Fr. Bill's Orthodox Blog – Orthodoxy from the Third Coast
Saints, Seasons, Society, Sins, plus Travels mostly to Greece and who knows what next? by Father Bill Olnhausen
The Divine Liturgy is always a festival celebration. That explains why, on the penitential weekdays of Lent and also on the ordinary weekdays of Holy Week, there is no celebration of the full Divine Liturgy. Therefore, at these Liturgies, the Anaphora (the consecration of the Holy Gifts) is omitted, and Holy Communion is received […]
Read More »Introduction In our parish churches, Matins/Orthros is normally sung in the morning. So why, you may ask, are we now suddenly having it in the evening? Also and equally odd, why during Holy Week do we have Vesperal Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts (obviously an evening service) in the morning? I’m really sorry you asked […]
Read More »For those who may not know: I’m repeating my annual series of twice-daily Posts during Holy Week. Before we begin: As we move towards this Holy Week please be sure to pray especially for the 35 million Orthodox people of Ukraine, some of whom again this year will not be able to get to church […]
Read More »Now we begin our twice-daily commentaries on the services and themes of Holy Week and Pascha – based on talks I gave at these services during the twenty-five years when I was Pastor of Saint Nicholas Church, Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Each year I’ve altered them just a bit as I’ve come across new information, to […]
Read More »The doctrine to which I refer is: The Holy Trinity We whip it off so easily that we can forget how extremely peculiar this seems: Christian: “Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit…” Muslim (for example): “So you worship three gods?” Christian: “No! We worship one God.” Muslim: “But, […]
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