The fifth of six presentations on "What is the Orthodox Church?". A Q&A session follows.
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...
Halfway through these vespers we begin our journey of Great Lent...all colours will be changed to purple...
The first Sunday of Great Lent is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy because it commemorates the restoration of the Holy Icons and the triumph of the Orthodox Faith against the terrible heresy of the Iconoclasts, i.e. 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...
This is the first evening of our Great Lent book Study..."Toolkit for Spiritual Growth"... A Practical Guide to Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving
This Sunday was originally dedicated to Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (February 23). After his glorification in 1368, a second commemoration of Saint Gregory Palamas (November 14) was appointed for the Second Sunday of Great Lent as a second “Triumph of Orthodoxy.” to read more, click https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2024/03/31/12-2nd-sunday-of-great-lent-st-gregory-palamas