I am not a liturgist. However, my conviction is firm that the Great Lent, in its laid down structure, reveals that Pascha, which is the destination of Lent, overshadows all the days of fasting. One of the brethren asked me a few days ago: “the selected Gospels for Sundays during the Great Lent are all ...
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Great Lent
An Offered Treasure
The forty-day holy fast in our Church begins with the petition of the hymnographer “Grant unto me thy word, O Word of the Father” (Kontakion of Forgiveness Sunday). The hymn is clear. The fast is a season of litanies. We had noticed, since we started looking at lent, during the preparation period, that the Church ...
Read moreTo the Brethren Abroad
At the beginning of this Great Lent, I am addressing, first, the brethren in the Orthodox Youth Movement (MJO). I allow myself to address you, empowered by your love. You have all learned that the poor, of whichever religion or sect… is the face of a god. Today, you see him in your new places. ...
Read moreThe Great Lent
Ever since I committed myself to the life of the Church, I have tried to observe this fast. I believe that our life in Christ consists, entirely, of endeavors. What we ask for in the Church is always greater than our practice of it. We try, we keep doing what we are doing, because we ...
Read moreThe Feast of Repentance
The Church, in arranging her congregational prayers, always moves towards set goals. The major feast is looked at from afar; the small one too... Repentance is one of the rules of this movement. However, repentance, in these days that extend from the feast of Theophany to the beginning of the preparation for the Great Lent, ...
Read moreNathanael
You remember Nathanael the Apostle. We have read about him on the first Sunday of Great Lent (John 1:43-51). What is unique in the account of his call is that it differs from the call of the other apostles in that he alone is called by Jesus, through his friend Philip’s word. John the Evangelist ...
Read moreHoly and Great Saturday
From Pascha to Pascha The forty-day Holy Lent is our path to a new life given forth by Pascha. I know many brethren, who practice fasting with ecclesiastical attention, and when it ends, they feel great distress. How is this distress to be treated? How can it not turn, in us, into (our) remaining fixed ...
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