In the Church’s annual liturgical cycle, Pentecost is “the last and great day.” It is the celebration by the Church of the coming of the Holy Spirit as the end—the achievement and fulfillment—of the entire history of salvation. For the same reason, however, it is also the celebration of the beginning: it is the “birthday” of the Church as the presence among us of the Holy Spirit, of the new life in Christ, of grace,
~By Father Stephen Freeman 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 Ascension to a
– Archpriest Andrew Phillips In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So we have come to the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord. Thus we have come to the last day of Christ’s physical presence on Earth. This marks the fulfilment of all things, since His Conception at the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin, His Birth and all the events of His earthly life, recorded for
Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou ‘And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb.’[1] Just before His Passion, the Lord promised the inalienable joy of the Resurrection to His disciples and all those who loved Him, ‘I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.’ [2] As He went forth to His incomprehensible Passion, setting His face to derision and
Published 4/11/04 ~Father Stanley S. Harakas The Resurrection of Christ is the one of the most important and central aspects of our Orthodox Christian faith. In three of the Gospels, an event is described in which Jesus Himself was challenged by the leading Sadducees, who rejected belief in the resurrection. Jesus countered their denials with an affirmation of resurrection (Mark 12:18-27); Matthew 22:23-33; Luke 20:27-40), saying “You are quite wrong!” (Mark 12:27). In John 5:29
On the 1st Saturday of Great Lent, we commemorate St Theodore the Tyre and the miracle of the kollyva (κόλλυβα). St Theodore has his own feast, February 17 which is the date of his repose. However, there is a great miracle associated with him that is celebrated every year on that 1st Saturday in Great Lent. St Theodore the Tyre was a soldier in the region of Pontus, in Asia Minor. Tyre is the Latin
Introduction: Praying to the reposed is a crucial element of the Christian faith. The life of a human being does not end with the dissolution of their earthly body and the separation of their soul from the body, but the person continues alive in spirit awaiting general resurrection: “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done
Saint Luke the Doctor The Holy Spirit descended in a visible manner and came to rest on each of the apostles in the form of a tongue of fire. Why was this necessary? Precisely so that the world would learn that the Holy Spirit comes down to people. In the great and tremendous phenomena of nature, we see the powerful force of the elements. In the hurricane, which flattens all before it, we see the
(Commemorated on December 27) St. Stephen was a relative of St. Paul. He was the first of seven deacons whom the holy apostles ordained for the service of the poor in Jerusalem. This is why he is called the Archdeacon – the first, or chief, of them. St. Stephen did many things for the poor and widows in Jerusalem and by the power of his faith, he worked many miracles. He lived his life to
The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, was also named Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27); he was one of the Twelve Apostles (Mark 3:18; Luke 6:45; Acts 1:13), and was brother of the Apostle James Alphaeus (Mark 2:14). He was a publican, or tax-collector for Rome, in a time when the Jews were under the rule of the Roman Empire. He lived in the Galilean city of Capernaum. When Matthew heard the voice of Jesus Christ:
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