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Matthew and Luke tell how the angel instructed that Mary’s baby was to be named Jesus – a common name meaning ‘saviour’. The Church recalls the naming of Jesus on 1st January – eight days after 25th December (by the Jewish way of reckoning days).  In Jewish tradition, the male babies were circumcised and named...

The name Jesus is a transliteration of a name that occurs in several languages. It is of Hebrew origin, ‘Yehosua’, or Joshua. There is also the Hebrew-Aramaic form, ‘Yesua’. In Greek, it became ‘ Ἰησοῦς’ (Iēsoûs), and in Latin it became ‘Iesus’. The meaning of the name is ‘Yahweh delivers’ or ‘Yahweh rescues’, or ‘Yahweh...

Basil was most people’s idea of the perfect diocesan bishop. He was a theologian of distinction, who as a monk devoted himself to much prayer and teaching. He leapt to the defence of the Church from the persecution of the Arian emperor Valens, but also appreciated great secular literature of the time, gave away his...

Ukrainian Christians standing defiant Stamping out Christianity in the Middle East Cost-of-living crisis bites deep The wide reach of the local church Using church buildings for the community 29th January – remembering the fight against leprosy worldwide Finding Choral Evensong: the relaunch of the world’s only online directory Empowering women in Pakistan with the Word...

‘Discipline’ is now virtually a banned word, along with ‘risk’, ‘problem’ and ‘failure’. They seem to have been replaced respectively by ‘focus’, ‘safety’, ‘challenge’ and ‘opportunity’. On the occasions when we do recognise and applaud the virtue of discipline, it’s usually in the lives and activities of soldiers, police officers, dressage horses and the dog....

Quite frankly, this hermit was about as weird as they come. But he loved God, and God blessed him, strange though he was. So perhaps Simeon Stylites (390 – 459) should be the patron saint of all REALLY eccentric people. Simeon was the son of a shepherd on the Syrian border of Cilicia. He joined...

Church leaders in Ukraine have expressed their doubts about any meaningful peace talks with Russia, after a fresh wave of missile strikes in recent weeks. The primate of Ukraine’s independent Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Epiphany (Dumenko) said: “Our continuing struggle will certainly be crowned with success with God’s help – we are fighting for our homeland’s...

Christianity is facing an ‘existential threat’ in parts of the Middle East, as many communities have dwindled to mere shadows of their former selves. A recent study of Christian persecution by the RC charity Aid to the Church In Need has found that nearly 75 years on from the creation of the state of Israel,...

On 6th January we celebrate Epiphany – the visit of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus. But who were these Wise Men? No one knows for sure. Matthew calls them ‘Magi’, and that was the name of an ancient caste of a priestly kind from Persia. It wasn’t until the third century that they...

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More than four million people in the UK are now being forced to borrow money to cover the cost of essentials, such as heating and food. Christians Against Poverty (CAP) say that a poll carried out for them by YouGov has found that nearly one fifth of adults in the UK, or about ten million...

Magi from the East – it isn’t a lot to go on. The Magi had originally been a religious caste among the Persians. Their devotion to astrology, divination and the interpretation of dreams led to an extension in the meaning of the word, and by the first century the Magi in Matthew’s gospel could have...