Tag: iconography

The Lady at the Center of a Christian People

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
A friend of mine likes to say that no nation or people is truly a Christian nation or people until it has a nationally-venerated icon or shrine of the Theotokos. This is not a doctrine of the Church, of course, but it is a cultural observation that rings true in a certain way. There is something about how a Christian society works that almost inevitably results in having a veneration for the Lord’s mother at the center.

Lent and Priesthood #5: The Priesthood of Reconnection

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Sunday of Orthodoxy, March 5, 2017 Hebrews 11:24-26, 32-40; John 1:43-51 Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Today is the First Sunday of Lent, which is commonly called the Sunday of Orthodoxy or the Triumph of Orthodoxy. This “triumph” is dedicated to the historical event of…

Lenten Evangelism #5: “Come and See” (The Sunday of Orthodoxy)

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Sunday of Orthodoxy, March 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. “Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.'” This phrase, which we hear in today’s Gospel, has come to be something of an evangelistic watchword among English-speaking Orthodox Christians. “Come and see.” It is used especially…

The Worship of Fire

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
While I was in Toronto a few weeks ago for an educational event, I had the delight to spend many hours with a good friend from my seminary days. He turned out to be a fine guide to introducing an American to Toronto. One of the many places we stopped was a place of some religious curiosity that he’d apparently always wanted to look…