Saints, Seasons, Society, Sins, plus Travels mostly to Greece and who knows what next? by Father Bill Olnhausen
Holy Friday afternoon Great Vespers: the Taking Down from the Cross For less than a day, from Holy Thursday night to Holy Friday afternoon, the Orthodox crucifix is placed out in front of the icon screen. Otherwise it is normally kept behind the altar, half hidden from view, as if it is too “strong”, too […]
Read More »Thursday evening: Matins for Holy Friday – “The Twelve Gospels Service” Gospel Readings: 1 John 13:31-18:1, 2 John 18:1-29, 3 Matthew 26:57-75, 4 John 18:28 -19:16, 5 Matthew 27:3-32, 6 Mark 15:16-32, 7 Matthew 27:33-54, 8 Luke 23:32-49, 9 John 19:25-37, 10 Mark 15:43-47, 11 John 19:38-42, 12 Matthew 27:62-66 I will not (believe me!) comment on each of these readings, which carry the story from Holy Thursday through Holy Saturday evening. I will say a little to […]
Read More »Holy Wednesday evening Matins and Holy Unction For most of our history the Holy Wednesday night service was Matins/Orthros alone, which continues the Holy Week narrative. However, beginning a few hundred years ago in Greek and Antiochian churches, Matins began to be replaced by Holy Unction. The Anointing was used as part of the preparation […]
Read More »Holy Tuesday evening Bridegroom Matins Before we get into the Gospel story … Tonight we hear the Hymn of Kassiane, a ninth century nun and hymnographer. She was Irish, but her family moved to Constantinople, where she was one of several young women interviewed by Emperor Theophilus as his prospective bride. The story says […]
Read More »It will help if you read the Gospel passages before you read this Post. Holy Monday evening Bridegroom Matins 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 […]
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