Like the Saints, our path to holiness will be through the daily struggle to be faithful in small ways that few will notice or celebrate.

Fr. Philip calls us to actively engage in the journey towards the Kingdom of God through the Dormition Fast.

Being set free from those things which possess us is just the beginning of the process of salvation.

We are all bent over and crippled in profound ways in relation to the Lord, our neighbors, and even ourselves. The good news of Christmas is that the Savior is born to set us free from captivity to decay, corruption, and weakness.

Let us get over our pride and become living epiphanies of the salvation of the One Who was baptized by St. John the Forerunner in the Jordan.

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” The father of the young man in today’s gospel lesson cried out these words with tears in response to the Lord’s statement that “all things are possible to him who believes.” The father in this passage provides a good example of how we should respond to the spiritual challenges posed by our current public health crisis.

Whenever we give our time, resources, or attention to help anyone who is in need in any way, we embrace an opportunity to serve our Savior and participate more fully in His life.

Growing in humility is the only way for us to find healing for our passions, for our disordered desires ultimately root in the pride of not accepting the truth about who we are before God.

As we pray, fast, give to the needy, and confess and repent of our sins this Advent, let us do so with the joyful hope of the woman who could finally stand up straight after eighteen years. For the Savior is born to deliver us from bondage in all its forms.

Today we celebrate that the Lord is at hand, coming into Jerusalem as the Messiah, hailed by the crowds as their Savior. He enters Jerusalem on a humble beast of burden, carrying no weapons and having no army, political machine, or media campaign to flatter the powerful and play on the fears, resentments, and hopes of the masses.

People think of religion in many different ways today, but usually not in a way that requires our hearts to be broken.

Now is the time to prepare for a spiritually beneficial Lent that will help us grow in the humility necessary to see ourselves and our neighbors clearly as we reorient our lives toward the great joy of Pascha.

Lent does not call us merely to think or have feelings about our Lord’s Cross and resurrection. This season invites us to grow in our personal knowledge and experience of the Savior Who offered Himself on the Cross and rose in glory on the third day for our salvation.

In order to take up our crosses, we must choose to embrace the struggle of dying to our vain illusions about ourselves and our world. Our hope is not in spiritual or moral perfection acquired merely by our own willpower, but in the gracious mercy of the One Who offered up Himself for our salvation purely out of love.

When Jesus Christ was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath, he saw a woman who was bent over and could not straighten up. She had been that way for eighteen years. The Lord said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” When He laid hands on her, she was healed. When the woman stood up straight again, she glorified God. As was often the case when the Savior healed on the Sabbath day, there were religious leaders eager to criticize Him for working on the legally mandated day of rest. He responded by stating the obvious: People do what is necessary to take care of their animals on the Sabbath. “So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” Then “all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by Him.” By restoring the woman in this way Christ showed that He is truly “Lord of the Sabbath” and that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28)

In this episode Father John explores the way in which the loss of sacramental experience among Calvinists led to the rise of a political ideology that would unintentionally lay the foundation for utopia.

In this episode, Fr. John Strickland recounts the efforts of three Italian humanists of the quattrocento ("fourteen hundreds") to rescue the dignity of man from the pessimism of Western culture. Departing from traditional Christianity's dignification of man through communion with God, they looked instead to Neoplatonism and there found a model of the fully autonomous human being, Prometheus.

Fr. John Parker has just returned from his trip to both Albania and Istanbul and files several reports and interviews. In this first report from Istanbul, he describes his surroundings and first impressions.

In his second report from Istanbul, Fr. John is sitting on the roof of his hotel reflecting on the Muslim call to prayer which is heard five times daily. He wonders about our own devotion to prayer in comparison.

In this brief episode, Fr. John is reporting from inside the Hagia Sophia, remembering the visit from the Russian emissaries who "knew not if we were in heaven or on earth."

In his last report from Istanbul, Fr. John reflects on how hidden Christianity is in this country which once was the center of Christianity.

Fr. John begins to discuss his pilgrimage to Jerusalem and how it is important to visit the locations talked about in the New Testament.

