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Paschal Homily of St John Chrysostom Ἡ χάρις τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρὸς καὶ ἡ κοινωνία τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος εἴη μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. T his blessing, chanted by the clergy at the beginning of the second main part of the Holy Liturgy, commonly known as the Holy Anaphora, is a direct quote of St Paul’s final blessing from his 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Cor 13:14). Every [...]

The Ten Commandments In the Old Testament we read how God’s chosen people, the Israelites, were subjected to a great many years of slavery under Egyptian rule. This oppression continued for many generations until the Lord, through Moses, freed His people from their slavery so that they may journey to the Promised Land. On being freed, the Lord did not leave them unguided. After a time, God spoke to Moses in order to gift the people with the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are a list of governances to guide the people towards a proper society, one that leads towards [...]

Θαυμαστὸς ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τοῖς Αγίοις Αὐτοῦ (Ψαλμ ΞΖ᾽ 36) God is Wonderful in His Saints (Ps. 68:36) This verse is used as the Prokeimenon, which precedes that Epistle reading on the feast days of our Saints. The Orthodox Church places a special emphasis on the Saints, teaching us that they are our brethren, who dwelling near us, are ever ready to help us by the Grace of God. St John of Kronstadt explains how we live with the Saints in the same house of our Heavenly Father. We live in the earthly, while they live in the heavenly half, [...]

The Art of Salvation, by Elder Ephraim Saint Nektarios Monastery Publications, Roscoe, New York, 2014 The Art of Salvation is a collection of thirty-three homilies given by Elder Ephraim, the father of American monasticism and spiritual child of Elder Joseph the Hesychast. The original audience of the first twenty-three homilies comprised lay people, and the latter ten homilies were delivered to the monks of the Holy Monastery of Philotheou, on Mt Athos. This is a beautiful book in both its physical and spiritual content. The publishers have designed a high-quality book with Byzantine icons scattered throughout the pages, immediately drawing [...]

Gospel Reading June 19th (John 7:37-52, 8:12): Sunday of Pentecost On the Sunday of Pentecost we hear in the Gospel reading how Jesus stood up on "the last day of the feast, the great day" and He gave a great promise to all who believe in Him: "Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water" (v. 38). St. John the Evangelist goes on to explain that Christ's words here refer to the promise of the Holy Spirit which "in the last days shall be poured out on all flesh" after the glorification of Christ, as foretold by the [...]