Tags

The “D” Word: Why Dogmas Matter

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, June 16, 2015 By Amir Azarvan “I don’t have a problem with religion, I just don’t like dogmas.”  Statements like this are reflective of the growing disdain that people have for religious doctrine.  Even many traditional Christian believers seem reluctant to use the word “dogma”, as they are aware of its negative connotations. For many, this term has come to signify a belief that can’t be proven, and to which only close-minded

People as Liturgical Beings, Part 2

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, October 23, 2014 By Abbot George Kapsanis of Gregoriou People who offer ‘your own from your own, in all things and for all things’ serve God truly and pleasingly. That is, people who recognize that whatever they have is a gift from God. They believe that they’ve got nothing of their own to offer. Everything’s from God and they take from that and offer it to God, together with themselves, their world

People as Liturgical Beings, Part 1

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, October 23, 2014 By Abbot George Kapsanis of Gregoriou We usually characterize people as rational and independent beings. These attributes are correct enough, but don’t convey human nature in its completeness. Through the liturgical experience, we feel that, more than anything, people are liturgical beings. They were made to serve, to offer themselves and the whole world to God with gratitude, praise and worship, to unite with God, to be sanctified,

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Wednesday of Pascha: The Greatest Form of Knowledge [2]

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, April 29, 2017 Archimandrite Theofilos Lemontzis, D. Th. The ability to forgive others depends on how honest we are with ourselves. ‘The greatest form of knowledge to which you can attain’, says Saint Clement the Alexandrian, ‘is to know yourself’. If you know yourself, you know nature, the limits and the possibilities of your existence and you can put yourself on a proper footing with God, your neighbour and yourself. It’s

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Tuesday of Pascha: The Great Gain [1]

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, April 26, 2017 Archimandrite Theofilos Lemontzis, D. Th. Forgiveness is the effort and exercise of a love that is, in the end, transformed into joy and leads to salvation, as Saint Païsios the Athonite notes: ‘There’s no greater joy than that which you feel when you’re hard done by. I wish everybody would treat me unfairly. I can honestly tell you that the sweetest spiritual joy I’ve ever felt was through

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Wednesday of Pascha. Saint Mary Magdalene: The Revision of the Role of a Prominent Apostle (Part 2)

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, April 28, 2017 The second erroneous identification of Magdalene is with the anonymous adulteress (Jn. 7, 53- 8, 11) whom Christ rescues from stoning with His well-known phrase: “Let him among you who is without sin cast the first stone at her” (Jn. 8, 7). This was the interpretation accepted by the famous actor and director Mel Gibson, in his contentious film The Passion of Christ (For more on this identification,

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Tuesday of Pascha Saint Mary Magdalene: The Revision of the Role of a Prominent Apostle (Part 1)

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, April 28, 2017 The years between 1976-1985 were declared by the United Nations to be the “Decade of the Rights of Women”. Within the framework of the related activities which were undertaken at the time, it was claimed, among other things, that religions bore the responsibility for the suppression of women’s rights. In response to this challenge, the Christian world, through the World Council of Churches, (WCC) promoted its own, world-wide

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Second Wednesday of Pascha: Re-crucifying the Risen Christ

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, April 25, 2017 Protopresbyter Christos Aiyidis Once again, the divine drama has come to an end and the Lord’s Resurrection has become the start of a new life, the unending and eternal life in Paradise, the life for which we were created. The Lord ascended the Cross and spread His arms to embrace the whole of humanity, in order to give us the opportunity and prospect of entering Paradise. Our Risen

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Second Tuesday of Pascha. The Resurrection: An Affront to Reason

Published by Pemptousia Partnership, April 17, 2015 By Archimandrite Epiphanios Ekonomou It’s hardly surprising that the message of the Resurrection of Christ has raised a whole host of doubts and questions. Objections were registered immediately after the occurrence of the supernatural event on which the whole structure of the Christian Church is founded. For the Jews of Biblical Jerusalem, it was a blasphemy of the apostate Christians to claim that a crucified criminal could ever be

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Bright Wednesday: Christ is the Resurrection and Eternal Life

Published by Pemtousia Partnership, May 15, 2016 The author continues his thoughts on the Resurrection and notes that the Resurrection is of great significance for humankind as it is a command to follow Christ’s path, copying his works, following His commandments, and loving our fellow man.   (Continued from The Resurrection of Christ is the Quintessence of the Divine Revelation) Christ’s new commandment isn’t simply a command to love in the general sense. That, in