Daily Meditations Archives - Page 250 of 332

The Second Monday of Pascha, Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen! Service of the Consecration of a Church (Part I)

04/20/2015

What is salvation for an Orthodox Christian? For an Orthodox Christian salvation is union with Christ. This union with Christ is called the “Life in Christ”. The center of this “Life in Christ” is the Holy Altar, as well as the services which are related to it, i.e. the Seven Sacraments. Because the Holy Altar is so important in the life of an Orthodox Christian, the service of Consecration centers around the Holy Altar Table.

Renewal (Bright) Friday, Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

04/17/2015

The Feast of the Life Giving Spring The icon of Life Giving Spring has a wonderful and comforting appearance. Depicted is an enormous stone chalice, standing in a wide reservoir, filled with water. Above the chalice, holding in Her arms the Pre-eternal Infant and wearing a crown, hovers the Most Holy Virgin. To the reservoir filled with life-giving water have streamed those who thirst. The unfortunate and life-weary drink of the water and become strong

Renewal (Bright) Thursday, Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

04/16/2015

Bright Thursday On Bright Thursday the Gospel reading is John 3:1-15, which mentions the Pharisee Nicodemus who came by night to speak to Christ. The Lord told him that a man could not see the Kingdom of God unless he were born again. Nicodemus, taking Him much too literally, could not understand how such a thing was possible. The Savior then clarified His words, saying that one must be born “of water and the Spirit”

Renewal (Bright) Wednesday, Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

04/15/2015

Beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN! ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! ΔΙΑΚΑΙΝΗΣΙΜΟΣ ΕΒΔΟΜΑΔΑ OR BRIGHT OR RENEWAL WEEK [The Week following Holy and Great Pascha] We Orthodox Christians greet one another for the next 40 days until Ascension Thursday with the words: “Christ is Risen! and the response to the Paschal greeting is: “Truly He is Risen!” During the Renewal Week, the Holy Doors leading

Renewal (Bright) Tuesday, Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

04/14/2015

Bright Tuesday Commemoration of Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene of Lesbos (also April 9). Newly-Appeared Martyrs of Lesbos, Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene: these saints were martyred by the Turks on Bright Tuesday (April 9, 1463) ten years after the Fall of Constantinople. For nearly 500 years, they were forgotten by the people of Lesbos, but “the righteous Judge… opened the things that were hid” (2 Macc. 12:41). For centuries the people of Lesbos would

Renewal (Bright) Monday, Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

04/13/2015

Bright Monday On Bright Monday the Church commemorates the Sweet-Kissing (Glykophilousa) Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. Like the Iveron Icon (March 31), the Sweet-Kissing Icon was also saved from the iconoclasts by a pious woman in the ninth century. It also traveled miraculously upon the sea, arriving at Mt. Athos, the “Garden of the Theotokos,” where it was honored by the monks. A nobleman named Simeon was an iconoclast who shared the emperor Theophilus’s

The Great and Holy Pascha: Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

04/12/2015

Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen! The body of Our Lord has been transfigured into a body of glory, and has been clothed in power and light. And the Lord rises from the dead, as a Bridegroom comes forth from the chamber. This was accomplished by the power of God, as also the General Resurrection will in the last day be accomplished by the power of God. And in the Resurrection the Incarnation is completed and

The Great and Holy Saturday

04/11/2015

Commemoration of Holy Saturday On Great and Holy Saturday the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord’s descent into Hades, the place of the dead. Death, our ultimate enemy, is defeated from within. “He (Christ) gave Himself as a ransom to death in which we were held captive, sold under sin. Descending into Hades through the Cross … He loosed the bonds of death” (Liturgy of St. Basil). On Great Saturday our focus is on

Great and Holy Friday

04/10/2015

Commemoration of Great and Holy Friday On this day we commemorate the sufferings of Christ: the mockery, the crown of thorns, the scourging, the nails, the thirst, the vinegar and gall, the cry of desolation, and all the Savior endured on the Cross. The day of Christ’s death is the day of sin. The sin which polluted God’s creation from the breaking dawn of time reached its frightful climax on the hill of Golgotha. There,

Great and Holy Thursday

04/09/2015

The Institution of the Eucharist At the Mystical Supper in the Upper Room Jesus gave a radically new meaning to the food and drink of the sacred meal. He identified Himself with the bread and wine: “Take, eat; this is my Body. Drink of it all of you; for this is my Blood of the New Covenant” (Matthew 26:26-28). We have learned to equate food with life because it sustains our earthly existence. In the