Tags

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and the Importance of the Human Body (2)

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on May 13, 2021 Metropolitan Athanasios of Lemessos Once upon a time I thought that if a person saw a saint, they’d immediately be astonished, as I was when I saw a man of God. One example would be Elder [now Saint] Païsios with whom we were in close contact for so many years. People would go to him and would change just at the sight of him, without him saying anything at all

The Second Thursday of Great Lent: Metanoia and Repentance

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, September 20, 2020 Knowing, as we do, that scripture for one person can be a call to an exemplary life of love, self-sacrifice, and compassion and for another an invitation to the exact opposite, it is very important not only that we read scripture, but also how we translate it. That is why I love the old adage that scripture is not in the reading, but in

The Eleventh Day of Christmas: The Good of Our Soul

Published by Pemptousia Partnership on November 25, 2017 By Saint Isaac the Syrian It takes a great struggle, because the passions are very powerful. But by God’s grace those who are courageous and fight with all their strength will be victorious. Bodily effort and study of the holy Scriptures preserve the purity of the mind. And then it needs a lot of prayer, so that divine grace will shelter those who are struggling. If we’re to acquire the

The Tenth Day of Christmas: No Inside, No Outside

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, February 6, 2022 No one is “outside” of God, nor can be. Olivier Clement writes that “not one blade of grass grows outside the Church.” The Syro-Phoenician Woman was outside the Jewish fold, yes, but that did not mean she was disconnected from God. Jesus calls her a woman of great faith. Therefore, she must have been very connected with God indeed for all good things, like

Saving Knowledge

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, November 28, 2016  I have often used the example of riding a bicycle as an image of knowing God. There’s no difficulty learning how to ride if you don’t mind falling off for a while. But no matter how many years you have ridden, you cannot describe for someone else how you know what you know. But you know it. I also suspect that if you thought too much about riding a bicycle while you were riding

A Simple, Great Soul

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, June 1, 2016 For a variety of reasons, I have been spending a fair amount of time with A.I. Solzhenitsyn, the great Russian writer who died in 2008. I am working through a collection of his writings and have been watching videos on his life along with detailed interviews. If any man lived through the maelstrom of the 20th century, it was he. Born in 1918 to a pious, Orthodox family, he

Nous versus Ego. Quietude.

The true self versus the false self By Abbot Tryphon, January 5, 2020 Reformed theology focuses on forensic justification, whereas the mystical theology of the Orthodox Church focuses on restoration to God through healing of the darkened soul alienated from Him. These are two very different models, but not really equal, because one can have faith in Christ’s sacrifice, but still not be healed and restored. Our restorative healing is not about some terrible legal

Monks

The Original Men in Black By Abbot Tryphon, December 28, 2019  The monastic vocation is a special calling from God that is all about relationships. It is a relationship that involves community (the monastic brotherhood), but primarily revolves around the monk’s relationship with God. Monks are not holy men who are living lives set apart from the world, but men who are seeking holiness by entering into a relationship with the God Who, through that

Why We Forgive

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 14, 2016  There are many ways to think about forgiveness, not all of them true or helpful. It is easily the most emotionally and psychologically difficult aspect of the Christian life revealing both the power of trauma as well as the tenacity of lingering memories. The directness of Christ’s commandments (“forgive your enemies”) and the consequences of ignoring them (“if you do not forgive others neither will your heavenly Father

Sacred Things

What should be our attitude toward icons and other sacred things? By Abbot Tryphon, December 20, 2019  One of the attributes of God is holiness, and is reflected in His people, and in physical objects that have been blessed by the Church for the use of His people in their journey towards Him. Therefore, reverence for these sacred objects and images is the manifestation of the relationship between ourselves and God. “And ye shall be