Fr. John continues to share from Jerusalem, and he talks about the Church of St. James.

Fr. John talks about the history of the church in Jerusalem, and the holiness of the tomb of Christ.

Fr. John comments about the amount of faith in Jerusalem and urges us to pray fervently.

Fr John reflects on Liturgy at the Tomb of the Lord in Jerusalem

Fr John discusses a visit to the remarkable church built on the site of the baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch--a church recently discovered and under excavation in near Bethlehem. The church contains one of the largest baptismal fonts found in Israel.

We are helped to reflect upon that mysterious tour of Christ (from the heavens, to the grave, and back to glory) described in the Tone 8’s Resurrectional Hymns by looking to Psalm 67/68:17-19, Ephesians 4:7-11, John 20:19-31, and 1 Corinthians 3:9-17.

St. Paul emphasizes the divine origin of the gospel without downplaying the importance of his fellow apostles. We understand this difficult passage in Galatians by looking at the entire letter, by remembering the apostolic witness to the Resurrection in 1 Cor 15, and by comparing the ministry of the apostle with that of the prophet Jeremiah. (Gal 1:11-19; 1 Cor 15; various passages from Jeremiah)

We hear Jesus’ words to Laodicea (Rev 3:14-22), rejoicing that even for a lukewarm Church there is the remedy of forgiveness and revival, as also seen in Isaiah 65:16-19, Ezekiel 36-7 and Jeremiah 31, as well as in Jesus’ own words concerning the enlivening work of the Holy Spirit. Repentance is for all of us, not simply for unbelievers, and yields the riches, healing, and purity that God intends for His people.

We read Revelation 13:11-18 in light of current interpretation (even among Orthodox readers), the fathers, and LXX Daniel “Bel and the Dragon,” 12b: 1-42. This chapter is not significant for identifying in our day the figure numbered 666 nor the mark of the beast. Instead, it prepares us for faithfulness, the possibility of exclusion or even martyrdom, and sober worship of the God of all.

At the head of the new year, we heed Deuteronomy 32:1–18 (Second Song of Moses, Part 1), in the light of other Biblical passages, and remember the days of old. Especially we contemplate the pictures of God offered here—Rock, Father, Ruler, like a mother giving birth—and learn from Moses to “ascribe greatness to the LORD our God.”

We read the second half of the second canticle of Moses, Deut 32:19-43, in the light of Jeremiah 1:10, Hosea 6:1-3, and the fathers. Its vigorous poetry must be read with care, but shows us strong truths concerning our holy God, and His desire for our purity and salvation.

We read Hannah’s sober and joyful canticle (canticle 3), taken from 1 Samuel/1 Kingdoms 2:1–10, and consider what it means for God to “bring low” and to “exalt” us. In this we are helped by St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil and Great, and other sections of the Old Testament.

The prophet Habakkuk, who waits with us during the Paschal vigil, gives us much to consider in the fourth Old Testament canticle, taken from Habakkuk 3. Modelling humility, giving us grounds for hope by remembering God’s mighty acts in Exodus and Joshua, and lifting our eyes to the places on high, he continues to speak with force and poignancy even to those of us who know the fuller story of the Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension.

This week we consider the deep canticle of the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 26:9-20), interpreting its more difficult phrases in the light of some of the Church fathers, and with reference to the story of the flood in Genesis 6-9, Psalm 119, Romans 8:22-39, and 2 Peter 1:19.

The song of Jonah (Jonah 2:2-9), Old Testament Canticle 6, is notable for its poignancy and substance. We read it with reference to Jesus’ words in Matthew12:39-41 and with help from these Old Testament passages: Job 41, Psalm 104/LXX 103:26, Psalm 139/LXX 138: 8-12, and Psalm 148:7.

This week we consider Canticle 7 (Dan 3:25-56), which details Azariah’s confession, and the beginning of his song with the three friends. Here we see the themes of human praises based on understanding, the importance of God’s glory, and God’s merciful justice as he keeps covenant with us, looking also to 2 King 19:15-20:6 and Genesis 22:15-18.

