Sunday of the Samaritan Woman I have a lot of friends from seminary who are in the Antiochian Archdiocese. When today’s epistle is read—especially verse 29, “… [it was] in Antioch the disciples assumed the title ‘Christians’ for the first

The Sunday of Paralytic Often, as Christians, we become complacent when we hear Bible stories. Most of us have heard these stories since we were kids, so they no longer hold any surprises for us. As soon as the first

Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women Today is the second Sunday after Pascha, so we turn to our attention to the burial of Jesus and the discovery of the empty tomb. Though we celebrated these events during Holy Week and on

St. Thomas Sunday Interestingly, on Pascha night there are two readings: one from Mark and one from John. The one from Mark ends with the women discovering the empty tomb. An angel then asks them to tell the whole world

Palm Sunday We’re all used to using symbols in our lives to mark events and special occasions. We know there are trees for Christmas, eggs for Easter, candles on cakes for birthdays, and four-leaf clovers for St. Patrick’s Day. The

Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt As Jesus was teaching, two of his disciples gathered up enough courage to ask him a bold question. James and John, who were brothers, decided to ask if one of them could sit at

Sunday of St. John of the Ladder Today, we celebrate St. John Climacus. He received the name “Climacus,” which means “ladder,” from a book he wrote: The Ladder of Divine Ascent. There, St. John describes 30 steps, or rungs, for

Sunday of the Holy Cross With COVID-19 raging all around us, we live in uncertain times. While the situation may be unique, having uncertainty is not. Many of us have faced the unknown through the loss of a job, a

The Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas St. Gregory of Palamas was a 14th-century monk and bishop of Thessaloniki. He is most famous for defending the monks who practiced hesychasm (“silence” or “stillness”), which is the use of the Jesus Prayer.

The Sunday of Orthodoxy  Today, the first Sunday in Lent, the Church celebrates the Triumph of Orthodoxy over Iconoclasm. In the 8th and 9th centuries, there was a dispute over whether icons of Christ and the saints were appropriate. Some