May 18, 2013

On Participating in the Election Process

The Church strongly encour­ages all Her chil­dren to be involved in gov­ern­ment and polit­i­cal affairs in a man­ner that embod­ies Chris­t­ian val­ues, for this helps pro­duce a more per­fect Chris­t­ian soci­ety reflect­ing the Will of God. St. John Chrysos­tom taught us about the impor­tance of being involved in gov­ern­ment when he said, “Christ did not intro­duce His laws […]

A Guide to the Christian Life

Abba Isaac the Syrian

Let your­self be per­se­cuted, but do not per­se­cute oth­ers. Be cru­ci­fied, but do not cru­cify oth­ers. Be slan­dered, but do not slan­der oth­ers. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep: such is the sign of purity. Suf­fer with the sick. Be afflicted with sin­ners. Exult with those who repent. Be the friend […]

On St. Justin Martyr

Let us med­i­tate on the life of St. Justin Mar­tyr, who was mar­tyred under the reign of the Roman emperor Mar­cus Aure­lius. All of the his­tor­i­cal evi­dence we have tells us that Mar­cus Aure­lius was an enlight­ened man, even the movies. The fact is that he was respon­si­ble for some of the worst per­se­cu­tions of […]

Psalm 89:7 and Complacency in our Relationship with God

Chrysostom and St Paul

The Psalm for the Divine Liturgy on the First Sun­day of Abib is verse 7 of Psalm 88 (89), which says, “God is glo­ri­fied in the coun­cil of the saints; great and ter­ri­ble toward all that are round about him.” (Ps 88:7 LXX). Med­i­tat­ing on this verse in a homily on repen­tance, St. John Chrysos­tom preached the following: […]

Wisdom from Abba Moses the Ethiopian

Abba Moses the Strong

1. A devout prince, upon hear­ing of the mor­ti­fi­ca­tion of St. Moses, went with his ret­inue into the desert to see him. Inform­ing Moses that the prince was com­ing to his monastery, Moses quickly ran out and began to flee and to hide some­where, but he unex­pect­edly encoun­tered the high-ranking vis­i­tors. “Where is the cell of […]

On the Parable of the Ten Virgins

Byzantine Icon of the Parable of the Ten Virgins

The five wise vir­gins, watch­ful and alert, had taken oil in the ves­sels of their heart. That oil, not part of their own nature, means the grace of the Spirit. They were enabled to enter with the Bride­groom into the heav­enly bridal cham­ber. The other five vir­gins, how­ever, were con­tent with their own nature. They […]

Spiritual Resources for the Great Holy Fast

Christ and the Samaritan Woman

On behalf of the priests, ser­vants, and all the con­gre­ga­tion, we wish you a blessed and fruit­ful Great Holy Fast this year. To help ensure these holy days are fruit­ful and ben­e­fi­cial, we offer the fol­low­ing spir­i­tual resources from around the Inter­net. Arti­cles Great Lent: Our Jour­ney to meet our Heav­enly Bride­groom by St. John Chrysostom […]

The Annunciation and the Virgin

Annunciation

On the sec­ond Sun­day of Kiahk, we cel­e­brate the Annun­ci­a­tion of the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Holy Vir­gin Mary. As we rejoice in the news of our Lord’s glo­ri­ous Birth, we can­not under­es­ti­mate the value and impor­tance of the Holy Theotokos St. Mary. She was the per­son for whom all generations […]

Why We Need to Read the Holy Scriptures Daily

Chrysostom and St Paul

I also always entreat you, and do not cease entreat­ing you, not only to pay atten­tion here to what I say, but also when you are at home, to per­se­vere con­tin­u­ally in read­ing the divine Scrip­tures. When I have been with each of you in pri­vate, I have not stopped giv­ing you the same advice. Do not let […]

The Importance of Good Childhood Impressions

Coptic Child Praying after Persecution

Why are child­hood impres­sions so impor­tant?  Why is it essen­tial to fill a child’s mind and soul with light and good­ness, start­ing from the very ear­li­est stages of its life?  In child­hood we find a nat­ural gift for faith, sim­plic­ity, gen­tle­ness, a capac­ity for ten­der­ness, com­pas­sion, imag­i­na­tion, an absence of cru­elty and hard­ness.  Now this is pre­cisely the […]

By Grace Ye are Saved

Christ the Teacher

Who can com­pre­hend and acknowl­edge that we are saved by grace — that we are saved by God’s grace, and not by our mer­its and works? Who can com­pre­hend and acknowl­edge that? Only he who has com­pre­hended and seen the bot­tom­less pit of death and cor­rup­tion in which man is engulfed by sin, and has […]

The Difficulty of Living according to a Christian Conscience

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

I have read with com­pas­sion and sym­pa­thy the list of your spir­i­tual tribu­la­tions, and have suf­fered with you. And yet, I believe in the fun­da­men­tal good­ness of your soul. The fact is, it is very dif­fi­cult to live accord­ing to con­science, and it is very easy to live in the same way as every­body else, just […]