Category: Holy Week and Pascha

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 […]

Read More »

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.   […]

Read More »

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 […]

Read More »

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 […]

Read More »

At last! a Holy Week service (and the only one) that is “in sync” with the time of day. We’re going to cover: 1 The ceremonies, 2 The Scripture readings. Beginning with last night’s Procession of the Cross of Christ and continuing through Pascha, the ceremonies are intended to draw us more fully in these wonderful closing events of […]

Read More »