Theology

The Nativity of Christ as Our Joy and Judgment

The Nativity of Christ as Our Judgmentby Met. Athanasios of Limassol –
By their prayerful experience, the holy fathers of the Church have proved that every time we stand before God in prayer in church or in our own homes, this standing has two characteristic features. It fills us with joy, because we are witnessing God’s great love for man. Our heart yearns to express great gratitude to God, as each of us, according to his own measure, feels this gift of the Lord to His creation.

But at the same time, this standing before God is also a judgment for us, especially on this holy feast, as on all great feasts and days connected with the events of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. But of course, the deepest meaning of these events and feasts is certainly not the condemnation of man, but his salvation. [Read more…]

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Christians Cannot Watch Indifferently and Allow Evil to Abuse Good and Destroy Innocence

Christians Cannot Watch Indifferently and Allow Evil to Abuse Good and Destroy Innocenceby Archbishop Averky (Taushev) –
When a gentle word of persuasion has no effect, when people are so steeped in evil that they do not yield to any admonishment and continue doing evil, a Christian cannot and should not take refuge in this teaching of the forgiveness of all, sit indifferently with his arms crossed, and apathetically watch as evil abuses good, as it increases and destroys people, his close ones.

To indifferently watch the ruin of a close one by one who has lost his senses and become a bearer of evil is nothing other than the breaking of the commandment of love for one’s neighbor. Every type of evil should be immediately thwarted with the most decisive measures, even including the sacrifice of oneself in an unequal struggle. [Read more…]

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Focus on God Instead of Ourselves

Focus on God Instead of Ourselvesby Fr. James Guirguis –
The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (6:22-33)

Our Lord says “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

Often we hear or listen to these words and we think very straightforwardly that this is about what we look at with our physical eyes. Now there is certainly some truth to this, no doubt. But the Lord goes further and it helps to clarify the teaching for us. He says “No one can serve two master; for either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” [Read more…]

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Hidden Source of Heresy is the Pride of the Human Mind

Christian Ecumenical Councils Hidden Source of Heresy is the Pride of the Human Mindby Fr. Boris (Dolzhenko) –
Heresy is an aberration of the Faith; it is a distortion of the true teaching of Christ, which was preached by the Apostles and preserved intact by the Church.

The hidden source of heresy is always the pride of the human mind, which does not want to submit to the teaching of the Church, but places one’s own mind, one’s own understanding, above that of the Church.

Heresiarchs were people who were self-assured, stubborn, and ready to resist even the obvious truth, going against entire Councils of the Holy Fathers. Taking care for the purity of the Orthodox Faith, the Fathers of the Church found an effective means for dealing with heretics: [Read more…]

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We Are Called to Proclaim the Good News of the Truth

Orthodox Christians Are Called to Proclaim the Good News of the Truthby Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) –
Today we may not face the heresy of Arius, but there are many other false teachings which are spreading among the people and are causing the faithful to go astray from the path to salvation.

On the Sunday after the Ascension we remember the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. In honoring them, we remember an extremely special time in Church history which followed on the heels of three centuries of persecution. In 313 the Emperor Constantine the Great published the Edict of Milan, which gave the Christian Church the legal right to exist and essentially brought the Church out of the catacombs and into the open. A new epoch began in the life of the Church: everywhere churches were being built and thousands of people received baptism and started [Read more…]

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Baptism – Holy Sacrament of the Orthodox Church

Baptism - Holy Sacrament of the Orthodox Churchby Fr. Thomas Hopko –
The practice of baptism as a religious symbol did not begin with Jesus. Baptism, which means literally the immersion in water, was practiced among the people of the Old Testament as well as the people who belonged to pagan religions.

The universal meaning of baptism is that of “starting anew,” of dying to an old, way of life and being born again into a new way of life. Thus, baptism was always connected with repentance which means a moral conversion, a “change of mind,” a change in living from something old and bad to something new and good.

