You wish, or rather, have decided, to remove a splinter from someone? Very well, but do not go after it with a stick instead of a lancet for you will only drive it deeper. Rough speech and harsh gestures are the stick, while even-tempered instruction and patient reprimand are the lancet. ‘Reprove, rebuke, exhort,’ says the Apostle (II Tim. 4:2), not ‘batter’.
- From St. John Climacus, “The Ladder of Divine Ascent”
When we do not experience warfare, we ought so much the more to humiliate ourselves. For God seeing our weakness, protects us; when we glorify ourselves, He withdraws His protection and we are lost.
- From the Desert Fathers
Please keep in your prayers Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, as according to the media, there was an alleged plot to be assassinated on May 29, the 560th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans.
Please everyone, pray for his safety! May God protect him!
These are some of the Patriarchs of the Eastern Orthodox Church. I couldn’t post all of them, as they are so many (maybe I’ll make a part 2 one day, in order to include all the others like the Patriarch of America and the Patriarch of Japan), however these are the Patriarchs of ten Orthodox Autocephalous Churches, starting with our Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the ancient See of Constantinople.
Sometimes, I tend to forget the names of all the Patriarchs, so this post can help all of us to remember the leaders of the local Churches. This is a reminder of how truly ecumenical is our Orthodox Church!
May God give to all of our Patriarchs many and blessed years, and may He enlightens them in order to guide the Orthodox believers around the world!
During this blessed period, many of you were received in the Holy Orthodox Church! It’s such a blessing, where everything in my country collapses, the same moment where the greek youth turn their back to the Holy Church because they think it’s too old-fashioned, young people from all over the world, far away from Greece are becoming baptized daily. They are dedicating their life to God and to the protection of the unchanged teachings of the Orthodox Church. Besides the difficulties of being an Orthodox Christian in a non-Orthodox country, they carry their cross, following the example of our Lord.
I just wanted to say for another time that I am truly blessed and honored that I met you, even only online, and I hope I’ll do my best to follow your example, to worship God with the same enthusiasm and love as you do! Welcome home dear brothers and sisters!!! Don’t forget that even if everyone abandons you, the Holy Orthodox Church will always be your home, your shelter.
Christ is Risen! Χριστός Ανέστη!
Death was terrible to the human race before Christ’s death, but after Christ’s resurrection, man became terrible to death, for One of us has conquered death; He did not remain in the tomb, and did not see corruption. Passover was the freeing of Israel from Egypt. Our Pascha frees us from the slavery of death and corruption. Christ is risen! I now know that my salvation is truly wrought. I know that God truly appeared on earth. There have been great people, conquerors of the elements, conquerors of nature; but death cut them all down and revealed our common nothingness. Who has passed through the doors of death? It can only be God. This means that God was truly incarnate on earth, truly brought the healing cure against the corruption that corrodes and torments me. Incarnation and resurrection are united into one. The incarnation gave meaning to the resurrection, and the resurrection irrefutably convinces us of its truth and reality as something that is not a phantom or a dream.
- New Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop of Verey
For us Orthodox Christians to be so madly in love with our resurrected Lord that we sometimes even forget what time of the year it is and continue to proclaim that Christ is Risen in every season! I am not proposing anything official (no liturgical innovations); but when we run into the cashier at Wal-Mart and have nothing meaningful to say in Mid August, Why not proclaim Christ is Risen? Our beloved ones come to us in November or in January with big problems, (sickness in the family, lost all of their money, lost their job, their husband or my wife has left them, etc.). How important it is for us to remember at those times that Christ is Risen after all is said and done and by that same power we can be healed. Why wait until Pascha each year to live and share that reality? St. Seraphim of Russia greeted everyone with Christ is Risen all year round and he is a Saint of our Church! He experienced the divine insanity of being a Christian every day… not only during Pascha.
- Fr. Gregory Horton
Some photos from the Ceremony of the Holy Light in Jerusalem, 3 days ago.
The Holy Fire doesn’t burn!!!! Glory to God!
I can’t stop singing it (in all the languages, even though I don’t understand the majority of them!)
Christ is Risen!
Christ is risen from the dead, Trampling down death by death. And upon those in the tombs bestowing life.
Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!!!! Blessed Easter to all the Orthodox Christians around the world!
The Orthodox Christian miracle of Holy Fire, one of the greatest miracles of God!
The ceremony, which awes the souls of Christians, takes place in the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem. The Holy Fire is the most renowned miracle in the world of Eastern Orthodoxy. It has taken place at the same time, in the same manner, in the same place every single year for centuries. No other miracle is known to occur so regularly and so steadily over time. No other miracle is known to occur so regularly and so steadily over time. It happens in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the holiest place on earth, where Christ was crucified, entombed, and where He finally rose from the dead.
If you want to learn more about the miracle of the Holy Fire, see this.
Orthodox Christian moments from Holy Friday
Great and Holy Thursday
On Thursday of Holy Week four events are commemorated:
- the washing of the disciples’ feet
- the institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper
- the agony in the garden of Gethsemane
- the betrayal of Christ by Judas.
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).
The Washing of the Feet
The events initiated by Jesus at the Mystical.Supper were profoundly significant. By teaching and giving the disciples His final instructions and praying for them as well, He revealed again His divine Sonship and authority. By establishing the Eucharist, He enshrines to perfection God’s most intimate purposes for our salvation, offering Himself as Communion and life. By washing the feet of His disciples, He summarized the meaning of His ministry, manifested His perfect love and revealed His profound humility. The act of the washing of the feet (John 13:2-17) is closely related to the sacrifice of the Cross. Both reveal aspects of Christ’s kenosis. While the Cross constitues the ultimate manifestation of Christ’s perfect obedience to His Father (Philippians 2:5-8), the washing of the feet signifies His intense love and the giving of Himself to each person according to that person’s ability to receive Him (John 13:6-9).
Prayer in the Garden
The Synoptic Gospels have preserved for us another significant episode in the series of events leading to the Passion, namely, the agony and prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46).
The Betrayal
Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss, the sign of friendship and love. The betrayal and crucifixion of Christ carried the ancestral sin to its extreme limits. In these two acts the rebellion against God reached its maximum capacity. The seduction of man in paradise culminated in the death of God in the flesh. To be victorious evil must quench the light and discredit the good. In the end, however, it shows itself to be a lie, an absurdity and sheer madness. The death and resurrection of Christ rendered evil powerless.
On Great Thursday light and darkness, joy and sorrow are so strangely mixed. At the Upper Room and in Gethsemane the light of the kingdom and the darkness of hell come through simultaneously. The way of life and the way of death converge. We meet them both in our journey through life.
This night we’ll listen to this one at Church.
“Today is hung upon the Tree, He Who did hang the land in the midst of the waters…”
I always cry when I hear this, I can’t help it! All the believers are crying, including the priest… I feel so blessed that I am Orthodox!
On the afternoon or evening of Great and Holy Wednesday, the Sacrament or Mystery of Holy Unction is conducted in Orthodox parishes. The Sacrament of Holy Unction is offered for the healing of soul and body and for forgiveness of sins. At the conclusion of the service of the Sacrament, the body is anointed with oil, and the grace of God, which heals infirmities of soul and body, is called down upon each person. The Sacrament is performed by a gathering of priests, ideally seven in number, however, it can be performed by a lesser number and even by a single priest.
Order of the Service
