"And the people that were there saw that there was none other boat there save the one into which the disciples had entered, and that Jesus went not into the boat, but His disciples." [v.22] And why is John so exact? Why didn’t he say that the multitudes having passed over on the next day departed? He desires to teach us that Jesus allowed the multitudes to suspect what had happened–if not openly, then in – …

The Church Pours Ointment Many have met the Lord Jesus representatives of the catholic church, for He is the bridegroom. But this woman seems to me she has surpassed them all, after the Mother of God Saint Mary who has carried the Lord in the womb. She is the symbol of the church, and His Kingdom has been carried inside her, the mystery of the church’s life and its joy.” The Church that has not – …

The following is excerpt from St. John Chrysostom’s Homily 87 on the Commentary on John found in Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, s. 1, v. 14, edited and published in Treasures of the Fathers Volume 4: The Holy Fifty Days, pp. 47-51. "…24Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, – …

As we live in this world, we are bound to face difficulties and sometimes feel bombarded by troubles from all directions. At one time or another, we may seek assistance, support, or encouragement from someone higher than ourselves. This is an innate longing in all of us. As we stand at the crossroads, where do we go for guidance and direction? Where do we find help to face the perplexities of life, as we know – …

In the beginning of the month of April, the Church is preparing for Holy Passion Week. The Church actually sees in the sufferings of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the mystery of Her joy and happiness. Although we pray with a melancholy tune during Pascha Week, yet our hearts are exulted as we follow the Passion of the Savior, since we see the power and love of our Good Savior in His pain. Through – …

Ministering to the needy requires raising money, and collecting money in church is a sensitive issue that stirs numerous opinions, which can be controversial. The Church has its spiritual message – which is witnessing for Jesus Christ before the whole world and preparing its children for the Kingdom of God. When the Church cares about collecting money, there is skepticism about the basic mission of the Church; this matter is not new in the life – …

“THE FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH” by Saint Augustine Sermon 80 (on John 6:9), NPNF, s. 1, v. 6, p. 1075. It was a great miracle that was wrought, dearly beloved, for five thousand men to be filled with five loaves and two fishes, and the remnants of the fragments to fill twelve baskets. A great miracle: but we shall not wonder much at what was done, if we give heed to Him That did – …

Transcript of a Speech Delivered at the Opening of the Exhibit, “A Still, Small Voice: Sixteen Centuries of Egyptian Monasticism,” at the Washington National Cathedral, March 15, 1992. I want to tell you now about Coptic monasticism. Egypt is considered the motherland of monasticism. The first monk in the whole world was St. Anthony, a Copt from Upper Egypt. He was born in the year 251 and departed in the year 356; he lived 105 – …

The number forty is a sign of that laborious period in ‎which, under the discipline of Christ the King, we have to fight ‎against the devil. This is also indicated by the fact that both the law ‎and the prophets solemnized a fast of forty days– that is to say, a ‎humbling of the soul– in the person of Moses and Elijah, who ‎each fasted for a period of forty days. Through the fast of – …

The Church is the invisible body of the Lord Jesus Christ and the struggling Church lives in this world by the power of her head, Christ the Lord. The Church, in this world, is like a ship whose sail is the Holy Cross, and whose captain is the Lord Jesus. While this ship sails the seas of this world, the waters of the sea do not enter into the ship. The ship sails the seas – …

He indeed did not baptize, but they who carried the news, desiring to excite their hearers to envy, so reported. “Wherefore then ‘departed’ He?” Not from fear, but to take away their malice, and to soften their envy. He was indeed able to restrain them when they came against Him, but this He would not do continually, that the Dispensation of the Flesh might not be disbelieved. For had He often been seized and escaped, – …

The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved What he meant by saying "in His bosom," he tells us a little further on, where he says, "on the breast of Jesus." It was that very John whose Gospel is before us, as he afterwards expressly declares. For it was a custom with those who have supplied us with the sacred writings, that when any of them was relating the divine history, and came to something affecting himself, he – …