Blessed the New Year 2015
On January 1st we commemorate the Circumcision of Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ; and, Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea.
The Second Day of Christmas
The second day of Christmas in the Orthodox Church is dedicated to the Theotokos.
Christmas 2014
Thus, we are commemorating our Lord’s incarnation in order to experience on the one hand His great love for us and on the other to feel great gratitude for all the wonderful things He has granted us.
The Nativity Icon
The birth of Jesus was that moment in history when God sent His only begotten Son to become like us, taking on human flesh for our healing. This miracle of miracles took place though the ascent of Mary whom we call the Theotokos, Birth-giver of God.
Blessed the New Year 2014
In essence being God, most-compassionate Master, You assumed human nature without transmutation. Fulfilling the Law, of Your own will You accepted circumcision in the flesh, to bring an end to the shadow, and to remove the passions that cover us. Glory to Your benevolence, O Lord; glory to Your compassion; glory to Your inexpressible condescension, O Word.
A Spiritual Advice for the Beginning of the New Year
“Have you not heard Paul saying, “You keep days and months and seasons and years; I fear lest I have laboured in vain for you”? Otherwise it is of the most extreme folly that from one day, if it be fortunate, to expect this from the whole year; but it is not of folly alone, rather this is the judgment of diabolical activity, not to entrust the things of our life to our own haste and eagerness, but to cycles of the days.
Christmas 2013
Behold a new and wondrous mystery. My ears resound to the Shepherd’s song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a heavenly hymn. The Angels sing. The Archangels blend their voice in harmony. The Cherubim hymn their joyful praise. The Seraphim exalt His glory.
About the Fast of the Nativity
On the Nativity Fast.
Saturday after Epiphany: Jesus’ Temptation
After His Baptism by John in the Jordan Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, which is an icon/symbol of the world-a battleground. That’s why the Epistle for the Saturday after Epiphany is Ephesians 6:1-17 where Saint Paul teaches about the Armor of God and fighting the forces of evil. No one, […]
The Apolytikion of the Forefeast of Theophany in Chinese
Tone Four The river Jordan once turned back before the mantle of Elisha, after Elijah had been taken up into heaven, and the waters were divided on this side and on that: the stream became a dry path before him, forming a true figure of the baptism whereby we pass over the changeful course of […]