 11, 2001, the day of the infamous attacks on the United States by 19 hijackers who flew two airline passenger jets into the World Trade Center in New York, one into the Pentagon near Washington DC, and one that crashed into a field near Shanksville Pennsylvania while it was undoubtedly bound for the Capitol or White House. 9-11 became a

Growing in Love’s Likeness: Becoming Fully Human

09/10/2020

The glory of God is a human being fully alive. —St. Irenaeus of Lyon [1] Like every believer I know, my search for real life has led me through at least three distinct seasons of faith, not once or twice but over and over again. Jesus called them finding life, losing life, and finding life again, with the paradoxical promise that finders will be losers while those who lose their lives for his sake will

Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna

09/09/2020

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

“Many Church Fathers taught the use of the “arrow prayer”, deliberately short prayers for personal devotion that were easily remembered, and could communicate one’s love for God, while seeking His help.

09/08/2020

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Arrow prayers: “Many Church Fathers taught the use of the “arrow prayer”, deliberately short prayers for personal devotion that were easily remembered, and could communicate one’s love for God, while seeking His help. They were like arrows being shot into the air, wholeheartedly demonstrating our sincerity in asking God’s help. One of my personal favorites is an arrow prayer attributed to Saint

Blog

What Christians Are in This World

God and the Box

Christ and Nothing (Part XI)

Great Martyr Euphemia the All-praised

Α Goth Saint: The Holy Martyr Nikitas

Elevation of the Cross

The Cross and 9/11

Growing in Love’s Likeness: Becoming Fully Human

Holy and Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna

“Many Church Fathers taught the use of the “arrow prayer”, deliberately short prayers for personal devotion that were easily remembered, and could communicate one’s love for God, while seeking His help.

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