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What is advent?

It’s that time of year when Christmas lights and decorations go up, things start to look a little more sparkly, and kids are getting ready to open their advent Calendars. But what exactly is “advent”? You may be from a Church tradition which recognises this each year so are more familiar, but if not, you may be curious to know more about this ancient Christian tradition. advent, derived from the Latin “adventus,” signifying “coming” or “arrival,” stands as a sacred season deeply entrenched in the hearts of many Christians globally. This period of expectant waiting and preparation marks the initiation of the liturgical year in Western Christia...

God from God: The Eternal Son in the Crib

How can God beget a Son? Does that mean Jesus is His creation? This question comes sharply into focus during advent, when the Church contemplates the Incarnation: the eternal Son entering the world as a baby in Mary’s womb. And to understand this, we turn to language the Church has treasured for centuries — especially that crucial distinction between begotten and created. And C. S. Lewis describes this with a real concise clarity: We don’t use the words begetting or begotten much in modern English, but everyone still knows what they mean. To beget is to become the father of: to create is to make. And the difference is this. When you beget, you beget...

Does Christmas have pagan origins?

...the first advent of our Lord in the flesh, when he was born in Bethlehem, eight days before the kalends of January [December 25th], the 4th day of the week [Wednesday], while Augustus was in his forty-second year, [2 or 3 BC] but from Adam five thousand and five hundred years. He suffered in the thirty third year, 8 days before the kalends of April [March 25th], the Day of Preparation, the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar [29 or 30 AD], while Rufus and Roubellion and Gaius Caesar, for the 4th time, and Gaius Cestius Saturninus were Consuls. — Hippolytus, ~220 AD The text from where this quote is found has an interesting history, as it appears to be from a...

The Coming of Jesus: Our Future Hope - What Now?

...unced the advent of the Kingdom of God. Jesus went around proclaiming that the “time was fulfilled” and the Kingdom was “at hand” (Mark 1:15) and that it was “in [their] midst” and “within you” (or among you; Luke 17:21).   During Jesus’ ministry, he foretells and prophesies the destruction of the temple along with the coming of the Son of Man “in the clouds” (Matt 24:30) and that this would be fulfilled within the generation of his listeners “when all these [prophecies] have taken place” (Matt 24:34). A recap through various Old Testament prophecies showed that this type of apocalyptic language of coming with clouds, darkening the s...

Is fasting an expectation for Christians?

...hrist’s advent. Later, writing in the fifth century, a bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, called Epiphanius wrote: Who does not know that the fast of the fourth and sixth days of the week are observed by Christians throughout the world? The weekly fasts which Jesus spoke about, and which the early Christians held to, were commonplace and a global practice by the fifth century it would seem, and apparently common knowledge by the sounds of it. With it being the Lenten season, I’d be remiss not to mention the forty day fast prior to Easter — something that has been a long established practice within the Church dating back to within the first century. Alon...

The Real St. Nicholas: A Man of Virtue, Not Violence

...When we think of St. Nicholas, two contrasting images often emerge: the cheerful, gift-giving Santa Claus and the fiery bishop who supposedly punched Arius at the Council of Nicaea. The latter story, popularised through memes and tales of “righteous anger,” portrays Nicholas as a defender of truth through violence. But how much of this tale is rooted in fact? St Nicholas of Myra slapping Arius at the Council of Nicaea.Fresco from the Soumela Monastery (Turkey) The truth is both simpler and more profound: St. Nicholas embodied the teachings of Christ, not through impulsive acts of aggression, but through a life of love, generosity, and devotion. Sepa...