This is the third post from a series on the sacrament of baptism. Click Here For Part One Click Here For Part Two Those who have come to be included into the body of Christ, those who have put on Christ, that is, those who have found themselves washed and regenerated by baptism are called to share that grace with others. They are expected to act in the world as members of the body of Christ by bringing the fruit... Read more
For the Fifth Sunday of Pascha, the Byzantine tradition lifts up St. Photina, the Samaritan woman who met Christ at the well, as a representation of what Christ offers us as the fruit of his resurrection: the gift of the Holy Spirit. It was not with a man, but with a woman, and not just any woman, but a Samaritan woman, a woman who was looked down upon by society, even by Jesus’ disciples, who was called by him to... Read more
This is the second post of a series on the sacrament of baptism. Click here to read Part One.  Baptism is said to bring us salvation, because it renders us the grace of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, it is said to be the entrance into the new and everlasting covenant. It brings us spiritual rebirth, giving us our birth from above, because through it we are born of the Spirit, no longer beings merely attached to the... Read more
What we want is the kingdom of heaven, abundant life, that is eternal life without the taint of sin. Read more
Following the feast of the resurrection, and the witness of the resurrection represented by the myrrh bearing women, the Byzantine tradition continues its celebration of the resurrection with reminders of what Christ achieved through his passion and resurrection from the dead. Stories are chosen from the Gospels which are seen to have been allegorical foreshadowings of the restructuring of the created order by Christ’s eschatological integration of heaven with earth, grace with nature, by his triumph over death. The first... Read more
We must discern what would lead us away from God, that is, what causes us to do evil, and overturn that cause, doing the opposite of it, so that we can enter the path which God would have us follow. Read more
He said also, “He who wishes to live in solitude in the desert is delivered from three conflicts: hearing, speech, and sight; there is only one conflict for him and that is with fornication.”[1] Some of Anthony’s sayings have more direct relevance to those who follow after him into a monastic way of life, but even then, the wisdom which lies behind those sayings can still be adapted to have value for all walks of life. This text is clearly... Read more
And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen.  And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; — it... Read more
God the Word became man. He did not become super-man; he became man. God took all that is human and made it his own. He became lowly so that we may be raised up on high. He emptied himself so that we could become filled. The one who is by his divine nature invisible, omnipotent, and omniscient, took on a visible form, with human weakness and intellect. He who cannot be comprehended allowed himself to be bound to the cross.... Read more
In listing the ancestors of Christ, Matthew brings forth a large variety of figures, among whom we read, “and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse” (Matt. 1:5 RSV). Rahab is one of the few women Matthew places into Jesus’ lineage. Indeed, when we read the genealogy of Christ in Matthew, there are many who we know who could be included, like Sarah, but are not... Read more
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