The Word of the Day
Walking in the Spirit as Our Way of Life in the New Year (Mon. Jan. 2)
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The word of the day is “walk.” Today St. Paul teaches that there is a difference between having life in the Spirit and living in the Spirit.  Thus, in our reading of Galatians 5:22-6:22, St. Paul writes, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (vs. 25). The Holy Mystery of Baptism grants the baptized the “seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” and confers the power, illumination, and inspiration of the Spirit (Orthodox Church in America, “Baptism Service,” 2012).  From then on, those who are washed and renewed in the baptismal font, indeed, “live in the Spirit” (vs. 25).  Having died to the “old life” of sin and death, they now wear the white baptismal…
Eastern Christian Insights
Homily for the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ in the Orthodox Church
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Colossians 2:8-12; Luke 2:20-21, 40-52      The great mystery of the Son of God becoming a human being shines brightly today as we celebrate the feast of the Circumcision of Jesus Christ. Like any other Jewish male, He endured the procedure that was the mark of becoming an heir to the promises to Abraham. He is not, of course, simply another child of Hebrew heritage, but the eternal…
Glory to God for All Things
The Gospel of Progress - and the New Jerusalem
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American fans of Monty Python will be familiar with the opening lines of William Blake’s poem, “Jerusalem” (and I apologize to my British readers for such an introduction). The poem was set to music in 1916 and became deeply popular in post-war Britain. The Labour Party adopted it as a theme for the election of 1946. It recalls the legend of Christ’s visit to England as a child (taken there by St.…
Faith Encouraged
Happy New Year - The Year of Our Lord 2023
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Another year has passed. 2022 has been filled with challenges, I have to confess. The pandemic saw much of our financial support dry up (over half of our monthly support), and we had to revert back to an all-volunteer staff. We made the cuts we needed to but we really regretted it! But now, things are looking up! Fr. Barnabas is getting back on the road and will be speaking around the…
The Word of the Day
All Physical Things Are God’s Creation (Sat. Dec. 31)
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The word of the day is “creature.” As we end one year and begin another, we might consider the nature of the material world in which we live. Yes, we live in the hope of a “better country,” our eternal inheritance.  But the material world, though subject to corruption, is not evil. In our reading of 1 Timothy 3:14-4:5, St. Paul writes, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (vs. 4). The Law of Moses divided food and drink into qualities of “clean” and “unclean” as if they were intrinsically good or bad. But the Lord said, “Not…
No Other Foundation
St. Matthew’s Old Testament: Micah 5:2 and Hosea 11:1
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We continue our series examining St. Matthew’s citations of the Old Testament. Today we look at his citation of Micah 5:2. “In the Masoretic Hebrew it reads, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you will come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” The LXX reads similarly: “And you, Bethlehem,…
Faith Encouraged
A Better Hope; A Better Covenant
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A Special Message from Fr. Barnabas: Only 1 MORE DAY left to participate in the End of the Year Campaign and we are so close to our goal! While you’re thinking about it, go to FaithEncouraged.org and click the Donate button and make this gift today, or click the picture below! Thanks. Oh, and don’t forget to email me how Faith Encouraged helped you in 2022! email hidden; JavaScript is required Christ…
The Word of the Day
Why the Priesthood of Christ Matters to Us (Fri. Dec. 30)
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The word of the day is “priesthood.” As the year rushes to its end, we are preparing to celebrate another “holiday.” But before the twelve days of Christmas end, we might ask ourselves whether our celebration of the incarnation of the Son of God has had any lasting effect on us. Or are we resuming our daily routine and facing the challenges of another year with nothing but pleasant memories of yet another Christmas? Who is Jesus Christ to us, after all? He is known by various titles: Messiah, King, Shepherd, Master, Prophet, and Savior. But in today’s reading of Hebrews 7:18-25, the apostle reminds us of another role that we should consider important to us. He writes, “But He [Christ], because…
Remembering Sion
A Good Beginning: On Repentance and New Year's Resolutions
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As we once again approach the beginning of a new year, it is good for us as Christians to take advantage of this opportunity for self-reflection, to prayerfully reexamine how we are living our lives and whether we are doing so in light of the Gospel of Christ. Indeed, just as we Orthodox Christians pray each evening in the words of St. John Chrysostom: “though I have done nothing good in Thy…
Faith Encouraged
Called Out Of Egypt
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A Special Message from Fr. Barnabas: The year is almost gone. The Feast is upon us and we celebrate the entire feast and prepare for the New Year. We here at Faith Encouraged are preparing for the New Year as well. Will you help us before the year is done? Your gift of $5, $10, $20, or $50 is your way of saying “We support your work, Fr. Barnabas!” Click the picture…
The Word of the Day
A Priest Forever (Thurs. Dec. 29)
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The word for today is “priest.” In our reading of Hebrews 7:1-6, the apostle speaks of a mysterious priest-king who met Abraham when he was returning from a great victory. To this unknown priest, Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils of war. Who was the mysterious figure? St. John Chrysostom asks us to consider the following: He was priest of the Most High God. He was called Melchisedek which is derived from the word meaning righteous He was King, thus the King of Righteousness. He was King of Salem, meaning Peace. He had no genealogy, no father or mother. He had no beginning or ending. He was a priest. He was “made like” a Son of God. Now, who…
Glory to God for All Things
A Virgin Gave Birth
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I was browsing through some online material recently and came across a conversation between a non-believing sceptic and a Christian apologist. The question was asked (right off the top): “Why a virgin birth?” The apologist did a decent job of responding, giving a fairly common explanation of “why Christ had to be born of a virgin.” Something about it left me empty. Thinking about it – I believe my problem was that…
Faith Encouraged
By Now You Ought to Be Teachers!
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Christ is born! Glorify Him! On this 3rd day after Christmas, the Church calls us to remember what it costs to be a disciple of Jesus in the early years of the Faith. Today, we remember the 20,000 martyrs of Nicomedia. Yep, 20,000 at one time. This occurred in 303 while these witnesses of the Faith were gathered in church on the Feastday of the Nativity. These were killed for their faith…
The Word of the Day
Spiritual Growth Requires Solid Food (Wed. Dec. 28)
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Today, our reading of Hebrews 5:11-6:8 emphasizes the necessity that everyone should continue to grow in faith and the knowledge of the faith. The apostle writes, “Therefore leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation…” (vs. 6:1). As this passage begins, the apostle notes that there is much more to say about the High Priest Melchizedek. Yet, he gives up trying to explain it because he complains that his readers have become “dull of hearing” (vs. 11). The Greek word that the apostle uses means sluggish (Strong’s #3576, 174). Note that they have become slothful in their comprehension of the teachings of the faith. They may have been members…
Faith Encouraged
We Need to Be Marvelled!
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A Special Message from Fr. Barnabas – We are just a few days away from 2023, and our Partnership Drive ENDS December 31st. For as little as $5 a month you can support our media work in the coming year. Just go to FaithEncouraged and become a monthly donor today! Click here – https://faithencouraged.org/make-a-donation/ and you can make a ONE-TIME gift OR become a MONTHLY donor to help us grow! Christ is…
The Word of the Day
To Enter Into the Heavenly Rest (Tues. December 27)
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The word of the is day is “rest.”  In our reading of Hebrews 4:1-13, we hear that the doors of God’s offer of “heavenly rest” remain open to us. Therefore, we should not pass by the opportunity. But we should mix hearing the Gospel of hope with faith in its promise lest we lose that heavenly calling. Think what our Heavenly Father offers us in the proclamation of the apostle. It is the rest of divine help in trial and temptation now and the greater rest of glory and relief from our labors in the age to come.  It is the precious “heavenly calling” (vs. 3:1) that as the Creator rested from his works on the first Sabbath, so we may have repose in the completion of our…
Faith Encouraged
He Is Not Ashamed To Call You "Brethren"
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A Special Message from Fr. Barnabas: Only 5 more days are left to participate in the End of the Year Campaign and we are so close to our goal! While you’re thinking about it, go to FaithEncouraged.org and click the Donate button and make this gift today, or click the picture below! Thanks. Oh, and don’t forget to email me how Faith Encouraged helped you in 2022! email hidden; JavaScript is required…
The Word of the Day
The Gospel is Not of Human Origin (Mon. Dec. 26)
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The word of the day is “revelation.”  In our reading of Galatians 1:11-19, Paul insists that the gospel that he preaches did not come from any human source. He writes, “I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ” (vs. 12). Paul declares that “His” Gospel was not “according to man” (vs. 11 OSB). The Greek term for “according” means “to come down in place or time” (Strong’s #2596, 128). Thus, the gospel did not come from any human being, nor was he taught it. Accordingly, The Oxford Annotated Bible translates that “it is not of human origin” (vs. 11 OAB). Revealed in the Damascus Experience Paul goes to great lengths to say the message…
The Word of the Day
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God Sent Forth His Son (Sat. Dec. 25) The word of the day is “sent.” In our reading of Galatians 4:4-7, we hear Paul’s concise summary of the gospel on this glorious day. He writes, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons” (vs. 4-5). How long did it take for the time to be filled up with hours, days, years, and decades (Strong’s #4136, 204)? How much suffering did the Chosen People endure as the centuries heaped up one on top of the other? How much perseverance did it take for God’s People to maintain…
Eastern Christian Insights
The Prince of Peace Is Born to Restore Us to Paradise: Homily for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ in the Orthodox Church
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Galatians 4:4-7; Matthew 2:1-12     Christ is Born! Glorify Him! We gather today to celebrate the Nativity in the Flesh of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world. He is born to fulfill the vocation of every human person to become like God in holiness as “partakers of the divine nature” by grace. Because He has truly become one of us, every dimension of our…
Glory to God for All Things
The Child Who Came Among Us
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Few things seem as confusing to our culture as the feast of Christmas. For many, it is the great feast of sentimentality. As such, it is our culture’s feast of feeling. We want to have the “spirit of Christmas.” It is identified with snow, with trees, with family, with giving and receiving of gifts. It is a remembrance, for many, of a magical point within childhood, likely out of reach but still…
Faith Encouraged
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
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“O Bethlehem, prepare, Eden is opened unto all. And be ready, Ephrata, for the Tree of life has in the grotto blossomed forth from the Virgin. Indeed her womb is shown to be spiritually a Paradise, in which is found the God-planted Tree. And if we eat from it we shall live, and shall not die, as did Adam of old. Christ is born, so that He might raise up the formerly…
The Word of the Day
Law and Promise are Not Opposed to Each Other (Sat. Dec. 24)
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The word of the day is “promise.” Since the Reformation, many think in opposites: Law/Gospel, Faith/Works, grace/merit. In terms of today’s reading of Galatians 3:15-22, they juxtapose the promise given to Abraham with the directives given to Moses. But the problem is that then these believers pit one category against the other as if each canceled out the other. Today we learn that we need to put the categories that describe God’s work of salvation in the proper relationship.  So when Paul argues that righteousness is by faith, he states, “Is the law then against the promises of God?  Certainly not!” (vs. 21).  You see, the Almighty is One and has one will and purpose.  He did not establish one order of…
No Other Foundation
St. Matthew’s Old Testament: Isaiah 7:14
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Today, as we begin to enter the Christmas and Theophany season, we begin a series on the use of the Old Testament in the early chapters of the Gospel of St. Matthew. We will examine his citations in his narrative of Christ’s birth, childhood and adulthood up to the time He settled in Capernaum, bringing a great light to the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali and to all the world. St. Matthew…
Faith Encouraged
All Things Are Possible with God
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A Special Message from Fr. Barnabas: Here’s what someone said after watching Faith Encouraged TV: “Thank you Father! You and your teachings have had such a positive impact on me on so many levels.” When you support Faith Encouraged Ministries at this time of year, you make notes like this possible. Christmas is THIS SUNDAY! Please take a moment and share a gift of $5, $10, $20, or even $50 with us…
The Word of the Day
The Cultivation of Virtue (Fri. Dec. 23)
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The word of the day is “virtue.” In today’s reading of Titus 1:15-2:10, St. Paul gives instructions about the virtues that Timothy should teach his flock.  Paul gives special counsel for different groups in the congregation: older men and older women, younger women and younger men, and bondservants. A Pattern of Good Works But the young bishop himself should be “a pattern of good works in doctrine, showing integrity, reverence and incorruptibility” (vs. 2: 7) (Strong’s #5179, 254).  The Greek word that The Orthodox Study Bible translates as “pattern” comes from the idea of “stamping with a blow.” What is struck by the die is a copy of the original (Strong’s #5179, 254). As such a stamp, Timothy should “show himself” to be worthy of being…
Glory to God for All Things
Have a Dickens of a Christmas
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In the late 1600’s in colonial Boston, the celebration of Christmas was against the law. Indeed, anyone evidencing the “spirit of Christmas” could be fined five shillings. In the early 1800’s, Christmas was better known as a season for rioting in the streets and civil unrest. However, in the mid-1800’s some interesting things changed the cultural response to the feast and, in 1870, Christmas was declared a federal holiday (which is to…
