prayer – Page 2 – Faith Unto Ages

The Theology of the Holy Trinity – St. Gregory of Narek

“Beneficent, almighty, awe-inspiring God, good Father, charitable donor of mercy, whose very name heralds the good news of your grandeur, compassion and fatherly affection, you are gentle even toward the bitter and discontented.

With you also is your Son, who is like you, whose hand is strong like yours, whose awesome reign is eternal like yours, whose exaltation is shared with you in your creation.

So too the Holy Spirit of your truth, that flows from you without end, the perfect essence of existence and eternal being, is equal to you in all things, reigning with the Son in equal glory.

Three persons, one mystery, separate faces, unique and distinct, made one by their congruence and being of the same holy substance and nature, unconfused and undivided, one in will and one in action.

One is not greater, one is not lesser, not even by an eyelash, and because of the unobscurable light of heavenly love revealed in our midst both have been glorified with a single crown of holiness from before the ages.”

– (Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart, Prayer 13, A).

Lenten Reflection: What the Censor can Teach Us about Ourselves

A vessel which is used within the Divine Liturgies of the Orthodox Church is the Censor. It has various other names as well, such as Thurible, Shoria, Tsena, and Poorvar.

It has its origins in the Old Testament Levitical offerings, with God commanding through Moses that Aaron “shall then take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of the incense compound, beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat on the testimonies, lest he die” (Leviticus 16:12-13).

A Short Biography of Saint Teklehaimanot

In the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. One God, Amen.

“Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. Psalms 68:31 KJV

Ethiopia, like our beloved Egypt, has strong ties and many appearances in the bible. Today by the grace of God we seek to look at the blessed Saint Tekelhaimanot otherwise known as Saint Takla Haymanot. His life story begins in the 13th century being born to a pious Chrstian family living in Ethiopia. His father Sagaz Ab whose name means the gift of faith was a priest and his mother Sarah was a woman of well means who loved the poor. According to several sources on this blessed Saint, his family loved the Archangel Michael and would honor him on the 12th of every Coptic Month by celebrating with a Liturgy and holding a feast for the poor.