Fr. Roman Planchak

Jul

21

2015

Remembering Our Leaders

Faith, Featured Articles

ONE OF THE EPISTLE READINGS often heard at the Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of the Council Fathers, Hebrews 13:7-16, begins with these words: “Remember those who preside over you, who have spoken the word of God to you. Follow their faith, considering the outcome of their conduct” (v.7). Clearly this passage was chosen for this day to honor the Fathers of the first six Ecumenical Councils for expressing with clarity the Orthodox faith. When this passage was written – in the first century AD – there were no ecumenical councils. The first one (Nicaea I) was called in the…

Jul

15

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

“I Have Now Perceived the One True God”

Faith, Featured Articles

WHEN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY AMERICANS think of the Vikings, they may picture seafarers from Scandinavia sailing to Iceland and Greenland or raiding the coasts of England and Ireland. We rarely think of their inland cousins, whose rule extended into what is Russia today in the ninth to fourteenth centuries. Two of the saints commemorated this week were leaders of these “inland Vikings” who changed the face of Europe. Beginning in AD 862 the Viking prince Rurik and his brothers established a network of states in the territory of today’s Romania, Ukraine and western Russia which came to be called Kievan Rus’.…

May

28

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Everywhere Present, Filling All Things

Faith, Featured Articles, LiturgyFeasts, Pentecost

Fifty Days after Passover Jews observe the Feast of Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks, which originated as the conclusion of the Spring harvest season in Israel. Between Passover and Shavuot barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, dates and lastly wheat would be harvested. According to the Biblical command (Deuteronomy 8:8) growers would bind the first fruits of each together and bring it as an offering to the temple. At the time of Christ it was one of the three “pilgrimage festivals” when Jews would come in great numbers to observe the temple rites for the feast. Greek-speaking Jews called this festival…

May

28

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Devoutly Glorifying the Mystery

Faith, Featured Articles

“Holy Father, Keep Through Your Name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are” (John 17:11). As His earthly life was approaching its end the Lord Jesus offered this prayer for His disciples. The questions it raises have preoccupied the Church for centuries: how are the Father and the Son “one” and how can the followers of Christ be one “as We are”? The Unity of God The distinguishing mark of God’s people throughout the Old Testament is expressed in the Shema, the invocation which might well be called the Jewish creed: “Hear, O…

May

15

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Ascended and Enthroned

Faith, Featured Articles, LiturgyFeasts

He has spoken blasphemy! … What do you think?” the high priest asked the assembled Sanhedrin. And they answered, “He is deserving of death.” Thus the Lord Jesus was condemned (cf. Matthew 26:59-67). But in what had He supposedly blasphemed? The Gospel records it this way, “The high priest answered and said to [Jesus], ‘I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right…

May

08

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Let Him Who Thirsts Come

Faith, Liturgybaptism, Pascha, water

Water is central to Life everywhere, but especially in places like the Middle East where it is in short supply. We do not know when people began supplementing the rainwater they collected by digging water from shallow pools. When metal tools came into use, wells 100 feet deep and more could be dug. Access to underground water became an important key to survival for peoples in otherwise arid lands. Villages were built around wells, which became important focal points of the local community. The well was the natural gathering place in ancient villages. It was also the place to meet…

May

08

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

The Prophet Isaiah: “More an Evangelist than a Prophet”

FaithOld Testament

Of all the Old Testament Prophets quoted in the New Testament, the most frequently cited is Isaiah, who is remembered on our Church’s calendar on May 9. Isaiah’s prophecies are referenced 66 times in the New Testament; only the Psalms are more frequently quoted. Isaiah lived in the eighth century bc, a time of great political upheaval in the Holy Land. The Assyrian Empire was poised to engulf the northern kingdom, Israel, (which it would succeed in doing) and threatened the southern kingdom, Judah, as well. While the rulers’ response was to seek military alliances with neighboring pagan kingdoms, Isaiah’s…

Apr

25

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Herald of Heavenly Mysteries

Faith

Since the second century Christians have been accustomed to identify the second of our four Gospels by the name of its author, Mark the Evangelist. The Gospel itself, however, never identifies its author by name or gives us any clue to the author’s identity. What, then, is the source of this identification with Mark and what do we know about him? It is the early second-century bishop of Hieropolis in Asia Minor, Papias, who identified the Gospel writers in his work, Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord. St Irenaeus of Lyons (+ c.202) tell us that Papias had ties…

Apr

24

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Why Are There Two Paschas?

Christian Life, Faith, Featured ArticlesPascha

A sore point in the relationship between the Churches concerns the date on which we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Often one group of Christians is observing Pascha while their neighbors may have up to a month to go before they do the same. While some people may enjoy having two festive meals as a result (they rarely observe both fasts), Christians have always seen this as a regrettable, if unavoidable anomaly. The Quartodecimans The oldest celebration of Christ’s resurrection is not Pascha (Easter) but every Sunday, the Lord’s Day. When an annual festival came into being is not known…

Apr

24

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

A Lamb Without Blemish and Without Spot

Faith, Featured Articles

What’s in a name?” This question, which Shakespeare put in the mouth of Juliet, has become something of a cliché ever since. Nevertheless, it is certainly a valid question when we look at our name for the Feast of Christ’s Resurrection. In AD 725 St Bede the Venerable, an English monk and scholar, addressed this question in his work, The Reckoning of Time. He tells us that the word “Easter” was the Old English term for the month which we call April and which, in turn “was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honor feasts…