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The First Thanksgiving Proclamation

11/22/2012

The first Thanksgiving Proclamation was issued by the revolutionary Continental Congress on November 1, 1777. Authored by Samuel Adams, it was one sentence of 360 words, which read in part: “Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received… together with penitent confession of their sins, whereby they had forfeited every favor; and their humble

The Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple

11/21/2012

The Feast of the Entrance of the Virgin in the Temple is believed to be not among the most ancient festivals of the Church. However, indications that the Feast was observed in the first centuries of Christianity are found in the traditions of Palestinian Christians, which say that the holy Empress Helen (May 21) built a church in honor of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple. St. Gregory of Nyssa, in

Christmas Advent: The Sixth Day

11/20/2012

GOD, THE SUPREME AUTHORITY, has spoken since the beginning of Creation, and continues to speak, in thunder and flood, in light and darkness, in seasons of rain or drought, in war and peace. We are bound to listen to his voice, for there is no other. And because he sent us his Word, and there is no other, our ears must be open to hear it. When God speaks the entire world must answer. Some

Christmas Advent: The Fifth Day

11/19/2012

CONSIDER THE WORDS “SOILED, DEFILED, OPPRESSING”—spoken of God’s people—and the human character qualities that follow them in the book of Zephaniah—deaf, obstinate, untrusting, distant. These words express the Almighty’s disgust and disappointment that his chosen ones, given multiple opportunities to live in the realm of his blessing, have ignored or despised him. Now listen to the exuberant contrasts uttered a few verses later about the same people by the same prophet: “The LORD . .

To the Most Reverend Clergy, Venerable Monastics and Devout Faithful of the Holy Orthodox Churches in the Americas

11/17/2012

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA “Live in Christ, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faithjust as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7) To the Most Reverend Clergy, Venerable Monastics andDevout Faithful of the Holy Orthodox Churches in the Americas: Dearly Beloved in the Lord, On this Sunday before Thanksgiving, we look to God with gratitude and humility for blessing us with abundance. The week ahead will bring together

Christmas Advent: The Second Day

11/16/2012

THE FARMER’S ALMANAC, as well as the long-range meteorological forecast, may give official-sounding information about a wet winter in an area of drought, but until the rains fall and fulfill the prediction, our reasons for belief are based on faith, not fact. The evidence for a weather prediction or any other authoritative pronouncement is not in declaration but in demonstration. There’s a spectacular promise given in the Old Testament prediction in Numbers, spoken, against all

Christmas Advent: The First Day

11/15/2012

ANTICIPATION LIFTS THE HEART. Desire is created to be fulfilled— perhaps not all at once, more likely in slow stages. Isaiah uttered his prophetic words about the renewal of the natural Creation into a wilderness of spiritual barrenness and thirst. For him, and for many other Old Testament seers, the vacuum of dry indifference into which he spoke was not yet a place of fulfillment. Yet the promise of God through this human mouthpiece (and

Preparing for Christmas

11/14/2012

When we demand satisfaction of one another, when we demand any completion to history on our terms, when we demand that our anxiety or any dissatisfaction be taken away, saying, as it were, “Why weren’t you this for me? Why didn’t life do that for me?” we are refusing to say, “Come, Lord Jesus.” We are refusing to hold out for the full picture that is always given in time by God. When we set

The Search for the ‘Place of the Heart’: The Temple of the Body

11/13/2012

We are both person and nature, and the nature itself is also dual, being a synthesis of visible and invisible, each pervading and containing the other. Through the body, we participate in the material and living world; by means of the body, personal existence belongs to the material universe and particularizes it. Cosmic energy is constantly passing through the body, renewing it materially, with the result that the whole of humanity actually possesses a single

REPENTANCE IN THE PHILOKALIA (Part III)

11/12/2012

Theognostos (fourteenth century?) is known to us only as the author of the work included in the Philokalia. “When you fall from a higher state, do not become panic-stricken, but through remorse, grief, rigorous self-reproach, and, above all, through copious tears shed in a contrite spirit, correct yourself and return quickly to your former condition. Rising up again after your fall, you will enter the joyous valley of salvation, taking care so far as possible

Blog

The First Thanksgiving Proclamation

The Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple

Christmas Advent: The Sixth Day

Christmas Advent: The Fifth Day

To the Most Reverend Clergy, Venerable Monastics and Devout Faithful of the Holy Orthodox Churches in the Americas

Christmas Advent: The Second Day

Christmas Advent: The First Day

Preparing for Christmas

The Search for the ‘Place of the Heart’: The Temple of the Body

REPENTANCE IN THE PHILOKALIA (Part III)

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