Midpentecost
Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou ‘I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely’. During Great Lent, to a certain degree, we taste of Christ’s death. In the middle of this period, the Church institutes the Veneration of the Precious Cross, to quicken...
Homily for Sts. Cyril and Methodius, illuminators of the Slavs
Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios Wonderful is the missionary work of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, who are commemorated together on May 11th. Their mission was spread over a vast area of central Europe, which consists of what is now the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Ukraine. Their...
The Feast of Christ’s Reception as Fulfillment of the Ritual of Mosaic Law
Theodore Rokas The recent feast, the Reception of the Lord, is the feast which is celebrated exactly forty days after that of His Nativity. The name of the feast in Greek comes from a verb meaning ‘to go out and meet or welcome someone’ [Hence the depiction of Symeon...
The Reception of the Lord: the feast of freedom
George Mantzarides, Professor Emeritus of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki In one of the hymns at the Vespers of the Reception of the Lord, the words ‘Now, Lord, you let your servant depart in peace’ which were addressed to God by the righteous Symeon when...
Feast of the Three Hierarchs: the obligations of parents and educators
Sophia Kafkopoulou Today, 30 January, we celebrate the three hierarchs. There are lots of hierarch saints whom we honour throughout the year in the Church, but this is a feast of three together, although they also each have their own day on which we commemorate them. They’re Basil the...
Who Takes You to Church?
Do you go with your parents or your grandparents? Do you sometimes go with a friend or with your Godmother or Godfather? Today is one of the 12 great feasts of our Church. We celebrate the day that Mary and Joseph brought the 40-day-old baby Jesus into the holy Temple....
Theophany or Epiphany – 2
Saint John Chrysostom Which baptism was performed, in His case? Not that of the Jews, nor ours, nor John’s. Why? You yourselves, from your own view of baptism, can see that He wasn’t baptized for any sins, nor because He needed the Holy Spirit; therefore, as we’ve shown, this baptism...
Theophany or Epiphany – 1
Saint John Chrysostom We shall now say something about the present feast. Many people celebrate feast days and know what they’re called, but don’t know why they were established. So everyone knows that the feast today is called Theophany, but don’t know what Theophany is, and whether it is one...
Sermon on the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple
Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios On the 21st of November, the Church celebrates a special Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her going to the Temple of Jerusalem. As we know from Holy Tradition, her parents Sts. Joachim and Anna were elderly and beyond child bearing years. After many prayers,...
The Divine Liturgy of Saint James the Brother of Our Lord, the Day After
Hieromonk Eleftherios Balakos Yesterday was the feast-day of Saint James, the Brother of Our Lord. On that day, some bishops and priests make a point of celebrating the Divine Liturgy that bears his name. I shan’t get involved with the question of how authentic or pseudonymous it is, to...
