Resources & Articles

Life & Living
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It certainly appears and feels like our lives are very busy. One result of this apparent busyness that I’ve noticed personally—and perhaps you also—is that we are forced to prioritize our tasks. Which of the many things demanding our attention will we do? Setting goals so that you maintain your focus on the important things is the key to all productivity apps, planners, workshops, and calendars. Know what is important, and make sure it is not pushed aside—that’s what’s crucial. Regrettably, when we think of goals, we think selfishly—about ourselves,... Read more...
May 8 – The Apparition of St Michael
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For a parish that is under the patronage, and exults in the merits, of so great an Archangel, it is most fitting that we learn of his appearances in other times and places. Here is the description of one such feast that we celebrate this month. That the blessed Archangel Michael, whose name means Who is like unto God?, is the prince of the faithful Angels who opposed Lucifer and his followers in their revolt against God. Since the devil is the sworn enemy of God’s holy Church, Saint Michael is... Read more...
Christ Loves You in Your Body
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Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia! These words that we just said: they are so much more than a joyful Easter greeting. To greet one another with these words is to proclaim to each other the most fundamental, the most significant, the most impactful, the greatest truth of our hope, both at this moment and as our last moment nears. St Paul says this clearly with these words: [Now] if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen,... Read more...
Holy Week Explained
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NOTE: This article is reprinted from "Holy Week in the Western Tradition" at The Orthodox West, a new website explaining Orthodox life and practice according to the ancient Western tradition. Holy Week in the Western Tradition: A Brief Synopsis Holy Week consists of two parts: the first four days, beginning with Palm Sunday; and the Triduum Sacrum (“holy three days”), which celebrate with particular solemnity Our Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. During the first half, the words of St Thomas should fill our hearts and minds: “Let us also go, that we... Read more...
Holy Week Schedule
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Lent: Dying to Self
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Lent is a kind of retreat from the world. Just as Our Lord, after His baptism, retreated from the world for forty days to immerse Himself in fasting and prayer, so we follow His example. Yet our retreat is not to fight our own battles, just as Our Lord’s retreat was not to fight His own battle. Our Lord retreated in order to enter into our fray; and we retreat in order to participate in His passion. He strove against Satan so that, on the cross, He might overcome him... Read more...
Oh, How Blest Are Ye: All Souls Day
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Let us consider this possible conversation between ourselves and the Faithful Departed, whom we commemorate this day. We might say: Oh, how blest are ye whose toils are ended, Who through death have unto God ascended! Ye have arisen From the cares which keep us still in prison. And the Faithful Departed would respond: Truly, we to glory have arisen From all cares that held us in a prison, Earthly toil ended, We unto our God are now ascended. We are still as in a dungeon living, Still oppressed with... Read more...
Great is Your Reward: All Saints Day
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Today we commemorate the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ lived in and through the nameless and numberless throng that laid down their life for Christ’s sake. Many were violently executed; some were tortured and died in prison. Many died in the great persecutions in Rome or Russia; some were killed secretly. Some saw the faces of their tormenters; some never knew they were headed for death until the sword or the bullet or the bomb struck. However, in every case these Christian martyrs did not die needlessly. For the... Read more...
Return to Being Little Children
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Where I grew up, it was customary to place in children’s bedrooms near the bed a precious picture of an angel watching two little ones cross a precarious bridge over a seething water fall during a nighttime storm. I had one of those pictures hanging in my bedroom. The point of this picture was as clear as it is comforting: Guardian Angels protect each of us when we are in danger. And that is the truth. Angels are bodiless spirits who serve God by serving us. And that truth is... Read more...
Metropolitan Visit to Bless Icons
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The Most Reverend Joseph (Al-Zehlaoui), Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, will visit St Michael Orthodox Christian Church on Sunday, 27 August. In addition to presiding at the Liturgy, His Eminence will bless the newly installed icons, painted by Brother Lazarus (Joseph) Brown of Our Lady and St Laurence Monastery in Canon City, Colorado. It has been nearly 27 years since St Michael’s Church was blessed with the visit of a Metropolitan Archbishop. That occurred on September 9, 1990, when Metropolitan... Read more...
Easter Homily: Something Strange is Happening
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Cristo ha resucitado! Hristos a înviat! Kristus är uppstånden! Hristos Voskrese! Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! al-Masīḥ qām! Christus resurrexit! Christ is risen! In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, one God. Something strange is happening. But do we have ears to hear this news? Do we have eyes to see this event? Most unfortunately, most regrettably, most sadly, our eyes and ears focus on what we think really matters—the sights that please us, the music that recalls pleasant memories. But these sights and sounds... Read more...
Receiving Jesus as He Gives Himself
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The goal is to live forever, not live for now. The goal is that we restrain our passions and our appetites, that we hold in check but we think matters most, instead of feeding our passions—our anger and lusts—and letting them get the best of us. The goal is that we find solace in the body of Christ—not simply in the Eucharist as an individual act, but in the church itself—rather than thinking that we will find rest and refreshment by working things out on our own. The goal is... Read more...