The Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (August 15) In August the Church celebrates the end of Mary’s earthly life, her death, known as her Falling Asleep or Dormition, a word in which dream, blessedness, peace, calm, and joy are …
THE FEAST OF PENTECOST 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 …
Sunday of Holy Pentecost – Feast of the Holy Trinity Read more »
Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women Listening to the account of Christ’s crucifixion and death during Holy Week, I am invariably struck by one detail in the story: the loyalty to the very end of a handful of people, mostly women, …
THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPT OF DEATH “He suffered and was buried. And He rose again…” After the Cross, after the descent into death there is the Resurrection from the dead — that principal, fundamental and decisive confirmation of the Symbol of Faith, a confirmation …
GREAT AND HOLY SATURDAY This is the Blessed Sabbath The “Great and Holy Sabbath” is the day which connects Good Friday, the commemoration of the Cross with the Day of His Resurrection. To many, the real nature and the meaning …
GREAT AND HOLY FRIDAY Friday: The Cross From the light of Holy Thursday we enter into the darkness of Friday, the day Christ’s Passion, Death and Burial. In the early Church this day was called “Pascha of Cross,” for it …
Palm Sunday: The Entrance The Saturday of Lazarus from the liturgical point of view is the pre-feast of Palm Sunday – the Entrance of Our Lord into Jerusalem. Both feasts have a common theme; triumph and victory. Saturday reveals the …
Saint Mary of Egypt While we don’t know about the very early years of her life, we do know that she lost her virginity at age twelve and ran away from home. For the next seventeen years she was a …
THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION TO THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS 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 …
