The Lord rises before the dawn, and he leaves behind his graveclothes and an empty tomb. There are no physical witnesses to his Rising (though there is much evidence and many who testify that he is risen). In some mysterious way…
The forty-day celebration of the Nativity concluded with the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple; the forty-day Great Fast concludes with his Entrance into Jerusalem. In both cases, the Lord comes…
“By raising Lazarus from the dead before thy Passion, thou didst confirm the universal resurrection, O Christ God.” Today, by calling forth his friend Lazarus from the tomb…
According to her vita, written by Saint Sophronius, from her youth Saint Mary devoted her life to the pursuit of pleasures. Reading her life, as we did in church this past Thursday, we might…
In the sacred tradition of the Holy Eastern Orthodox Church, the importance of the Akathist hymn to the Mother of God can scarcely be overstated. As the lives of many saints…
The end of Great Lent is in sight—the final day of the holy Forty Days is a week from tomorrow. Already we turn our eyes toward the Passion starting from next Monday, when…
As we reach the fourth Sunday of the Fast, we may find ourselves already flagging, tiring of the Lenten effort. By sins of omission and commission, by failure in the outward…
There is only one feast in the year that can match the grandeur of Pascha, and it is the Annunciation. No matter what day of the year it falls, Annunciation is…
In the middle of Great Lent we celebrate the Sunday of the Cross, and this reminds us that the entire Lenten effort, our whole Lenten struggle, is cruciform. The Great Fast is our via crucis…
On this second Sunday of Great Lent, we celebrate the feast of St. Gregory Palamas and renew the triumph of Orthodoxy. How unbearable the pressure must have been…