The Ecclesiology of the Holy and Great Synod
Before and after the convergence of the Holy and Great Synod there were expressed many different complaints and objections regarding whether the text “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World” corresponds with the ecclesiology of the Orthodox Church. On this question I would like to offer some initial theological thoughts, […]
Which Sins do not obstruct us from Divine Communion
“But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.” (I Corinthians 2:28) Those well-known advocates of frequent communion of the Immaculate Mysteries of Christ, Saints Macarios of Corinth and Nicodemos the Hagiorite, in their famous book on the subject deal with the objection and […]
CAN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY SPEAK TO EASTERN RELIGIONS?
I recently had a conversation with a dear Eastern Orthodox priest, whose twenty six year old son had left home the day before to live indefinitely at a Buddhist monastery. He was heart broken. His son was not a stranger to Eastern Orthodoxy or to its monastic tradition, having even spent two months on the […]
WE AND THE SPIRITS OF THE DEPARTED
Christians have a very serious relationship with our dead ones. We often speak to them and we continuously talk to God about them. To be more precise, for us, these who have left their body are not dead but alive (metaphorically we call them “sleeping” and this is the way we regard them, as living, […]
MOUNT TABOR AS THE LOCATION OF CHRIST’S TRANSFIGURATION
Prolegomena The Transfiguration of Christ, in the New Testament, is an event traditionally understood as the revelation of the glory of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Described in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9, it occurs when Jesus takes his disciples Peter, James, and John to a “high mountain” (traditionally, […]
THE FEAST OF THE DORMITION AT THE TOMB OF MARY IN GETHSEMANE
The Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is celebrated with special solemnity at Gethsemane, the place of Her burial. Nowhere else is there such sorrow of heart at the separation from the Mother of God, and nowhere else such joy, because of Her intercession for the world. The holy city of Jerusalem […]
THE OLDEST HYMN TO THE THEOTOKOS
The oldest prayer we know of dedicated to the Virgin Mary is known as “Beneath thy compassion” (Greek: Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν; Latin: Sub tuum praesidium). The earliest text of this hymn was found in a Coptic Christmas liturgy of the third century. It is written in Greek and dates to approximately 250 A.D. It […]
THE MOTHER OF GOD’S FIFTEEN DAYS OF AUGUST HAS ARRIVED
Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, a great theologian, saw the Panagia in a vision and wrote: With what human words can we describe your God-illumined beauty, Virgin Mother of God? Your grace is impossible to be identified with either words or thoughts. Only her divine vision gives brilliance, joy and exultation. The beauty of […]
SAINT MONICA-A PERFECT EXAMPLE FOR CHRISTIAN MOTHERS
Saint Monica, the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo (June 15), was born in 322 in Tagaste, North Africa. Her parents were Christians, but little is known of her early life. Most of our information about her comes from Book IX of her son’s Confessions. St Monica was married to a pagan official named […]
Triodion 2011
TRIODION 2011 By Protopresbyter Dr. George D. Dragas For Orthodox Christians Easter, or Holy Pascha, is actually the center of what is known as the cycle of all movable feasts. This cycle is called the Paschal Cycle. Sunday, February 13 marks the beginning of this year’s Paschal Cycle, which invites us to be renewed spiritually […]