This week we revel in the colors, sounds, and wonder of Old Testament Canticle 8 (Dan 3:57-88 LXX). In this exuberant song of praise, we bring the whole cosmos before God, and enter into the praise that flows in different ways from everything that He has created.

This week we read the first part of Canticle 9 (Luke 1:46-55); interpreting it in the light of Hannah’s song, David’s joy in the Ark of the Lord (2 Sam/2 Kingdoms 6:9-15) 2 Cor 10:15, and Gen 22:17-18. Her humility and joy are models for us as we learn to “magnify” the Savior.

We read the righteous Zachariah’s canticle of praise and hope from Luke 1:68-79, looking to the Old Testament to shed light on it: Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 22:16-17; Psalm 18/17:3; 2 Sam/2 Kingdoms 7:1-17; 2 Sam/2 Kingdoms 22:3; Isaiah 9:2 and Malachi 3:1; 4:2-5.

In this final episode of “Light from the Canticles,” we contemplate the Song of Simeon, also known as the Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2:29-32), with help from select fathers, Genesis 26:26-30, 2 Samuel (Kingdoms) 20:41-42, Isaiah 54:10, and Nehemiah 8:3. The elder Simeon’s song of blessing and gratitude becomes ours as we remember the fulfillment of God’s promises, and rejoice in the Incarnate One, who has brought us release from sin and death. Next episode we will start a series on the Psalms sung at Vespers, in the Divine Liturgy, and in our daily readings: “Light from the Psalms.”

We begin a series concerning the major psalms read throughout the week, both liturgically, and in personal prayer. Our first episode reads Psalm 103 (LXX)/104 (Hebrew) of Great Vespers, by which we stand alongside God on the final evening of the creation-week (Genesis 1), rejoicing in creation and in the Creator. We are helped in our interpretation by the hope offered in Hebrews 12:18-24 and 1 Corinthians 15.

In this second episode, we consider that selection of verses from Psalms 1-3 which is ordinarily sung in parishes during Great Vespers, and place these in their full context, while looking to 2 Samuel (2 Kingdoms)15-18 and also to select fathers for help in understanding. We see that our life depends upon being in Christ, the only Blessed One, and that even in our times of trial, God is with us, both to rescue and to bless.

We consider the first of the Lamp-lighting Psalms, Psalm 140 (MT141), with the help of select Church fathers, and in the light of Numbers 16; 2 Corinthians 5:21-6:1; Romans 5:1-2, and 1 Thessalonians 5:23-4.

We read the second “lamplight” Psalm, Psalm 141 (LXX) /142 (MT), clarifying its historical context by means of 1 Samuel (Kingdoms) 22 and 1 Samuel (Kingdoms) 24, and understanding its relevance to our lives today through the fathers and Hebrews 12:1-6. God is our true hope as we cry out to Him for deliverance, and as He surrounds us with those who journey on the same path.

We read the third and fourth “lamp-light” Psalms (Psalm 129LXX/130 MT and 116/117), considering their profound truths in the light of Deuteronomy 30:11-14, Romans 10:6-8, Luke 23:34-46, Mark 14:37, and Mark 15:34. Crying out and waiting patiently are shown to be the most perfect human responses to the LORD, who alone is our Helper and the One who loves mankind.

We meditate upon Psalm 92/3, of which three poignant verses are recited in Saturday Great Vespers, with the help of the blessed Augustine, Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1, Genesis 3, and Isaiah 51:9.

This week we consider Psalm 19 LXX (20 Hebrew Text), the “royal beginning” to Matins, in which we are taught confidence in King Jesus, who ruled even from the cross. We are helped in our reading by several ancient commentaries, Philippians 2:5-11, Romans 7-8, and Hebrews 7, all of which show gratitude for the LORD’s actions in raising us up and glorifying us with Him.

We move on in this episode to consider the second royal psalm of Matins, Psalm 20 LXX/21 Hebrew, and see it in the light of Psalm 36/37, as well as 2 Samuel 3. Amazingly, the glory that the LORD Jesus shares with His Father makes its mark on us, as well!