582. 1) Saturday Night Vespers for Palm Sunday. 2) How to keep Holy Week.

For those who may not know: I’m repeating my annual series of twice-daily Posts during Holy Week. Before we begin: As we move towards this Holy Week please be sure to pray especially for the millions of Orthodox people of Ukraine, many of whom again this year will not be able to get to church […]

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581. Lazarus Saturday Morning Divine Liturgy

Orthodox Holy Week 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, Wisconsin. Each year I’ve altered them just a bit as I’ve come across new […]

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580. Fifth Sunday of Great Lent: Saint Mary of Egypt – Flee into the Wilderness!

This story has always captivated me, for reasons I can’t explain. The Monastery of Saint Savas (Mar Sabas) in the Palestinian West Bank down below Jerusalem is one of the oldest continually functioning monasteries in the world. In the late Fourth Century monks from Mar Sabas spent much of Lent alone in the desert. A […]

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579. Fourth Sunday of Great Lent: Saint John Climacos – Climbing the Ladder to Heaven

  The theme for this Fourth Sunday of Lent is Saint John Climacos (of “the Ladder”) so called because of his book The Ladder of Divine Ascent, one of the most popular books in the ancient world. More about him in a bit. A Wandering Introduction to the Ladder of Saint John Climacos Two stories: 1 […]

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578. Third Sunday of Great Lent: Sunday of the Holy Cross

  Lest we forget:   The Third Sunday of Great Lent It’s Mid-Lent. A good time to review your Lenten Rule. Is it too easy to be challenging? Too difficult to be kept? Say a prayer and adjust it, if need be. Great Lent Does the Holy Orthodox Church ever change? Actually, yes. But not […]

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