holy week Archives - Saint Sophia

The Third Friday of Pascha. A Pascha of Beauty – In a Soviet Prison – 1928

05/09/2025

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! ~By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 8, 2018 Serge Schmemann, son of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, in his wonderful little book, Echoes of a Native Land, records a letter written from one of his family members of an earlier generation, who spent several years in the prisons of the Soviets and died there. The letter, written on the night of Pascha in 1928 is to a family member, “Uncle Grishanchik” (This was Grigory

The Second Friday of Pascha. Sacred Remembering

05/02/2025

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, May 3, 2020 A question came up at Subdeacon James’ Adult education class last Thursday about remembrance, like when we say, “May her memory be eternal,” and “Remember us, O Lord, when you come into your kingdom.” That got me thinking. We have done a lot of remembering over the past few weeks and what have we gained from it? If Holy

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

On Palm Sunday

04/13/2025

Sermon preached on Palm Sunday, April 17, 2022 by Fr. Antony Hughes I wish the East and West would celebrate the Resurrection on the same date. Still, I confess, that I am blessed when they don’t because that means I can celebrate Easter with my brothers at the prison in Concord which I did last night. It was beautiful and very moving listening to them sing and pray together with Dn. Tom, my friend and

Lazarus Saturday

04/12/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, April 16, 2022 Largely ignored by much of Christendom, the Orthodox mark the day before Palm Sunday as “Lazarus Saturday” in something of a prequel to the following weekend’s Pascha. It is, indeed a little Pascha just before the greater one. And this, of course, was arranged by Christ Himself, who raised His friend Lazarus from the dead as something of a last action before entering Jerusalem and beginning His slow

The Sixth Friday of Great Lent. The Mystery of Holy Week

04/11/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, April 18, 2022 Among the more pernicious ideas that inhabit our contemporary world is the notion that we are all isolated, independent, and alone. Even when we gather, we think of ourselves as but one among many. Among the most glaring exceptions to this form of thought, however, are sporting events. People attend a football game and declare when it is finished, “We won!” or “We lost!” We feel genuine joy at the

The Sixth Thursday of Great Lent: The Bridegroom and Judgment

04/10/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, April 10, 2023 Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom. But rouse yourself crying: Holy, holy, holy, art Thou, O our God. Through the Theotokos, have

The Sixth Monday of Great Lent: The Awareness of Death

04/07/2025

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, April 5, 2020 at St. Mary Orthodox Church in Cambridge, MA. Through this Great Lent we are being forced to look at everything, including our faith, in deeper ways. For example, the crucifixion of Jesus has never been only about his death, but also ours. In Larry Rosenberg’s wonderful book LIVING IN THE LIGHT OF DEATH he says it like this: we are being asked “to come

The Fifth Friday of Great Lent. The Frightful Path of Judas

04/04/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, April 7, 2023 I recall the first time the phrase, “On the night in which He was betrayed,” struck my heart. I was attending the evening service of Maundy Thursday at my Episcopal parish when I was a student in college. There was communion, followed by the “stripping of the altar” that symbolized the arrest and scourging of Christ. But the phrase, “On the night in which He was betrayed,” haunted

A Single Moment

02/21/2025

By Father Stephen Freeman, May 19, 2018 Grushenka, a character in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, relates a now-famous fable about an old woman: Once upon a time there was a woman, and she was wicked as wicked could be, and she died. And not one good deed was left behind her. The devils took her and threw her into the lake of fire. And her guardian angel stood thinking: what good deed of hers can I

Archive

The Third Friday of Pascha. A Pascha of Beauty – In a Soviet Prison – 1928

The Second Friday of Pascha. Sacred Remembering

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

On Palm Sunday

Lazarus Saturday

The Sixth Friday of Great Lent. The Mystery of Holy Week

The Sixth Thursday of Great Lent: The Bridegroom and Judgment

The Sixth Monday of Great Lent: The Awareness of Death

The Fifth Friday of Great Lent. The Frightful Path of Judas

A Single Moment

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