August 15, 7533
Today we celebrate the burial of our Savior. He descends into the netherworld to free the dead from the bonds of death, filling Hades with light and awakening the departed from sleep. We rejoice here on earth, anticipating His Resurrection, and we do not fear that corruption will overcome incorruption—for Scripture says, “Neither wilt thou suffer…
By St. Gregory Palamas The eternal and ineffable Word of God, the Almighty and Omnipotent Son, could, even without taking on flesh, have delivered humankind from corruption, death, and bondage to the devil—for all things are upheld by the word of His power, and all creation is subject to His divine authority. As Job says,…
By Abba Dorotheos It is written in the Law that God commanded the sons of Israel to give a tithe each year from all that they acquired, and by doing so, they received a blessing upon all their works. Knowing this, the holy Apostles established and handed down to us, for our aid and as…
(To the Monk Olympius) This composition, though in form bearing the appearance of a letter according to its heading, exceeds the limits of a letter by its length and takes the shape of a long written narrative. Yet the subject about which you commanded me to write justifies this—being far broader than the scope allowed…
St. Hilarion. Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia On the Law given through Moses, and on Grace and Truth revealed through Jesus Christ, and how the Law has passed away, while Grace and Truth have filled the whole earth, and the faith has spread to all nations, and has reached even our Russian people. And…
It remained only that the Great Basil—who so often had furnished me with many subjects for discourse (for he rejoiced in my words more than any man rejoices in his own)—should now, at last, offer even himself as a subject for rhetorical struggle, and that a most exalted one, even for those well-versed in the…