February 22, 2012

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 […]

On Those Who Seek Honor and Praise from Men

Chrysostom and St Paul

But the peo­ple,” you say, “hold high account of him.” And what is this? For the peo­ple surely is not God, to Whom he is to ren­der account. So in nam­ing the peo­ple, you are speak­ing of noth­ing else than of other break­ers, rocks, shoals, and sunken ridges. For to be in favor with the […]

St. Basil the Great on Why Love Cannot be Taught

Byzantine icon of St. Basil

Love for God can not be taught. No one taught us to enjoy the light nor to want life, nor any­one else taught us to love our par­ents or those who raised us. Sim­i­larly or rather much more, knowl­edge of divine love does not come from out­side. But in the same time when man was […]

Why Do We Venerate the Relics of the Saints?

Tomb of St. Demiana

The ven­er­a­tion of the relics of the mar­tyrs and saints orig­i­nates from Divine Rev­e­la­tion through the Holy Scrip­tures. In the Old Tes­ta­ment, for exam­ple, God made the holy relics of the right­eous work mir­a­cles such as the relics of Elisha which res­ur­rected a man from the dead. From that time, the tomb and bones of the […]

On Attending Church and Receiving Communion

Monks of St. Bishoy Celebrating the Divine Liturgy

When the time comes, and espe­cially the time put aside for God and His tem­ple, a feast day or the hour of Divine Ser­vices, hurry to tear your­self away from busi­ness and worldly cares and vol­un­tar­ily and zeal­ously offer your­self to God in His church. When you enter the church bring to mind the promise of […]