Mother of God Archives - Saint Sophia

Repentance and Prayer according to Saint Païsios

01/09/2025

By Alexandros Christodoulou, Theologian In general terms, Saint Païsios set the greatest store in the spiritual struggle on repentance and unceasing prayer. It was through repentance that he received revelations from heaven. He used to say that the life of a monk was one of repentance and prayer. The monks are the Church’s wireless operators and the aim of their life is to get through to God in order to help people, once they’ve first

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

The Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. Ho, Ho, Holiness in the Simplicity and Purity of God (Part I)

11/19/2024

By Fr. Stelyios Muksuris “THINK of shepherds who are made wise, think of priests who teach, of women who are delighted, when Gabriel teaches Mary joy, when Elisabeth has inside her own womb John kicking. Anna spreads the good news, Symeon opens his arms worshiping the great God inside a little infant, without despising what they see, but glorifying the greatness of His deity. His deity is revealed like light through hymens of glass, through

On October 28 the Greek Orthodox Church commemorates the Feast Day of the Protection of the Theotokos, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.

10/28/2024

The feast-day of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God was established following a vision of holy Father Andrew during the course of a Vigil in the Church of Vlachernae at Constantinople. At the Fourth Hour of the night while deep in prayer, the Saint lifted up his eyes to heaven and beheld the Holy Mother of God watching over the faithful as she covered the faithful with her holy Veil. Epiphanius, the disciple

The Feast of the Dormition

08/16/2024

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, August 15, 2021. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, One God Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ. The scripture readings today are extremely significant and apropos to the day. Saint Paul’s talking about self-emptying: the Kenosis of Jesus Christ, who came to the world, giving up all His divine prerogative to become one of us and save us in

The Day the Earth Stood Still

08/12/2024

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 12, 2011 Orthodox Christians (New Calendar) are currently observing a two-week fast in preparation for the Feast of the Dormition, a day which marks the death (“falling asleep”) of the Mother of God. For those for whom such feasts are foreign, it is easy to misunderstand what the Orthodox are about – and to assume that this is simply a feast to Mary because we like that sort of thing.

Why the Orthodox Honor Mary (Part II)

08/09/2024

By Father Stephen Freeman, August 1, 2016 This is information that points to the unique place of Mary in the first century Christian community. How can the Church not venerate one whom John the Baptist greeted with a leap of joy when he was in the womb? How can the Christian community be rightly centered on the Crucified Christ and ignore the soul-pierced Mother? The material in Luke is prima facie evidence of the primitive veneration of the

Mary the Contemplative (Part II)

08/07/2024

MARY – THE PERFECT CHRISTIAN I would like to avoid such an approach and begin by basing our deeper devotion to Mary on the fact that God has given her to us as a realized type of the perfect Christian. Mary, in her continued process of growing into a greater fullness of grace, even in her glorified relationship to Jesus Christ, to the members of His Body, the Church, and to the whole created universe,

Why the Orthodox Honor Mary (Part I)

08/05/2024

By Father Stephen Freeman, August 1, 2016 Today (August 1) marks the beginning of the Fast of the Dormition, the annual preparation for the feast of the Falling Asleep of the Virgin Mary. I offer this article as reflection. The most difficult part of my Orthodox experience to discuss with the non-Orthodox is the place and role of the Mother of God in the Church and in my life. It is, on the one hand,

Mary the Contemplative (Part I)

08/02/2024

Mary the Contemplative Some years ago I met Father Chrysostom, a Greek Orthodox monk, on Mount Athos. He lived in a hermitage with his disciple at the foot of Karoulia, the bleak rocky desert at the southernmost tip of this peninsula as it juts defiantly out into the blue waters of the Aegean Sea. On top, 250 feet above the waters, individual hermits rooted their one-room cells and sat like fearless eagles peering into eternity.

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Repentance and Prayer according to Saint Païsios

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

The Fifth Day of Christmas Advent. Ho, Ho, Holiness in the Simplicity and Purity of God (Part I)

On October 28 the Greek Orthodox Church commemorates the Feast Day of the Protection of the Theotokos, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.

The Feast of the Dormition

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Why the Orthodox Honor Mary (Part II)

Mary the Contemplative (Part II)

Why the Orthodox Honor Mary (Part I)

Mary the Contemplative (Part I)

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