St Peters Orthodox Church

Today on the first day after Pascha, we have the testimony of the faith of Thomas. Thomas, one who would be an Apostle and later a Saint, is given too often a bad wrap in some circles being referred to as "doubting Thomas." If Thomas was "doubting Thomas" then all of Christ's disciples were "doubting disciples." And we, His adopted sons and daughters must be labeled the same. The Christian journey...

As is tradition each year in the Orthodox Church, on this day we hear the blessed Paschal homily once preached by St. John Chrysostom.

As the Paschal Candle is first lit from the first fire struck of the Resurrection, we pray "May the light of Christ gloriously rising scatter the darkness of heart and mind." When Christ our God willingly gave up His ghost on the Cross, He immediately descended into the dark prison of Hades where every soul from Adam and Eve to that moment were held captive. He broke the gates of Hades open and bo...

The death of our Lord Jesus Christ preceded His Resurrection. As Christ our God said in the Gospels, "Only when a grain of wheat falls in the ground and dies does it produce many seeds." Our fallenness must die with Christ and by His grace upon the Cross we have been commanded to take up as we live a life to follow Jesus. Only through that life of blessed repentance do we experience the wonder of...

At the Mass of Maundy Thursday, two critical events done very intentionally by Christ our God are set before us to behold: Jesus' institution of the Eucharist with His disciples and His washing of their feet. In both, Jesus reveals to us His very Nature; a nature that by His grace we can now ascend to become. Tonight we gaze upon the love of God that we will eternally grow to comprehend, that we m...

The Orthodox Faith has a word describing the Incarnation that saves us all. That word is kenosis which is the self-lowering of the Word of God, by His own will entirely, that we may be raised up again. As we once again set the eyes of our soul to see Him in His Passion tonight, we consider many of the wondrous revelations from the prayer service of the Stations of the Cross showing forth just how...

In the Orthodox Faith, we are taught that when we see the Cross we see our Deliverer and the instrument of our deliverance. Yes, our Lord suffered and was in agony upon the Cross. His suffering shows forth His unfathomable love for every soul. But, as St. Paul says, the Christian is to glory in the Cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is the wood of Aaron's rod that budded with life. It is the tree...

On Palm Sunday, God's people rejoiced in the coming of their Savior with palm branches and crying out, "Hosanna," which means Lord save! These same people days later would reject Him shouting "Crucify Him!" While we might see them with great disdain, we should consider the ways in our lives we tend to reject Christ without even knowing we are doing so; the ways we separate ourselves from Him and t...

A sinful woman comes to Christ our God in Bethany. She breaks open an alabaster jar of precious oil and anoints Jesus with the oil and her tears. Jesus says that wherever this Gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told as a memorial to her." The Church Fathers teach us that one of the interpretations we must know is that the very valuable alabaster jar of oil repr...

Today is Passion Sunday. As our Lord Jesus Christ declares Himself publically to be the "I AM" in the Gospel of St. John 8, they took up stones to kill Him for His blasphemy. We are told that Jesus hid from them and passed right through the crowd without them seeing Him. Jesus was hidden from those who had set themselves by their own will against Him, not wanting to see Him for His true identity....

Today's Mass is entitled and bears the theme, "Rejoice!" Here in the middle of Lent we are reminded that the life of the Christian is a life of rejoicing in the good works of Christ our God. With this theme, today we consider the role we play in one another's lives by lifting one another up as we share all that God is doing for us. The community of faith, most certainly, shares struggles and bears...

Every year on March 25th, the Orthodox Church all around the world celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation, for in nine months we will all join together celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ conceived this day. Today we focus on three aspects of the wonder of the Annunciation. We see an Archangel in awe and wonder at the Blessed Virgin Mary. We behold our recreation in the waters of Bapt...

In Luke 11, after Jesus casts out a demon that had rendered a man mute, He taught "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils." Jesus was speaking of Satan being the strong man. Then our Lord speaks of Himself as the stronger...

In Lent, as we fast from food we are to also fast with the assistance of God's grace from the sin that so easily entangles us. St. Paul communicates in 1 Thessalonians 4 that the will of God is our sanctification. His paramount will for each of us is that we are transformed, becoming holy as He is holy. As we seek to fast from our sin, how do we approach moments of temptation by Satan and the demo...

We consider two teachings from the Rule of St. Benedict today, on the first Sunday of Lent. First, "All of our life should be a continual Lent." Secondly, "Practice now the virtues that will serve thee for all eternity." In Lent we strive to simplify our lives and get back to the basics. So many distractions have limited the greatest experience of fellowship we are offered with the Lord our God. A...

Today we begin the 40-day fast of Great Lent. But what is the fullness of the fasting that our Lord has prescribed for us. Is it just to limit our food intake and abstain from types of foods? Today we look to the repentance of the people of Nineveh as they put on sackcloth and ashes. But these physical actions were accompanied by turning away from their wicked ways and turning to God. This is true...

Today's Gospel reading from St. Luke 18 shares the testimony of Christ our God healing the blind man, Bartimaeus, near Jericho. As our Lord approaches Jericho, Bartimaeus cries out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." Some in the crowd tried to quiet him, so he cried out even louder, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." Bartimaeus would not let this moment go wasted where the only One who...

In agriculture, we know that the success or failure of a harvest is largely dependent on the health of the soil into which seeds are planted. Our Lord Jesus Christ uses this very truth when He tells the Parable of the Sower in the Gospel of St. Luke 8. Jesus sows seeds of His life and salvation. But He mentions three types of soil that prevented the seed from blossoming to life and growing the int...

Three to four years after Pentecost, the Apostle St. Peter left Jerusalem to go to Antioch. There he would oversee churches of that region for seven years. St. Peter was the first Bishop and Patriarch of the Antioch as he sat upon the "cathedra", the chair, in Antioch. Today we remember the Icon that the chair is to us and what it reveals to us. But as we are in the weeks of preparation for Great...

In the Gospel of St. Matthew 20, we hear Jesus tell the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. Jesus tells us that the landowner comes to those in 11th hour and asks, "Why do you stand here idle all day?" And he calls them to labor in the vineyard. All who are in Christ are called to labor in His vineyard to produce a great harvest. But what is this labor? We are not called to labor so that we ea...

In our Gospel reading from St. Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the tares. It is a parable teaching us about the last days, the days from Christ's Incarnation until He comes again at His 2nd coming. And it also reveals an eschatological reality, a revelation of that 2nd coming and what Christ will do. Our focus today is learning what Christ through His Church has taught about l...

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Christ to the Temple/The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On this day, according to God's Law, Joseph and Mary present Christ to the priest in the Temple. There, Simeon who was told he would not die until He had seen the Lord's Christ, takes Jesus into His arms. In that moment, Simeon held in His arms the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What a wo...

Jesus first miracle was the miraculous transformation of water into wine in the jars of clay at the wedding feast in Cana. The Early Church Fathers teach us that this miracle done in the presence of His disciples showed the reason for the Incarnation. That we, the jars of clay as St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, are so completely transformed within by the healing work of Christ that we become ear...

Last week we considered this truth: by the wisdom and power of Christ, the Church has become the continuing Epiphany of God to mankind for the salvation of souls. How is this possible? How does God manifest Himself through us? Today we consider these two questions.

As we are in the Octave of Epiphany, we remember that Epiphany means the revelation or manifestation of God to man; in this case through the Christ child. St. Paul teaches something profound in Ephesians 3 when he says that the manifold wisdom of God is now made known through the Church. By God's wisdom, from Pentecost to the end of this age, we are the continuing Epiphany of God to this world and...