Why do we follow Christ? A common answer is “to be saved”. But what does this mean? Is it simply Jesus plucking us out of hell and putting us in heaven?   Protestant groups called Evangelicals believe that a person is saved when they accept Christ as their personal saviour. They may describe the event of this acceptance as being “born again”. They base their teachings on passages such as Galatians 2:16, which says, “a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ”. The Orthodox Church sees it somewhat differently. Without minimising [...]

The Ten Holy Martyrs of Crete Celebrated 23rd December In the third century under the oppressive reign of Roman emperor Decius, ten men fought the good fight. Decius ruled from 249 to 251, and fiercely persecuted followers of Christ. Saints Theodulus, Saturninus, Europus, Gelasius, Eunician, Zoticus, Pompeius, Agathopous, Basilides and Evaristus came from all over Crete, including Gortyna, Knossos and Heraklion. They were united before the emperor because of their belief in Christ. For thirty days they were dragged to pagan sanctuaries all over Crete, forced to make idolatrous sacrifices. Passers-by mocked them, hit them, threw stones at them and [...]

Gospel Reading December 25th (Matthew 2:1-12)   This passage from Gospel of Matthew recounts the visit paid by the wise men from the East when Christ was born. The wise men or “Magi”, who were scholars of their time, arrived in Jerusalem, most likely from Persia, and approached king Herod saying, “Where is He who has been born a King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship him”. When King Herod heard why the Magi had come to Jerusalem, he was troubled because he felt the new-born King would threaten [...]

(By Professor Michael Anthony, lay preacher and founding president, Greek Orthodox Christian Society) The year 2015 has seen many Communal events and festivities, showing the work of the Greek Orthodox Christian Society in our city, and to a lesser extent in other parts of the Country. These events were generally impressive, and succeeded in showing to our Community the amount of Christian work taking place in Sydney. However, this was not the purpose of organising so many activities, which to say the least, were time consuming, simply for the reason to show our organising prowess. Our aim was much more [...]

‘We worship Thy Nativity, O Christ; show us also your divine Theophany’ (From the Service of the Great Hours, 24th December) Throughout the ages, there have been many people who have desired to see God. Moses, a faithful servant of God pleaded with his Maker to see His face, but was granted only a momentary glimpse of His Presence. As he stood behind the cleft of a rock, it was not the face of God that Moses saw, but His back (Exodus 33:22-23). This was a preview of the Nativity and Theophany, two events from the life of Jesus that [...]