Eastern Christian Insights

What is the point of our lives according to Jesus?

Who do you think you are? Is it leading you more and more into the likeness of Jesus?

Jesus calls all to take up our cross and follow him for our entire life.

Each one of us are invited into new life in Christ. However, we must be willing to die to those things which hold us back if we are to become a 'new creation' in Christ like the Theotokos.

Self-centeredness is an act of idolatry, addressed by giving of ourselves and our desires to meet the needs of others.

Are you willing to look at what your life truly is like? It is the grace of God that moves us more and more into the life of Christ, crucifying our shame and despair.

Pride is one of the primary hinderances to our life in Christ. Instead, humility accepts the will of God in our lives, like the Theotokos, even if it makes look like fools to the world.

Observing the Feast of the Transfiguration means that we enter into our own change into the likeness of Jesus Christ through the many opportunities provided to us by the Church.

We must open the eyes of our souls to the truth of where we stand before Christ. And then, when we know our own inadequacy, it will be possible to offer ourselves truthfully to Him.

Fr. Philip explains how the hatred and rejection of other people in the name of Godliness leads to the hatred and rejection of our Lord Himself. He also discusses St. Timon and the plight of the people in Syria.

Jesus called his followers to become the light of the world by becoming holy, united through the healing and transforming grace of the One who is the Light of the World.

Being set free from those things which possess us is just the beginning of the process of salvation.

All disciples of Jesus are called to follow Him, in the power of the Holy Spirit, into a new life of holiness.

Christ calls us to ascend with Him into the Kingdom of Heaven, becoming like Him in His holiness even now in the Church.

Each of us are in need of the healing and illumination of our risen Lord, opening the eyes of our souls to himself.

How do you decided whether you measure up or not? Does shame or blame keep us from opening our souls to the new life offered by our Lord?

Along with the paralytic man, Jesus asks us, "Do you want to be healed?" Or have we become so accustomed to our illnesses that we no longer feel the need for healing and transformation?

The Myrrh-Bearers lived a life of service for the flourishing of the Church, much like the early Deacons, modeling the kind of life that all Christians are called to live.

We are called to bear witness of the resurrected Lord, along with St. Thomas, who sought to know Christ through a personal experience with Him.

Why did Jesus come as one of us, entering on the foal of a donkey on his way to the cross?

Entering the final week of Lent, we are reminded once again of our own weakness and failings and our needs for the mercy of God.

During the season of Lent, we are called to crucify our passions and turn from sin so that we can gain the strength to respond like the Theotokos in simple, trusting obedience.

Is the cross a symbol of death or life, victory or defeat? This Lent we are called once again to take up our cross and follow our Savior, setting us free from the fear of death.

How do we break free from the paralysis of our own sin and brokenness? The disciplines of Lent are tools given to us to help us move towards our own salvation.

How can we find joy and healing for our souls as image bearers of God?

Are you prepared to enter the Kingdom of God? If not, the Church calls us to enter through forgiveness into the journey of repentance of Great Lent.

Are we truly becoming partakers of the divine nature? Our actions reveal what is true our about lives, and will be revealed at the last judgment.

Is pride derailing your spiritual life? The season of Great Lent helps us see our need for repentance and humility.

During the coming Lenten season, spiritual disciplines like prayer are intended to help us humble ourselves before the Lord and make us aware how far we are away from God. Pride threatens to weigh us down, while humility lifts us up to God.

The Savior came to heal, bless and sanctify all who bear his image and likeness. Are we living into that healing and blessing?

Does everyone walk the same path of repentance into the Kingdom of God?

We are called to become living epiphanies of God's salvation by offering every dimension of our lives to Christ.

The circumcision of Jesus is a sign that He fulfilled the requirements of the Law, and an invitation for us to receive the circumcision of our own hearts.

Who exactly belongs in the story of Jesus - the perfect as well as the imperfect, the sinner as well as the saint? Perhaps the true meaning of Christmas is more shocking than we first imagined.

Are you prepared to receive the great blessing of the coming of Christ?

What is keeping you "stooped over," hindering you from becoming more like Jesus?

Does your approach to this Advent season reflect an attitude of self-sufficiency, or does it reveal your reliance on the mercy and grace of God in Christ Jesus?

Like the Theotokos, we are called to welcome Christ into our own lives and become the Temple of God.

Does worshipping God in beautiful liturgical services distract us from serving those in need in the world around us? Do we need to pick one over the other?

Are we coming to Christ with a humble and sincere faith? If so, then we too will experience the gracious mercy which Jesus gives to all who reach out to Him in faith.

Jesus Christ gives us back our true identities, making us into faithful witnesses of His redeeming work.

In the story of Jesus raising to life the son of the widow of Nain, we see the author of life entering into the painful realities of our world. We too are called to extend the compassion of Christ to the world around us as living icons of His great mercy and salvation.

Jesus called the Apostles to leave everything to follow Him and become fishers of men. And He calls all of us to take up our cross and follow Him right in the midst of our daily lives, making those places of weakness and failure become occasions of beauty and blessing.

Are we participating in the new creation that Christ offers to us through his life, death and resurrection?

How quickly are we to forgive those who have wronged us in some way?

Are you keeping your eyes on Jesus when the stormy seas of life stir up the fear of death?

The dormition of the Theotokos is an icon of our hope for eternal life.

Are you stumbling around in spiritual darkness? Prayer is how we open the darkness of our soul to the brilliant light of Christ, presenting ourselves in faith for His healing.

Fr. Philip calls us to actively engage in the journey towards the Kingdom of God through the Dormition Fast.

Fr. Philip encourages us to be the light of the world by serving Christ in our immediate circumstances.