This week, we begin our Lenten efforts by making no efforts to fast whatsoever. This is an important reminder: God does not need our fast, but we always stand in need of his…
Today’s feast may seem quaint, confusing, or even off-putting, but in the Middle Ages, the commemoration of the finding of the Forerunner’s head was a major…
Zacchaeus Sunday marks the end of the season “after Pentecost” and points us toward the beginning of the pre-Lenten season a week from now. Climbing the sycamore with Zacchaeus, we…
One of the great wonderworkers among the saints is the holy hierarch Alexis of Moscow, whose icon is fairly ubiquitous in our older churches in the northeastern part…
Throughout the Nativity cycle, we have celebrated the appearing of the Lord in the flesh—in Bethlehem as an infant, in the Jordan as a full-grown man, and now in the temple…
Today, we celebrate the feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs. This feast is a feast of harmony, of unity, of peace in the Body of Christ. Many of you may know the story: in the eleventh century, a…
There are a number of Russian folk sayings extoling the specialness of the number three: “God loves a trinity.” “Three fingers make a cross.” It is really no surprise, therefore…
The spirit of the times often tempts us to think that, in response to every injustice, each of us must “do something,” and this “something” is often a public proclamation—we are…
Saint Mark of Ephesus is rightly known foremost as a confessor and defender of Orthodoxy, for his rejection of the Florentine Council and his treatise against the Latin…
Joyous feast! Christ is baptized! Two thousand years ago, the innocent Lamb, harmless, sinless, and spotless, was plunged into the waters of the Jordan. A dove…