“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Lk. 9:23) As we look at this biblical commandment said by our Lord Jesus Christ and mentioned in all the synoptic gospels (Matt. 16:24; Mk. 8:34; Lk. 9:23), we may find ourselves puzzled and at loss. As Orthodox Christians, we certainly want to follow our Lord Jesus Christ and fulfill His commandments in our lives, – …

“Here am I and the Children Whom the Lord has given me.” (Is. 8:18) Children are a gift from God, as it is written in the Psalms, "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward." (Ps. 127:3) Parents have a responsibility towards their children, as St. Paul wrote, "And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition – …

During the gospel readings of the Sundays of Great Lent, the reference to miracles is repeated. There are some miracles, which our Lord Jesus Christ performed, and others He refused to perform. Our Lord did some miracles, without being asked, while others were a result of someone’s request. Also, Satan himself asked our Lord Jesus Christ to do miracles. We hear in the gospel reading of the second Sunday of Great Lent (Matt. 4:1-11) Satan – …

GOD HONORS YOUTH God created man to live in this world forever using his or her complete energy, as if he or she is a youth. I do not believe that it was in the divine plan for man to grow old and die. We can say that He honors youthfulness. The Psalmist offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God, saying, "Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like – …

I congratulate you all brothers and sons on Christmas and the new year, may God bring in happy days for all of you, for our beloved country Egypt and for the whole world, praying that the Lord may save the world from the dangers of earthquakes, floods and wars and that He might restore peace and structure to all those devastated regions and lighten the pain of its people those who survived, to expand His – …

St Severus of Antioch is one of the great Fathers of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. In the decades after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD it was he, more than any other theologian, who expressed most forcefully and clearly the Orthodox Christology of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. He grew up in the confused environment of the Church produced by Chalcedon and intermittently exacerbated by imperial persecution of those who rejected the decisions of that – …

Chapter Ten: The Triumph of the Disciple of an Old Man in the Desert Now there was a certain man whose name was Moses, who was by race an Indian (i.e., an Ethiopian), and his flesh was black, and he was the slave of a man in high authority, and because of his evil deeds and thefts his master drove him out of his house; now it is said that he even went so far – …

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” What is this? He must be exalted, but I must be humbled. How is Jesus to increase? How is God to increase? The perfect does not increase. God neither increases nor decreases. For if He increases, He is not perfect; if He decreases, he is not God. And how can Jesus increase, being God? If to man’s estate, since He deigned to be man and was a child; – …

"Why The Cross?" But if any honest Christian wants to know why He suffered death on the cross and not in some other way, we answer thus: in no other way was it expedient for us, indeed the Lord offered for our sakes the one death that was supremely good. He had come to bear the curse that lay on us; and how could He "become a curse," [Gal. 3:13] otherwise than by accepting the – …

I. BACKGROUND A. The Empire Theodosius the Great died in 395. His two sons replaced him: Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West. In the West, the Germanic tribes invaded the Western Empire and established a new kingdom. They applied their primitive, barbarian customs instead of the Roman law and most of them were Arians. Emperor Honorius lost his control of the Empire and lived in North Italy. The Visigoths defeated the Roman – …

The Holy Church teaches us that Jesus Christ our Lord, Who gave Himself "for the life of the world" (Jn. 6:51), is the One, Who saved us from eternal death by His crucifixion, trampling death by death. Through His Resurrection, we are given a new life in Him, where sin and death are forever conquered. By the mercy of God, we are brought back to have life in His everlasting Kingdom. But like any form – …

As we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, we remember the power which the apostles received when the Holy Spirit descended upon them, fulfilling our Lord’s promise to them that, “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) This power, which the disciples received on the Day of – …