Great Lent Archives - Page 4 of 35

The First Thursday of Great Lent. What kind of Lent?

02/26/2026

Protopresbyter Themistoklis Mourtzanos In the minds of people today, Lent’s a period of cleansing, of nutritional detoxification, preparation for Easter, not in terms of a change of life but of diet. This time seems to them more like a memory from the past, perhaps linked to grandparents. It leads them to church on Friday evenings to hear ‘Hail, Bride Unwedded’, to take communion at the first weekend, to be given flowers at the Veneration of

The First Wednesday of Great Lent. The Nature of Repentance

02/25/2026

~Sermon preached by Dn. James Wilcox on Sunday, January 12, 2025 Matt. 4:12-17; Eph. 4:7-13 [Seven weeks ago] we witnessed the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry which began with Christ’s baptism in the Jordan…. [and] the first declaration of His public ministry, which is the call to “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” Now when we hear the likes of such a statement — this call to “Repent!” — it often conjures up

The First Tuesday of Great Lent. The Struggle of Great Lent

02/24/2026

~Elder Ephraim in Arizona † At this time, we’re entering the great spiritual arena of the blessed Great Lent. Holy and Great Lent is a time of compunction, for repentance, for tears, for a change in ourselves, for a new stage in the spiritual life. Like an affectionate mother caring for her children, us Christians, the Church has designated this time of Lent as dedicated to the struggle, in order to help its children, fight

The First Monday (Pure) of Great Lent: A Modern Lent

02/23/2026

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 29, 2019 Few things are as difficult in the modern world as fasting. It is not simply the action of changing our eating habits that we find problematic – it’s the whole concept of fasting and what it truly entails. It comes from another world. We understand dieting – changing how we eat in order to improve how we look or how we feel. But changing how we eat in order to know God

The Friday of Cheesefare (Forgiveness) Sunday: Forgiveness for All the Sundays to Come

02/20/2026

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, February 18, 2018 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; (John17:20-21) The Elder Sophrony, together with St. Silouan, wrote about the “whole Adam.” By this, they meant all the human beings who have ever existed and those yet to come. For Silouan and Sophrony, this was something known in the present tense, a “hypostatic” knowledge of the fundamental unity of

Feast of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Tyron

02/17/2026

February 17 Life of the Saint This holy, glorious Martyr of Christ came from Amasia in Pontus and was a Roman legionary at the time of Maximian’s great persecution (c. 303). He had been a Christian since childhood but kept his faith secret, not out of cowardice but because he had not yet received a sign from God to present himself for martyrdom. While his cohort was stationed near the town of Euchaïta (Helenopontus), he

Sunday of The Parable of the Publican and Pharisee

02/01/2026

The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee is the first Sunday of a three-week period prior to the commencement of Great Lent. It marks the beginning of a time of preparation for the spiritual journey of Lent, a time for Orthodox Christians to draw closer to God through worship, prayer, fasting, and acts of charity. It is also on this day that the Triodion is introduced, a liturgical book that contains the services from

ST. EUTHYMIUS THE GREAT

01/20/2026

Saint Euthymius the Great came from the city of Melitene in Armenia, near the River Euphrates. His parents, Paul and Dionysia, were pious Christians of noble birth. After many years of marriage, they remained childless, and in their sorrow they entreated God to give them offspring. Finally, they had a vision and heard a voice saying, “Be of good cheer! God will grant you a son, who will bring joy to the churches.” The child

Pentecost and the Liturgy of Hades: Soul Saturdays

06/07/2025

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, June 21, 2021 Pascha (Easter) comes with a great note of joy in the Christian world. Christ is risen from the dead and our hearts rejoice. That joy begins to wane as the days pass. Our lives settle back down to the mundane tasks at hand. After 40 days, the Church marks the Feast of the Ascension, often attended by only a handful of the faithful (Rome has more-or-less moved the

The First (Bright) Monday of Pascha. Renewal Week, the Brightest and Most Resurrectional of the Year

04/21/2025

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! ~Protopresbyter Antonios Christou My dear readers, CHRIST HAS RISEN! After Great Lent, we entered Holy Week, and after Easter Sunday (the evening of Great Saturday) we’re now into the ‘Rose’ Triodio, that is the period of the Pentikostario (the book of Pentecost). This is the preeminent time of the resurrection in the Church and lasts until the Sunday of All Souls. The first week of the Pentikostario, that is the

Archive

The First Thursday of Great Lent. What kind of Lent?

The First Wednesday of Great Lent. The Nature of Repentance

The First Tuesday of Great Lent. The Struggle of Great Lent

The First Monday (Pure) of Great Lent: A Modern Lent

The Friday of Cheesefare (Forgiveness) Sunday: Forgiveness for All the Sundays to Come

Feast of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Tyron

Sunday of The Parable of the Publican and Pharisee

ST. EUTHYMIUS THE GREAT

Pentecost and the Liturgy of Hades: Soul Saturdays

The First (Bright) Monday of Pascha. Renewal Week, the Brightest and Most Resurrectional of the Year

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