Bible Study #11 The Plagues as Cosmic Warfare Make the pure light of Your divine knowledge shine in our hearts, Loving Master, and open the eyes of our minds that we may understand the message of Your Gospel. Instill also in us reverence for Your blessed commandments, so that overcoming all worldly desires, we may pursue […]
ON THE FIRST SUNDAY of the Great Fast our Church celebrates the triumph of Orthodoxy, the victory of true Christian teaching over all perversions and distortions thereof—heresies and false teachings. On the second Sunday of the Great Fast it is as though this triumph of Orthodoxy is repeated and deepened in connection with the celebration of the memory of one of the greatest pillars of Orthodoxy, the hierarch Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, who by his grace-bearing eloquence and the example of his highly ascetic private life put to shame the teachers of falsehood who dared reject the very essence of.Orthodoxy, the podvig of prayer and fasting, which enlightens the human mind with the light of grace and makes it a communicant of the divine glory.
Homily Notes: Sunday before Theophany
January 15, 2017 By
Mark 1:1-8 With thanks to Fr. Antony Hughes Christ is Born! Gospel of Mark: not an infancy story. St. John the Baptist (last of the OT prophets: classic) John the Baptist: Two messages First: repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins Second: about the Messiah that was coming Was holier than him (thong of […]
Homily – Sunday after Nativity
January 8, 2017 By
Matthew 2:13-23 Summary of today’s Gospel: God humbles Himself to save mankind, leaving His rightful inheritance as God and becoming man; being born as a baby in Bethlehem. And how does the world He has come to save greet Him? Is He born in a temple? In a palace? These would have been seemed more […]
A Nativity Homily
January 7, 2017 By
Christos Rojhdayetsya! Slavite Yeho! Christ is Born! Glorify Him! Let us celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord! As St. John Christostom says in his Nativity homily (SJC-NH); “Bethlehem this day resembles heaven” The Sun of Righteousness lays in a manger. We hear less the cattle lowing, than the shepherds proclaiming in full-voice the Glory of […]
OT Bible Study # 10: The Plagues Against Egypt
December 22, 2016 By
Old Testament Bible Study The Plagues against Egypt Prayer. O Lord enlighten the eyes of our minds… Context. Moses is living in Midean; the Israelites are captive in Egypt. The Lord has heard their crying. He has revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush and commanded him to go and liberate His people. Chapter […]
Homily: On Gratitude
December 18, 2016 By
Because this Sunday was also the commemoration of St. Savas, one who “made the tears with repentance”, I worked the theme of tears of repentance then gratitude (i.e. the second baptism) being the only thing that allows God to make the desert of our hearts and lives fertile. This is not reflected in the notes. On Gratitude […]
OT Bible Study #9: Introducing Moses
December 14, 2016 By
Old Testament Bible Study #9 Exodus: Introducing Moses Prayer: Make the pure light of Your divine knowledge shine in our hearts, Loving Master, and open the eyes of our minds that we may understand the message of Your Gospel. Instill also in us reverence for Your blessed commandments, so that overcoming all worldly desires, we […]
Homily: Walk Worthily of Your Calling
December 11, 2016 By
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as […]
Homily Notes: On the Transfer of Holiness in the Economy of Salvation
December 4, 2016 By
The main thing that has always struck me about this feast is the dynamic of transfer from holy place to holy place that is going on. Given: that God is holy and he seeks to meet us within a dedicated Holy Place. Places are sanctified by the presence of God. They should be set aside […]
OT Bible Study #8: The Patriarch Joseph the Comely
November 30, 2016 By
St. Mary (Pokrova) Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Allentown PA (11/30/2016) Old Testament Bible Study #8: The Patriarch Joseph, the Comely Prayer: Make the pure light of Your divine knowledge shine in our hearts, Loving Master, and open the eyes of our minds that we may understand the message of Your Gospel. Instill also in us reverence […]
