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Lent Day 28: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 71-80

...aching of the cross, which as we know from Scripture, is not something unexpected (1 Cor 1:18). On hearing their objections, Anthony answered them by turning their own beliefs against them; Which is more beautiful, to confess the cross or to attribute to those whom you call gods adultery and the seduction of boys? [...] Next, which is better, to say that the Word of God was not changed, but, being the same, He took a human body for the salvation and well-being of man, that having shared in human birth He might make man partake in the divine and spiritual nature; or to liken the divine to senseless animals and consequently to worship four-footed beasts, creepi...

Spiritual Disciplines of the Early Church: Ancient Practices for the 21st Century

...e sign of the cross over yourself before you pray (well, before doing anything really!). “In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross” Tertullian (c. 250) “Let us then not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the cross our seal, made with boldness by our fingers on our brow and in everything; over the bread we eat and the cups we drink, in our comings and in our goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we awake; when...

Should Christians get tattoos, and is it Biblical?

...for us on the cross! Isaiah 49:16a (WEB)Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Similarly, a couple of chapters previously to this one in Isa. 44:5, it speaks of the people writing the name of the LORD of their hands in celebration, and a similar, but less violent, word for “engraving” is used here too. Going back to the passage in Leviticus, the word translated as “tattoo” is a weird one in Hebrew from what I’ve read and isn’t easily put into English, so using “tattoo” is as close a meaning that we have, but not necessarily the same as what we mean. If you look at the Strong’s Hebrew definition, it’s quite small semantic...

Coffee With Jesus: Luke 22–23

...omes. On the cross, Jesus is offered bitter wine and refuses at first, but then moments before his death, he says “I thirst” and drinks the wine. This is recorded in more detail in Matthew and John: Matthew 27:48At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. John 19:29–30A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Even the use of hyssop here in John’s account points to something often ove...

the Author of Life Knew Death For Our Sake!

...t back to the cross which that in itself points to the forgiveness of sin and new birth. Through “the water of rebirth” we receive the “renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5) that gives new life, and, as Peter says, “as an appeal to God for a good conscience” (1 Peter 3:21). Baptism brings about forgiveness and displays our repentance over our former life. Similarly, it is through the partaking of the Eucharist that we take on the eternal life that Jesus gives, to become a “partaker of the Lord’s immortality” as Clement of Alexandria wrote, and to make a reality the eating of the bread of life and being sustained by “every word that come...

Lent Day 40: Leo the Great: Sermon LXXII: ON the LORD'S RESURRECTION, II

...e wood of the cross, truly laid in an earthly tomb, truly raised in glory, truly set on the right hand of the Father's majesty”! Philippians 3:20-21 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.   That marks the end of this Lenten series, I hope you’ve enjoyed it throughout these forty days. Enjoy your Resurrection Sunday – HE IS RISEN!...