The paschal season of the Church is preceded by the season of Great Lent, which is also preceded by its own liturgical preparation. The first sign of the approach of Great Lent comes five Sundays before its beginning. On this Sunday the Gospel reading is about Zacchaeus the tax-collector. It tells how Christ brought salvation Read more...
The Sunday after the Sunday of Zacchaeus is devoted to the Publican and the Pharisee. At Vespers the night before, the Triodion (the liturgical book used in the services of Great Lent) begins... Click to continue reading: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/02/13/2-sunday-of-the-publican-and-the-pharisee-embeginning-of-the-lente
The Sunday after the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. This parable of God’s forgiveness calls us to “come to ourselves” as did the prodigal son, to see ourselves as being “in a far country” far from the Father’s house, and to make the journey of return Read more...
On the day before Meatfare Sunday, on which we remember the Last Judgment, the Orthodox Church prays for those of its members who may have died unexpectedly because of wars, plagues, starvation, or any other sort of death while they were in a foreign country, or while they were traveling by sea, by land, or Read more...
Today’s Gospel reading is Matthew 25:31-46, the parable of the Last Judgment. It reminds us that while trusting in Christ’s love and mercy, we must not forget His righteous judgment when He comes again in glory. If our hearts remain hardened and unrepentant, we should not expect the Lord to overlook our transgressions simply because Read more...
As we begin the Great Fast, the Church reminds us of Adam’s expulsion from Paradise. God commanded Adam to fast (Gen. 2:16), but he did not obey. Because of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden and lost the life of blessedness, knowledge of God, and communion with Him, for which they Read more...
Today we remember those in our lives who have fallen asleep. We bring our lists and the names are commemorated during the Liturgy. 1st Saturday of Great Lent: The Miracle of the Boiled Wheat Today we remember the miracle of Saint Theodore the Recruit and the boiled wheat. Fifty years after Saint Theodore’s martyrdom, Emperor Read more...
The first Sunday of Great Lent is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy. It commemorates the restoration of the Holy Icons and the triumph of the Orthodox Faith against the terrible heresy of the Iconoclasts. As in those heretics who refused to honour the Holy Icons. For more than a hundred years the Church was disturbed Read more...
The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the earliest Christian feasts, and was already being celebrated in the fourth century. There is a painting of the Annunciation in the catacomb of Priscilla in Rome dating from the second century. The Council of Toledo in 656 mentions the Feast, and the Council in Trullo in Read more...
The Fourth Sunday of Lent is dedicated to Saint John of the Ladder (Climacus). He is the author of the work, The Ladder of Divine Ascent...Complete by clicking: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/04/03/16-4th-sunday-of-great-lent-st-john-climacus-of-the-ladder
Special Lenten "Lord I call" verses for the fifth week of Great Lent.
Saint Zosimas (April 4) was a monk at a certain Palestinian monastery on the outskirts of Caesarea. Having dwelt at the monastery since his childhood, he lived there in asceticism until he reached the age of fifty-three...click link to continue reading https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/04/10/18-5th-sunday-of-great-lent-st-mary-of-egypt
