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
Why do we celebrate Divine Liturgy this morning? Why am I getting into this complexity during Holy Week (as if we don’t already have enough to think about)? In order to demonstrate how we Orthodox view the Crucifixion of Christ. If you get lost (or think I’ve got lost!) in the middle of this explanation, […]
Read More »Note that we’re still on our Holy Week “topsy-turvy” schedule, always “anticipating” the next appointed service. As I said, despite my not understanding this, somehow it feels just right for this Week when the whole world gets turned upside down. Holy Gospel: Luke 22:1-39 Jesus and the disciples are in the upper room at the […]
Read More »In case you’ve tuned in late to this series: These posts are “repeats” (with a little reworking each year) of my Holy Week posts of the past five years – which are based on talks I gave for about 25 years at Holy Week services when I was pastor of Saint Nicholas Church, Cedarburg, Wisconsin. […]
Read More »Before we get into the Gospel story… Tonight at the end of the Aposticha we hear the Hymn of Kassiane, a Ninth Century nun and hymnographer. She was one of several young women interviewed by Emperor Theophilos as a prospective bride. The story says he was so flummoxed by Kassiane’s beauty that he said something […]
Read More »Exaposteilarion hymn for Bridegroom Matins (from “Orthodox Christian Chants” site) Gospel Reading: Matthew 22:15-46; 23:1-39 In tonight’s Gospel, the confrontation between Jesus and the authorities continues. They must stop this Man. Killing Him was the last option. The better way, the cleanest way, was still to outwit Him, discredit Him. They’d had no success at […]
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