The reckoning of time in antiquity went through a variety of permutations and combinations until Julius Caesar, on the basis of the Egyptian solar calendar, standardized a 365-day year with an extra day inserted on leap years. Both the church and Western culture in general followed this solar calendar until the reforms of Pope Gregory …
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE NATIVITY FAST (ADVENT FAST)? Why is the Coptic Church concerned with the Nativity Fast, in which her members fast for more than forty days? Undoubtedly, the Incarnation of the Word of God was the intention of God preceding the fall of Adam and Eve in sin. Upon their fall, …
The Life of St John the Baptist has some very interesting aspects that can apply to every Christian today. From The Angels announcement to his father Zachariah we know that he was specially chosen by God: “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord... He will also be filled with the Holy …
John is the voice, but the Lord is the Word who was in the beginning. John is the voice that lasts for a time; from the beginning Christ is the Word who lives forever. Take away the word, the meaning, and what is the voice? Where there is no understanding, there is only a meaningless …
Marriage was ordained by God as a blessing to the human race. A certain wise man in the Scriptures, when enumerating which blessings are the most important, included “a wife and husband who live in harmony” (The Wisdom of Sirach 25:1). From the beginning, God in His providence planned this union of man and woman. …
In our day controversy abounds over the mysterious institution we call "marriage." For some, marriage is a purely human invention, a kind of civil partnership or temporary contract. From this point of view, marriage, like any human institution, is what we make of it. It is not necessarily sacred, or permanent, and it tends to …
Our Lord made a covenant with us through baptism in order to give us eternal life. There is in baptism an image both of death and of life, the water being the symbol of death, the Spirit giving the pledge of life. The association of water and the Spirit is explained by the twofold purpose, …
In the sacrament of Baptism we die with Christ and rise with Christ. Many people confuse the sacrament of Baptism with the sacrament of Chrismation where we receive the Holy Spirit by the anointing of the Holy Oil (Mayron) 36 times allover our body. So at baptism day we receive two sacraments Baptism and Chrismation …
The word transfiguration in Greek is the word Metamorphosis (Meta - form or nature), (Morphosis - complete change). It is the same word we use for when a caterpillar turns into butterfly. The story of the Transfiguration Christ is like everything else that Jesus did, it is for me personally. Jesus did not need to …
We have mentioned before, that the human nature obtains a kind of transfiguration in the general resurrection, when it will be clothed with spiritual heavenly incorruptible bodies, and human beings will become like the angels of God in heaven. But there are some kinds of transfiguration which happen here in life upon the earth. The …
