St. Mary Orthodox Church

May 25, 2026 - by Dn. Jeff Smith

The 17th chapter of John is the most profound prayer in the entire bible. The whole scene is improbable. The disciples have been with Jesus for years, they have seen his miracles, and yet, he is still a mystery to them. Until the very end, they don’t really understand his way of liberation.

May 03, 2026 - by Subdeacon JD Swartz

Healing is the process of being made whole. Your healing, your wholeness, my wholeness, is not for us alone – you are not an individual, you are a person. We are not meant for isolation. We are relational, made to live in interaction with one another and with God. Our healing, our wholeness, is affected by and has an effect upon, others.

April 26, 2026 - by Dn. Jeff Smith

The Church has always honored the Myrrh-bearing Women as 'equal to the apostles,' not because they held an office, but because they received and proclaimed the Resurrection. St. John Chrysostom notes that while all the disciples were hidden away in fear, the women came forward in love and boldness, and so they were made worthy to hear the angelic proclamation first. Their receptivity was their strength—their capacity to remain present during Jesus’ suffering at the Cross, to endure their grief without turning away, and to approach the tomb even when all hope seemed sealed away behind the stone.

April 19, 2026 - by Dn. James Wilcox

It is not possible to understand Christ apart from the Cross. The very message passed down to us from the time of the Apostles IS the crucified Christ. Not a physical warrior, not a political leader, not culture warrior, but a humiliated, beaten, bullied, emasculated, and crucified Christ. And the way TO Jesus is through the Cross. We cannot claim to know Jesus Christ and then tack on the Cross as a postscript. Christ Himself tells us “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

April 08, 2026 - by Teva Regule, MDiv, PhD

Our service tonight gives us a glimpse of compassion, in particular the compassion of God in which we are called to emulate. God did not abandon His creation, but eventually sent His Son in order to heal our estrangements—to reactualize the Edenic harmony of His creation.  We can experience this harmony now through our participation in the Body of Christ.   

March 22, 2026 - by Inga Leonova

A recounting and reflection of the life of St. Mary of Egypt on the day dedicated to her on the 5th Sunday of Great Lent.

March 15, 2026 - by Kyra Limberakis

What strikes me most about this feast is that the gospel reading for today makes clear that we are not to just contemplate the cross. The cross is not just a mere symbol, something we wear decoratively around our necks or do the sign of before meals. To be a follower of Christ, to say that we are Orthodox Christians, is to empty ourselves of our pride, our ego, our desires; to bear that which can sometimes seem unbearable; and walk in the way of the Lord.

March 08, 2026 - by Dr. Sarah Riccardi-Swartz

Our incarnational theology invites us to utilize the tools of the church to see and engage with each other as bearers of the divine image. Participating in God’s energies, in his work in the world, and in embodied forms of prayer that create active change, are just some of the ways we climb the ladder to draw closer to him while we journey closer to one another in our divine calling to become Christ to all.

March 01, 2026 - by Teva Regule, MDiv, PhD

As Christians, we live with the memory of Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us and with the hope that we too will live with Him eternally.  As we walk on our own paths, the Church gives us sign posts along the way to remind us of important events in our lives that ground us as Orthodox Christians and point us to the reality of the Resurrection. 

February 22, 2026 - by Fr. Antony Hughes

This movement of love is reflected in the theological concept of perichoresis which describes the divine interior life of the Holy Trinity. We have been invited to enter into this divine circular dance through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our willingness to forgive others serves as a sign of our own readiness to receive God's mercy and join in the dance.

January 18, 2026 - by Subdeacon JD Swartz

Love, brothers and sisters, is the Sacrament par excellence – the foundation of every Sacrament encountered within the Church, the basis of the Incarnation of Christ, the very reason for creation’s existence. In this love no nation, no race, no group comes first; in its light no system of control, no political force, no oppression may stand triumphant. And where we would stand in its way, love would seek to envelope and heal us.

January 11, 2026 - by Dn. Jeff Smith

Light in Holy Scripture is always relational—it reveals, it warms, it guides, and it gives life. When Christ appears, darkness is dispelled. This is the light of repentance; it shines light on shame and allows for a reorientation—turning away from what diminishes us, what makes us less, and turning toward the One who offers light and life.

January 04, 2026 - by Dn. James Wilcox

But more to the point, if we are on a quest for origins or an “original meaning” only, we ignore the active work of the Holy Spirit in our Church to help define the essential doctrines that direct us toward our salvation in Jesus Christ. If God is not Triune, then everything the Orthodox Church has understood about our salvation comes undone. But because this indescribable mystery HAS been revealed and announced to the cosmos, as seen at Christ’s baptism in the Jordan, we know that in and through Jesus Christ — who is our starting point— that our salvation is at hand.