Orthodox Portal

One of the most ancient cities of the Promised Land was Shechem, also called Sikima. Near to this town, Jacob, who had come from Mesopotamia in the nineteenth century before Christ, bought a piece of land where there was a well. This well, preserved even until the time of Christ, was known as Jacob’s Well. This town, before it was taken into possession by Samaria, was also the leading city of the kingdom of the ten tribes. It was the first city in Canaan visited by the Patriarch Abraham. Here also, Jesus of Navi (Joshua) addressed the tribes of Israel for the last time. Almost three hundred years later, all Israel assembled there to make Roboam (Rehoboam) king.

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To acquire prayer is to acquire eternity. When the body lies dying, the cry ‘Lord Jesus Christ becomes the garment of the soul; when the brain no longer functions and other prayers are difficult to remember, in the light of the divine knowledge that proceeds from the Name of Jesus Christ our spirit will rise into life incorruptible. Tidings of the salvation of the world are to be found in the Name of Jesus… Prayer in the Name of Jesus gradually unites us with Him.
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Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit
The first Beatitude has nothing to do with poverty or economics. “Blessed are the poor in spirit/ for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The term “poor in spirit” comes from the Greek, meaning “completely empty.” Empty of what? To inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, our inner self must be totally void of pride, arrogance, self-centeredness and self-reliance. A person “poor in spirit” humbly realizes that God has blessed us with all things, and that we are all lowly sinners, unworthy of His divine grace. Still, those who are in this state of “spiritual poverty” fully understand that our Lord, in His righteousness, loves the sinner even though He detests our sins. We are implored to be like the publican in Christ’s famous parable, unable to even lift our eyes to Heaven as we shamefully recall our many transgressions. There will always be a place in God’s Kingdom for those who approach Him in sincere humility.
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The Wise Men or Magi referred to a class of priestly scholars, who had great power among the Persians not unlike the Levites among the Jews. This group of intellectuals was occupied with the study of medicine, philosophy, the natural sciences, and scientific observation of the stars and planets (astrology).
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Life giving faith consists in unquestioning belief in Christ as God. Only when Christ is accepted as perfect God and perfect Man does the plentitude of spiritual experience described by the Apostles and Fathers become possible. Christ is now the cornerstone on which we must construct our entire life, both temporal and eternal… Christ, having linked God and man inseparably in Himself, is the one and only solution of the apparently insoluble conflict [of evil in the world]. He is in truth ‘the Savior of the world’ (John 4.42.) He is the measure of all things, human and divine. He is the sole way to the Father. He is the sun which illumines the universe. Only in His light can the way be seen. (His Life is Mine, pg. 50)