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The Thirty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent. What to Give to the One Who Made Everything?

12/21/2017

By Fr. John Parker So here is a twist on the usual question: what do you get for that someone who *made* everything? I confess to you, dear reader, that the question comes a bit crassly off my fingertips. But the truth is, here we are, at the inauguration of the Christmas feast—which continues through December 31 in Orthodox Christianity—and while we are hauling bags of wrapping paper and boxes to the curb (not the

The Thirty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. The Genealogy of Jesus

12/20/2017

By Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, December 21, 2014 We read today the genealogy of Jesus from St. Matthew’s Gospel. It is different from St. Luke’s genealogy and there are reasons for this which we do not time to talk about this morning. I would rather spend time on the point of this Gospel and that is, God became man to save everyone and everything. It is as Thomas Merton speaks of this using the

The Thirty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. What do I want for Christmas?

12/19/2017

By Fr. Vasile Tudora As we approach the holy night of Nativity, comes a time when we ask ourselves the timeless question: what do I want for Christmas? If one looks around, generally electronics are popular with men, jewelry with women, gaming consoles with teens, and so on; as we could expect, mostly material things. I have yet to hear one answering, “I want the gift of prayer,” or of spiritual discernment, or unwavering faith.

The Thirty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent. Christmas Throughout the Ages

12/18/2017

By Father Stephen Freeman I’ll have to ask for forgiveness at the outset on this post – mostly because of its speculative nature – something I generally prefer not to engage in – at least not for others to read. The Incarnation of Christ is significant in the course of our salvation – but we all too easily look at the story from a mere moral or soteriological point of view and fail to stop

The Thirty-First Day of Christmas Advent. Christmas in General

12/15/2017

By Father Stephen Freeman “Peace on earth! Good will towards men!” is a common greeting to be found on cards during this season of the Nativity. These are, of course, the words sung by the angels the night Christ was born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:14). It is also a phrase which admits of several interpretations. The possibility of various meanings is very likely the reason for its popularity on greeting cards. Who could be opposed

The Thirtieth Day of Christmas Advent. Accepting the Lord’s invitation

12/14/2017

By Fr. Steven Kostoff Within the Orthodox Church, the Sunday between December 11-17 is called, simply enough, the “Second Sunday Before the Nativity of the Lord,” and more specifically, the “Sunday of the Forefathers.” This liturgical preparation for the Feast of our Lord’s Nativity—something of a build-up—is a conscious echo of the lengthy time of preparation, determined by God and embodied in the history of Israel, before the sending of His only-begotten Son into the

The Twenty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent. Christmas Time

12/13/2017

By Father Stephen Freeman The feast of the Nativity of Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ, draws near and the anxiety of the world increases. There are those who worry that the feast is surrounded by too much commercialism. Others fear that religion will once again invade their safely guarded secular spaces. These are only the most vocalized anxieties – busyness consumes our lives. I think of the words from the Dr. Seuss character,

The Twenty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent. Feast Day of Saint Spyridon

12/12/2017

By Fr. George Poulos In the holiest shrine on the island of Kerkyra (Corfu), just off the western coast of Greece, rest the Holy Relics of St Spyridon, which after sixteen centuries, are still in such a remarkable state of preservation that every year he is carried in solemn triumph through the streets on the occasion of his feast day. St Spyridon’s place in the holy company of saints would be assured and his prominence

The Twenty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent. The Fire of Christmas

12/11/2017

By Father Stephen Freeman As a child of the South, accustomed to the tones and the tales of my region, I was well aware of the “fires of hell”. Roadside signs proclaimed the eternal destiny of those who were not saved. I have discovered in later years, that many adult Christians remain committed to the most literal possible version of the fires of hell and will argue as though heaven itself depended on the burning

The Twenty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent. The Morality of Christmas

12/08/2017

By Father Stephen Freeman Morality is tricky business in what is an extremely moral society. I pray my readers to be patient with me as I explain what I think is the problem. First, I will note that morality is all that is left when the most fundamental grounds of a culture have been destroyed. We indeed live in just such a time, hence the rise of a vehemence in the moral life. Second, I will suggest

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The Thirty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent. What to Give to the One Who Made Everything?

The Thirty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. The Genealogy of Jesus

The Thirty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. What do I want for Christmas?

The Thirty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent. Christmas Throughout the Ages

The Thirty-First Day of Christmas Advent. Christmas in General

The Thirtieth Day of Christmas Advent. Accepting the Lord’s invitation

The Twenty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent. Christmas Time

The Twenty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent. Feast Day of Saint Spyridon

The Twenty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent. The Fire of Christmas

The Twenty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent. The Morality of Christmas

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