Daily Meditations Archives - Page 323 of 355

Third Tuesday after Pascha: The Feast Day of Saints Constantine & Helen

05/21/2013

Oration on the Pascha of Christ, by St. Constantine the Great Emperor and Equal to the Apostles, St. Constantine the Great (early 4th century) was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, establishing a policy of religious toleration that paved the way for the freer expansion of the Church. This text is taken from his great oration ‘To the Assembly of the Saints’ – an extensive examination of several Christian topics. That presented here

Third Monday after Pascha: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!

05/20/2013

A Paschal Homily, by Blessed Justin Popovich Sentenced to Immortality (Part II) The entire history of Christianity is nothing other than the history of a unique miracle, namely, the Resurrection of Christ, which is unbrokenly threaded through the hearts of Christians form one day to the next, from year to year, across the centuries, until the Dread Judgment. Man is born, in fact, not when his mother bring him into the world, but when he

Second Friday after Pascha: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!

05/17/2013

Ecstatic Wonder, by Father John Breck On the eve of the Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-bearing Women, the Matins service includes Christ’s resurrection appearances as they are recounted at the close of St Mark’s Gospel. If Biblical scholars are correct, these last verses, Mark 16:9-20, did not originally belong to the Gospel narrative. This series of appearances of the risen Lord was apparently gathered together by the early Church for catechetical purposes and was only

Second Thursday after Pascha: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!

05/16/2013

The Resurrection of Christ was a victory, not over his death only, but over death in general. “We celebrate the death of Death, the downfall of Hell, and the beginning of a life new and everlasting” [Easter Canon, 2nd song, 2nd Troparion]. In His Resurrection the whole of humanity, all human nature, is co-resurrected with Christ, ‘the human race is clothed in incorruption” [Sunday Matins], co-resurrected, not indeed in the sense that all are raised

Second Wednesday after Pascha: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!

05/15/2013

A Paschal Homily, by Blessed Justin Popovich Sentenced to Immortality (Part I) Man sentenced God to death; by His Resurrection, He sentenced man to immortality. In return for a beating, He gives an embrace; for abuse, a blessing; for death, immortality. Man never showed so much hate for God as when he crucified Him; and God never showed more love for man than when He arose. Man even wanted to reduce God to a mortal,

Second Tuesday after Pascha: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!

05/14/2013

In the death of the Savior the powerlessness of death over Him was revealed. In the fullness of His human nature Our Lord was mortal, since even in the original and spotless human nature a “potentia mortis” was inherent. The Lord was killed and died. But death did not hold Him. “It was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24). St. John Chrysostom commented: “He Himself permitted it. … Death itself

Second Monday after Pascha: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!

05/13/2013

A Sermon by Saint John of Kronstadt Christ is Risen! Beloved brothers, so Bright Week has passed and taken with it our deeds to the throne of the Heavenly Master and Judge: there, brothers, there are our deeds now. I say this in order to frighten with the fear of the heavenly judgment those who unworthily, not Christian-like, spent the feast of the bright Resurrection of Christ and to comfort those who spent it with

Renewal Friday: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!

05/10/2013

About Renewal Sunday (Antipascha): The Eighth Day after Pascha (Saint Thomas Sunday) Some icons depicting this event are inscribed “The Doubting Thomas.” This is incorrect. In Greek, the inscription reads, “The Touching of Thomas.” The Slavonic inscription is, “The Belief of Thomas.” When St Thomas touched the Life-giving side of the Lord, he no longer had any doubts. This day is also known as “Antipascha.” This does not mean “opposed to Pascha,” but “in place

Renewal Thursday: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!

05/09/2013

What is “Bright Week”? Bright Week, otherwise known as Renewal Week, begins on Pascha Sunday and ends on the following Sunday of Thomas. The name probably originates from the fact that the newly baptized catechumens from Pascha are newly illumined and bright. For them it is a time of regeneration and renewal. These newly baptized in ancient times wore all white for a week, hence the week sometimes being called White Week. The seven days

Renewal Wednesday: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!

05/08/2013

Celebrating the Paschal Feast, by Saint Athanasios of Alexandria Brethren, how fine a thing it is to move from festival to festival, from prayer to prayer, from holy day to holy day. The time is now at hand when we enter on a new beginning: the proclamation of the blessed Passover, in which the Lord was sacrificed. We feed as on the food of life, we constantly refresh our souls with his precious blood, as