A SPIRITUAL CHECKLIST Orthodox Christians recite a prayer during Great Lent that is described by Fr. Alexander Schmemann as a “check list” for our spiritual lives. This prayer, given by St. Ephraim the Syrian in the fourth century, is commonly called the “Lenten Prayer:” O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust …
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Being disclosed in a Canon of the 5th week, the Gospel parable about the rich man and Lazarus serves as the subject of hymns also in the 6th week. The Holy Church calls us “to run from the cruelty and hatred of mankind of the rich man and to emulate the fortitude and long-suffering of Lazarus” and to beg the …
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When a man leaves on a journey, he must know where he is going. Thus with Lent. Above all, Lent is a spiritual journey and its destination is Easter, “the Feast of Feasts.” It is the preparation for the “fulfillment of Pascha, the true Revelation.” We must begin, therefore, by trying to understand this connection between Lent and Easter, for …
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CATECHETICAL HOMILY For Holy and Great Lent + B A R T H O L O M E W By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church: Grace and Peace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ And Prayers, Blessings and Forgiveness from us “Behold, now is the favorable time, now is …
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In the Law, God laid down that the sons of Israel should each year give tithes of all they possessed, and if they did so they were blessed in all their works. The holy Apostles, knowing this to be for the help and advancement of our souls, resolved to fulfil it in a better and higher way, namely, for us …
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“In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This week, we began the journey of Prayer of the most beautiful period of the Liturgical year: Great Lent. Thus, with prayer and fasting, the bride – the Church – began the uphill way to follow the beloved bridegroom – Christ – on the steep …
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The man who during his whole life loves the conversation of this yoke-mate fasting is a friend of chastity. Just as the satisfaction of the belly is the source of all evils, and as the slackness of sleep kindles the lust of fornication, so fasting, vigil, and wakefulness in God’s service by withstanding the sweetness of sleep through crucifying the …
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By His Eminence Bishop Maximos, former Metropolitan of Pittsburgh Fasting, in our days, has become one of the most neglected spiritual values. Because of misunderstandings regarding the nature of fasting, because of confused and reversed priorities in its use, many of today’s Orthodox Christians fast very little, or disregard fasting altogether. The Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church …
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“Let us fast an acceptable and very pleasing fast to the Lord. True fast is the estrangement from evil, temperance of tongue, abstinence from anger, separation from desires, slander, falsehood perjury. Privation of these is true fasting.” A Hymn of First Monday of Lent By St. Basil the Great “I am the Lord that healeth thee” Man is created as …
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*1. A certain demoniac once went to Sketis. He was not cured, however, even though he spent a long time there, since the Fathers declined, out of extreme humility, to heal him. But one of the Elders, taking pity on him, made the sign of the Cross over the demoniac and at once the man was healed. When the demon …
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ModeOfLife Become love as God exhorts us, for this is the true starting point for changing your life and the world. For it is love that will bring respect, justice and equity into the world, not our personal opinion of what justice or equity is.