12/25/2015
Archpriest Oleg Stenyayev
We see that God is against dehumanizing our opponent. We must remember that any person whom we can potentially kill is God’s creation.
We should react to everything that is happening from the point of view of Holy Scripture. The Bible is the Lord’s instruction guide. What do we see in Holy Scripture having to do with such situations?
Then I remembered the text from the Bible where it says that the bread cast upon the waters always returns. In other words, a good deed done selflessly always returns to you…
The devil inspires you with the thought: “You’re a sinner! No one will ever forgive you your sins!” You have to say: “Yes, I have sinned, but Christ died for my sins. Christ also rose again for my justification!” This is the meaning of the Christian Passover! It’s the miracle of God’s forgiveness!
All biblical names speak, and were most often given to people from a certain prophetic inspiration. No translation is capable of fully revealing the beauty of the whole spectrum of biblical names and images.
Rating: 10|Votes: 2
What event reminds us of the Baptism of Christ? Why does the Nicea-Constantinople Creed mention only one sacrament—that of Baptism? Why is the feast of Baptism also called the Theophany? And how should fulfil our baptismal promises?
Rating: 9.8|Votes: 10
The feast of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple is known as the most childlike feast. Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev speaks on why this is so, and of what it reminds us adults.
Rating: 6|Votes: 28
November 9 is the feast-day of Claudia Procula, Pontius Pilate’s wife. She was recognized as a holy martyr by the Greek Orthodox, the Coptic and the Ethiopian Churches. The episode connected with her is perhaps among the most mysterious.
Rating: 4.5|Votes: 13
Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev talks about the first of the tollhouses that the soul goes through after death; about how the words and speech of the Orthodox Christian should be, and; what sins bound up with words should we avoid.
Rating: 4.9|Votes: 8
Let’s try to understand why certain fathers of the Church, such as St. Gregory of Nyssa, preached this heresy and why they were not pronounced heretics themselves.
Rating: 6.5|Votes: 8
Without a doubt, the angels watch after the paths of each of us, are not removed from our problems, and experience great joy if we step upon the path of repentance and correction.
Rating: 5.3|Votes: 14
So that we would not form the impression that the teaching on the aerial tollhouses was only known to the Eastern Fathers of the Church, we will turn to testimony from the book by Fr. Seraphim (Rose), where he show that he was familiar with themany different Orthodox Western sources, which were never translated into Greek or Russian and which abound with descriptions of the tollhouses.
Rating: 4.3|Votes: 8
Those who have parted their bodies do not rise so easily to the heavens as the neo-Protestants and our own renovationists would have it. There is a good deal of testimony in the holy fathers about the aerial tollhouses.
Rating: 4|Votes: 36
Where in the Bible do they talk about aerial tollhouses—those obstacles that the forces of darkness put in the way of souls rising after death to heaven through the space under heaven? Why do the demons wait for a soul in the under-heavens? How should we view the fact that there are differences between patristic works and the lives of the saints in explanations of the tollhouses? How can we answer critics of the teaching on the tollhouses?
Rating: 6.8|Votes: 32
Why is earthly life is so valuable to us? What does a soul experience as it separates from the body? What are the aerial tollhouses? What is life, and what is death in the Orthodox understanding? These are the topics of a series of talks with Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev, which we will be translating for our English language readers.
Rating: 10|Votes: 11
How are the soul and body connected? Do we need to be concerned about physical health? Why is care for physical health senseless without care for the soul? What danger is there in the cult of health? Archpriest Oleg Stenyayev answers these questions.
Rating: 4|Votes: 2
Of what spirit are we? What does the Savior call us to do? And how should a government act in this world? Is force justified? Archpriest Oleg Stenyaev talks about this subject.
Rating: 9.5|Votes: 17
To those on the new style calendar who are celebrating the Nativity of Christ, we wish all a joyous feast. Please keep this delightful article on fasting in mind for Wednesdays and Fridays, and the other three extended fast periods. But for those who are still observing the Nativity fast, may these instructions encourage you during this final stretch.
