“Thoughts in Christ”

Here is a phrase from the Sermon on the Mount. Our Lord Jesus is explaining to His disciples the outlook on life one must possess in order to experience the Kingdom of God within one’s heart and soul. It may have been...

St. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where the Lord Jesus had been laid because she was restless. She could not sleep. Her mind filled with anguish and confusion. In the common contemporary phrase, she suffered from lack of...

How blessed are they who have a home address but who live in the house of God. For them the church is where you find their hearts and passions. They are called in our native tongues “churchy people.” To be Orthodox...

The writer of Hebrews is comparing the “Day of Rest,” or “Sabbath rest,” which can mean getting to the Promised Land as in the Old Testament, or maybe as Christians we would think of it as the peace of God that our...

How would the apostles know the name of Pontius Pilate’s wife that tradition has named Claudia? Why would they care to know the spouse of the executor of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ? Why would she be mentioned...

The first reference is mystical, the revelation that Christ Himself awaits an invitation to the heart of every human being. He never intrudes or enters where He is not wanted or invited. The second is actual and practical,...

The first reading ends. The Royal Gates open. The celebrant appears holding aloft a candle in one hand, the censer in the other. He faces the people of God and chants: “The light of Christ illumines all.” The Word of...

Preaching from the last words of our Lord, God and Savior on Good Friday is quite common in western churches. In the medieval period preachers emphasized the darkness and desolation. Later they stressed the overwhelming love...

What made Judas decide to betray the One who chose him from among all the followers of Jesus to be an apostle? Several suggestions come from the above passage. Judas was called Iscariot. That wasn’t his last name. He came...

This is what we Orthodox Christians do all the time, but especially through Great Lent. We take from the reliquary of our souls the most precious Pearl who is Christ in whom we were baptized, but we first wash ourselves...