Cross Archives - Page 16 of 23

The Great and Holy Friday. Good Friday and the Irony of Believing

04/06/2018

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 10, 2015 Irony is probably too much to ask of youth. If I can remember myself in my college years, the most I could muster was sarcasm. Irony required more insight. There is a deep need for the appreciation of irony to sustain a Christian life. Our world is filled with contradiction. Hypocrisy is ever present even within our own heart. The failures of Church and those who are most

The Great and Holy Wednesday. No More Debt

04/04/2018

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 13, 2015 It is a situation that has become all too familiar: overwhelming debt that cannot be repaid. It is an image that the Scriptures know full well. But it is a situation that is easily seen from two sides – and only one of them belongs to God. The two sides are simple: the one who owes the debt and the one to whom the debt must be paid. And

The Great and Holy Tuesday. The Pilgrimage of Holy Week

04/03/2018

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 21, 2016 The apex of the year for Orthodox Christians is easily Holy Week and Pascha. I had the opportunity in 2008 to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. To receive communion in the tomb of Christ, or to stand at Golgotha is no little thing. And yet, the services of Holy Week within one’s own parish are a greater thing. I say this not only from my own

The Great and Holy Monday. The Mystical Reality of Holy Week

04/02/2018

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 6, 2015 As we journey through Holy Week… For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. (1Co 15:16-19 NKJ) Earlier this Spring, two

Saturday of Lazarus

03/31/2018

By Archpriest Alexander Schmemann The joy that permeates and enlightens the service of Lazarus Saturday stresses one major theme: the forthcoming victory of Christ over Hades. “Hades” is the Biblical term for Death and its universal power, for inescapable darkness that swallows all life and with its shadow poisons the whole world. But now — with Lazarus’ resurrection — “death begins to tremble.” A decisive duel between Life and Death begins giving us the key to

The Twelfth Day of Christmas. The Theophany and Healing (Part II)

01/05/2018

By Fr. George Morelli [1] The promise of the King of the Gentiles and the desired of all The conversion of pagans is mentioned in the psalms. King David as the obvious prefigure of Christ has the Lord God say to him: “You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” (Ps 2: 7-8) And again

The Tenth Day of Christmas. The Last Christmas – Ever

01/03/2018

By Father Stephen Freeman This Christmas was the last Christmas – ever. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. Wherever He is, there is the beginning and the end of all things. If Christ was truly present in this year’s Christmas, then it was the last Christmas – and the first Christmas. And if statements like this make your hair hurt – then read on. Our common way of thinking about the world is marked

The Ninth Day of Christmas. The Tradition of the Vasilopita (with Recipe)

01/02/2018

From the DOWAMA St. Raphael Clergy Brotherhood The tradition of baking and cutting a special “pita” (which can mean a loaf of bread, a cake, or even a pie) each year on January 1st is observed in honor of our holy father Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappodocia– hence its name “Vasilopita” meaning “St. Basil’s Bread.” This tradition is observed in both parish churches and in the homes of the faithful. What is

The Fourth Day of Christmas. Between Christmas and….

12/28/2017

By Stephen Freeman The Feast of Christmas has, for many, come and gone. The eagerness of children for the day of their presents has now passed and, with it, some of their anxieties. Far from marking Christmas as “Twelve Days” (as the old English Christmas carol notes) many parts of the culture hurry forward, eager to put Christmas in the past. In my childhood, it was generally held within the surrounding Protestant culture that a

The Thirty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent. What to Give to the One Who Made Everything?

12/21/2017

By Fr. John Parker So here is a twist on the usual question: what do you get for that someone who *made* everything? I confess to you, dear reader, that the question comes a bit crassly off my fingertips. But the truth is, here we are, at the inauguration of the Christmas feast—which continues through December 31 in Orthodox Christianity—and while we are hauling bags of wrapping paper and boxes to the curb (not the

Tags

The Great and Holy Friday. Good Friday and the Irony of Believing

The Great and Holy Wednesday. No More Debt

The Great and Holy Tuesday. The Pilgrimage of Holy Week

The Great and Holy Monday. The Mystical Reality of Holy Week

Saturday of Lazarus

The Twelfth Day of Christmas. The Theophany and Healing (Part II)

The Tenth Day of Christmas. The Last Christmas – Ever

The Ninth Day of Christmas. The Tradition of the Vasilopita (with Recipe)

The Fourth Day of Christmas. Between Christmas and….

The Thirty-Seventh Day of Christmas Advent. What to Give to the One Who Made Everything?

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