Fr. Thaddaeus Hardenbrook
Rating: 1|Votes: 1
Last Sunday, the second Sunday before Nativity, we celebrated all the forefathers of Christ—that is, everyone who worked to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. We praised the men who shone forth before and during the Old Covenant Law. We honored Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Samson, Barak, Jephthah, Nathan, Eleazar, Josiah, Job, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, and all the prophets, especially Daniel and the three holy youths. We sang to the holy women made ”strong in the days of old by the might of Your Strength, O Lord: Hannah, Judith, Deborah, Huldah, Jael, Esther, Sarah, Miriam, Rachel, Rebecca, and Ruth.” We sang of all the righteous of the Old Covenant times, men and women, Hebrews and non-Hebrews, who found life in God and ”will appear with Him in glory” when ”Christ who is our life appears” (Col. 3:4).
Bishop Alexander (Mileant)
Every Christian mother considers it one of her primary obligations to teach her child prayer as soon as his consciousness awakens — prayer that is simple and easy for him to understand. His soul must be accustomed to the warm and fervent experience of prayer at home, by his cradle, for his neighbors, his family. The child's evening prayer calms and softens his soul, he experiences the sweetness of prayer with his little heart and catches the first scent of sacred feelings.
Father Rostislav Sheniloff
Rating: 8,4|Votes: 10
We have now gone through almost three weeks of the Nativity Lent, my dear friends. This fast, beginning on November 28th, lasts for six weeks - almost as long as the Great Lent. However, the Nativity Lent has a different and entirely unique character.
We see the denial of this natural rhythm increasingly more frequently in our society. Instead of quiet preparation of prayer and fasting, we engage in a whirlwind of activities. Our schedules are filled with Christmas concerts and Christmas parties. People even began decorating for Christmas the day after Halloween.
Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)
Probably we are speaking of the faith we read about in the Holy Scriptures and in the Lives of the Saints; the faith which healed, worked miracles, gave unshakeable courage to the martyrs, fed the desert dwellers, and carried humble ascetics into the heavenly realms. It is that great faith which is so mysterious and unfathomable to us; faith that, we must admit, disturbs us when we read Christ’s words in the Gospels, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out the demons!
