Today we celebrate the Protection of the Theotokos and also two of the Church’s great singers and melodists, St. Roman and St. John Cucuzeles. There is a deep connection between our hymnography and the person…
The first event of the New Testament, chronologically, is the conception of the Forerunner. Only St. Luke deals with the Baptist’s conception and birth, but three of the four Gospels…
Today, as we bow down before the Cross, the wisdom of the world is put to shame by the foolishness of God. Today, as we exalt this instrument of torture and death as an ensign of life, we testify…
The final chapter of the Didache refers to a sign of outspreading, or expansion, and many have understood this sign to be the sign of the Cross. On the Cross, Christ stretches…
One of the folk-names for today’s feast is translated in English as the “Little Most Pure.” The literal meaning here is clear: today we see the Theotokos as a baby; looking at the festal icon we behold…
Last week we celebrated the beginning of a new ecclesiastical year; now we mark the first great feast of the year, the birth of the Theotokos. The outer proclamation of…
It is my great joy to welcome you to my primatial See of Washington, D.C., and to my cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. I pray that this historic concelebration will mark the beginning…
In today’s Gospel, we hear of the calling of the apostles, and we are reminded of the ragtag and varied group of men that our Lord called to his service: Peter, bold but wavering; the thunderous…
Happy New Year to all! September 1 marks the beginning of the ecclesiastical new year, which has always been reckoned according to the creation of the world. This is not a matter of mere pious tradition…
On July 2, we celebrated the robe of the Theotokos; today we celebrate the placing of her belt. These feasts are not merely connected with ancient relics as a source of pious…