From the very beginning, the Most Holy Virgin Mary was regarded with the greatest esteem, held in the highest honor, and venerated for the purity and sinlessness of her life. Among the earliest Church Fathers–that is, among those that received the Faith directly from the Apostles–we already find wonderful tribute s, For instance, St. Dionysius…
Orthodox America; Issue 10; Vol. I, No. 11-12 In my last letter I wrote about the early false teaching called Gnosticism. I explained about St. Irenaeus of Lyons, an early Church Father (140–202 AD) who helped to combat this error, drew up a list of Holy Scriptures, and also demonstrated that the Church founded by…
Orthodox America; Issue 9; Vol. I, No. 10 This time I would like to explain a little the attitude of the early Church towards the Bible. One of the very first anti-Christian ideas was called Gnosticism. Originating with Simon Magus (see Acts, 8), the Gnostics claimed to possess the “true” but “secret” teachings of Christ…
Orthodox America; Issue 7; Vol. I, No. 8 354-431Commemorated June 15 Thou, Lord abidest forever, and Thou art not angry with us forever because Thou hast pity on our dust and ahses, and it was pleasing in Thy sight of reform my deformity. Inside me Thy good was working on me to make me restless…
Orthodox America; Issue 7; Vol. I, No. 8 225-395 Commemorated January 10 Love is the foremost of all excellent achievements and the first of the commandments of the Law…the life of God consists in the eternal practice of love; and this life is wholly beautiful, possessed of a loving disposition toward beauty and never receiving…
Orthodox America; Issue 6; Vol. I, No. 7 293-373 One of the greatest Fathers of the Eastern Church, St. Athanasius spent his whole life defending the truth of Orthodoxy against the Arian heresy, which in denying the Divinity of Jesus Christ took away from mankind the salvation which only God Incarnate Himself can give to…
Orthodox America; Issue 6; Vol. I, No. 7 +450 Commemorated May 24 A leading theologian of the Church of Gaul in the 5th century, St. Vincent settled in the island monastery of Lerins off the southern coast of France in order that “avoiding the concourse and crowds of cities… I can follow without distraction the…
Orthodox America; Issue 5; Vol. I, No. 5 Never has there been such an age of false teachers as this pitiful 20th century, so rich in material gadgets and so poor in mind and soul, Every conceivable opinion, even the most absurd, even those hitherto rejected by the universal consent of all civilized people–now has…
Orthodox America; Issue 5; Vol. I, No. 5 Last month I explained that Christ’s Church had Holy Fathers from the very beginning; the first Holy Fathers were disciples of the Apostles themselves, and for this reason we should listen to what they have to say. Each subsequent generation was adorned with more Fathers. Ail of…
Orthodox America; Issue 3; Vol. I, No. 3 340-397 A.D.Commemorated December 29 Born in 340, the son of the Roman prefect of Gaul, St. Ambrose returned to Italy with his mother and his sister, St. Marcellina, after the death of their father. There he studied and became such a gifted orator and lawyer that the…
