PART I: STAYING FAITHFUL TO ORTHODOX TRADITION Christmas has already arrived at Wal-Mart, as in shopping malls and retail stores everywhere. It began as soon as Halloween, which was celebrated from August to the end of October, drew to an end. Overnight, plastic Santas and singing wreaths replaced orange candy on the shelves, and sound systems have begun to blare …
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St. Ireaneus, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapters 7, 10, 11, 23 Therefore Abraham also, knowing the Father through the Word, who made heaven and earth, confessed Him to be God; and having learned, by an announcement [made to him], that the Son of God would be a man among men, by whose advent his seed should be as the stars …
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By Monk Moses the Athonite *1. When he would Liturgize he would become another man. Those attending church would hear various sounds from the Holy Altar from his heavenly visitors. They would kneel and chant “Lord have mercy”. *2. One day the Saint said to his chanter: “I had so many saints today that I didn’t have enough room to …
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The Nativity Fast in the Orthodox Church begins on November 15th. From that time until December 17th (or some observe December 12th) we fast from meat, milk products, and eggs, though fish is allowed. After the 17th (or 12th) we fast also from fish. But fasting from food, according to the command of our Lord, must go hand in hand …
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The first mention of a preparatory period before Christmas is mentioned in a decree of the Council of Saragossa (380). The Council Fathers stated that every Christian should daily go to church from December 17 until the Theophany (January 6th). At the Synod of Mac (581) in Gaul (present day France) it was decreed that from November 11, the day …
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The Orthodox Church prepares its faithful to welcome the Nativity of Christ in a worthy manner by means of a 40-day Nativity fast, which lasts from November 15th to December 25. Besides generally known reasons, the Nativity fast is also undertaken by Orthodox Christians in order to venerate the suffering and sorrow undergone by the Holy Mother of God at …
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*(I.) CANONICAL ORDER *1. The period of the Nativity Fast begins on November 15 (the day after the Feast of St. Philip, 14 November) and ends on 24 December.[1] *2. During this period, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, we eat food without oil, but fish is permitted on the other days.[2] *3. By Tradition, the period during which we are …
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I do not mean to give a complete exposition of Christianity. I want to take a certain number of points which I think are relevant for the Christian and which are relevant for anyone who wishes to understand himself and the situation in which we as Christians find ourselves. Perhaps when I say ‘we Christians’ I go beyond the limits …
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SOURCE: Patheos By Terry Mattingly It happens all the time: Church leaders stand at podiums and urge members of their flocks to go and share their faith, striving to win new converts. These speeches rarely make news, because they are not unusual. But something very unusual happened earlier this month in Brookline, Mass. “You will surely agree that our mission …
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ModeOfLife Become love as God exhorts us, for this is the true starting point for changing your life and the world. For it is love that will bring respect, justice and equity into the world, not our personal opinion of what justice or equity is.