Liturgy – Page 2 – Royal Doors

Feb

05

2017

The Purpose of the Great Fast

Christian Life, Featured Articles, Liturgy

Because we did not fast we were banished from paradise. So then let us fast so as to return back to paradise. (St. Basil, On Fasting, 1) Although our time has brought with it many changes in church laws, traditions, and discipline, and the Second Vatican Council has relaxed the rules for fasting, including the Great Fast[1], nevertheless, the Forty Days Fast still has significance for our spiritual life. For various reasons, today we may be unable to fast in the same way as our ancestors did; yet even today we are obliged to a spiritual fast—that is, we are…

Oct

15

2016

By Fr. Roman Planchak

St. Lucian of Antioch: Scholar and Martyr

Faith, Liturgy

MOST CHRISTIANS KNOW that the books of the New Testament — the Gospels, the Epistles and the rest — were written in the first century ad. Some know that these books were compiled as the New Testament sometime in the next three centuries. Few know that the form of the New Testament which we use in our Church — the “Byzantine text” — is largely the work of St Lucian of Antioch, whom our Church remembers on October 15. Who Was Lucian of Antioch? Born in c. 240, Lucian was the son of Christian parents in a Syriac-speaking area in…

Sep

14

2016

By Fr. Roman Planchak

We Glory in Your Cross

LiturgyCross

MANY OF THE FEASTS we celebrate each year have a special rite connected with them. The Great Sanctification of Water on the Theophany, the hajme service on Pascha and the veneration of icons on the Sunday of Orthodoxy are perhaps the best-known examples of these festal observances. There is also a special rite proper to the feast of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross (September 14) called, appropriately, the Exaltation of the Cross. During the Great Doxology at Orthros the cross, adorned with flowers and herbage is brought in procession to the center of the church where it is placed…

Nov

09

2015

By Respected Author

Nativity Fast Traditions for Byzantine Catholics

Christian Life, Liturgy, Prayernativity fast, pilipiwka

Source: Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix The Byzantine Catholic Church invites all to participate more fully in the central mysteries of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through her calendar of feasts and fasts. The feast of the Nativity of Our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ (Christmas, December 25) is one of the great feasts of the Church year, celebrating the coming or advent of the Messiah (which in Hebrew means “He who is anointed by the Spirit” or in Greek, Christos), Jesus Christ. Christ was born into the world through the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary to…

Aug

15

2015

By Fr. Michael Winn

On Christian Death and Funerals – Pastoral Letter of the Most Rev. Nicholas J. Samra

Christian Life, LiturgyBurial, Funeral, Samra

In Psalm 115:5 we read "Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones." From time immemorial, Christians have prayed for their dead and elaborated their prayers with ritual. The death of a loved one is a sorrowful experience for anyone. Often it is a numbing experience as well. Survivors want to do the best they can to honor their departed. They may look around to see what friends or acquaintances have done in similar times of loss. Sometimes they accept whatever suggestions funeral directors offer. They may find themselves burdened with excessive costs or…

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

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

03

2015

By Fr. Michael Winn

The Advantage of Having No Pews

Apr

18

2015

By Fr. Michael Winn

Kneeling Prayers of Pentecost Sunday

LiturgyKneeling Prayers, Pentecost

First Kneeling Prayer Priest: Again and again on bended knee let us pray to the Lord. All: Lord, have mercy. Priest: O Lord, most pure, incorruptible, without beginning, invisible, incomprehensible, unsearchable, unchangeable, unsurpassable, immeasurable, and forebearing: You alone have immortality; You live in unapproachable light; You made heaven and earth and the sea and all things created in them. You grant to all their requests even before they ask. We pray to You, and we beseech You, O Master who loves all mankind, the Father of our Lord, God, and Saviour, Jesus Christ. For our sake and for the sake…