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Thirty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent: THE FOREFEAST OF THE NATIVITY

12/19/2014

Become Like Children “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” (Mark 10:15) EVERY YEAR AS CHRISTMAS APPROACHES, we hear a great deal of speculation about the meaning of Christmas in a society that is persistently trying to shake off it Christian identity. During such a debate about the meaning of Christmas, one comment in particular struck me: “Christmas is a feast for children.” Although

The Thirty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent: THE TWO SUNDAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Part II)

12/18/2014

The Old Testament Church’s anticipation of the Lord’s First Coming serves as an exhortation to the New Testament Church not to forget its anticipation of His Second Coming: Christ has commanded those with understanding to be vigilant and to hope for His coming, for He has come to be born from a Virgin. At your second coming, O Christ, make me, who honor Your coming in the flesh, one of the sheep at Your right

The Thirty-Third Day of Christmas Advent: The Angel of the Lord and the Mountain of God (Part IV)

12/17/2014

Receive, O manger; Him whom Moses the Law-giver foresaw in the bush on Horeb, now born of the Virgin through the divine Spirit. (Vespers of the Forefeast, December 20, Theotokion of the Lity) It is this astonishing paradox that the Orthodox Church repeatedly con1pels us to contemplate, a paradox that was beautifully expressed by St. John Chrysostom: What shall I say! And how shall I describe this Birth to you? For this wonder fills me

The Thirty-First Day of Christmas Advent: Saint Eleutherios the Hieromartyr

12/15/2014

Eleutherios was born in Rome in the second century AD. He was among the first and youngest to carve a niche for himself in Christianity in the eternal city of Rome, where he astounded his elders with his prodigious intellect and early development. Had his father, a high public official of pagan Rome, lived to guide his immensely talented son, things might have taken a different turn for the boy and for Christianity, but his

The Twenty-Eighth Day of Christmas Advent: Saint Spyridon the Wonderworker and Bishop of Tremithus

12/12/2014

Saint Spyridon of Tremithus was born towards the end of the third century on the island of Cyprus. He was a shepherd, and had a wife and children. He used all his substance for the needs of his neighbors and the homeless, for which the Lord rewarded him with a gift of wonderworking. He healed those who were incurably sick, and cast out demons. After the death of his wife, during the reign of Constantine

The Twenty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent: THE TWO SUNDAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS (Part I)

12/11/2014

Come, let us faithfully celebrate the annual commemoration of Abraham and those who are with him, the fathers that lived before the Law. Let us honor the tribe of Judah as it is meet; let us praise the youths in Babylon, who, as an image of the Trinity, quenched the flame of the furnace, together with Daniel; and holding fast to the prophecies of the prophets, let us cry aloud with Isaiah: “Behold, a Virgin

The Twenty-Sixth Day of Christmas Advent: The Angel of the Lord and the Mountain of God (Part II)

12/10/2014

The burning bush is not the only instance where the Angel of the Lord appears and is declared as God. The same Angel appeared to and conversed with the patriarchs and prophets (e.g. Gen. 16; 32; Judg. 6; 13). In all of the passages, those who see this Angel of the Lord are amazed that they have seen God and lived: “I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved.” (Gen. 32:30) Gideon

The Twenty-Fifth Day of Christmas Advent: ST. ANNAS CONCEPTION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

12/09/2014

Barrenness and Fertility “Be glad, O barren woman who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in travail, for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. (Isaiah 54:1) ON DECEMBER 9, the Church commemorates the conception of the Virgin Mary. This is another story that is nowhere recorded in the Old or New Testaments, but it was known to the

Twenty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent: The Angel of the Lord and the Mountain of God (Part I)

12/08/2014

The Lord came down from Sinai and appeared to us from Seir; He hastened from Mount Paran along with myriads at Kadesh, angels with Him at His right hand, (Deuteronomy 33:2) ANOTHER OLD TESTAMENT ALLUSION in the fourth ode of the katavasias is the mount of shaded leafy trees, which is a reference to the Book of Habakkuk: “God will come from Teman, the Holy One from the mount of shaded leafy trees” (Hab. 3:3).

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