As we began our journey into the Triodion a few weeks ago, we were reminded once again of the lessons that several parables had to teach us, especially the two parables of the Publican and the Pharisee and the Prodigal Son; these messages are repeated in the hymns of the Church during the third and the fourth weeks of the Great Fast. Read more...

When we were little children, our parents and our Church School teachers were the first ones to instruct us in the mysteries of our Holy Faith. One of the initial words that we learned was "BoŽe," which, of course, means "GOD." Next we were taught where God lived. And if you ask almost any child today, hopefully his or her response will be, as was ours, "in heaven." Read more...

On the Christian Feast of Pentecost, the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Mother of God and the Apostles who were gathered together in the Upper Room. John the Baptist once predicted that Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Luke 3.16): at Pentecost, at nine o'clock in the morning, the prophecy of the Forerunner came true in the fullness of divine power and joy. Read more...

We rejoice because we have entered into that bright joy of the Resurrection Day. The Lord Jesus Christ was adored by the crowds on Palm Sunday and crucified on Good Friday. This same Lord cleansed the lepers, gave sight to the blind, bestowed hearing to the deaf, and strengthened the lame and weary. This same Lord opened the Scripture and revealed the majestic Wisdom of the Holy Trinity. This same Lord brought life to the dying and hopeless, was the same Lord Who was taken down from the Holy Cross, and was received into the heartbroken arms of His Mother, the Theotokos. This same Lord Who created the stars, the sun, the wind and the sea and the solid earth was sealed into a tomb of heavy, gray and lifeless stone. Read more...

I rejoice that His All-Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW, designated 2008 as a year-long commemoration of St. Paul the Apostle. Along with the Church of Rome, the Orthodox Church is celebrating the life, the leadership, and the legacy of this Great Apostle to the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul. Read more...