Reflections in Christ

The Cross stands at the center of the fast as it stands at the center of all our activities, indeed, at the center of our entire life. The world is cruciform, and, as…

One week after the Sunday of Orthodoxy, we attach an appendix, as it were, to that celebration: the feast Saint Gregory Palamas. Saint Gregory Palamas’s teachings…

What is the triumph of Orthodoxy? Historically, this was the victory of the Iconodule party in the Byzantine Empire, with imperial backing. Yet, since…

In his hymns for today’s feast, Saint John of Euchaita refers to this day as “heralding from afar the coming feast of the Resurrection,” stating that “this present time…

I cannot be the only one who has had the experience of visiting a non-Orthodox church service and finding it stunningly empty and plain.  After long…

After a month of preparation, we begin the forty days of Great Lent. During these days of ascetic struggle, may we all take refuge in the prayers…

In the reading from the prophecy of Isaiah on the first day of the fast, we hear a word of caution. Our annual observance of times and seasons, our gatherings to worship…

Though we commonly call today “Forgiveness Sunday,” liturgically it is known as Cheesefare Sunday, or the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. As…

A few weeks ago, on Zacchaeus Sunday, we marked the end of the Sundays after Pentecost. Then, with the feast of the Meeting of the Lord, we…

Perhaps the most obvious lesson of today’s Gospel is this: no matter how far we have strayed from home, the Father is always ready to run…