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Monday before the Feast of Holy Pentecost

Introduction The Feast of Holy Pentecost is celebrated each year on the fiftieth day after the Great and Holy Feast of Pascha (Easter) and ten days after the Feast of the Ascension of Christ. The Feast is always celebrated on a Sunday. The Feast commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, a feast of the Jewish tradition. It also celebrates the establishment of the Church through the

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Sixth Wednesday of Pascha: The Apodosis (Leave-taking) of Pascha

Parish Leaflet: The Apodosis (Leave-taking) of Pascha May 22, 2017 Admin Parish Leaflets On Wednesday of the sixth week of Pascha, we celebrate the Apodosis or Leave-taking of the Feast of Feasts – Holy Pascha. While most Feasts have their Leave-taking on the eighth day, Pascha, the Feast of Feasts, has its Leave-taking on the thirty-ninth day. The fortieth day is the Feast of the Lord’s Ascension, which marks the end of the Lord’s physical presence on

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Sixth Tuesday of Pascha: Thoughts on the Ascension

By Michael Haldas, Quotes of the Day for May 17, 2018 “In raising human nature to heaven by His Ascension, Christ has given us the hope of arriving there ourselves.” (St. Thomas Aquinas) “Because we have so accepted this dichotomous rupture between body and soul as ‘reality’ we often describe our Faith in terms of “saving souls.” We seldom think of our bodies being eternally involved in salvation as well. However, the Second Person of

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fifth Friday of Pascha: The Soul Is a Mirror

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 25, 2017  There are meditations and insights that simply change your life. I recall walking across the campus at Duke some 30 or so years ago. I had been plowing through a book of Orthodox theology (very thick reading). I would read a page and think, and read it again. But I recall very plainly a moment of insight – it regarded some paragraphs surrounding a statement of St. Basil’s.

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! The Fifth Thursday of Pascha. Noetic Memory. Not about Religion.

Tapping into the noetic memory of the heart By Abbot Tryphon, February 24, 2019 The heart, in the Orthodox tradition, does not only have a natural operation, as a mere pump that circulates blood. In Orthodox patristic tradition the heart is the center of our self-awareness. Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain (+1809) calls the heart a natural and supernatural center, wherein resides “noetic” memory. Tapping into this noetic memory is manifested as the “incessant

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fifth Wednesday of Pascha: Thoughts on Crucifixion and Resurrection

By Michael Haldas, Quotes of the Day for April 14, 2017 “Christ, crucified and risen, is our Paschal lamb, our Passover. United to Him in baptism, our life becomes an unending deliverance from evil…Evil is overcome only by good, which the Son of God Himself demonstrated on the Cross and which believers are called to emulate.” (Orthodox Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, Romans 12:19-21) “The death and resurrection of Christ contain the utter and complete

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fifth Monday of Pascha: Living the Apocalypse

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, May 3, 2016  The world ended [this Pascha]. No. You weren’t “left behind.” But you might not have noticed. And our not noticing is, strangely, at the very heart of our problem. It is also at the heart of the Christian faith. What I am describing is the “apocalyptic” character of Christianity – the fact that it is a revealing of something hidden. And this is not a “one-time” revelation. It

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Friday of Pascha: Getting Your Mind Right

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 19, 2016  In the classic movie, Cool Hand Luke (1967), the lead character struggles in a Deep South prison chain-gang setting. Very cool towards authority, he is finally, at the Warden’s direction, beaten by the guards. There is a memorable bit of dialog: Luke (lying in a grave he’s been forced to dig): Oh God! Oh God! I pray to God you don’t hit me anymore. I’ll do anything you say, but

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Fourth Thursday of Pascha: Thoughts on God and His Life-Giving Love

By Michael Haldas, Quotes of the Day for April 30, 2020 “‘Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. (John 17:24)’” How do we describe the spiritual state of the person who avoids condemnation on the Day of Judgment? The Lord affirms in verse 24 that those who hear and believe in Him have