Best Definition Of Great Lent EVER!
You may know Steve Robinson, our good friend, as the host of “Our Life In Christ” radio program or the “Steve The Builder” podcast on Ancient Faith Radio, but our favorite work of this theologically astute Orthodox laymen is his Pithless Thoughts blog, where he regularly posts Orthographs – editorial cartoons with an Orthodox Christian bent. We republish one of them below. Thank you, Steve! I have not yet seen a better description or definition of Great Lent. Now who could improve on [Read more...]
Show Up For Great Lent
No one can attend all of the services in Great Lent. But with a little plan everyone one of us can attend some of services. There is simply no excuse for not making Lent first of all the time for increased attendance of and participation in the liturgy of the Church. Fr. Alexander Schmemann Given that everyone and every family has different schedules and responsibilities we must all make our game plan in order to give sufficient spiritual care and attention to our [Read more...]
Let Us Learn To Love The Fast
By Sergei V. Bulgakov In this week the Holy Church, as in the past weeks, inspires us with the necessity to offer “to Christ our God”; “gifts that are pleasing”, “a pure fast and abstinence from evil”, abstention from “anger, wrath and every sin”, “tears and prayer, to works of compassion, and to a contrite way of life, to upright thoughts and a pure way of life”. In particular the Holy Church, calling us to avoid foods, as “the begetter of passions “, [Read more...]
A Meditation on the Great Canon of St. Andrew
By Father Robert M. Arida The Canon of St. Andrew is interwoven with two complementary strands. There is first the historical strand, in which St. Andrew skillfully uses the history of salvation as the foundation for his hymn of repentance. It is the loving and compassionate God, who reveals himself through his saving acts and who calls the listener to repentance. It is the Triune and Tripersonal God who reveals to the listener that the work of salvation continues here and now. Indeed, [Read more...]
Journey Into Orthodox Great Lent
by Frederica Matthewes-Green The Orthodox Church’s ‘Rite of Forgiveness’ is an exhilarating kick-start for a time that just gets harder. I had to apologize to someone Sunday night. In fact, I had to apologize to about a hundred people–one at a time, face to face. It was great. For Orthodox Christians, Lent begins differently than it does for Protestants and Catholics. The observance of Ash Wednesday is dramatic and beautiful but is not in the Eastern tradition. For us, Lent comes in gradually [Read more...]
Encyclical For Great Lent 2011
The Encyclical Letter of His Eminence, Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco Dearly Beloved in the Lord, God is with us! During the Ecclesiastical Year, the sacred period of Great Lent is distinguished. The first week of Great Lent is called “Clean Week,” the allotted time when we are to begin abstaining and fasting for our cleansing from harmful distractions. The first day of Great Lent is Clean Monday and we realize that true fasting is not only the abstention of certain foods, but [Read more...]
In The Spirit of St. George: The Vocation of the Christian Warrior
The vocation of the Christian warrior is a dangerous and demanding one requiring as it does that the solider stand physically between the aggressor and his intended target and that he respond with force—even deadly force if needed—and yet do so without malice. This requires to be sure not only intense self-discipline and physical courage equal to any monastic asceticism, it also demands that the warrior bear the physical, psychological and spiritual scars of his service. This burden is made all the more difficult I think when military personnel (to say nothing of law enforcement professionals) are greeted with a lack of appreciation for the positive good of their service to say nothing of open hostility and moral censure what their service.
