In his Epistle to the Romans, Saint Paul writes: Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Whom God Himself hath set forth to be an expiation through faith in His blood. 3:24-25 This word, translated as “expiation” by the Orthodox New Testament, is in Greek hilasterion. The usage and meaning of [...]
If we see the Church year as a recapitulation or commemoration of the life of Christ, then the season of Lent, Holy Week, and the festival of Pascha is clearly analogous to the temptation (and fasting) of the Lord in the wilderness, his suffering and death on the cross, his defeat of the gates of [...]
Saint Ignatius of Antioch – one of the earliest bishops of our Church and a disciple of the apostle John – wrote a letter to the Church of Rome, asking them to pray for him as his martyrdom approached. He asked them: “Pray on my behalf for both inward and outward strength … that I [...]
The Holy Gospel According to John is the most “mystical” of all the holy scriptures. In fact, this book is so “deep” and filled with Mystery that the Church only reads it during the Paschal season (there are no catechumens left, all having been baptized on Holy Saturday), as it should not be shared with [...]
The High Priest of Israel entered into the holiest recesses of the Temple while wearing a breastplate (Hebrew ”choshen”) adorned with precious stones and jewels, along with the mysterious Urim and Thummim. The scriptures record: “And you shall make an oracle of judgments [...]And you shall interweave in it a four-rowed, stone-holding web. A row of stones shall [...]
When a Protestant approaches the scriptures in order to rightly interpret them and apply them to their lives, the approach is typically that of a scientist and a historian – they are attempting to abstract and be removed from the context of today’s western world and be found within the culture, language and context of [...]
It is a common misconception today to associate the religion of Judaism with that of Moses, the prophets and even Jesus – when in reality, Judaism is newer than the Christian Church. This confusion is only compounded due to the existence of the modern state of Israel – a state that has no connection or correlation with [...]
The Book of Tobit is no less than the venerable and holy gospel of Jesus Christ. By this, I mean that it tells the story of a father sending his only son into the world to redeem a bride, saving her from the curse of death. In addition, we are treated with some of the [...]
