398: The Resurrection – The Whole Story: Part Two

 Christ is risen! Truly He is risen! Last week, we utterly demolished all skeptical objections to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then we began to tell the full story of the Resurrection – much of which is never heard at Sunday Liturgy in the Orthodox Church. Yet, we are often called “The Church of the […]

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397. The Resurrection: The Whole Story, Part One

Christ is risen!  Truly He is risen! He is risen! …but I’m not. I’m still wiped out after Holy Week. This, therefore, is a re-tread of my Post #10 of April 21, 2017, written long before most of you were following this Blog.  The Resurrection Stories Which Most Orthodox Never Hear I hate to tell […]

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396. Great and Holy Pascha

1) The Holy Fire 2023 It has arrived again, just as it has for the past 1500 years or so. We talked about the Holy Fire in Post 395. This is from Jerusalem yesterday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99whmyx0NCE&t=34s   2) The Resurrection Service yesterday at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Piraeus, Greece. The fireworks (literally) begin at about minute ten.   […]

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395. Holy Saturday Night: The Paschal service, Paschal Matins, Paschal Divine Liturgy

GREAT AND HOLY PASCHA!   Christ is risen! Truly he is risen! Father Alexander Schmemann called our Orthodox Paschal celebration “an explosion of joy”. Words are inadequate to describe the services. They speak for themselves. (Every time I preached on Pascha I wished I hadn’t. This year my Pascha sermon will consist of: “Christ is […]

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394. Holy Saturday morning: Vesperal Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil

Brothers and sisters, there is a whole lot going on this morning, so pay attention. I have discovered that how this service is celebrated varies a little from archdiocese to archdiocese and even parish to parish (I don’t know why), so it can be a bit confusing. But here goes: The Liturgy begins as a […]

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