Lent

Holy Week & Pascha – A Brief Explanation

Holy Week & Pascha – A Brief Explanation

by Fr. Peter Babej Lazarus Saturday The Great Fast (40 days) ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday. Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday form a short and joyous prelude to the days of grief which will follow. Bethany is the place where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and reveals Himself to be “the Resurrection and the Life.” “Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live” (John 11:25). Bethany is also the point of departure for Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. On this Saturday, we go to Bethany, to Lazarus’s tomb. We want to meet Jesus at Bethany…
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Gen 1: 1-13- Back to Basics

Gen 1: 1-13- Back to Basics

Glory be to Jesus Christ! Brothers and sisters we have arrived at the Great and Holy Fast, the training ground of our souls, and the desert through which we travel to witness the Lord's Resurrection! Let us enter the Fast with joy! Lent is many things, but one very important element of the fast is that it is a school of love. When things get too difficult or complicated or too technical in any discipline, we must return to the basics. Our choice of reading Genesis during this time is just that- remedial lessons in who God is, who we are,…
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Mark 9:33-41- Chicken or egg? Faith or Works?

Mark 9:33-41- Chicken or egg? Faith or Works?

Christ is Born! During our largest season of communal repentance- Great and Holy Lent- one of the ascetical practices we practice are prostrations. Over and over and over again we bow completely to the floor touching our heads on the ground. After the canon of St. Andrew, and over 300 prostrations later, it is fairly common to wake up sore the next morning. We bow down to the ground to show God reverence, but also to communicate with our own souls- to help us to repent! Many times we feel as though our actions are a one-way street which originate…
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Lent is Time of ‘Joy’ for Eastern Catholics

Lent is Time of ‘Joy’ for Eastern Catholics

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…
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All Souls Saturdays

All Souls Saturdays

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…
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Children and the Great Fast

Children and the Great Fast

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…
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Pastoral Letter of Amercian UGCC Bishops for Great Lent 2015

Pastoral Letter of Amercian UGCC Bishops for Great Lent 2015

“They shall be my people and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart” (Jer. 24:7). On Monday, February 16th, we begin the holy season of the Great Fast. Once again, our Church invites us to embark upon this annual journey – a period of grace when we identify more closely with our Lord Jesus Christ in his suffering, death, and resurrection. During this time, we are encouraged to be faithful to our traditional Lenten practices. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are practical means for our spiritual move in the direction of our Savior.…
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Great and Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

Great and Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

The following is excerpted from A Paschal Pilgrimage: A Guide to the Great Fast by Bishop Basil Losten. The Bridegroom Cometh On Palm Sunday evening at Vespers we “pass from the feast of palms and branches… to the saving solemnity of the sufferings of Christ.” On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning of Holy Week, Matins is popularly called the “Bridegroom Service,” because each time we sing the Troparion, “Behold, the Bridegroom is coming in the middle of the night!” (Hear this troparion on Youtube) Each day the Gospel is read. There is Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts on Monday, Tuesday and…
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