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Second Friday after Pascha: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!

Ecstatic Wonder, by Father John Breck On the eve of the Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women, the Matins service includes Christ’s resurrection appearances as they are recounted at the close of St Mark’s Gospel. If Biblical scholars are correct, these last verses, Mark 16:9-20, did not originally belong to the Gospel narrative. This series of appearances of the risen Lord was apparently gathered together by the early Church for catechetical purposes and was only

WHAT IS THE PIVOT POINT OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP? (Part II)

          At the other end of the twelve days is Christ’s Theophany.  In the early history of the Church the Nativity and the Baptism of Christ were celebrated together. The Armenian Apostolic Church still observes this union.            In the rest of Christianity it soon became evident that the Birth of the Lord and His Baptism as an adult made for an incongruent single observance. Thus the two were separated. But there was a point

Theophany (or Epiphany) and Christmas (Part I)

Theophany is one of the great Feasts of the Lord of the ecclesiastical year. It is also called Epiphany and the Day of Lights and is celebrated on the 6th of January. The names of this Feast indicate the understanding of the ancient Church concerning this Feast. This understanding is connected with the revelation of God, that is, the manifestation of the One God in Trinity through the Incarnation of the Son of God, our