It’s Sunday morning. The Church bulletin says that Church starts at 10:00am. It’s now 10:30am. You’re walking to the car to take yourself and the kids to Church. You’re arriving at communion. You’re embarrassed to come in that late, but you’re less embarrassed (after all, half the parish comes to Church late) than you would … [Read more…]
The holy season of Great Lent is a time of intense preparation for Orthodox Christians. The forty days leading up to Pascha, the glorious celebration of the resurrection of Christ, call for a concentration on repentance, confession and renewal through increased activity in worship, prayer, fasting, confession, almsgiving, etc. We should expect suffering and sacrifice, … [Read more…]
On the Fourth Sunday of the Fast, we celebrate the memory of our Holy Father John the author of the Ladder. In the Church services for the fourth Sunday the Holy Church offers us a great example of the life of fasting in the person of the Venerable John of the Ladder, who, “having overcome … [Read more…]
The Third Sunday of Lent is called “The Veneration of the Cross.” At the Vigil of that day, after the Great Doxology, the Cross is brought in a solemn procession to the center of the church and remains there for the entire week-with a special rite of veneration following each service. It is noteworthy that … [Read more…]
On the Second Sunday of the Fast, we celebrate the memory of our Father among the Saints, Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica. The situation in St. Gregory’s time was that Orthodoxy was being debased; it was becoming worldly and being changed into either pantheism or agnosticism. Read more…