Click here
Donate
Search
Donate

Daily Meditations

The First Monday (Pure) of Great Lent: It’s a Crying Shame.

03/03/2025

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 2, 2016 Orthodox Christians make a beginning of their Lenten discipline with the forgiving of everyone for everything (theoretically)…. forgiveness is perhaps the most difficult spiritual undertaking. I believe the reason for this is clear: to forgive is to endure shame. The experience of shame (how I feel about who I am) is easily the most vulnerable point of encounter in our lives. Generally, we cover our shame with any

Forgiveness Sunday – Do We Know What We’re Doing?

03/02/2025

~By Fr Stephen Freeman, March 13, 2016 This is a meditation I shared with my parish this week as the Sunday of Forgiveness approaches: Perhaps the most generous words spoken by Christ are those we hear from the Cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Taken at face value, the words make little sense. Surely, those who crucified Christ knew that they were killing a man. Surely they were

Forgiveness for All the Sundays to Come

02/28/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, February 25, 2023 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; (John17:20-21) The Elder Sophrony, together with St. Silouan, wrote about the “whole Adam.” By this, they meant all the human beings who have ever existed and those yet to come. For Silouan and Sophrony, this was something known in the present tense, a “hypostatic” knowledge of the fundamental unity of

From Darkness to Light

02/27/2025

~By Archimandrite Varnavas Lambropoulos On the eve of our entry into Great Lent, everything in church speaks to us of repentance. The wonderful hymns ‘robe’ the message of repentance in a poetic manner; the Gospel reading gives us the keys to open the gates of repentance; and the Epistle reminds us of one of Saint Paul’s most pressing admonitions: to call us to repentance. In essence the leading apostle repeats, in his own, graphic manner,

Living in a Different Light

02/26/2025

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, June 11, 2023 Gospel: Matthew 10:32-33; 37-38; 19:27-30 I want to begin with a different quote from Mt. 12:46-50 because scripture is a seamless robe as my Systematic teacher once told us. One verse will shed light on the meaning of another. To understand the parts is to understand the whole. “While he was speaking to the crowds, look: his mother and brothers stood outside seeking to

Who Loves Perfectly?

02/25/2025

~By Fr. Andreas Agathokleous I don’t know if, in other eras, people experienced confusion regarding words, that is, that they said one thing and meant another. Despite the great achievements of scientific progress, technological development, the shrinking of distances, and tremendous communications, I think that, in our own age there’s the following particular contradiction: although we’re always waxing lyrical about love (in songs, poetry and prose), in reality we don’t know what it is, because,

The Temptations of Identity

02/24/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, March 13, 2023 “Who am I?” The question of who we are is deceptively simple. When we begin to press the question, almost every answer that we can give is something other than the self. When we leave the (ideally) intimate communion of our early years and begin to forge our way into a social setting, an uncertainty begins to be our social companion. This questioning of identity (which is fairly normal) becomes

Meatfare Sunday: Present Sheep

02/23/2025

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, March 7, 2021 When our Lord and Savior instructs us to love everyone without preference, we must never allow anyone to convince us otherwise. In the kingdom of God there can be neither apathy nor prejudice. Quoting Pope Francis speaking in the ancient city of Ur, “the greatest blasphemy is to profane his name by hating our brothers and sisters.” Blasphemers, it goes without saying, cannot inherit

A Single Moment

02/21/2025

By Father Stephen Freeman, May 19, 2018 Grushenka, a character in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, relates a now-famous fable about an old woman: Once upon a time there was a woman, and she was wicked as wicked could be, and she died. And not one good deed was left behind her. The devils took her and threw her into the lake of fire. And her guardian angel stood thinking: what good deed of hers can I

Distress and Delight

02/20/2025

Fr. Andreas Agathokleous How is it that you want to be friends with someone, but yet you don’t make any effort to get in touch with them, particularly when there’s no reluctance on their part? How is it that you want to feel God’s joy within you, to feel the sweetness of his presence, but yet you don’t pray? How is it that you say you love God, but yet you don’t observe his commandments?

Categories
Archives
Trending
Adam Advent Bethlehem Christmas Christmas Advent communion Constantinople Cross death Egypt Eucharist Fathers Fr. Antony Hughes Fr. Stephen Freeman grace Great Lent heart holy spirit humility incarnation Jerusalem kingdom Kingdom of God lent love Mary Messiah Moses Mother of God Nativity Old Testament Pascha Paul Pemptousia Pentecost prayer repentance resurrection salvation silence sin St. Paul Theotokos transformation Trinity
View Our Live Stream Services
Keep In Touch

Stewardship Application

How to stay connected when separated

Daily Meditations

Father Steve's Daily Meditations & Weekly Bible Study every Tuesday at 7PM

Worship Schedule

Click here to view!

Light a Virtual Candle

Please Light a Virtual "Kandili" (Votive Candle) for Healing and Remembrance

Text-to-Give in 2 easy steps!

1) Text 202-899-7801 to include your donation amount

2) Follow the link to complete the one-time registration

Donate Now

Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral 2815 36th St NW, Washington DC 20007

© 2020 Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral