Lenten Evangelism #6: St. Gregory Palamas and the Paralytic

Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas, March 8, 2015 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. On this second Sunday of the Great Fast, we celebrate St. Gregory Palamas, that 14th century ascetic and archbishop whose contributions to Orthodox theology and life were so profound that he not only…

Fr. Matthew Baker: Priesthood and Sacrifice (Homily for Sunday of the Holy Cross)

I committed to blogging every day for 40 days this Lent, but I have to admit that I don’t feel like writing about almost anything right now except trying somehow to keep my friend Fr. Matthew in my immediate memory, as if that somehow holds off the reality of his shocking departure from this earthly life. (For more on Fr. Matthew and also for…

Lenten Evangelism #3: The Last Judgment

This sermon can be heard as an audio recording via Ancient Faith Radio. Sunday of the Last Judgment, February 15, 2015 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Today our series on preaching the Gospel—evangelism—continues with the Sunday of the Last Judgment, commonly called “Meatfare Sunday,” because we…

Lenten Evangelism #2: The Prodigal Son

This sermon is available as an audio recording via Ancient Faith Radio. Sunday of the Prodigal Son, February 8, 2015 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. We continue today our series on evangelism which we will focus on through this pre-Lenten period, throughout Lent and then complete…

Lenten Evangelism #1: The Publican and Pharisee

This sermon is also available as an audio recording via Ancient Faith Radio. Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, February 1, 2015 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. We now begin the pre-Lenten period with the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee. Today is the day…

Can the Virgin Mary “save” us?

Today I read the comments on this YouTube video. I know, I know—YouTube comments generally are the lowest form of discourse on the Internet, and I wasn’t terribly surprised to see that someone thought that the musical line “Most Holy Mother of God, save us” was “blasphemous.” (He preferred to hear his blasphemy in Latin, apparently.) I must admit to being a bit baffled,…

Your Own Personal Jesus: Christmas and Paul

Sunday after the Nativity of Christ, December 28, 2014 Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Christ is born! Today we continue to celebrate the Nativity of our Savior Jesus Christ. While the world may think that the Christmas season is over, for us it continues. And because…

Is the Bible “above” the Church? A Chat with Moses

I recently engaged in a sort of thought experiment about what it would be like for someone who believes that the Bible is “above” the people who actually produced it to have a chat with the earliest name associated with the production of the Scriptures. Here’s the result: “Moses, Genesis is above you.” “Um, I wrote it.” “But it is above you.” “Yeah, well,…