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The Sixth Tuesday of Great Lent: Good Friday and Unbelief

04/08/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, April 22, 2022 Christmas and Easter are often difficult days for those who do not believe in God. Christians are more public about their faith than at other times of the year and this brings with it an annoyance. Christmas bespeaks the birth of God as a human being. Easter bespeaks a resurrection from the dead. For those who do not believe, such miracles, spoken of so glowingly and with such

The Mystery of the Forerunner

01/07/2025

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 28, 2015  There is a unanimous witness in the Christian gospels concerning the place of St. John the Baptist. In the Orthodox world he is generally referred to as the Forerunner. All of the gospels agree that he plays a key role in the coming of the Messiah. It is a role that is largely ignored by most of the Christian world. The gospels make reference to two Scriptures when they

The Mystery of Christ’s Baptism

01/06/2025

By Stephen Freeman This week, the Church moves from the feast of Christmas to the feast of Theophany – the celebration of the Baptism of Christ. The intent of this feast is not to celebrate a succession of historical events (the Baptism of Christ is at least 30 years later than His birth). Rather this feast takes us into the depths of the mystery of Christ and His salvation of the world. Many Christians, reading the gospel accounts of

The Tenth Day of Christmas: The Angel of Great Counsel and the Fiery Furnace

01/03/2025

As the God of peace and Father of mercies, You sent to us Your Angel, of Great Counsel, granting us peace. So are we guided to the light of divine knowledge, and keeping vigil from night till morning we glorify You, O Lover of mankind. (Fifth Ode of the Katavasia of the Nativity) THE PREINCARNATE CHRIST is usually referred to in the Old Testament as the Angel of the Lord or as the Angel of

The Ninth Day of Christmas. Another Opportunity: A New Year’s Day Sermon by Father George Papadeas

01/02/2025

Another New Year has dawned, and it is normal that we give extra thought to the new time frame. We all make the customary New Year’s resolutions, only to have them short-lived. To this there could only be one answer, and this was spoken by the Lord: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) Our intentions may be honorable, but we so easily capitulate to the espoused routine of life, simply

The Seventh Day of Christmas. The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ

12/31/2024

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Thursday, December 24, 2015. Listening to the hymns of the [Christmas] Vesperal Liturgy, the Royal Hours, and of Matins, I was struck by some extremely beautiful things, which spoke of the openness of God towards his creation; of his love and compassion for all his creation, for the entire universe, is wrapped up in the

The Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. Christmas Throughout the Ages

12/30/2024

By Father Stephen Freeman I’ll have to ask for forgiveness at the outset on this post – mostly because of its speculative nature – something I generally prefer not to engage in – at least not for others to read. The Incarnation of Christ is significant in the course of our salvation – but we all too easily look at the story from a mere moral or soteriological point of view and fail to stop

The Third Day of Christmas. Saint Stephen: The Death of a Revolutionary

12/27/2024

By Father Lawrence Farley Saint Stephen is usually hailed as the first Christian martyr, but he is more than that. His death was also a boundary, and the blood which flowed from his body as the stones hit him became a river, one which separated the faith of the Christians from the religion of Judaism. For unlike the martyrs who followed him, Stephen was not killed by the pagan Romans, executed under a law which

The Second Day of Christmas. The Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos

12/26/2024

On the second day of the feast, the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos is celebrated. Combining the hymns of the Nativity with those celebrating the Mother of God, the Church points to Mary as the one through whom the Incarnation was made possible. His humanity—concretely and historically—is the humanity He received from Mary. His body is, first of all, her body. His life is her life. This feast, the assembly in honor of the

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

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