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A Transition to Life: The Dormition of the Mother of God

08/01/2023

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on the Feast of the Transfiguration, Sunday, August 6, 2017 It is very important that we wrap our minds around the two truths when we are drawn to speak of the Holy Trinity. One, that the doctrine of the Trinity is the beating heart of our faith. Without it there is no Christianity. And Christianity where the Trinity is not central or has been forgotten or ignored has lost

A Priest’s Thoughts on Depression, Anxiety, the Soul, Your Body and Your Brain

07/31/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, June 26, 2017 I was 19 years old the first time I had a panic attack. I was trying to go to sleep in my dorm room, when suddenly my heart began racing, my mind speeding forward, with what seemed like crazy, desperate thoughts. That was in the early 70’s and the phrase “panic attack” had not been invented. What I did not know was that this was the beginning of

Hidden from the Eyes of Modernity

07/28/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, January 13, 2020 “No one will know what you’re doing.” I recently took an evening for a movie – a fairly rare undertaking. The movie was Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life, which depicts the story of a Catholic man and his family who refused to take an oath of loyalty to Hitler during World War II. He dies a martyr. The story is based in truth. Living in a small valley in

St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr

07/27/2023

By His Eminence Panteleimon Metropolitan of Antinoes. Posted on 27/07/2013 During the end of the 3rd century AD St. Panteleimon, the Great Doctor and Martyr, was born. His father, Eustrogios, was not only very rich but was well known for his zeal in idol worship; whereas his mother St. Euboule was a faithful Orthodox Christian full of Holy Spirit, love and kindness. Her only interest was to guide her only begotten son in the true faith and virtuous life.

The Holy and Blessed Martyr Paraskevi (26 July)

07/26/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on July 26, 2021 Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite A Saint who passed through fire and iron* This saint lived at the time of Emperor Antoninus, about the year 140. She came from a village near Old Rome [as opposed to New Rome, i.e. Constantinople] and was the daughter of Christian parents, called Agathon and Politeia. They were meticulous in their observance of the Lord’s commandments, but were childless and constantly entreated the Lord to

Dormition of the Righteous Anna, the Mother of the Most Holy Theotokos

07/25/2023

Commemorated on July 25 Saint Anna was the daughter of the priest Matthan and his wife Mary. She was of the tribe of Levi and the lineage of Aaron. According to Tradition, she died peacefully in Jerusalem at age 79, before the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos. During the reign of Saint Justinian the Emperor (527-565), a church was built in her honor at Deutera. Emperor Justinian II (685-695; 705-711) restored her church, since Saint

The Communion of Friends

07/24/2023

By Stephen Freeman, August 4, 2021 You meet someone and like them. You slowly get to know them. Conversation and sharing, listening and learning, a picture or a reality begin to emerge. You think about them when they’re away. You’re aware that you matter to them as well. The thought of anything hurting them is painful. This is friendship. We easily reduce friendship to a set of shared emotions. Why we like someone else, we can

The Personality of Saint Mary Magdalene, Equal to the Apostles

07/22/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on July 24, 2021 Georgios Zaravelas, Theologian Saint Mary Magdalene is the most outstanding person in the circle of Christ’s women disciples, and, indeed, the most significant female figure in the Christian Church, after the Mother of God. Her importance for the Church is expressed in the lengthy references to her in the Lives of the Saints. We have very little information concerning her life. She was born in Magdala, a town to the

Goodness and a Word in Due Season

07/21/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, May 8, 2017 There is an old mystical Jewish belief that when God created all things, He did so by speaking their names (in Hebrew, of course). It was further believed (and here’s the mystical part) that if you could manage to speak that name in the right way, you, too, could cause it to be. The instinct behind this is true, regardless of our inability to do such a thing.

Prophet Elijah: Alone Against All!

07/20/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on July 20, 2021 † Dionysios, Metropolitan of Servia and Kozani In the ranks of the Old Testament prophets, a special position is occupied by the Prophet Elijah, whose sacred memory the Church honours and celebrates today. In the New Testament, the name of the Prophet Elijah is frequently mentioned by Christ Himself. Zacharias, the father of the Forerunner, said that John would come “in the spirit and power of Elijah”, that is, that he

Blog

A Transition to Life: The Dormition of the Mother of God

A Priest’s Thoughts on Depression, Anxiety, the Soul, Your Body and Your Brain

Hidden from the Eyes of Modernity

St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr

The Holy and Blessed Martyr Paraskevi (26 July)

Dormition of the Righteous Anna, the Mother of the Most Holy Theotokos

The Communion of Friends

The Personality of Saint Mary Magdalene, Equal to the Apostles

Goodness and a Word in Due Season

Prophet Elijah: Alone Against All!

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