The Dormition of the Theotokos

The Dormition of the Theotokos August 15 Learn about this feast day (in English): Learn about this feast day (in Greek): Related links: Catherine Aslanoff, The Incarnate God: The Feasts of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary (2 Volume Set) (Orthodox Bookstore) Brian E. Daley, On the Dormition Of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies (Orthodox Bookstore) Holy Apostles Convent, The Life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos (Orthodox Bookstore) Dormition Resource Page (Mystagogy) The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary (GOARCH) St John of [...]

2016-10-14T14:49:00+11:00November 18th, 2015|

Feasts of the Theotokos

Feasts of the Theotokos August 1 - 15 Learn about this feast day (in English): Learn about this feast day (in Greek): Related links: Holy Apostles Convent, The Life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos (Orthodox Bookstore) M. Sophia Compton, More Glorious than the Seraphim: Byzantine Homilies and Feasts in Honor of the Theotokos (Orthodox Bookstore) Hieromonk Nilus, Prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos for Every Day of the Week (Orthodox Bookstore) Greek Orthodox Christian Society, Paraklesis - The Canon of Supplication to the Theotokos (Orthodox Bookstore) Greek Orthodox [...]

2016-10-14T14:49:03+11:00November 18th, 2015|

Hymn of the 9th Ode of the Small Paraklesis to the Theotokos

Hymn of the 9th Ode of the Small Paraklesis to the Theotokos   Being created in the image and likeness of God, man was not originally made to feel pain, to be sick and to die. The Fathers agree on this: for example, St Maximus the Confessor says that "When God created human nature, he did not create sensible pleasure and pain along with it." 1 Sin darkened the minds of the first created, Adam and Eve, and their nature was inexorably changed. Since pain, suffering and ultimately death became part of their nature it was passed down in a [...]

2016-10-14T14:49:56+11:00September 8th, 2015|

Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple – St John of Kronstadt

St John of Kronstadt Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple In his homily on the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos (November 21), St John of Kronstadt (1828-1908) asks “How did the most blessed Virgin spend her time in the Temple?” He notes just four things, and pleads with us to imitate the Theotokos in these, adding that the Church is the “school of faith and piety” which we too, like her, must make the centre of our life. First he states that she spent her time learning how to pray directly by the Holy Spirit, showing us [...]

2016-10-14T14:50:10+11:00December 5th, 2014|

St Gregory Palamas Homily 37 – the Dormition of the Theotokos

St Gregory Palamas Homily 37 - the Dormition of the Theotokos Every Saint in the Orthodox Christian Church has a personal relationship with the Theotokos. This is especially the case for St Gregory Palamas, who was also granted to see her in his earthly life. St Gregory always evoked the Theotokos as intercessor in his prayers. He expressed in the opening of his homily that “… there is nothing dearer or more necessary for me to expound with due honour in Church the wonders of the ever-virgin Mother of God”. Thus, St Gregory exclaims,“What words can describe your divinely-radiant beauty, [...]

2016-10-14T14:50:16+11:00October 3rd, 2014|
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