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Curiosity and Confusion

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on November 5, 2021 Fr. Andreas Agathokleous It’s not unknown for young people not to have anything to do with Church activities (services, fasts and sacraments), yet they continue to be curious, to wonder, to enjoy talking about God and what emanates from him as a way of life. Anyone would think that these people were unversed in the spiritual life, without experience of the grace of the Holy Spirit and that they were

Irradiating Grace

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, August 9, 2020 at St. Mary Orthodox Church We spoke last week about leaving behind our “smaller” minds, our egoic and worldly operating systems so we can enter into the “larger” mind, the selfless and heavenly operating system of Christ. First, I want to read a quote from the great Maximus the Confessor. He was a genius, often very much above my pay grade. “Grace irradiates nature

The Ladder of Your Daily Life

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 19, 2018  Perhaps the most prominent ladder in our culture is the one associated with careers. It is an image of the American road to success. We begin at or near the bottom and, step by step, make our way towards the top. It is a metaphor that works well with our modern notions of hard work, persistence and reward. It also serves as a justification for many of the

Monday of the Holy Spirit: The Orthodox Church as Continuous Pentecost

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on June 23, 2021 Saint Justin Popovich Who is Jesus Christ, who is both God and human? What in him is God and what is human? How do we recognize the God in him and the human? What did God grant us in the person of Jesus? All of this is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, the ‘Spirit of Truth’. In other words, he reveals the truth about Jesus, about the God

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Sixth Monday of Pascha: The Community We All Need

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, May 24, 2017  Communities are not built by pioneers. They are rooted in mutual need and brokenness. Stanley Hauerwas has observed: My hunch is that you don’t just make a community up. You discover that you need one another because you’re in danger. The need, created by various forms of weakness, must be acknowledged and accepted. The “shame” associated with it must be borne by the community as a whole. Without

The Fourth Friday of Great Lent: Christianity in a Plain Brown Wrapper

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 29, 2021 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2Co 3:18) Among the many losses within modern Christianity has been the place of transformation. Nineteenth century revival movements and theology emphasized a single experience that was associated with salvation. Those who concerned

Rest for Your Soul

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, December 31, 2016  If…then… Among the most alluring ideas in our lives are the notions of cause and effect, performance and award. Nothing seems more soothing than the simple promise that doing one thing leads to the reward of the other. It is predictable, subject to control, clearly delineates the rules of reward and punishment and makes obvious who deserves what. Nothing could be neater. The limit to this idea comes

The Fourth Tuesday of Great Lent: The Meaning of Pain in Our Lives

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, October 18, 2014 By Abbot George Kapsanis of Gregoriou Apart from the suffering that it causes, physical, mental or spiritual pain– which entered man’s life by divine sufferance – also has positive effects for man’s earthly life and development. It is easy to philosophize or theologize about pain but it is difficult to have a proper attitude towards pain when one experiences great pain oneself. I believe it is very presumptuous to

The Third Thursday of Great Lent: Who is Unaware of the Stream? One Heart that Seems Two

Who is Unaware of the Stream? You would be a blasphemer if you were to say that every believer receives and possesses the Spirit without knowing or recognizing the fact. Yes, you would! You would be accusing Christ of lying when he said: ‘The water that I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ and again: ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ [John

Judgment with a Mixed Bag

Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 7, 2016  If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago Solzhenitsyn puts his finger