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28 Δεκεμβρίου 2020
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Gospel Readings for the Nativity

Κατηγορίες: In English

The 40-day Nativity Fast is concluding. The great miracle of the Incarnation is at hand. Together we chant, “Christ is born, glorify Him!” Part III of our Christmas Spiritual Nourishment series focuses on the assigned Gospel reading, Matthew 2:1-12 (see below), for Christmas. We will examine two points in particular that Matthew the Evangelist describes and are noteworthy, especially in today’s society. The first is the deep desire of the “wise men from the East” who came in search of the Lord in order to worship Him. The second point is the “treasures” and “gifts” offered to the Lord by the wise men that we know are recorded as gold and frankincense and myrrh. On the first point, let us ask ourselves: do we diligently ...

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28 Δεκεμβρίου 2020
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The Birth of Christ: Historical and Theological Facts and how they have sometimes been Distorted (2) (Fr. Sotirios Athanasoulias)

Κατηγορίες: In English

The Nativity as a Historical Event There is absolutely no suggestion in the New Testament that Jesus Christ is an idea or that His Birth is the incarnation of an idea. On the contrary, the claim is made that He is a specific historical person, Who was born and lived in a particular place and time and Who is linked to other historical personages and to the events of His era. In order to emphasize precisely this, the holy Evangelists quote the genealogies of His lineage, that is the successive births which prove His descent, as a human being, from the line of David and Abraham (Matth. 1, 1-16; Luke 3, 24-38). The Gospel writers make the point that the Birth of ...

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27 Δεκεμβρίου 2020
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Emmanuel (Metropolitan of Pisidia Sotirios)

Κατηγορίες: In English

It is during these Christmas days that we hear another name applied to the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is the name taken from the day of His birth in Bethlehem, and this name is Emmanuel.   The first to say this name in a prophetic manner was Isaiah, who proclaimed eight centuries earlier: “Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).   St. Matthew the Evangelist recalls this prophecy from the words of the Angel, who announced to Joseph the birth of Jesus (see Matthew 1:23).   The hymnographers of the Church also (their hymns inspired by scenes and words from the Holy Bible) composed a ...

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26 Δεκεμβρίου 2020
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The Birth of Christ: Historical and Theological Facts and how they have sometimes been Distorted (Fr. Sotirios Athanasoulias)

Κατηγορίες: In English

The Person of Christ at the center of detractions For Christians, the historicity of Christ is self-evident, as, indeed, it is for all people of good will. According to the very clear testimony of Holy Scripture, Jesus was a historical personage who was born in Bethlehem in Judah, during the reign of Caesar Augustus. He taught the people, performed miracles, was crucified under Pontius Pilate and rose on the third day. Besides, scientific enquiry has confirmed a good many- though not, of course, all- of the facts concerning the historical life of Jesus, as these are known to us from the Gospels. Nevertheless, milieux hostile to Christianity, whether ‘scientific’ or ideologically- charged have, from time to time disparaged the historicity of Christ ...

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