Reverence in Church – God’s House is Entered with Awe and Fear. We must practice reverence in the temple, whether during services or when we step into the church to light a candle and venerate the holy icons. The temple is the place set apart for the worship of the Holy Trinity and is the […]

The Lord is with us. What more could we desire? The Lord created man that we might live and bask in Him for ever – that we might be with Him and in Him. And the Lord desires to be with us Himself, and in us. The Lord is our joy and gladness, and when […]

The Veneration of the Holy Virgin in the Ancient Church It is only in relatively recent times that we have Christians teaching that Mary had children after the birth of the Saviour. All the early reformers, including Luther and Calvin, believed Mary to be Ever Virgin. The practice in biblical times was to refer to […]

Only the great truth of the Resurrection of Christ can explain the exceptionally rapid spread of the Christian faith over the whole face of the earth amid the most unfavorable conditions and situations. What else could compel thousands upon thousands of people throughout the centuries to endure indescribable torments, to shed their blood, and to […]

There is a spirituality closely enmeshed with emotions – esthetic, sentimental, passionate – which is easily combined with selfishness, vanity, sensuality. Men of this type seek the praise and the good opinion of the priest who confesses them; their confession is very difficult for him, for they come in order to complain of others, to […]

The lifeless things of this world offer no spiritual satisfaction,  yet we often sell ourselves off to things or people by giving them power over our hearts. It is easy to feel abandoned or hurt by those to whom we’ve given power. If we need affirmation from others we take the chance that we empower […]

The role of godparent is an awesome responsibility Since many baptisms took place on Holy Saturday, it is a good idea to revisit the important role godparents play in the life of the newly baptized child. Godparents are also expected to play an important role in the religious and spiritual life of adult converts who’ve […]

In celebrating Pascha we each time open up a new period in our lives, for the risen Lord renews human nature, fortifies us in tribulations, and grants to us the strength to accomplish good deeds. The Paschal message, which has transformed the whole course of world history, encourages us to be morally transformed, to be […]

The jubilation of the Church is also the jubilation of the Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity at the accomplishment of our salvation. The resurrection of Christ, which brought on the defeat of the power of death,  is the cause of joyful praise, because He is the cause of the death of death, and the […]

On Great and Holy Saturday the Church observes the day on which Christ reposed in the tomb. Foreshadowing this day as the blessed the seventh day, by Moses, the Church sees it the Blessed Sabbath. In other words, this is the day of rest on which the only-begotten Son of God rested from all His […]