Daily Meditations Archives - Page 272 of 351

THE MEANING OF THE GREAT FAST (Part I)

03/09/2015

By Mother Mary and Bishop Kallistos Ware ‘We waited, and at last our expectations were fulfilled’, writes the Serbian Bishop Nikolai of Ochrid, describing the Easter service at Jerusalem. ‘When the Patriarch sang “Christ is risen”, a heavy burden fell from our souls. We felt as if we also had been raised from the dead. All at once, from all around, the same cry resounded like the noise of many waters. “Christ is risen” sang

The Second Sunday of Lent: Our Holy Father Gregory Palamas

03/06/2015

On the Second Sunday of Lent the Orthodox Church commemorates our Holy Father Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, the Wonderworker. The feast day of Saint Gregory Palamas is November 14, however, he is commemorated on this Sunday as the condemnation of his enemies and the vindication of his teachings by the Church in the 14th century was acclaimed as a second triumph of Orthodoxy. One day in a dream, he saw that he was full

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part IV)

03/05/2015

Agape In terms of our love for one another, all four forms of love are good. But our love towards our fellow human beings is rooted in our love for God. Love for man in Christianity is not humanitarianism, which sees man as the supreme good and goal of life. Our love towards one another can often be distorted and sinful. Philia, eros, and storge, while in themselves good, can be perverted and exaggerated. This

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part III)

03/04/2015

There are four different Greek words for love: agape (brotherly love), eros (sexual love), philia (friendship), and storge (compassion). The word usually used for Christian love—love for God and our fellow human beings—is agape. However, the other three words can also be applied to Christian love. Philia There is an interesting passage in the Gospel (John 21:15-17) when Christ asks Peter three times, “Do you love Me?” and Peter replies, “You know I love You.”

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part II)

03/03/2015

The prayer then turns us to four key virtues Christians should struggle to attain. During Lent, we are to intensify our efforts to acquire them: humility, chastity, patience, and love. HUMILITY IF PRIDE IS, as all Christian teachers have believed, the ultimate spiritual sin that blinds us to our own sins and shortcomings, then humility is the virtue that sees things as they really are. Therefore, it is only when we humble ourselves that we

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part I)

03/02/2015

Let us set out with joy upon the season of the Fast, and prepare ourselves for spiritual combat. Let us purify our soul and cleanse our flesh; and as we fast from food, let us abstain also from every passion. Rejoicing in the virtue of the Spirit, may we persevere with love, and so be counted worthy to see the solemn Passion of Christ our God, and with great spiritual gladness to behold His holy

Sermon on the Sunday of Orthodoxy

02/27/2015

By Fr. Raphael Daly This morning, I would like to tell you the story of two women, who chose very different paths for their respective lives, but arrived at the same destination. The background for this story is the iconoclast controversy, and the feast we celebrate today – the Sunday of Orthodoxy. I won’t get into the history of the iconoclast controversy this morning – there are many fine books on the subject already written,

WHY DO WE SING THE AKATHIST HYMN EVERY LENT?

02/26/2015

The Akathist Hymn is a service full of poetry and theology in praise of the Mother of God, the Theotokos. Thus today’s Gospel reading takes us back to Christmas, to the good news that was given to the Theotokos that she would bare God in her womb and become His mother. This is another feast we celebrate every Lent, on the 25th March, the Annunciation. But why do we sing this Akathist Hymn, this song to

CLEAN WEEK AND THE FIFTH THURSDAY OF LENT

02/25/2015

The end is at hand, my soul, is at hand! But you neither care nor prepare. The time is growing short. Arise! The Judge is at the door! Like a dream, like a flower, the time of this life passes. Why do we bustle about in vain? (Fourth ode of the Canon of St. Andrew) AS WE SAW IN CHAPTER TWO, the central theme of Lent is repentance. This theme is at the heart of

The Virtue of Joy

02/24/2015

CLEAN WEEK Let us joyfully begin the all-hallowed season of abstinence; and let us worship with the bright radiance of the holy commandments of Christ our God, with the brightness of love and the splendor of prayer, with the purity of holiness and the strength of good courage. So, clothed in raiment of light, let us hasten to the Holy Resurrection on the third day, which shines upon the world with the glory of eternal