Those Who Worshipped the Stars

Those Who Worshipped the Stars Magi at Nativityby Fr. Alexander Shargunov –
Astrology was a symbol of all man’s delusions, and that is why the Lord had to reveal a real Star.

Who were the Magi who journeyed from the East? We can’t say with full confidence from what country they arrived to Jerusalem—maybe from Persia, as the service books have stated or, like several holy fathers have suggested, Egypt, Babylon or even far-away India.

One church tradition insists they arrived from different Oriental countries, and once they met one another, continued on their way to Bethlehem. However, in the end, their country of origin isn’t the essence of the matter. What matters most is that they traveled on behalf of those “who worshipped the stars” to adore Him, “the Sun of Righteousness” [Read more…]

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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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Woke Academics Promoting Homosexuality and Subverting Orthodox Christianity in US

Woke Academics Promoting Homosexuality and Subverting Orthodox Christianity in US

Listed below are Part 1 and Part 2 of the full transcript of a documentary film entitled ‘The Secret Subversion of American Orthodoxy‘. The video documents how billion dollar NGOs and Catholic universities are providing lavish funding to a group of radical left ‘Orthodox’ ‘scholars’ and clerics and their organizations and publications.

The film profiles 16 prominent ‘Orthodox’ scholars and clerics, including bishops. A list of them, and other personalities featured in the film, has been provided at the beginning of the transcript. It includes well-known Orthodox personalities such as Sister Vassa Larin and Archbishop Elpidophoros (the head of the Greek Church in America), and left-radical publications such as ‘Public Orthodoxy’ (run by George Demacopoulos and Aristotle Papanikolaou) and ‘The Wheel’ (run by Inga Leonova). [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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Male and Female – The Only Two Genders and Sexes, There’s No ‘Spectrum’

Male and Female – The Only Two Genders and Sexesby Michael W. Chapman –
Scientifically, there are only two sexes, male and female. There is no sex “spectrum.”

In a powerful commentary in the Feb. 3 edition of The Wall Street Journal, biologists Colin Wright and Emma Hilton explain that, scientifically, there are only two sexes, male and female, and there is no sex “spectrum.” They also stress that “biologists and medical professionals” must stop being politically correct and “stand up for the empirical reality of biological sex.” [Read more…]

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‘Gender Identity’ is the Great Lie of Transgender Ideology

Gender Identity is the Great Lie of Transgender Ideologyby Steven A Richards –
The Gender Unicorn is a recruiting tool to destroy children using transgender delusions and lies.

Shortly before I decided to detransition, I had a conversation with a trans friend about the Gender Unicorn. I was frustrated by it. I said, it doesn’t make any sense! It doesn’t actually represent what being trans is about at all! In some ways, the ideas it represents run completely counter to the actual goals of the trans movement!

My friend’s response was that it didn’t matter; it was better than the binary concept of gender believed by mainstream society. The Gender Unicorn didn’t have to make sense, it just had to be simple and easy to spread. It’s not an accurate representation of the ideology behind the transgender rights movement because it was never meant to be.

It’s a recruiting tool. [Read more…]

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Lazar Puhalo is Not a Canonical Orthodox Bishop, He’s a Deposed Deacon

Lazar Puhalo is Not a Canonical Orthodox Bishop, He is a Deposed Deaconby Fr. Ioannes Apiarius –
Puhalo is an impostor and illegitimate hierarch of the Church. His views are not only not Orthodox, they are not even Christian.

Retired “Archbishop” Lazar Puhalo is not a canonical bishop of the Orthodox Church. Puhalo remains a deposed deacon (Lev Puhalo) who was defrocked in 1981 for heretical teaching and rebellion against his bishop. He was found guilty of multiple violations of Church canons and laicized by the Synod of ROCOR. Puhalo was never canonically reinstated as a deacon, or rightly ordained a priest, or properly elevated as a bishop by any canonical Orthodox Church or legitimate Orthodox jurisdiction anywhere. [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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George Demacopoulos: Christian Moral Teaching isn’t Black and White

George Demacopoulos False Teacher No Moral Right or Wrongby Fr. John Whiteford –
This is part of a pattern on the part of the Fordhamites at “Public Orthodoxy,” of downplaying Christian morality, and suggesting that it is fluid, something apart from dogma, and therefore open to debate and revision.
…
To have an Orthodox bishop participate in this March, be given a platform, and to have him endorse “a woman’s right to choose” to kill her baby was an embarrassment. And make no mistake, everyone understood exactly what he was saying.

The Washington Post cited it as an example of a “pro-choice” shift among many Christian and Jewish groups. George Demacopoulos, editor of “Public Orthodoxy,” who champions the abandonment of Christian morality in the Orthodox Church, is cited in support of Archbishop Elpidophoros’ [pro-abortion] coming out speech: [Read more…]

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