Daily Meditations

When Belief Is Complicated

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, November 10, 2015  “It’s complicated.” This statement sums up much of the modern experience. I don’t think the world we encounter is actually complicated – but our experience is. Simplicity is the reflection of an inner world free of conflicts and undercurrents. The truth of the modern inner-world is that it is generally pulled in many directions. Modernity is a juncture in history – a place where many rivers meet to form

The Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple on February 2nd

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – The Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple on February 2nd “What does this Feast mean for us today? It is exactly forty days since Christmas, it is time for us to think about the last forty days and ask ourselves some questions…. Whatever our answers to these questions, on this, the Feast of the Meeting of Christ, one

Feast Day of Saint Ephraim the Syrian

St. Ephraim was born early in the fourth century in the ancient city of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, where the Roman Empire bordered on the Persian Kingdom. At one time Mesopotamia belonged to Syria and for this reason St. Ephraim is known as “the Syrian.” He was born of Christian parents before the Edict of Milan was issued (313), establishing official toleration of religion, and, as he later wrote, his ancestors “confessed Christ before the judge;

The Non-Orthodox

What about people who are not Orthodox? By Abbot Tryphon, November 11, 2019 It is always a pity when people who claim to be Orthodox make judgements against fellow Christians. In the tradition of Orthodoxy, wherever we find beauty and truth, it is of God, and it is our calling, as Orthodox Christians, to rejoice when we see others have at least some portion of the Truth. Slamming others for what they do not have,

Atheism and the Imagination

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, October 26, 2015  Einstein was famous for his “thought experiments.” He worked his way into radical new insights, not through careful research in a laboratory, but through careful work in the imagination. The same is true for almost all work in cosmology. You cannot simply observe the data generated from particle experiments and announce a conclusion. What is required is a work of imagination to describe a universe in which what

Saint Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople

This great Father and Teacher of the Church was born in 329 in Arianzus, a village of the second district of Cappadocia, not far from Nazianzus. His father, who later became Bishop of Nazianzus, was named Gregory (commemorated Jan. 1), and his mother was named Nonna (Aug. 5); both are among the Saints, and so are his brother Caesarius (Mar. 9) and his sister Gorgona (Feb. 23). At first he studied in Caesarea of Palestine,

Apostle Timothy of the Seventy

The Holy Apostle Timothy was from the Lycaonian city of Lystra in Asia Minor. Saint Timothy was converted to Christ in the year 52 by the holy Apostle Paul (June 29). When the Apostles Paul and Barnabas first visited the cities of Lycaonia, Saint Paul healed one crippled from birth. Many of the inhabitants of Lystra then believed in Christ, and among them was the future Saint Timothy, his mother Eunice and grandmother Loida (Lois)

“Electrifying” Your Home with the Energy of the Holy Spirit

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – “Electrifying” Your Home with the Energy of the Holy Spirit With what is your home electrified? Table lamps and ceiling fixtures, sure, but what else? The glow of screens: TVs, computers and phones. More recently, strings of Christmas lights. Anything else? “A home without a lit oil lamp in front of icons is cold and dark, but when you have a

Our Holy Father St. Maximos the Confessor

A mighty spiritual giant who was broken by nothing and no one, and whose image does not fade with time, Venerable Maximos the Confessor is a faithful indicator, even till now, of how one may follow after Christ by that path by which he himself so faithfully followed the Lord. St. Maximos the Confessor was born in 580, a citizen of Constantinople and a nobleman. He became a high-ranking courtier at the court of the Byzantine Emperor

Full of Grace and Truth: Saint Euthymios the Great

Saint Euthymios the Great came from the city of Melitene in Armenia, near the River Euphrates. His parents, Paul and Dionysia, were pious Christians of noble birth. After many years of marriage they remained childless, and in their sorrow they entreated God to give them offspring. Finally, they had a vision and heard a voice saying, “Be of good cheer! God will grant you a son, who will bring joy to the churches.” The child