Saints, Seasons, Society, Sins, plus Travels mostly to Greece and who knows what next? by Father Bill Olnhausen
The Vespers of “Taking Down from the Cross” 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 […]
Read More »Please get to church tonight. If you cannot, please try to find yourself a way to worship live-stream. This is much too beautiful to miss – my favorite service of the year. Is this a funeral service? Is this a resurrection service? The answers are: Yes! We stand before the bier on which Christ is […]
Read More »These are the short (by Orthodox standards) daily services sung regularly in monasteries at certain “hours” – First Hour (dawn), Third Hour (9 a.m.), Sixth Hour (Noon), Ninth Hour (3 p.m.). Before certain great feasts they are appointed also for parish churches. Some parishes read them throughout the day at the appointed monastic times. I […]
Read More »Some advice: For the remaining three days of this Holy Week, do not read this Blog. Or rather: if it’s a choice between reading this Blog and going to church, Go to church. If you can’t get to church, worship Live-stream either live or by video. This Blog may help you (and me) to understand […]
Read More »We all know that in the Orthodox Church the Divine Liturgy is always a celebration, not allowed during the penitential weekdays of the Great Lenten Fast. We also know that Holy Week is our most penitential period. Furthermore, running with our peculiar Holy Week schedule (which I’ll not go into again here), this actually turns […]
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