Mother of God Archives - Page 8 of 14

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Bright Wednesday

04/22/2020

On Bright Wednesday we commemorate the holy monastic Fathers who have shone forth on the God-trodden Mt Sinai. This commemoration was established by the Church of Russia on April 17, 1997. Saints Theocharis and Apostolos are local saints of Arta. The first fell asleep in 1845 and the second a little later. Saint Theocharis was a teacher at Komboti, Arta. The icons of these saints are in the church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) in

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Bright Monday

04/20/2020

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 hatred for

The Mystical Supper

02/06/2020

At the Mystical Supper in the Upper Room Jesus gave a dramatically 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). Food had always sustained the earthly existence of everyone, but in the Eucharist the Lord gave us a distinctively unique human

The Feast of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God (Ayia Skepi)

10/28/2019

ON OCTOBER 28TH OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE SOLEMNITY OF THE HOLY PROTECTION OF OUR SOVEREIGN LADY THE MOTHER OF GOD AND EVER-VIRGIN MARY The feast of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God was established following a vision of our Holy Father Andrew the Fool-for-Christ during the course of a Vigil in the Church of Vlachernae at Constantinople. At the fourth hour of the night, while deep in prayer, the Saint lifted

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 1

09/12/2019

By Fr. Maximos (Constas) I was intrigued by the organic connections that the feast of the Presentation which we’re still celebrating and obviously of the Mother of God with the Crucifixion and Resurrection, largely through the prophecy of Symeon, who at this remarkable moment in the Temple says that this Child is a sign that will be spoken against and is set for the rising and falling of many in Israel, and turning to the Theotokos he

The Nun Whose Monastery was the World

09/04/2019

By Fr. Michael Plekon “We like it when the “churching” of life is discussed, but few people understand what it means. Indeed, must we attend all the church services in order to “church” our life? Or hang an icon in every room and burn an icon-lamp in front of it? No, the “churching of life” is the realization of the whole world as one great church, adorned with icons— persons who should be venerated, honored,

Dormition or Assumption?

08/09/2019

In our Orthodox tradition we are usually very careful to distinguish between the “Dormition” of the Mother of God and her “Assumption” into heaven. The former, we feel, is properly Orthodox, while the latter strikes us as a purely Western designation, derived from a Roman Catholic “misunderstanding” of the meaning of this feast, celebrated universally on August 15. It is true that some very genuine yet misguided interpretations of Mary’s death and exaltation can be

Praying with the Entire Church

08/08/2019

“O you apostles, assembled here from the ends of the earth, bury my body: And You, O my Son and my God, receive my spirit” (Exapostilarion of Dormition of the Theotokos) To be a genuine Orthodox Christian is to share in the joy of fellowship gathered around the holy Mother of God, Mary the ever-virgin one. Yet in America a hesitancy arises even with the Church among the faithful. What is so normal and self-evident

The Dormition Fast: Ending another Year of Grace in Our Lord

08/01/2019

The Byzantine Church since at least the 5th century has practiced a period of fasting prior to the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. This ancient custom has much to offer contemporary Christians. Christians of the East have always recognized the mystery of Our Lady’s Dormition, her ‘falling asleep’ at the end of her natural life. The passage of Mary the Virgin Mother of God from this life to life eternal is a cause

The Third Friday after Pascha. CHRISTOS ANESTI! CHRIST IS RISEN! A Pascha of Beauty – In a Soviet Prison – 1928

05/17/2019

Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 8, 2018 Serge Schmemann, son of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, in his wonderful little book, Echoes of a Native Land, records a letter written from one of his family members of an earlier generation, who spent several years in the prisons of the Soviets and died there. The letter, written on the night of Pascha in 1928 is to a family member, “Uncle Grishanchik” (This was Grigory Trubetskoi who had managed to emigrate

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ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Bright Wednesday

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! Bright Monday

The Mystical Supper

The Feast of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God (Ayia Skepi)

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 1

The Nun Whose Monastery was the World

Dormition or Assumption?

Praying with the Entire Church

The Dormition Fast: Ending another Year of Grace in Our Lord

The Third Friday after Pascha. CHRISTOS ANESTI! CHRIST IS RISEN! A Pascha of Beauty – In a Soviet Prison – 1928

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