St Thomas is referred to in each of the Gospels. In the Gospel of St Matthew 10:3 he appears in the list of the Twelve Apostles, where his name is given in the seventh place. His name in the Greek text is Θωμᾶς which is the transliteration of the Hebrew word meaning a twin. In […]
Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If […]
At a teaching group for our Orthodox Dogmatic Theology we were considering why the Word of God became man. We read together in the writings of St Athanasius that the Word came in the love of God to destroy the power of death, to overcome the works of Satan, to raise mankind to renewed life […]
I want to write about how we should view other people when we are feeling that we need to find an intimate relationship with another. I am writing elsewhere about how our relationship with God should inform and influence our emotions and the direction of our life. But in this short post I want to […]
And now I desire to describe to you the excellent history and the great repentance of the blessed woman Thais or Thaisis, for speech concerning her is most excellent, and it is full of encouragement and penitence of soul unto those who love God. Now this woman had a mother who, because her daughter was […]
There was a certain maiden of Alexandria whose name was Alexandra, and she left the city and shut herself up in a tomb until the end of her life; she used to receive her food and whatever she needed through a window, and no man or woman saw her face, nor did she see the […]
There was a certain young virgin [called Potamiaena] who was exceedingly beautiful and she was a Christian. She was the handmaiden of a certain worldly man who was given over to a life of pleasure, and she lived in very great luxury, and her master flattered her greatly, wishing to destroy her. And being unable […]
We can be attracted to lots of people. This is normal, and to some extent is the same as how the aroma of a bacon sandwich is attractive, especially if we are fasting. It seems to hint that it can satisfy all our needs and desires at once in one bacony indulgence. But the reason […]
We should not be surprised that for almost all of us the issue of intimacy becomes important and one point in our life or another. We are complex in our constitution. We are not easily explained. We are not merely animals, though we share some aspects of life in common with other creatures. But it […]
I must have prayed and participated in and celebrated in hundreds and even a thousand liturgies in the 30 years since I began investigating and learning about Orthodoxy, then became a member of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and then became a priest. I have prayed in many different situations and circumstances. I have had the […]