Saint John Chrysostom on the Truth of the Resurrection Seest thou how they labour for the truth against their will? For they themselves came to Pilate, themselves asked, themselves sealed, setting the watch, so as to be accusers, and refuters one of another. And indeed when should they have stolen Him? on the Sabbath? And how? for it was not lawful so much as to go out. And even if they transgressed the law, how
How the Resurrected Bodies will be Transformed at the Second Coming of Jesus, by Saint Symeon the New Theologian This is the revelation received by Saint Symeon the New Theologian from God while in ecstasy. It reveals to us how our material bodies will be transformed and become incorruptible at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. “One day, while I was praying to God with purity of heart, a breeze came upon me and
Ephrem the Syrian, Paschal Hymn I fall in adoration at your feet, Lord!I thank you, God of goodness;God of holiness, I invoke you,on my knees, in your sight. For me, an unworthy sinner,you have willed to undergo the death of the cross,setting me free from the bonds of evil. What shall I offer in return for your generosity? Glory to you, friend of men!Glory to you, most merciful!Glory to you, most patient!Glory to you who
Concerning the Resurrection of Christ: In what it consists, or how Christ’s resurrection takes place in us, and in it the resurrection of the soul. The mystery of this Resurrection. Delivered on the Monday of the second week of Pascha. By St. Symeon the New Theologian Brothers and fathers, already Pascha, that joyous day, that day of all gladness and delight, the day of Christ’s Resurrection, has arrived in the annual cycle. Rather, it occurs
St Mark is recognized by all Christians world-wide as one of the four Evangelists who wrote a Holy Gospel. Through St Mark, the prophecy spoken of in the Holy Book of Isaiah the Prophet has been fulfilled, “…there will be an altar for the Lord in Egypt and a pillar at its boundaries…” St Mark was also one of the seventy apostles. Although the disciples and the apostles are considered ecumenical or universal bishops for
The Father accepts the Son’s sacrifice ” “by economy” (“po domostroitelstvu”): “man had to be sanctified by God’s humanity” (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 45, On the Holy Pascha). Kenosis [God’s self-limitation, His Divine condescension, especially in taking on human nature in Christ] culminates and ends with Christ’s death, to sanctify the entire human condition, including death. Cur Deus homo? Not only because of our sins but also for our sanctification, to introduce all the
In the Orthodox Church, we give many and various epithets to the names of our Saints, either out of reverence or for some miracle or for any other reason. More than any of our Saints, the Theotokos has the most epithets applied to her name by far by the faithful. Below are some epithets applied to one of Orthodoxy’s most popular and miracle working saints – Saint George the Great Martyr. In Ofis of Pontus
In the center of our liturgical life, in the very center of that time which we measure as year, we find the feast of Christ’s Resurrection. What is Resurrection? Resurrection is the appearance in this world, completely dominated by time and therefore by death, of a life that will have no end. The one who rose again from the dead does not die anymore. In this world of ours, not somewhere else, not in a
It is necessary to explain that Easter is much more than one of the feasts, more than a yearly commemoration of a past event? Anyone who has, be it only once, taken part in that night which is “brighter than the day,” who has tasted of that unique joy knows it. But what is that joy about? Why we can sing, as we do, during the Paschal liturgy: “today are all things filled with light,
On the Great and Holy Feast of Pascha, Orthodox Christians celebrate the life-giving Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This feast of feasts is the most significant day in the life of the Church. It is a celebration of the defeat of death, as neither death itself nor the power of the grave could hold our Savior captive. In this victory that came through the Cross, Christ broke the bondage of sin, and
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