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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
by Fr. Deacon Kevin Bezner When visitors arrive at St. Basil the Great Ukrainian Catholic Mission in Charlotte, North Carolina, they often seem perplexed to see that we have no pews. They stop for a moment, look around, and then immediately make their way to one of the chairs that line the two long walls […]
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 […]