Thus, in the Gospel we find John the Baptist baptizing the people as a sign of repentance in preparation for the Kingdom of God which was coming to men with Christ the Messiah. [Read more…]

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Reasons Why The Orthodox Church Cannot Baptize Surrogate Children of Homosexual Couples

Reasons Why The Orthodox Church Cannot Baptize Surrogate Children of Homosexual Couplesby Fr. Antoine Melki –
There were many reactions in the news and on social media to the Baptism celebrated by Abp. Elpidophoros, the head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, of two children from a surrogate mother, whose paternity is claimed by two men who declare an association in a same-sex marriage. Some of these reactions are serious while some others are emotive, for or against the act. The discussion of the legality of what happened is not the concern of this article, although the form required for the Baptism in the Orthodox Church was not respected.

Regardless of the political and social effects of this Baptism or the scandal that it provoked among believers, the aim here is to respond to the emotional reactions and questions that some people raise, whether out of ignorance or bad intention, such as whether any priest has the right to refuse the Baptism of any child; what about the children of fornication; and other questions. [Read more…]

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Living in Apocalyptic Times: Be Vigilant, Take Courage, Have Hope, Be Merciful

Living in Apocalyptic Times: Be Vigilant, Take Courage, Have Hope, Be Mercifulby Fr. Gabriel (Hieromonk) –
Christians are coming to the conclusion that the times are not merely troubling, but apocalyptic.

There is no question that we live in troubling times. The 20th century witnessed an unparalleled persecution of Christianity across the entire world – primarily through revolutionary violence in the East, but primarily through worldly seduction in the West (if you doubt that the two are comparable, I will simply point to the witness of Alexander Solzhenitsyn who had ample occasion to experience both for himself).

Such persecution was prophesied to us by our Lord: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9). And before this He had warned of the rise of false prophets, of wars and rumors of wars, of plagues and famines and troubles of many kinds – [Read more…]

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Faithfully Connecting with God Leads to a Grace-Filled Christian Life

Faithfully Connecting with God Leads to a Grace-Filled Christian Lifeby Fr. Theodore Stylianopoulos –
Genuine faith is not a theoretical affirmation of the idea of the existence of God but a personal search for God as our loving Father and unfailing hope.

Much of everyday life in our divisive and confused times, which people call modern and post-modern, is marked by disconnectedness. Because of busy schedules and innumerable distractions, not to mention our own evil passions and the social and political problems all around us, a spouse is often disconnected from spouse, a parent from child, a friend from friend, a neighbor from neighbor. Disconnectedness harms families, schools, places of work, communities, nations, and even churches. The worst kind of disconnectedness, and the root cause of all others, is disconnectedness with God.

Christians know God primarily as revealed in the person and the life of Jesus of Nazareth. According to the Orthodox faith, everything in the Church begins and ends with Jesus the Lord. [Read more…]

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Orthodox Christianity: Fighting Off the Heretics Since 33 A.D.

Rebuke and Publicly Denounce Blasphemers - St Nicholas Slaps Arius Iconby Fr. Gabriel Bilas –
For the early Church Fathers and Mothers, false teachings in the Church were taken very seriously. The Saints would say that heresy was even a greater sin than murder!

After an incredible week of services during the first week of Great Lent, we find ourselves temporarily taken away from the solemnity of Lent, and into the celebration of Orthodoxy Sunday! We remember all of the countless men and women who have kept the Truth and Life of Orthodox Christianity alive throughout the centuries, against all of the enemies of the Church; all of the heretics that have sought to water down, confuse, and divide Christ’s flock.

This week, while we remember and praise the heroes of our faith, we are reminded of our own tremendous calling that is given to all Orthodox Christians. From the very first day we are brought into the Church, whether it is as an infant or an adult, we are all made a part of a living link, a living tradition, and unbroken chain that can be traced back to Christ and His Apostles. Being a part of this Divine Connection, we are each charged with making sure that we take this gift that has been given to us, and pass it down intact and unchanged, to those who are coming after us. [Read more…]

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