Saturday of the Holy and Righteous Friend of Christ, Lazarus Introduction On the Saturday before Holy Week, the Orthodox Church commemorates a major feast of the year, the miracle of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he raised Lazarus from the dead after he had lain in the grave four days. Here, at the end of Great Lent and the forty days of fasting and penitence, the Church combines this celebration with that of
Hierodeacon Rafael Misiaoulis, Theologian Great Lent has been completed and ends with two splendid festal days. These are Lazarus Saturday, on which we commemorate the raising of Christ’s bosom friend, Lazarus; the other is Palm Sunday, when we celebrate Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem six days before he was betrayed and suffered death on the Cross. Today we see the raising of Lazarus, a miracle performed by the Lord before he entered the city of
Commemorated on March 25 The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the earliest Christian feasts, and was already being celebrated in the fourth century. There is a painting of the Annunciation in the catacomb of Priscilla in Rome dating from the second century. The Council of Toledo in 656 mentions the Feast, and the Council in Trullo in 692 says that the Annunciation was celebrated during Great Lent. The Greek and Slavonic names for
Saint Symeon the New Theologian When God, the Son of God, entered the womb of All-Holy Virgin and took flesh from her, He was born a perfect person and perfect God, without confusion. When has anything more important ever happened for us? We all believe in this Son of God and Son of the ever-virgin Mother of God, Mary, which is why we confidently accept this information about Him and this event. If we confess
~By Father Stephen Freeman, December 19, 2022 The soldiers were scattered across Europe with the loneliness of war. The world was caught up in a total struggle. Women had gone to the factories; children were collecting scrap metal. The “war effort” was universal. In many places, food was rationed. The madhouse of consumption belonged only to the war; everything else could wait. And there was Christmas. Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley were part of the
~By His Eminence Metropolitan PANTELEIMON of Antinoes The Entrance of the Ever Virgin Mary and Theotokos in God’s Temple is considered to be one of the most important events in the History of Salvation. All the Orthodox Church around the world is celebrating the Entrance of the Mother of God, the Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary, into the Holy of Holies. The faithful and all the heavenly Powers conjoin and concelebrate. Earth rejoices and the
On October 18, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Evangelist Luke. He was one of the Seventy who were early emissaries of Christ sent out to do missionary work. After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray the
~By Father Stephen Freeman, September 5, 2023 No spiritual activity permeates Orthodoxy as much as veneration. For the non-Orthodox, veneration is often mistaken for worship. We kiss icons; sing hymns to saints; cry out “Most Holy Theotokos, save us!” And all of this scandalizes the non-Orthodox who think we have fallen into some backwater of paganized Christianity. It is not unusual to hear Orthodox who more or less apologize for this activity and seek to
~By Father Stephen Freeman, September 12, 2023 Fr. Alexander Schmemann wrote: …When investigating the history of Mariological piety, one discovers that it is rooted not in any special revelation but, primarily, in the experience of liturgical worship. In other terms, it is not a theological reflection on Mary that gave birth to her veneration: it is the liturgy as the experience of “heaven on earth,” as communion with and the knowledge of heavenly realities, as
On September 5th, the Orthodox Church celebrates the parents of John the Baptist: Prophet Zacharias and Righteous Elizabeth. They are also commemorated on the Nativity of the Baptist on June 24th. Both Elizabeth and Zacharias were of the lineage of Aaron and Elizabeth was the sister of St Anna, mother of the Theotokos. So, Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins. Zacharias served as a priest in the Temple. Both were righteous before God, walking in
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