Category: Seasons

Here is the most peculiar part of the Ascension story: At the end of his Gospel account of the Ascension, Luke tells us that afterwards the apostles “returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.” Luke 24:52-53 That’s the last thing we would have expected. I mean, Jesus […]

Read More »

 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 […]

Read More »

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 »