• Ancient Faith Ministries
  • Radio & Podcasts
  • Publishing
  • Store
  • Blogs:
  • Films
Skip to content
Ancient Faith Blogs
  • Glory to God for All Things

    You Must Be Born From Above - John 3

    April 12, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Absolutely one of the strangest conversations to occur anywhere in the gospels takes place between Jesus and the inquiring Nicodemus in the third chapter of John. Of course, at least one of its verses (or at least its Stephanus Pagination verse number) has become nationally famous as an attendee at almost all televised American sporting events (3:16). The language of being “born again” has passed into American Evangelical popular parlance for probably…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    Mystagogical Catechesis and the Gospel of John

    April 11, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    I promise to get “off topic” from time to time – but I would like to do a bit of a “series” here in the post Pascha period – doing what has been done in the history of the Church – and look at the Gospel of John and what it means for us as believing Christians. I’m not suggesting a straightforward Bible study – but to look at a number of…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    Knowing God - After Pascha

    April 10, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    We approach things so differently in our modern world (as opposed to the ancient world). All of us have access to a great deal of information, although the information that comes to us when we are in the passive mode is less than useless (here I mean television and popular media). Thus I would paraphrase Our Lord and say, “How hard it is for a couch potato to enter the Kingdom of…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    And Into the Brightness

    April 9, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Bright Week – such a marvelous phrase – descriptive theologically and in many other ways of the time after Pascha. If we only knew, we all live in Bright Week – despite the fasting that we take up from season to season – despite the disasters that plague our earthly sojourn – still, we are all living in Bright Week. In Bright Week, the Bridegroom has come, and the friends of the…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    Which Way Does Time Work?

    April 7, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    I have a 19 year-old son, who would probably rather watch episodes of almost any science fiction show than eat pizza (almost). He particularly loves shows about time travel. In a town like Oak Ridge, it’s possible to have serious discussions with serious people about things that I thought only young boys took seriously (we have some particle physicists in the parish (Russians) and, as I say, Oak Ridge is a town…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    Lament Me Not

    April 7, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Do not lament me, O Mother, seeing me in the tomb, for I shall arise and be eternally glorified as God. I shall exalt all who magnify you in faith and in love. From the Paschal Service I stand by the tomb with chills each Pascha, listening to the choir, and for that major chord, “For I shall arise.” The priest then lifts the “Winding Sheet” (Plachinitsa) and carries it into the…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    Father, Forgive Us All

    April 6, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Some part of me issues a “knee-jerk” reaction to the way our culture treats Christian holydays. We did this at Christmas, and we’re doing it again. For whatever reason, mainstream media have largely decided that Christian holy days are occasions for airing the most specious programs. Whether its more of the DaVinci nonsense or a focus on the “Christian Right,” almost everything but a quiet and reverent moment of reflection or something…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    For Our Sake

    April 5, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Today, is suspended upon the Cross, He Who suspended the Earth upon the waters. A crown of thorns crowns Him, Who is the King of the angels. He, Who wrapped the Heavens in clouds, is clothed with the purple of mockery. He, Who freed Adam in the Jordan, received buffetings. He was transfixed with nails, Who is the Bridegroom of the Church. He was pierced with a lance, Who is the Son…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    Of Thy Mystical Supper

    April 5, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

      On this day the Church remembers Our Lord’s institution of the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. The Liturgy is that of St. Basil’s, which is used on all the Sundays of Lent as well. It is one of the most complete statements of the faith, despite its brevity (compared to Catechism or a book). Printed here is a portion of the Anaphora of St. Basil’s Liturgy, in the translation of Archbishop Dmitri…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    The Lamb - Slain from the Foundation of the World

    April 3, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    It was granted to him [the beast] to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. These are strange verses from the…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    He Who Has Ears to Hear

    April 2, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    I am convinced after years of preaching and listening to preaching that the bulk of Scripture has become lost to our ears. We hear it, but fail to “hear” it. And I do not mean this merely in the moral sense (doubtless we fail to be “doers” of the word). Rather, I am aware of a kind of dullness, of seeing a very narrow set of things that become the lens through…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    The Bridegroom Comes

    April 1, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless.  Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom.  But rouse yourself crying: Holy, holy, holy, are Thou, O our God.  Through the Theotokos, have mercy…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    Reaching Holy Week

    March 31, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Holy Week has long been my favorite time of year. I remember coming to it rather slowly in my college years. My wife and I were active Episcopalians at the time (while in college we volunteered to be in charge of the junior youth group – some 60 teenagers – that qualifies as being “active”). For whatever reasons I had never paid much attention to Holy Week before. There was Palm Sunday…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    A Last Minute Word to Catechumens

    March 30, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    “Are we really going to do this?” Those were the words I greeted by dear wife with upon waking in our hotel room on February 15, 1998. We were in Columbia, SC, for the purpose of being received into the Orthodox Church by Father Peter Smith (then Rector of Holy Apostles in Columbia). Along with us were our four children, the oldest being 17 and the youngest age 7. This day that…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    The Incarnation: Cause of All Things Made, And Caused by None

