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The Annunciation: Announcing the Incarnation

03/25/2015

By Father Steven Kostoff On March 25, we celebrate the Great Feast of the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos.  This great feast always falls during Great Lent, and when it falls on a weekday, it is the only instance during that season for which the full Eucharistic Liturgy is served for its commemoration—clearly a sign of the feast’s significance.  Thus, the Annunciation is something of a festal interlude that punctuates the Eucharistic austerity of

WHEN YOU FAST: A REFLECTION ON GREAT LENT (Part II)

03/24/2015

By George Parsenios PhD A very helpful step in focusing on the inner drama of holiness is to avoid comparing ourselves with others, and the Church reminds us of this fact in various ways. On the 5th Sunday of Lent, for instance, we commemorate St. Mary of Egypt. She lived alone in the desert until she met St. Zosimas, who tells her story. We wouldn`t know anything about St. Mary, however, if St. Zosimas had

CLEAN MONDAY, FASTING AND GREAT LENT

02/23/2015

THE TRIODION Great Lent is the 40-day season of spiritual preparation that comes before the most important Feast of the Christian year, Holy Pascha (which means “Passover” and is commonly called “Easter”,). It is the central part of a larger time of preparation called the Triodion season. The Triodion begins ten weeks before Easter and is divided into three main parts: three Pre-Lenten weeks of preparing our hearts, the six weeks of Lent, and Holy Week. The main theme of

Third Day of Christmas Advent: The Nativity Fast

11/17/2014

ADVENT-DERIVED FROM the Latin adventus, meaning “coming”—is a word that is not often used by Orthodox Christians living in the Eastern parts of the world. It is used more frequently by Orthodox Christians living in the West, for the simple reason that when they say “Advent”, other Christians immediately understand they are referring to a period of preparation before the Great Feast of Christmas, the Nativity of Our Lord. However, there are three key differences

Third Thursday after Pascha, Christ is Risen!

05/08/2014

We Are Always Going Towards Pascha By Janice Bidwell Great Lent came and went, and I’m still traveling toward Pascha at a steady lumbering pace. My life is a series of peaks and valleys between the seasons, but my route never varies. This rhythm is unchanging, and yet different each year. This is the path I travelled as a child, and now I’m on this same Paschal path of my ancestors with my own children.

The Third Friday of Great Lent

03/21/2014

God makes Good Loans, but do we make Good Investments? According to the parable of the Lord [Luke 19:12-27], the first of ten servants told his master when he returned from a long journey, ‘Lord, your pound has made ten pounds more.’ That servant’s single pound bore interest tenfold. A second servant’s pound bore fivefold. A third servant’s pound bore no interest at all. ‘Why did you not put my money into the bank?’ The

The Third Thursday of Great Lent

03/20/2014

Childishness or the Spirit of Childhood? Jesus says: ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.’ [Luke 18:16] If that is how things are, growing up means, loss. Why should I desire to grow up if adulthood deprives me of the right to the kingdom? Can you explain why God should have given us physical development which favours vice, not virtue? And for what

The Third Wednesday of Great Lent

03/19/2014

Martyrdom throughout the Length of Days Martyrdom means bearing witness to God. Every soul that seeks in pureness of heart to know God and obeys the commandments of God is a martyr, bearing witness by life or by words. In fact even if it is not a matter of shedding blood, the soul is pouring out its faith because it is by faith that the soul will be separated from the body before a person

The Third Tuesday of Great Lent

03/18/2014

Joy an Uneasy Bedfellow Augustine said: ‘The world’s joy is vanity. We long for it to come, but when it has come we fail to hold on to it. Better the sorrow of the one who suffers unjustly than the joy of the one who acts unjustly.’ Jerome says: ‘The wise person curbs the smile on his face by the gravity of his behaviour. ‘If fortune smiles on you do not brag about it; and

The Third Monday of Great Lent: St Patrick the Bishop of Armagh and Enlightener of Ireland

03/17/2014

Saint Patrick, the Enlightener of Ireland was born around 385, the son of Calpurnius, a Roman decurion (an official responsible for collecting taxes). He lived in the village of Bannavem Taberniae, which may have been located at the mouth of the Severn River in Wales. The district was raided by pirates when Patrick was sixteen, and he was one of those taken captive. He was brought to Ireland and sold as a slave, and was

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