LENTEN MEDITATION - Day X
Orthodox Christian Meditations
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4h ago
    Dear Parish Faithful, LENTEN MEDITATION - Day X How many people have accepted the idea that Lent is the time when something which may be good in itself is forbidden, as if God were taking pleasure in torturing us.  For the authors of lenten hymns, however, Lent is exactly the opposite; it is a return to the "normal" life, to that "fasting" which Adam and Eve broke, thus introducing suffering and death into the world. Lent is greeted, therefore, as a spiritual spring, as a time of joy and light: The lenten spring has come, The light of repentance ... The time ..read more
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LENTEN MEDITATION - Day VIII
Orthodox Christian Meditations
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4h ago
The Annunciation "The incarnation of the Word was not only the work of the Father, Son and Spirit – the first consenting, the second descending, and the third overshadowing – but it was also the work of the will and faith of the Virgin. Without the three divine persons this design could not have been set in motion; but likewise the plan could not have been carried into effect without the consent and faith of the all-pure Virgin. Only after teaching and persuading her does God make her his Mother and receive from her the flesh which she consciously wills to offer him. Just as he was conce ..read more
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Great Lent - The Fifth Day
Orthodox Christian Meditations
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4d ago
   Combatting the 'Evening Demon' Dear Parish Faithful, In continuation from Thursday's Lenten Meditation, taken from Sister Vassa's book Praying in Time, I have included today some of her very practical advice on how to combat what she calls the "'evening demon' that drags us by our fingertips to our phones at night." Of course, if you face no such challenge you do not have to read further except, perhaps, out of sheer curiosity.  Sister Vassa is by vocation a monastic, but she is not currently attached to a monastery, but lives in an apartment in downtown Vienna, A ..read more
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Great Lent - The Fourth Day
Orthodox Christian Meditations
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6d ago
  'Now is "the acceptable time" to reject mere connectivity in order to embrace communion with God and our neighbors...'     Dear Parish Faithful, True rest evades us even in our beds, we might find, if we attach ourselves too heavily to the constant 'connectivity' offered by our mobile phones, and to the detriment of communion with God and one another as offered to us in Christ, in the prayer tradition(s) and times of the church. Whether we are single or married, using our phones at night, when in bed, leads to a modern kind of loneliness ..read more
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Great Lent - The Second Day
Orthodox Christian Meditations
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6d ago
  LENTEN MEDITATION - Day II " ... in fasting must not only obey the rule against gluttony in regard to food, but refrain from every sin so that, while fasting, the tongue may also fast, refraining from slander, lies, evil talking, degrading one's brother or sister, anger and every sin committed by the tongue. One should also fast with the eyes, that is, not looking at vain things ... not looking shamefully or fearless an anyone. The hands and feet should also be kept from every evil action. When one fasts through vanity or thinking that he is achieving something especially virtuous, he ..read more
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The Parable of the Prodigal Son - Ending Unresolved?
Orthodox Christian Meditations
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2w ago
    Dear Parish Faithful,  Of the many intriguing points about the Parable of the Prodigal Son, one of them is the fact of just how "open" it is in the end. After reading of these three wonderfully etched characters of the compassionate father, and of the two sons - one prodigal and the other unforgiving - we find ourselves facing a real dose of uncertainty when the parable is completed.  Sequentially, we heard of the remarkable "resurrection" (anastas in the text) of the prodigal son once he "comes to himself," and literally throws himself before the fathe ..read more
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The Witness of Alexei Navalny
Orthodox Christian Meditations
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1M ago
    Dear Parish Faithful, I have taken these words of Alexei Navalny from a longer article found on the website Public Orthodoxy. These words of Navalny before the Russian judge who would sentence him to prison are introduced by a rather disquieting question by Inga Leonova. I am certain that everyone is aware of the that Alexei Navalny died recently while serving a sentence in a Siberian prison because of his sustained opposition to the repressive regime in Russia. "What can we, the Orthodox, make of the fact that one of the strongest Christian sermons in recent yea ..read more
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He who humbles himself...
Orthodox Christian Meditations
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1M ago
    Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ, Let us flee from the pride of the Pharisee and learn humility from the Publican's tears. Let us cry to our Savior: Have mercy on us, O only merciful One. (Kontakion of the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee)   At Sunday's Divine Liturgy, we heard the first of four pre-lenten Gospel readings: The Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee (LK. 18:10-14). A parable is a story, and therefore is not based on an actual event, but who would deny that it reveals to us the truth about our relationship with God? That ..read more
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The Death of Alexei Navalny
Orthodox Christian Meditations
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1M ago
Photo: free.navalny.com   Dear Parish Faithful, I am sure that most of you have heard that the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny died last Friday while languishing in a Siberian prison near the Arctic circle (a prison that was formerly part of the Soviet Gulag slave labor camps), the victim of an oppressive authoritarian system that is responsible for his death, regardless of what the final "medical" reason behind his death actually is. That is something we may never know. And only God knows what he suffered in that prison for the last three years ..read more
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Lenten Reading List, Part 1
Orthodox Christian Meditations
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1M ago
  Dear Parish Faithful, Looking ahead to Great Lent (March 18), I would like to begin recommending some excellent Orthodox literature that would clearly deepen your understanding, and even practice, of this unique liturgical season. Such a list always begins with Great Lent, as you will read below. If you are new to the Orthodox Church, or have not read this book if even a long-standing member of the Church, I consider this book a "must read."  +  Great Lent - Journey to Pascha by Fr. Alexander Schmemann. Recommended by Arch. Kallistos Ware as the best ..read more
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