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Guidelines for the Nativity Fast We fast faithfully and in secret, not judging others, and not holding ourselves up as an example.... ...read more |
Temples of the Living God We are all made to be living temples of God. We are all created to be dwelling places of his glory. ...read more |
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The Conception of Mary ....the faithful rejoice in the event by which Mary is conceived in fulfillment of her parents' prayers in order to be formed in the womb, born on the earth, dedicated to the Lord, and nurtured in holiness to become by God's grace the mother of His Son the Messiah. ...read more |
Unless the Lord Comes to Us: Advent Reflections It always seems that, just when I need it, the holy season of Advent arrives. Rather than being burdensome, the spiritual habits and proscriptions given to us in the Church are a lifeline. ...read more |
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The Advent Period in Home Life How can we live through the preparatory period of Advent as a Christian family? ...read more |
The Tree of Jesse The Jesse Tree represents the family tree, or genealogy of Jesus Christ beginning with creation and continuing through the Old Testament, to the coming of the Messiah. ...read more |
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We Give Thanks to Thee O Christ Our God We give Thee thanks for all Thy mercies, seen and unseen. For eternal life, for the heavenly Joys of the Kingdom which is to be. ...read more |
The Hypnotic Mall It’s not that hard to check out of the Christmas shopping frenzy and restore proper meaning to the day. ...read more |
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The Holy Hierarch Nicholas Who was the real St. Nicholas, and why has his story and life held such staying power? ...read more |
St. Nicholas Like God and like Jesus, St. Nicholas was genuinely good. Real goodness is possible. ...read more |
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The Twelve Days of Christmas Our Orthodox traditions - from fasting cycles to worship - exist to teach us how to live in Christ. ...read more |
The Sunday of the Holy Forefathers The holy forefathers and mothers of the Old Covenant, together with all their descendants, have chosen life. They find it in God's Messiah, Jesus Christ. ...read more |
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The Geneology of Jesus Christ There are many purposes for presenting the genealogy of Jesus in the gospels, chief among which is the affirmation that Jesus, being in truth the Son of God, as all the gospels testify, has come "in the flesh" as a real human being. ...read more |
The Two Comings of Christ The Christmas prefeast hymns, especially the canons, consciously refer to the hymns of the services of Holy Week before the springtime Pascha. In many of them, Easter paschal themes are replaced by Winter paschal themes, with just a few words being changed in each verse. ...read more |