Eucharist Archives - Page 10 of 11

Second Friday after Pascha, Christ is Risen!

05/02/2014

In the Early Church the rite of Christian initiation was not divided. Three of the sacraments belong together: Baptism, the Holy Chrism (Confirmation), and the Eucharist. The Initiation described by St. Cyril, and later on by Cabasilas, included all three. Sacraments are instituted in order to enable man to participate in Christ’s redeeming death and thereby to gain the grace of His resurrection. This was Cabasilas’ main idea. “We are baptized in order to die

Holy and Great Thursday

04/17/2014

On Great Thursday the focus of the Church turns to the events that occurred in the Upper Room and at the Garden of Gethsemane. In the Upper Room, while at meal, Jesus established and instituted the mystery or sacrament of the holy Eucharist and washed the feet of His disciples as well. The Garden of Gethsemane calls our attention to Jesus’ redemptive obedience and sublime prayer (Mt 26.36-46). It also brings us before the cowardly,

The Destiny of Eros: The Nuptial Way (Part II)

02/13/2014

Marriage is chaste because it integrates the erotic relationship of the two persons into their communion within the Church; as their mutual love is expressed through their complementary natures, each gives the other to the world. For nine centuries there was no distinctive rite of marriage for Christians. The couple would marry, then go together to communion. For a man and a woman whose life is rooted in Christ, their love is something they have

The Destiny of Eros: Monks and Martyrs

10/04/2013

When the emperor was converted, and the ever-present danger of martyrdom disappeared, monasticism arose to take its place. There was a fear that Christianity would be secularized, that, as it stood, it would become the cement of an earthly city. Monasticism was the revolt against all compromise. Monasticism, in its early form, was a steep path, that of ‘the violent, who take the kingdom of heaven by force’. Utter obedience to the Gospel demands the

The Forgotten Connection between Liturgy and Theology (Part III)

10/02/2013

By Rev. Dr. Philip Zymaris In our sacraments we emphasize the use of matter precisely because of this Orthodox stress on the incarnation, the resurrection and the resulting theological affirmation of the goodness of matter because Christ took on a material body and in the resurrection our material bodies so that they may participate in the glory of the Kingdom. Therefore matter as created by God is good (“And God saw everything that He had

The Great and Holy Thursday

05/02/2013

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

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 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

“. . . BUT BY PRAYER AND FASTING” (Part III)

03/26/2013

[Fasting] should be practiced on two levels: first, as ascetical fast; and second, as total fast. The ascetical fast consists of a drastic reduction of food so that the permanent state of a certain hunger might be lived as a reminder of God and a constant effort to keep our mind on Him. Everyone who has practiced it—be it only a little—knows that this ascetical fast rather than weakening us makes us light, concentrated, sober,

Tags

Second Friday after Pascha, Christ is Risen!

Holy and Great Thursday

The Destiny of Eros: The Nuptial Way (Part II)

The Destiny of Eros: Monks and Martyrs

The Forgotten Connection between Liturgy and Theology (Part III)

The Great and Holy Thursday

THE TWO MEANINGS OF FASTING (Part II)

THE TWO MEANINGS OF FASTING (Part I)

THE TWO MEANINGS OF COMMUNION DURING LENT (Part I)

“. . . BUT BY PRAYER AND FASTING” (Part III)

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