Bethlehem Archives - Saint Sophia

St. John Chrysostom’s Christmas Homily. Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

12/25/2024

BEHOLD a new and wondrous mystery. My ears resound to the Shepherd’s song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a heavenly hymn. The Angels sing. The Archangels blend their voice in harmony. The Cherubim hymn their joyful praise. The Seraphim exalt His glory. All join to praise this holy feast, beholding the Godhead here on earth, and man in heaven. He Who is above, now for our redemption dwells here below; and he

Fortieth Day of Christmas Advent. For so has God Loved the World (Part II)

12/24/2024

But the road from Bethlehem to Zion is long, and is leading us through Gethsemane and Golgotha. Already in Bethlehem the newborn Godchild is presented with funeral offerings by the Wise Men from the East. “Today God leads the Wise Men to worship through the star, prefiguring His three-day burial in gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” The very doors of the Bethlehem cavern are nearly stained with the innocent blood of the children who were killed

Thirty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent. For so has God Loved the World (Part I)

12/23/2024

By Father Georges Florovsky That we begin our reckoning of time with Christ’s birth is a fact which has long been but a mere convention for many. Seldom does one recall and recognize the great event from which we count time. So do we betray our ignorance and insensitivity. In ancient days, time was computed from the Incarnation of God the Word. It signifies that we live in a world which has been renewed and

The Thirty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. The Genealogy of Jesus

12/19/2024

By Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, December 21, 2014 We read …the genealogy of Jesus from St. Matthew’s Gospel. It is different from St. Luke’s genealogy and there are reasons for this which we do not time to talk about this morning. I would rather spend time on the point of this Gospel and that is, God became man to save everyone and everything. It is as Thomas Merton speaks of this using the metaphor

The Thirty-Third Day of Christmas Advent. The Nativity: An Icon of the Christian Family

12/17/2024

By Fr. Vasile Tudora Everyone’s favorite time of the year is the period before Christmas, when the air is filled with joy, peace and expectation. We are blessed to live in a country that looks forward to Christmas although we might seem to have lost some of its meaning along the way. We have radio stations that air carols without ceasing, exalting the season, although many of them speak about snow, jolly figures carrying gifts,

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Tuesday of Pascha: Saints Constantine & Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles

05/21/2024

This great and renowned sovereign of the Christians was the son of Constantius Chlorus (the ruler of the westernmost parts of the Roman empire), and of the blessed Helen. He was born in 272, in (according to some authorities) Naissus of Dardania, a city on the Hellespont. In 306, when his father died, he was proclaimed successor to his throne. In 312, on learning that Maxentius and Maximinus had joined forces against him, he marched

The Nativity of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

12/25/2023

Reading The incomprehensible and inexplicable Nativity of Christ came to pass when Herod the Great was reigning in Judea; the latter was an Ascalonite on his fathers’s side and an Idumean on his mother’s. He was in every way foreign to the royal line of David; rather, he had received his authority from the Roman emperors, and had ruled tyrannically over the Jewish people for some thirty-three years. The tribe of Judah, which had reigned

The Thirty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent: The Tree of Life Blossoms

12/22/2023

In the hymns for the prefeast of Christ’s Nativity, Jesus’ birth heralds a return to paradise. The Messiah is born and the gates of Eden are opened. The Savior comes and the tree of life blossoms. Paradise is not a place on the map. It is a condition of spirit. When a person knows God and lives in communion with Him, this is paradise. When a person does not know God and lives in communion

The Twenty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent: ‘He Has Redeemed His People’ (Luke 1, 68)

12/13/2023

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on December 30, 2021 Lambros Skontzos, Theologian The coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ into the world is one of the few interludes of joy which tormented humanity has enjoyed over the course of its history. This is illustrated in the angelic tidings of the Nativity to the simple shepherds in Bethlehem: ‘Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day…

The Twenty-Third Day of Christmas Advent: The Power of Mystery

12/07/2023

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, December 24, 2021 There are estimated to be 10s of billions of galaxies in our solar system. 100 billion stars are thought to inhabit each galaxy. 200 billion trillion stars are thought to be in the universe. It is estimated that 100 billion stars are in our galaxy alone. And planet earth is an insignificant ball of dust in a small solar system in the Milky Way

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St. John Chrysostom’s Christmas Homily. Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Fortieth Day of Christmas Advent. For so has God Loved the World (Part II)

Thirty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent. For so has God Loved the World (Part I)

The Thirty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. The Genealogy of Jesus

The Thirty-Third Day of Christmas Advent. The Nativity: An Icon of the Christian Family

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Tuesday of Pascha: Saints Constantine & Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles

The Nativity of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

The Thirty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent: The Tree of Life Blossoms

The Twenty-Ninth Day of Christmas Advent: ‘He Has Redeemed His People’ (Luke 1, 68)

The Twenty-Third Day of Christmas Advent: The Power of Mystery

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