    March 29, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    The title of this post is a chapter heading in George Gabriel’s Mary the Untrodden Portal of God. Gabriel occasionally strikes hard at the West and the book would perhaps be strengthened with a less combative approach to the differences of East and West in the faith (my own opinion), but I liked the book and found Gabriel addressing many things, well foot-noted, that are not found in many other places. I share…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    That You May not Grieve as Others Do Who Have No Hope

    March 29, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Most of the services and words of Holy Week are the ones I expect – I’ve heard them before and though something will leap out at me as though I had never heard it (this always happens), I still feel somewhat secure that I know what is coming. In the Orthodox calendar, Holy Week begins on Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday. The services bear some similarity, as is appropriate, to…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    The Boundary of Death

    March 27, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Having spent two-and-a-half years as a Hospice Chaplain, I had opportunity to be present to over 200 deaths (that does not include the many I have witnessed in my years in ordained ministry. As you sit with someone who is dying, there finally arises a boundary beyond which you cannot go: death itself. I can pray for the “departure of the soul from the body” (the priestly service done at the time…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    In Accordance with the Scriptures - Part 2

    March 27, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Another candidate for consideration within the New Testament (particularly the New Testament as Interpretation) is the Johanine Corpus, the writings of St. John.  I am particularly intruiged by its development of a theology of “glory.” Glory is not new to the Jewish Community. The glory of God inhabits (or once inhabited) the Temple. I would grant, in a mood of generosity, that early Christians might describe Christ as “glorified.” What becomes utterly…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    The Grace of Repentance

    March 26, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    From Archimandrite Sophrony’s On Prayer There, on the Holy Mountain, my life found its right track. Almost every day after the Liturgy I knew a feeling of Easter joy.And strange as it may seem, my constant prayer like some volcanic eruption proceeded from the profound despair that ahd taken over my heart. Two seemingly totally incompatible states met together in me. I am recording facts. I did not understand myself what was…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    In Accordance with the Scriptures

    March 25, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    This short phrase, “in accordance with the Scriptures,” occurs rather politely in the course of the Nicene Creed. It does not mean that what is described is described “according to the Scriptures,” that is, in a literal sense, but rather that these matters – on the third day rose again from the dead in accordance with the Scriptures, are matters that happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures themselves. It is, first off, a…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    And the Word Became Flesh

    March 24, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Revealing to you the pre-eternal counsel, Gabriel came and stood before you, O Maiden, and in greeting said: “Rejoice, earth that has not been sown! Rejoice, burning bush that remains unconsumed! Rejoice, unsearchable depth! Rejoice, bridge that leads to Heaven! Rejoice, ladder raised on high that Jacob saw! Rejoice, divine jar of manna! Rejoice, deliverance from the curse! Rejoice, restoration of Adam; the Lord is with you!” From the Vesperal Stichera of…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    Whither the Episcopal Church?

    March 23, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Retired Bishop Wantland of Eau Claire’s statement, in response to the recent rejection by the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops of the demands by the other Primates of the Anglican Communion is staggering: The Episcopal Church is no longer a Catholic body. It is no longer even a Christian one. Itis simply an embodiment of a corrupt, historically inaccurate, spirit of this age. And if the Anglican Communion does not see the Episcopal…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    The Challenge of Atheism

    March 23, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    I will quickly confess that I am not a philosopher. I am not trained in the subject and always struggled in the few doctoral classes that were in the area of “Philosophical Theology.” Thus, this will not be a philosophical response that settles matters for believers viz. atheism, or settles matters viz. Orthodox Christianity for atheists. It is just some observations. That the world would be better off if everyone were an…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    The Mother of God - Telling the Whole Story of Salvation

    March 22, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    This Friday and Saturday the Orthodox Church focuses its liturgical attention on the ancient hymn known as the Akathist, the “the hymn we sing unseated, i.e., Akathismos” (what hymn would you sing while seated methinks?). St. Romanos the Melodist was the author of the first Akathist, written in honor of the Theotokos (“Birthgiver of God”). It has its own particular poetic form. Many of the Saints now have Akathists written in their…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    St. Mary of Egypt

    March 22, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    One of the most remarkable stories of the early Church, read each year on this day in Lent during the Canon of St. Andrew, is the Story of St. Mary of Egypt. I know of nothing better to do this day than read it (or attend a service in which it is read – I did the latter this morning). Do yourself a favor and ponder the mercy of God. The Story…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    The Problem of Church

    March 20, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    My title may sound a bit strange – for I do not mean to say “the Problem of the Church” – but simply the problem that something exists called “the Church” creates for modern Christianity. My thoughts are occasioned by a question posed to one of my recent posts. I assumed that the person posing the question was an evangelical or protestant of some sort – for the statements that were questioned…

  • Glory to God for All Things

    Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth

    March 19, 2007 · Fr. Stephen Freeman

    Learning to read the Bible (since we now have them so readily available) is a difficult thing. We pray always for the Bishops of the Church that God will “grant them to the Churches, long lived…rightly dividing the word of Truth.” Rightly dividing the word of Truth, or properly interpreting the Scriptures is quite difficult. The modernist approach of the historical critical method can be useful for some things, but has never…

Page 379 of 387« First‹ Previous375376377378379380381382383Next ›Last »

© 2009-2023 Ancient Faith Ministries, Inc.
All Rights Reserved · Disclaimers