St. Mary Orthodox Church

It is a tragic irony that the thirty-year-old Fr. Basilios had been born in 1982, during the first round of violence centered in Hama. It drives home that in many ways the early 1980s struggle between the Assad government and the radical Islamist insurgency prefigured the current war. Despite the Church’s mission and calling as peacemaker in Syrian society, Christians continue to be targeted. Read more »

 

Over the last 28 and a half years I have cancelled services only once. I don’t like to and yet this time it seems wise and prudent. The reading of the story of Zaccheus is a hint of what is to come. The Sunday of the Publican is only a couple of weeks away and Great Lent is right around the corner. Read more »

 

And now, at this very moment, love flows from the Holy Trinity to us. It always has and always will. It is given to us for our comfort and healing and for sharing. It is like the manna in the wilderness which was good only for the day it was given. Read more »

 

Growth means change, change of mind and change of heart and we must not fear it. God is infinite. We cannot come to the end of Him nor the end of truth. The creation is filled with mysteries. There is so much we do not know and we must never delude ourselves into thinking we have mastered everything there is to master. Read more »

 

Are we willing to pour out our lives as Christ did for the sake of others? Are we willing to stop judging people, relatives, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and enemies and to count their welfare as more important than our own? Are we willing to share all that we have with those who have little? Are we willing to die to ourselves? That is, in part at least, the narrow gate that leads to life. Read more »

 

I want to take this opportunity to give thanks to God and to all of you. I look out and see a strong parish filled with love and devotion. Whether in the physical church building or out of it, we are not and can never be separated from one another. Read more »

 

This is a time ordained for being rather than doing. For staying put. For peace and rest and for nurturing our souls. For finding and celebrating God's gracious omnipotence wherever we are. Read more »

 

The Holy Angel told the Theotokos not to be afraid. To that message I can add only this proviso. Be cautious. Take care of yourselves and your families. Pray for one another. let us be people who wed faith with reason. Read more »

 

This past Sunday we read one of the five Gospel readings meant to prepare us for the Great Fast. It was the story of Zacchaeus, a profound meditation on the meaning of repentance. Zacchaeus shows us the depth of repentance that goes far beyond a one-time confession or ritual. Repentance as a way of life. Read more »

 

If we take seriously our Lord's words that we must feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit those who are sick and in prison, and welcome strangers, then it begs the question, if we are not doing this, then what in the world are we doing and why do we as church even exist? Read more »

 

We are so bound up in our problems that we cannot see the truth that we are loved extravagantly. We have come to see, God more often as judge and jury and not as Father and Lover. Read more »

 

All those who desire to enter the Dance by connecting the circuit through synergy (working together with God) will experience the outpouring of love from the Trinity through Christ in the Holy Spirit. In fact, that is what happened at the prison that night. We all got caught up in the Dance. Read more »

 

What kind of ripples are we sending into the world? During the long 90 years of her existence, the people of this community opened themselves and the church doors to everyone regardless of national origin or ethnicity. Read more »

 

Everyone is called to this mystical life, not a simplistic imitation of the saintliness of others, but the nurturing of a holiness that is wholly unique to each person. As each one puts on the mind of Christ, the uniqueness of every person is revealed to be another magnificent facet in the jewel that includes everyone and everything. Read more »

 

In this time when the Faith is so often misrepresented by hate-filled purveyors of a Christianity utterly foreign to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a religion tied to the craving for power and wealth, we who love Christ are called to a different way of life. Read more »

 

St. John Chrysostom's exquisite Paschal Sermon uses the Lord's parable of the Workers who come at various times and are paid the very same wage. That is not fair, of course, but grace has nothing to do with fairness. Grace is not fair, it is amazingly unfair. If that isn't Good News, then I don't know what is. Read more »

 

If we do not see the Resurrection of Christ shining like a light through transparent nature, then we are missing the point. Read more »

 

And while we might be thinking of Holy Pascha which is right around the comer, it might be good to remember that the Resurrection is not confined to one day only, it is every day. If the Kingdom is here and now, then Pascha is also here and now. Read more »

 

We are extensions of the Incarnation. God's hands are our hands. God's feet are our feet. We have the choice to make his life our life, his words our words, his will our will. The choice is ours. Read more »

 

When I read, I always keep my eyes open for beautiful things to share with you. What has been confirmed for me recently from disparate sources is that the Word of God, the Divine Logos, shines in every place and every heart that seeks the truth. The Logos_ theologians in the early church taught that the seeds of the logos are spread throughout creation. There is no place the Logos is not and we can expect that this light will break through in surprising ways from time to time. Read more »