La Lumière du monde.Le Père confesseur Nicolae Steinhardt*.

Apparaissant aux hommes comme une aurore porteuse de lumière,
Tu viens maintenant du désert vers les eaux du Jourdain, Roi du soleil, pour y incliner la tête...(Service Liturgique)

Le texte évangélique du saint Apôtre Matthieu (Mt 4, 12- 17) est, en vérité, l'un des plus terrifiants du Nouveau Testament, si ce n'est le plus terrifiant. Pourquoi ?. Parce qu'on nous parle de la venue du Christ dans le monde, autrement dit dans le monde actif, dans le monde des hasards et des événements, de la vie quotidienne, en plein tourment de la vie adulte. Le nourrisson de l'étable, l'enfant qui étonnait les sages du temple, cède maintenant le pas au jeune homme qui assume sa mission et affronte l'immanent. Le texte évangélique nous Le montre aussi comme « une grande lumière », comme « la lumière qui s’est levée », tout comme le Prologue du saint Apôtre et Évangéliste Jean. La merveilleuse nouvelle n'est plus promesse, mais accomplissement, début réel, acte. Jésus a trente ans. La Loi et la Tradition lui permettent de prêcher et de prophétiser. L’aurore s'est faite matin, et le matin s’est fait midi fertile au centuple ... Et où voit-Il le jour? Dans la «Galilée des Nations », la contrée qui tire son nom du mot hébraïque "galil" qui signifie agglomération, bariolage, Babylonie. Qu’est-ce que cela veut dire ?. Que le Christ est venu pour tous les hommes, sans exception, pas seulement pour les juifs. Il est venu pour toutes les nations et pour toute l'humanité.

We have received grace for grace.Elder Ephraim of Arizona.

Archimandrite Ephraim of Philotheou.

Archimandrite Ephraim of Philotheou is an archimandrite and former abbot of Philotheou Monastery on Mount Athos, spiritual guide of several monasteries on Mount Athos and Greece, and the founder of several monasteries in the United States. He resides in Arizona at St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery. Elder Ephraim has been a priest-monk for almost 60 years and has served as an elder for more than 50 years. He was a disciple of Elder Joseph the Hesychast of Mount Athos and lived in monastic obedience to him for 12 years until his Elder's repose in 1959.        

        "Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One." What can I, the unworthy and filthy one, say about the grandeur of the innumerable dispensations of the Most High God!. I am astonished and unable to look directly at it as I contemplate this mystery.

How did God condescend to be an infant in a cave of irra­tional beasts?. How was He wrapped in swaddling clothes and carried in the holy arms of the holy Virgin, He Who was born by the Father without a mother!. "Great art Thou, O Lord, and wondrous are Thy deeds, and no word sufficeth to hymn Thy wonders!" "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"

My soul shall rejoice in the Lord; I shall noetically smother with kisses that most sweet and blessed Infant, so that He may deliver me from my irrational passions.

Doubting Thomas… Believing Thomas.?!.Kosmas Damianidis.

Dearly Beloved Brethren,

Nobody knows the time or even the place that our Lord is returning to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the Fathers of our Church do not tell us to try and outsmart God, by predicting the time that He will appear. On the contrary the Fathers concentrate on teaching us to be constantly ready and watchful, by praying, fasting and doing works of love and faith. We are instructed to expect a sudden if not instant entry of our Lord.

In the final chapter of the Book of Revelations, the Apocalypse of St John the Theologian, we are informed that we must fully accept the imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore we are told that our world will suffer terribly before the Second Coming of our Lord and that this world will be destroyed. Nevertheless so let it be, in obedience we should pray "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Rev 22:20) and come quickly.

In John chapter 20 we are told of the pitiful sight of the Apostles who gathered in a small dark house for fear of the Jews after the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. They had locked every window and door, and they were in a state of mourning. They must have been deeply depressed, angry, disillusioned, confused and very afraid to say the least.

Mariam the "Batoul"- Holy Mother of God.Archimandrite Touma Bitar.

Sermon of the Holy Fathers’ Sunday.
24 December 2017.

           In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We are now in the period of the feast of Nativity, and according to the liturgical calendar, the celebration started on Friday, and will be completed tomorrow, God’s willing.

Therefore today, which is the Sunday before Christ’s Nativity, is included in the period of the Nativity feast, where the holy fathers of the Lord Jesus in the flesh are mentioned.

Today, I would like to reflect upon the subject of the Holy Theotokos.

What is the one thing that the Most Holy Theotokos offered, that no one had ever offered before?... And nevertheless everyone is called to offer?.

A Dedication to Our All Holy Theotokos...