Daily Meditations Archives - Page 68 of 347

The Placing of the Honorable Sash of the Most Holy Theotokos

08/31/2022

August 31 The Placing of the Venerable Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos in a church of Constantinople’s Chalcoprateia district took place during the reign of the emperor Theodosius the Younger. Before this the holy relic, entrusted to the Apostle Thomas by the Mother of God Herself, was kept by pious Christians at Jerusalem after Her Dormition. During the reign of Emperor Leo, the Wise (886-911), his wife Zoe was afflicted with an unclean spirit,

From the Prayer of Jesus to Prayer of the Heart

08/30/2022

By Fr John Breck, May 1, 2010 Archimandrite Placide Deseille is Higoumen of the Monastery of Saint Anthony the Great, St.-Laurent-en-Royans, France, and professor at the St. Sergius Theological Institute in Paris. The following thoughts are adapted from a talk he gave at a local parish on 6 March 2008, originally published by the Service Orthodoxe de Presse (SOP), supplement no. 327, April 2008. The expressions “Prayer of the Heart” and “Prayer of Jesus” or

Beheading of St. John the Baptist

08/29/2022

Published by Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis, August 29, 2021 King Herod heard of it; for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; that is why these powers are at work in him.” But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

How Good Is Your Will? Part Two of the Ontological Model

08/26/2022

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 16, 2016 Suppose I give you a bicycle for the convenience of travel. Suppose, however, that the bicycle is broken: flat tires, missing spokes, a chain that slips frequently. Nevertheless, you figure out a way to make it go. The ride is bumpy and you often have to stop and fix the chain. You fear that one day the wheels will just come apart as the spokes yield to the

When People Don’t Forgive

08/25/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, June 1, 2017 Abbot Tryphon There are people who insist on holding on to resentment, often inventing situations in their minds that never happened, justifying their bad behavior, and putting the blame on others. They see themselves as the abused party, always quick to take offense. Rarely are they able to have healthy relationships, for they are in reality, the abusers. Their world centers around them, and any attempt by others

Holistic Faith

08/24/2022

Published by Lea Povozhaev, March 13, 2017 The term holistic means working with nature rather than against it. And faith is belief that calls one to act. When we cooperate with God, His mercy becomes more apparent to us. God’s mercy enables one to fathom the natural meaning of life: belonging to Jesus Christ. One’s will to accept God fosters more wholeness in a person’s life, and an individual becomes more well—body, mind, and soul.

The Struggle for Holiness

08/23/2022

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, May 15, 2017 Fr. Tryphon, Abbot of All-Merciful Savior Monastery We are powerless to change those bad habits that dominate our lives without help from God. However, we may attempt to change behavior, we cannot do battle with the passions unless we surrender ourselves in humility to God, for such change can only come about by God’s grace. Struggle as we may, our flesh will resist until that moment we seek

Being Saved – The Ontological Approach

08/22/2022

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 12, 2016 I cannot begin to count the number of times I wished there were a simple, felicitous word for “ontological.” I dislike writing theology with words that have to be explained – that is, words whose meanings are not immediately obvious. But, alas, I have found no substitute and will, therefore, beg my reader’s indulgence for dragging such a word into our conversations. From the earliest times in the

The Divine Compass

08/19/2022

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, July 28, 2016 I was in a small shop yesterday in a coastal town. Among its many knick-knacks were a large variety of compasses. We have become a compass-driven culture today, after a lull in which they were largely passé. Of course, the compass is now a very passive thing, hidden within the workings of the resident GPS system in our phones. There has long been a debate about the presence

Journey Through Darkness

08/18/2022

By Fr John Breck, November 1, 2007 The disclosure that Mother Teresa spent long years of agony, unable to sense the presence of God, led many people to doubt the sincerity of her public writings and the genuineness of her vocation. Was she a saint, or merely someone like ourselves? Or maybe both? Any doubts that Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a true saint, a genuinely holy person, have been amply, if ironically, dispelled by