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A Homily in Preparation for the Celebration of Christmas: According to Saint John Chrysostom

12/21/2022

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – A Homily in Preparation for the Celebration of Christmas: According to Saint John Chrysostom A feast day is about to arrive and it is the most holy, august, and awesome of all feasts; it would be no mistake to call it the chief and mother of all holy days. What feast is that? The day of Christ’s birth in the flesh. It

The Thirty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent: Incarnation to Parousia

12/21/2022

By Fr John Breck, December 2, 2009 Celebration of Christmas, the Nativity of our Lord, invites us to look in a fresh way at the intimate relation that exists between the Incarnation of Christ and his “Second Coming” in glory. Too often Nativity is taken as a feast in and of itself, a family festival so deformed by the season’s commercial pressures that two of its major emphases, cosmic and eschatological, become lost in a

The Thirty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent: Feast Day of Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer the Bishop of Antioch

12/20/2022

The Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, was a disciple of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, as was also Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna). Saint Ignatius was the second bishop of Antioch, and successor to Bishop Euodius, Apostle of the Seventy. Tradition suggests that when Saint Ignatius was a little boy, the Savior hugged him and said: “Unless you turn and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven”

The Thirty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent: Martyr Boniface and Saint Aglaïa

12/19/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, December 17, 2021 Evagoras Mahaira Aglaïa was a prosperous woman who lived in the region around Rome in the time of Diocletian and had Boniface as a slave. Bonifatius was her steward, very good-looking in appearance, generous to the poor and kind-hearted, but with a liking for drink and debauchery. They soon fell in love and had a clandestine relationship, since the difference in their social station would not permit any

The Thirty-Second Day of Christmas Advent: And Honesty for All

12/16/2022

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, December 23, 2021 There are “bogus” Scriptures out there – special “revelations” to various characters (generally self-described as “prophets” and such). They have as a hallmark, a kind of self-promotion and a carefully crafted message to “solve” various religious problems. I’ll not name names lest I wind up on someone’s hit list. I’ll let the reader fill-in the blanks. However, there is something quite striking about the writings of the Bible,

The Thirty-First Day of Christmas Advent: Hieromartyr Saint Eleftherios, a Young Bishop

12/15/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, December 16, 2016 This wonderful saint was the son of noble and prominent parents. He was born in Rome, where his father was an official in the imperial service, though he died in the saint’s childhood. His mother, Anthia, had heard the Gospel from Saint Paul and was, in fact, baptized by him. Given the fact that she was a widow, she entrusted her son’s education to the Bishop of Rome,

Imitate the Life of the Saint Whose Name You Bear

12/14/2022

SSCORRE! Saint Sophia Cathedral Online Resources for our Religious Edification Topic of the Week – Imitate the Life of the Saint Whose Name You Bear “At Holy Baptism each person is given a Christian name—the name of an angel or of some holy person. This bestowal of a Christian name at baptism as a profound meaning and a great significance. A Christian name serves not only to distinguish one person from another, but also establishes an

The Thirtieth Day of Christmas Advent: Light into Darkness

12/14/2022

By Fr John Breck, December 2, 2005 The best way to prepare for a feast, I find, is to spend some time looking at and praying before the festal icons. Nativity offers a broad array of sacred images that spell out graphically the biblical Word of the incarnation, the coming of the eternal God in the person of a little child. One of the most striking aspects of those images is the way they blend

The Twenty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent: The Saints Stand by Us

12/13/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, December 14, 2016 Dr Petros Panayiotopoulos When we refer to the life of a saint, we tend to extol their actions and promote them mostly on the basis of the wonderful things they performed. From very ancient times, it was thought that this elevation and emphasis, sometimes even exaggeration, in the narrative of the life of a saint was a way of rendering honour to them. This practice may be considered beneficial

The Twenty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent: St. Spyridon’s Shoes – and My Shoes

12/12/2022

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, September 9, 2019 Earlier this year I was making my way to Antiochian Village for a Writers’ Conference. Walking across the expanse of the Atlanta Airport, I became aware of something odd about my shoes. At first, I thought something had gotten into my shoe, a rock, or some such thing. Then I thought that maybe there was something strange about the foot bed. One of my toes seemed to be

SSCORRE!

A Homily in Preparation for the Celebration of Christmas: According to Saint John Chrysostom

The Thirty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent: Incarnation to Parousia

The Thirty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent: Feast Day of Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer the Bishop of Antioch

The Thirty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent: Martyr Boniface and Saint Aglaïa

The Thirty-Second Day of Christmas Advent: And Honesty for All

The Thirty-First Day of Christmas Advent: Hieromartyr Saint Eleftherios, a Young Bishop

Imitate the Life of the Saint Whose Name You Bear

The Thirtieth Day of Christmas Advent: Light into Darkness

The Twenty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent: The Saints Stand by Us

The Twenty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent: St. Spyridon’s Shoes – and My Shoes

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