It seems to me that the reason that He formed man from dust with His own hands, gave him a second birth through water, increase through the Spirit, education by the Word, thereby guiding him surely to the adoption of sons and to salvation with holy precepts, was precisely that He might transform an earth-born... Continue Reading →
The Wondrous Paradox of The Incarnation
“Your mother is a cause for wonder: the Lord entered herand became a servant; He who is the Word entered — and became silent within her; thunder entered her—-and made no sound; there entered the Shepherd of all, and in her He became the Lamb, bleating as He came forth. Your Mother’s womb has reversed... Continue Reading →
The Lord’s Entrance Into Egypt: The Healing of Death and Sin
Hades is fallen, death is abolished, the tyranny of Egypt is overthrown.
A Womb Enclosed You and Yet The Heavens Cannot Contain You
"A womb enclosed You, yet how can a word be sufficient for You? A womb carried You, yet who does not fear to speak of You?Arms carried You, but for someone to speak of You is audacious; breasts have nourished You, yet not to marvel [at You] is an ingratitude.Heaven stood in awe, it diminished,... Continue Reading →
God in flesh Kills the Death Therein
God is in flesh. He is not active at intervals as he was among the prophets. Instead he possesses a humanity connatural and united to himself, and restores all humanity to himself through flesh the same as ours in kind. So then, one might say, 'How did the splendour come to all by means of... Continue Reading →
A Great Mystery is The Incarnation
"Who, being a mortal, can tell about the Reviver of all, Who left the height of His Majesty and came down to smallness? You, Who magnify all by being born, magnify my weak mind that I may tell of Your birth, not to investigate your majesty, but to proclaim Your grace. Blessed is He Who... Continue Reading →
He in All and All in Him
"For who is so simple-minded as not to believe, when he considers the universe, that the Divine Being is in every thing, clothing Himself with it, embracing it, and residing in it. If then all things are in Him and He in all things, why are they ashamed of the plan of our religion which... Continue Reading →
Uniting man to God
"He that is God by nature became, and is in truth, a man from Heaven; not merely inspired [ie by the Holy Spirit], as some of those who do not rightly understand the depth of the mystery imagine, but being at the same time God and man, in order that, uniting as it were in Himself things widely opposed by nature, and averse to fusion with each other, He might enable man to share and partake of the nature of God." St. Cyril of Alexandria, On John 17.20
St. Philoxenos on The Eucharist
Speaking about our access to God through the Eucharist, St. Philoxenos teaches, "It became His own flesh which He took from us and not that of another man who is considered separate from Him. For this reason also, we confess that we take the living body of the living God, and not the simple body... Continue Reading →
The Life-Giving Blessing: Genesis and The Eucharist
We have already seen that the first chapters of Genesis have much to teach us. In extending our dialogue to the Eucharist we move to a consideration of food, Divine food. Following Genesis: The Book of The Promise we see what is revealed about the food which God once offered to us through the law... Continue Reading →
We Must Be Born as He is
"It was He who was begotten of Divinity,
according to His nature,
and of humanity,
which was not according to His nature,
and of baptism,
which was not his habit;
so that we might be begotten of humanity,
according to our nature,
and of Divinity,
which is not according to our nature,
and of the Spirit,
which is not our habit." St. Ephrem the Syrian, Homily on Our Lord, 2.1.
The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his Master’s crib
"Now then I pray you accept His Conception, and leap before Him; if not like John from the womb (Luke 1:41), yet like David, because of the resting of the Ark (2 Samuel 6:14). Revere the enrollment on account of which you were written in heaven, and adore the Birth by which you were loosed from the chains... Continue Reading →
An Ancient Faith For a Modern World 