Holy Pascha in Hong Kong (2013)
The Service of Resurrection at Saint Luke Orthodox Cathedral in Hong Kong. Christ is Risen!
Category: The Way
Synods of the Orthodox Church
When is a Synod of the Church considered Ecumenical?
An Ecumenical Synod is one :
1. that is convened with the permission of an Emperor of the Roman Empire, extending over an Ecumenical (pan-Roman) range, and of course a pan-Christian range. The participating Bishops were the [...]
Faith and Science as a Theological Problem
Introduction
We shall now attempt to approach this topic, from within the perspective of the Orthodox Patristic Tradition. In this way, a historical-spiritual perspective is opened up, which simultaneously reveals the variation and the difference between the world that we have voluntarily incorporated ourselves in, with the world [...]
Orthodoxy and Sociopolitical “Deaconship”
Introduction
The argument is often stated that Orthodoxy does not provide the solutions one might expect for the structuring and organization of life in society; that it is merely “a religion of the hereafter”, with exclusively meta-historical aims, outside of the solid, historical reality – of “here and [...]
Paradise and Hell according to Orthodox Tradition
On the Last Sunday of Lent “we commemorate the Second and Incorruptible Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. The expression “we commemorate” of the Book of Saints confirms that our Church, as the Body of Christ, re-enacts in its worship the Second Coming of Christ as an “event” and not [...]
Philokalian Distinction Between Orthodoxy and Heresy
1. Introduction
It is a known fact that a precise definition of Orthodoxy as a Church is impossible, because “Orthodoxy-Church” is a Divine-human magnitude and, as far as its divine element is concerned, it supersedes every intellectual-logical conception. So, if we wished to somehow define Orthodoxy, we could [...]
In Prayer and Fasting
In Prayer and Fasting (Worship and Ascesis as the coordinates of Orthodox spiritual living)
1. Spiritual life and ecclesiastic theology
The composition of the Church’s life – in its local and its universal manifestation – has a unique and steadfast objective: to be [...]
The importance of Hesychasm in the History of Orthodoxy
1.
Hesychasm* constitutes the quintessence of Orthodox tradition, having related itself to everything that the term “Orthodoxy” embodies and expresses. Orthodoxy outside the Hesychastic tradition is unthinkable and nonexistent. Besides, Hesychasm itself is the “philosopher’s stone” by which one can recognize the genuine Christian image. [...]
Orthodoxy’s Worship
1. Christian Worship
Ever since its founding on the Day of the Pentecost, Christianity (as the Church of Christ), was expressed not only as a teaching but also as worship, which held a centremost place in its life. Worship proved to be not only the [...]
“From Water and Spirit”-The Theology of the Holy Baptism
1. The major interpreter of the Divine Liturgy, Saint John Kavasilas (14th century) links the existence of the Church to Her sacraments. “The Church is denoted (revealed) by the sacraments” he underlines, implying chiefly with this the par excellence sacrament of the Church: the Divine Eucharist. There [...]
Orthodoxy as Therapy
If we wished to conventionally define Christianity, as Orthodoxy, we would say it is the experiencing of the presence of the Uncreated (=of God) throughout history, and the potential of creation (=mankind) becoming God “by Grace”.
Given the perpetual presence of God [...]
