Category: Feasts

No, Christmas is Not Pagan. Just Stop.

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Well, it’s time for a good Christmas rant. This requires a rant, because every year, we see the same ignorant silliness. (Sorry, but it’s just true.) Supposedly, Christmas is secretly pagan, secretly syncretist, secretly a co-opting of pagan stuff and ignorantly claiming it to be Christian. But the truth about these things is so available that it’s literally staring out at you even from…

The Three Ways Christians Approach the World

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
There are generally three approaches that Christians have taken when it comes to their surrounding cultures: 1) Rejection, resistance, and hostility: This approach sharply distinguishes the Church from the world, emphasizing that the Church is so much “not of this world” that the world must be fled and an alternate community established. It is a posture that is fully closed to the world —…

There is No Christmas and No Church Without History

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Sunday before the Nativity / Eve of the Nativity, December 24, 2017 Hebrews 11:9-10, 32-40; Matthew 1:1-15 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. One of the things that strikes people who encounter the Orthodox Church for the first time is that we have a very strong emphasis on history. It’s everywhere in…

The Transfiguration as Model for Ministry

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Holy Transfiguration of Christ, August 6, 2017 II Peter 1:10-19; Matthew 17:1-9 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 we see God. Today we see Jesus Christ standing on Mount Tabor before His three inner circle disciples—Peter, James and John—and He is transfigured before them, His…

Can We Do What the Saints Did?

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Sunday of All Saints, June 11, 2017 Hebrews 11:33-12:2; Matthew 10:32-33, 37-8; 19:27-30 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 we hear this from Hebrews chapter 11: All the saints through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power…

The Descent of God as Fire: Pentecost and the Exodus

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Sunday of Pentecost, June 4, 2017 Acts 2:1-11; John 7:32-57, 8:12 Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. In his commentary on the events of that first Pentecost, the Venerable Bede, who was an English saint and Biblical scholar and commentator in the early eighth century, makes…

Did Jesus Abandon Us at the Ascension?

· Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
Sunday after Ascension, May 28, 2017 Acts 20:16-18, 28-36; John 17:1-13 Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. We have now left behind the time of continuous celebration of Christ’s resurrection and are now celebrating His ascension into heaven, a feast that falls on the fortieth day…