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BRIGHT SADNESS (Part I)

04/22/2013

For many, if not for the majority of Orthodox Christians, Lent consists of a limited number of formal, predominantly negative, rules and prescriptions: abstention from certain food, dancing, perhaps movies. Such is the degree of our alienation from the real spirit of the Church that it is almost impossible for us to understand that there is “something else” in Lent—something without which all these prescriptions lose much of their meaning. This “something else” can best

Why Is St. Mary of Egypt Remembered During Lent?

04/19/2013

Each of the Sundays of Great Lent has its own special theme in the Orthodox Church. The First Sunday of Great Lent we celebrate the “Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy” since it was on this day in 843 A.D. that the final great heresy against the person of Christ, that of Iconoclasm, was eradicated and the Orthodox Faith became the standard by which mankind could achieve purification, illumination and glorification. The Second Sunday of

THE TWO MEANINGS OF FASTING (Part II)

04/18/2013

Quite different [from the total fast] are the spiritual connotations of the second type of fasting which we defined as ascetical. Here the purpose for fasting is to liberate man from the unlawful tyranny of the flesh, of that surrender of the spirit to the body and its appetites which is the tragic result of sin and the original fall of man. It is only by a slow and patient effort that man discovers that

THE TWO MEANINGS OF FASTING (Part I)

04/17/2013

At this point, the next question arises: if Eucharist is incompatible with fasting, why then is its celebration still prescribed on Saturdays and Sundays of Lent, and this without “breaking” the fast? The canons of the Church seem here to contradict one another. While some of them forbid fasting on Sundays, some others forbid the breaking of the fast on any of the forty days. This contradiction, however, is only apparent, because the two rules

THE TWO MEANINGS OF COMMUNION DURING LENT (Part II)

04/16/2013

But why then, one may ask, is Communion still distributed during fasting days at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts? Does it not contradict the principle enunciated above [see April 15, Part I]? To answer this question, we must now consider the second aspect of the Orthodox understanding of Communion, its meaning as the source and the sustaining power of our spiritual effort. If, as we have just seen, Holy Communion is the fulfillment of

THE TWO MEANINGS OF COMMUNION DURING LENT (Part I)

04/15/2013

Of all liturgical rules pertaining to Lent, one is of crucial importance for its understanding, and being peculiar to Orthodoxy, is in many ways a key to its liturgical tradition. It is the rule which forbids the celebration of the Divine Liturgy on weekdays of Lent. The rubrics are clear: under no circumstances can the Divine Liturgy be celebrated in Lent Monday through Friday, with one exception— the Feast of the Annunciation, if it falls

Saint John Climacus and the “Ladder of Divine Ascent,” by Metropolitan Philaret

04/12/2013

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. More than once, brethren, the fact has been mentioned that on each Sunday in the Great Fast (i.e., Lent) there are other commemorations besides that of the Resurrection. Thus, on the [Fourth Sunday of Lent], the Church glorifies the righteous John of the Ladder, one of the greatest ascetics, which the Church, in speaking of them, calls “earthly angels and

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES OF GREAT LENT (Part II)

04/11/2013

The “continuous reading” of Genesis, Isaiah and Proverbs has its origin at the time when Lent was still the mainpre-baptismal season of the Church and Lenten services werepredominantly catechetical in their character, i.e., dedicatedto the indoctrination of the catechumen. Each of the threebooks corresponds to one of the three basic aspects of theOld Testament: the history of God’s activity in Creation,prophecy, and the ethical or moral teachings. The Book of Genesis gives, as it were,

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES OF GREAT LENT (Part I)

04/10/2013

The prayer of the Church is always biblical—i.e., expressed in the language, images, and symbols of the Holy Scriptures. If the Bible contains the Divine Revelation to man, it is also man’s inspired response to that Revelation and thus the pattern and the content of man’s prayer, praise, and adoration. For example, thousands of years have passed since the Psalms were composed; yet when man needs to express repentance, the shock of his entire being

THE LENTEN PRAYER OF ST. EPHREM THE SYRIAN (Part II)

04/09/2013

These four [the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk]are thus the negative “objects” of repentance. They are the obstacles to be removed. But God alone can remove them. Hence, the first part of the Lenten prayer— this cry from the bottom of human helplessness. Then the prayer moves to the positive aims of repentance which also are four. Chastity! If one does not reduce this term, as is so often and

Blog

BRIGHT SADNESS (Part I)

Why Is St. Mary of Egypt Remembered During Lent?

THE TWO MEANINGS OF FASTING (Part II)

THE TWO MEANINGS OF FASTING (Part I)

THE TWO MEANINGS OF COMMUNION DURING LENT (Part II)

THE TWO MEANINGS OF COMMUNION DURING LENT (Part I)

Saint John Climacus and the “Ladder of Divine Ascent,” by Metropolitan Philaret

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES OF GREAT LENT (Part II)

THE HOLY SCRIPTURES OF GREAT LENT (Part I)

THE LENTEN PRAYER OF ST. EPHREM THE SYRIAN (Part II)

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