Faith • Grief • History • Hope
Faith • Grief • History • Hope
If you follow these pages then you know that I have been on sabbatical for the last few weeks. I have been able to travel to different churches and to worship with the community there. Yesterday I had the pleasure…
On Holy Thursday in the Orthodox Church, the priest consecrates a second Lamb (consecrated bread mixed with some wine) that is put into the Tabernacle and used during the year to bring to the sick. If any of the previous…
A Young Girl Says Yes! Today we celebrate the feast of Annunciation to the Theotokos. On this day we remember the visit of the Angel Gabriel to a young girl named Mary. The Angel asked Mary to be the Mother…
Last night started the Lenten observance of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. This is one of the most ancient Liturgies in the Orthodox Church and I think one of the most beautiful. The Liturgy is attributed to St. Gregory…
Clean Monday (Greek: Καθαρή Δευτέρα), also known as Pure Monday, or (in Cyprus only) Green Monday, is the first day of the Orthodox Christian Great Lent. It is a movable feast that occurs at the beginning of the 7th week…
In my previous posts I have commented on the Divine Liturgy as a whole as well as the Vestments of the Ministers and the prayers before the Liturgy. In this post I will explain the Liturgy of the Preparation or…
September 1st is the start of the Ecclesiastical New Year in the Orthodox Church. Below is a description of this day taken from the pages of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. For the maintenance of their armed forces, the Roman emperors…
Recently some folks have asked me about being cremated and what does the church teach about cremation. I have been giving this some thought and found this wonderful explanation on the website of St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church. The bottom…
This is another article in the series on explaining the Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church. This time I will attempt to explain the various color traditions of the Vestments worn by the Priests. There are many varied traditions that…
In my previous articles, I gave an overview of the Divine Liturgy as well as a look at the prayers of the priest and deacon prior to the Liturgy. In this article I will explain the various vestment articles of…