The readings assigned for our celebration of the Nativity of Christ, God Incarnate, are taken from Paul’s letter to the Galatians and a part of the infancy narrative in Matthew’s Gospel. They are not, perhaps, the readings that one would … Continue reading
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Icons are theology expressed in color, lines and form, expressing humankind’s experience of God. The goal of icons are to lead us to an experience of God. The traditional icon of the Nativity of our Lord is packed with theology, … Continue reading
Since we celebrate this weekend the glorious feast of God’s Incarnation as made know to us through the Birth of Jesus, the Christ, I would diverge from my commentary on the Divine Liturgy to reflect upon some of the special … Continue reading
In the late fourth century, the meaning of Theophany began to shift from Christ’s birth to His baptism, thereby emphasizing the divine or theophanic character of this feast over its earlier more human aspect. The Nativity, which falls only twelve … Continue reading
On this feast of the Nativity of Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, I would briefly suspend my reflections on St. John’s Ladder and, rather, speak to the spirituality of the Christian East relative to the Nativity of … Continue reading
As we celebrate the great mystery of God’s Incarnation as a human, we are reminded that the call to holiness is a call to take time and reflect upon the great revelation that God as made to us about human … Continue reading
On the last weekend before the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord, the Church remembers all the Holy Ancestors of Christ in the flesh. Only two Gospels, namely Matthew and Luke, include any information about the infancy of Jesus. … Continue reading
The next feasts to be considered, as we trace the development of our Church feasts, are the THEOPHANY and the NATIVITY. The Cyrillian Feasts were not the only ones which owed their beginnings to Arianism. Just as the Council of … Continue reading
The 28th Step on John’s Ladder, which is PRAYER, provides us with a similar structure for prayer: “Heartfelt thanksgiving should have first place in our book of prayer. Next should be confession and genuine contrition of soul. After that should … Continue reading
The next thing that must be considered is Jesus AS the WORD. The Logos-doctrine of the fourth Gospel, which is John’s Gospel, represents the summit of New Testament Christology. Here the power of the divine Word is revealed in all … Continue reading