518. Palm Sunday Night: Bridegroom Matins

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 […]

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516. 1) Palm Sunday Eve (Saturday) Vespers. 2) How to keep Holy Week.

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 […]

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515. Lazarus Saturday morning Divine Liturgy

   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 […]

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474. A Bizarre Doctrine

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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472. Fifth Sunday after Pascha: The Woman of Samaria

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen! The Samaritan Woman  Text: John 4:5-42 You long-term readers: Yes, I know. I’ve written about the Samaritan Woman at least twice before. However, this is one of my favorite stories in all the Scriptures, and every time I hear it, I hear more in it. It was read […]

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