Homily on the Sinful Woman

Homily on the Sinful Woman
by St Ephraim the Syrian
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3708.htm

1. Hear and be comforted, beloved, how merciful is God. To the sinful woman He forgave her offenses; yea, He upheld her when she was afflicted. With clay He opened the eyes of the blind, so that the eyeballs beheld the light. To the palsied He granted healing, who arose and walked and carried his bed. And to us He has given the pearls; His holy Body and Blood. He brought His medicines secretly; and with them He heals openly. And He wandered round in the land of Judea, like a physician, bearing his medicines. Simon invited Him to the feast, to eat bread in his house. The sinful woman rejoiced when she heard that He sat and was feasting in Simon's house; her thoughts gathered together like the sea, and like the billows her love surged. She beheld the Sea of Grace, how it had forced itself into one place; and she resolved to go and drown all her wickedness in its billows.

What matters in a Church?

Below is a transcription of a sermon that was given at St Silouan Orthodox Mission Parish in Downtown Toronto on June 10, 2012. Though it was given for the Feast of All Saints (in the Byzantine Orthodox Liturgical Cycle), it is also very applicable to the Holy Feast of Pentecost.

Transcription of June 10, 2012 All Saints Feast Sermon
Fr Roberto Ubertino

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The Meaning of Sex

The Meaning of Sex
by Khouria Frederica Mathewes-Green, at UC-Santa Barbara (sponsored by The Veritas Forum)
http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/frederica/the_meaning_of_sex

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW64sGQypjk

Transcript

Frederica: This is Frederica. Here and Now.

Speaker 1: Welcome to the Veritas Forum. Engaging university students and faculty in discussions about life’s hardest questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ to all of life.

Beautiful References from the Feast of Resurrection Divine Liturgy (Coptic Rite)

Gospel Response 

Moreover He was placed in the tomb, according to the prophetic voices, on the third day, Christ rose from the dead.

Alleluia alleluia, alleluia alleluia, Jesus Christ the King of glory, has risen from the dead.

This is He who is worthy of glory, with His good Father, and the Holy Spirit, both now and forever.

For blessed be the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the perfect Trinity, we worship Him and glorify Him.

Lent and Fasting

As we prepare for the Fast of Nineveh and the Great Lent approaches, thought this article/podcast might be of benefit. An interesting observation of Fr Andrew is that one of the side effects [or perhaps even the presuppostion] of a theology that rejects a theology of Theosis, is a focus on pietism and/or moralism.

“Giving Up Something” for Lent
http://roadsfromemmaus.org/2012/02/24/giving-up-something-for-lent/
http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/orthodoxyheterodoxy/giving_up_something_for_lent

On Love and Forgiveness

The following was written for monks but there are principles that apply to all aspects and callings in the Christian life:

On Love and Forgiveness
by Elder Ephraim

My children, fight the good fight; let brotherly love continue; may love be the center of all actions within the synodia—may egotism be far from your thoughts and words.

  “Whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all,” says the Lord. And if we do not become like little children in terms of innocence and simplicity, we shall by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

  When love governs a synodia, Christ invisibly blesses everything; joy, peace, and self-sacrifice for the brethren are afire in the hearts of every brother—but also prayer intensifies then. The more love abounds, the more love in Christ and self-sacrifice enriches their souls, and then Christ is glorified and worshipped, and we become humble instruments for the glorification of the holy name of God.

  Genuine love does not envy the good gifts of one’s brother; it does not rejoice when it hears humiliating words or criticism of a brother; it does not restrain itself from constantly commending a brother’s progress. Love does not envy; love does not parade itself, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, but its brother’s interests; it is not provoked; it thinks no evil; it bears all things, endures all things Whoever has genuine love never falls by sinning against his brother.

  So my children, pray that Love itself—our God will grant you the gift of love in Christ. When this love comes to reign in our hearts, words, and deeds, then we should hope for prospects of forming a synodia in Christ with a Christian spirit, with spiritual radiance and an unshakeable foundation—a synodia closely united with one mind and one soul in many bodies.

Unity From Above

"Lord, You have given us grace to offer these common prayers with one heart. You have promised to grant the requests of two or three gathered in Your name. Fulfill now the petitions of Your servants for our benefit, giving us the knowledge of Your truth in this world, and granting us eternal life in the world to come."

+ Inaudible Prayer at the Second Antiphon, Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Byzantine Rite.

"And make us worthy of the heavenly peace that suits Your divinity and is full of salvation that we may give it to one another in perfect love and that we may greet one another with a holy kiss."

+ Prayer before the Deacon Entreats Congregation to Exchange the Holy Kiss, Divine Liturgy of St Cyril, Coptic Rite.

The Beautiful Struggle

"...there is nothing that separates us from him as far as love is concerned – his love – and as far as our longing – our longing – is concerned. But we must struggle and change and become new, new creatures, with his help. Forgiveness does not erase the past. It heals it in co-operation between God and us."

+ Metroplitan Anthony Bloom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzhhFRqjF_o

Forgiveness

Sermon by Metroplitan Anthony Bloom, 5 December 1999
From Coming Closer To Christ: Confession and Forgiveness

Orthodoxy is Orthodoxy

"(An issue today is) we only depend on Western Theology mixing it with Orthodoxy. Believe me, the most dangerous problem is that Protestantism wears black turbans to work in the Orthodox Church.

If it's a Protestant brother dressed in a handsome suit you may reject his talk but if wearing a black turban he's considered a father.

This is the worst problem we're facing nowadays. People spread Western (ie. Non-Orthodox) ideas in the Church.

You would find such principles crawling in the Church. What would happen then? When one organizes a meeting all protestants attend it and keep shouting, but if he preached other words (ie. Orthodox Theology) they would leave and his meeting would vanish. So (they say) it's better to do so to win people's favour (ie. Seeker-focused, reductionism to keep people attending).

Orthodoxy is Orthodoxy."

+ HH Pope Shenouda III from a talk "Communion with God" April 24, 1991

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnbTcm_PaZE&t=22m28s

*Emphasis and context in Italics added