By Stephen Freeman, August 1, 2015 “Person” is among the most difficult words in the classical Christian vocabulary. It is difficult on the one hand because the word has a common meaning in modern parlance that is not the same meaning as its classical one. And it is difficult on the other hand even when all of its later meanings and associations are stripped away – because what it seeks to express is simply a very
By David Bentley Hart, October 2003 The word “nihilism” has a complex history in modern philosophy, but I use it in a sense largely determined by Nietzsche and Heidegger, both of whom not only diagnosed modernity as nihilism, but saw Christianity as complicit in its genesis; both it seems to me were penetratingly correct in some respects, if disastrously wrong in most, and both raised questions that we Christians ignore at our peril. Nietzsche’s case
By Abbot Tryphon, October 19, 2019 The place of holy relics in the Orthodox Church Because of the revolution during the period of the Protestant Reformation, the veneration of the saints, came under attack, leading to the burning of the bodies of saints, depriving them of even a Christian burial, and thus leading to perhaps the worst sin of iconoclasm. We see a continuation of this iconoclasm demonstrated by our fear of the dead by
We are currently renovating the Cathedral bathrooms, please see the post construction progress photos below: MORE PICTURES COMING SOON! ‘
God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness.” —Genesis 1:26 My dear people, we are already children of God; what we will be in the future has not yet been fully revealed, and all I do know is that we shall be like God. —1 John 3:2 The Judeo-Christian creation story says that we were created in the very “image and likeness” of God—who is Infinite Love flowing between Three, making unity out of clear diversity. (Picture
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, July 27, 2015 No revelation is more central to the Christian faith than God as Father. Some might immediately respond that the Trinity should be seen as the central revelation. But, in Orthodox understanding, the Trinity has its source (πηγή) in the Father. We should understand this not only as a matter of Trinitarian thought, but as the proper grounding of the spiritual life as well. To be a Christian in the proper sense, to
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SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification TOPIC OF THE WEEK: If the threat of coronavirus has made you think about your own mortality, you are not alone. What is this temporal life for? Our eternal salvation! What things are important in this life for that end? We may have concentrated much of our time and energy on worldly things, but hopefully we have learned from this pandemic to concentrate more on
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, July 16, 2015 “If anyone falls, he falls alone. But no one is saved alone.” – Alexei Khomiakov Roughly 25 years ago I quit smoking. I never think about it now – it has become a thing of the distant past. But I can remember a period of about 10 years in which I struggled to quit. I would make up my mind, throw things away, make a clean sweep, and
Help Saint Sophia Cathedral on National eGiving Day Dearest Steward and Parishioner, The past few months have been challenging for all of us. Despite the temporary closure of the Cathedral, not for one moment have we waned in our faith as Orthodox Christians, or in our commitment to our shared mission and ministry. June 20, 2020, is not only the first day of summer, it’s also National eGiving Day, an opportunity for you to help
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