Royal Doors

Mar

21

2015

Hail, O Star Manifesting the Sun!

LiturgyAkathist, Theotokos

Source: Eparchy of Newton – When is a Lenten service not a Lenten service? A – When it is the Akathist to the Theotokos. In Byzantine Churches of the Greek or “Southern” tradition it is customary to serve Compline with the Akathist to the Theotokos on the Friday evenings during the Great Fast. Due to the pressures of the work and school week this is often the only Lenten weekday service many parishioners attend. In fact this is not an actual Lenten service, such as Great Compline or the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Rather it is a weekend service,…

Mar

07

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

“See, See That I am God”

Faith, Featured ArticlesGreat Lent, Matins, Old Testament

Source: Eparchy of Newton PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH the Church’s morning service (Matins or Orthros) would recognize the term “Ninth Ode.” It refers to the Biblical canticle of the Theotokos which begins, “My soul magnifies the Lord…” (cf., Luke 1:46-55) sung at this service. This hymn expresses the joyful gratitude of the holy Virgin at the incarnation of Christ in her womb. Calling this canticle the “Ninth Ode” raises a question. Where are the other eight? We rarely, if ever, hear of them. There are nine Biblical canticles which at one time were sung at Matins/Orthros. With the development of the…

Mar

07

2015

By Fr. Michael Winn

Lent is Time of ‘Joy’ for Eastern Catholics

Christian Life, Featured Articles, LiturgyLent

by Laura Ieraci The Catholic Telegraph, March 6, 2015 “Joy” is not a word people usually associate with strict fasting and penance — unless they are Eastern-rite Catholics. In the Eastern church, the penitential period that prepares believers to celebrate Easter, is called “Great Lent,” and its prayers invite the faithful to recognize their “need for forgiveness” and to “delight in the joy” of the fast. Mother Theodora, the “hegumena” or abbess of the Byzantine Catholic Christ the Bridegroom Monastery in Burton, Ohio, describes the Lenten disposition as “bright sadness.” “We recognize our weakness and sinfulness, but rejoice in the…

Mar

04

2015

By Fr. Michael Winn

All Souls Saturdays

Featured Articles, LiturgyBurial, Death, Funeral, Lent

ALL SOULS SATURDAY The Holy Fathers were convinced that the commemoration of the departed by alms and sacrifices [Divine Liturgies] brings great comfort and benefit to them. (Synaxarion for Meat-fare Saturday) One of the most venerable traditions in the Church, equally observed in the West as in the East, is the commemoration of the departed in our liturgical prayers. It is the constant teaching of the Church since Apostolic times (cf. Synaxarion) that the departed can be helped by our prayers, offerings and good deeds. St. John Chrysostom (+407) in speaking of the faithful departed reminded his people; Let us…

Mar

04

2015

By Fr. Michael Winn

The Great Fast – The Journey to Paradise

Mar

03

2015

By Robert Taft

Anamnesis not Amnesia – The Healing of Memories and the Problem of Uniatism

Christian Life, Faith, Featured Articles

21st Kelly Lecture, University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto, Canada 1 December 2000 The Very Rev. Archimandrite Robert F. Taft, S.J., Vice-Rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome No one who keeps abreast of the religious news can be unaware that ecumenical relations between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches are in a period of crisis, worse, perhaps, than at any time since the official international ecumenical dialogue between these two communions began in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council. The Eighth Plenary Session of the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox…

Feb

24

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Christ, the Living Bread

Christian LifeFasting, Great Lent, Presanctified Liturgy

“THE DISCIPLES OF JOHAN and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to [Jesus], ‘Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days’” (Mark 2:18-20). This exchange, recorded in all three synoptic Gospels, established a principle which…

Feb

16

2015

By Brent Kostyniuk

Walking Together

Both Lungs, Featured Articles

by Brent Kostyniuk For six years now, this column has worked at spreading the message of St. John Paul II who proclaimed that the Church – that is you and I – should breathe through both lungs, East and West. One who breathes through both lungs is Fr. Mark Woodruff a priest with bi-ritual faculties serving both the Latin and Ukrainian Catholic Churches in London, England. Having previously explained how he came to his deep appreciation for the East, Fr. Mark now offers his views and experience of East and West. Moreover, based on that experience, he challenges us to…

Feb

12

2015

By Iryna Galadza

Children and the Great Fast

Christian Life, Liturgychildren, Lent

This year, Great Lent approaches on the heels of the Nativity Season. Kolyada in church continues, but the soft and somber sound of The Rivers of Babylon hint at the approaching season of repentance. The familiar Sundays of the Publican and the Pharisee, The Prodigal Son, and the Last Judgement prepare us adults for the spiritual journey of the Great Fast, a journey facilitated by liturgical services, spiritual reading, Lenten missions, fasting and prayer. This season of great challenges is hopefully followed by great rewards. What about our children? How do they fit into the demanding spiritual disciplines of this…

Feb

11

2015

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Living with Christ Great Lent at Home

Christian Life, Featured Articles, Liturgy

From the Eparchy of Newton. Resource for Great Lent at Home: Great-Lent-at-Home-Complete-w-Cover. PDF, 556KB, 28 pages)