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
Introduction Yesterday we celebrated the raising of Lazarus which was, as we sang, the “prefiguring of the General Resurrection”, when all mankind will be raised from death. “Those who have done what is good will rise to life, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” John 5:29 Christ was demonstrating, […]
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. Each year I’ve altered them just a bit as I’ve come across new information, to correct […]
Read More »I love this story. In the late Fourth Century monks from the Monastery of Saint Savas (Mar Sabas) * down below Jerusalem in the West Bank, spent Lent alone in the desert. A priest-monk Zosimas, walking alone one day on the Jordanian side of the river, to his surprise saw someone ahead of him. He […]
Read More »The Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent: Mark 9:17-31 At that time, a man came to Jesus kneeling and saying: “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and […]
Read More »Iconoclasm, the Seventh Council, and after that According to the story, it was during the Iconoclastic controversy that the monk Stephen saw soldiers trampling on an icon. When he objected they told him it was ok: it was only a picture. So Stephen took an image of the Emperor on a coin and trampled on […]
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