Theotokos Archives - Page 7 of 15

Mary: The Blessing of All Generations

08/07/2020

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, August 7, 2019 n my childhood, it was not unusual to hear someone ask, “Who are your people?” It was a semi-polite, Southernism designed to elicit essential information about a person’s social background. The assumption was that you, at best, could only be an example of your “people.” It ignored the common individualism of the wider culture, preferring the more family or clan-centered existence of an older time. It was possible

The Dormition. Mary the Mother of God.

08/04/2020

By Abbot Tryphon, August 28, 2019 According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, Mary, having spent her life after Pentecost supporting and serving the nascent Church, was living in the house of the Apostle John, in Jerusalem, when the Archangel Gabriel revealed to her that her repose would occur three days later. The apostles, scattered throughout the world, are said to have been miraculously transported to be at her side when she died. The

The Great and Holy Friday

04/17/2020

Introduction On Great and Holy Friday, the Orthodox Church commemorates the death of Christ on the Cross. This is the culmination of the observance of His Passion by which our Lord suffered and died for our sins. This commemoration begins on Thursday evening with the Matins of Holy Friday and concludes with a Vespers on Friday afternoon that observes the unnailing of Christ from the Cross and the placement of His body in the tomb.

Figures of the Nativity—The Virgin Mary

12/13/2019

By Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis, December 10, 2018 Obviously, the central figure in the Nativity story is Christ Himself, the Logos of God become incarnate as a human being. The next most central figure is the Virgin Mary. Tradition teaches us that the Virgin Mary was born to elderly parents, Ioachim and Anna, who had faith to believe that God would grant them a child in old age. She was chosen by God before her birth

The Feast Day of Saint Romanos the Melodos: The Deacon Who Couldn’t Sing

10/01/2019

By Bev. Cooke He wasn’t a priest or a bishop or a hierarch or even a dedicated monastic. He was born to humble parents who may not have even been Christian. He was a deacon and a reader and a singer, but for part of his life, he had the worst voice in Constantinople and he couldn’t string two words together during a service. Yet today, St. Romanos the Melodist is regarded as the greatest

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 1

09/12/2019

By Fr. Maximos (Constas) I was intrigued by the organic connections that the feast of the Presentation which we’re still celebrating and obviously of the Mother of God with the Crucifixion and Resurrection, largely through the prophecy of Symeon, who at this remarkable moment in the Temple says that this Child is a sign that will be spoken against and is set for the rising and falling of many in Israel, and turning to the Theotokos he

The Dormition (Koimesis) of the Theotokos

08/15/2019

On August 15, Orthodox Christians celebrate the greatest of all the religious festivals which the Church established in honor of the All-Holy Virgin Mary (Panagia), the feast of the Dormition (Koimêsis) of the Theotokos. The feasts of the Virgin Mary (theomêtorikai eortai) are second in importance after those of our Lord Jesus Christ in the annual cycle of festivals observed by the Orthodox Church because, after our Lord Himself, the All-Holy Virgin is the most

Why the Orthodox Honor Mary

08/12/2019

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, July 30, 2015 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, deeply theological and even essential to a right understanding of the Orthodox faith, while, on the other hand, being intensely personal beyond the bounds of conversation. I am convinced, as well, that

Dormition or Assumption?

08/09/2019

In our Orthodox tradition we are usually very careful to distinguish between the “Dormition” of the Mother of God and her “Assumption” into heaven. The former, we feel, is properly Orthodox, while the latter strikes us as a purely Western designation, derived from a Roman Catholic “misunderstanding” of the meaning of this feast, celebrated universally on August 15. It is true that some very genuine yet misguided interpretations of Mary’s death and exaltation can be

Praying with the Entire Church

08/08/2019

“O you apostles, assembled here from the ends of the earth, bury my body: And You, O my Son and my God, receive my spirit” (Exapostilarion of Dormition of the Theotokos) To be a genuine Orthodox Christian is to share in the joy of fellowship gathered around the holy Mother of God, Mary the ever-virgin one. Yet in America a hesitancy arises even with the Church among the faithful. What is so normal and self-evident

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Mary: The Blessing of All Generations

The Dormition. Mary the Mother of God.

The Great and Holy Friday

Figures of the Nativity—The Virgin Mary

The Feast Day of Saint Romanos the Melodos: The Deacon Who Couldn’t Sing

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 1

The Dormition (Koimesis) of the Theotokos

Why the Orthodox Honor Mary

Dormition or Assumption?

Praying with the Entire Church

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