Source: International Orthodox Christian Charities IOCC humbly offers a collection of spiritual reflections each Lent, plus other resources you may find helpful during the Great Fast. Throughout the season, we’ll add more, so you’re invited to check back again from time to time. Click here to view/download the Reflections for Great Lent Pamphlet.
Source: The National Herald Analysis by Metropolitan Gerasimos Great Lent is upon us, and our journey to Pascha has begun. The Church teaches us that these days of the Great Fast are a time for increasing our prayer life both privately and as a church community, abstaining from certain foods, becoming more generous with our philanthropy, and devoting more time to studying the word of God in Holy Scripture and the precepts of our Orthodox Faith. All of these are meant to prepare us for the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which will be joyfully celebrate on…
Source: Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Kankakee IL On Friday evening, March 11, at 7:30, Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of Kankakee will continue its new program, “Orthodox Voices: A Lenten Dialogue Series,” held on the next five consecutive Fridays at Annunciation. These five Friday offerings, through April 8, will be composed of talks from and discussions with five Orthodox professionals and academics, sharing their insight on how their Orthodox faith informs the work they do. On Friday, March 4, the parish kicked-off its Lenten Series with a joyous Pre-Lenten Concert, setting the scene for these five nights of dialogue. The schedule of lectures, to begin March 11, was…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America The Faculty of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology will offer spiritual guidance and instruction in various forms throughout the entire Paschal period, from the beginning of Lent until the feast of Pentecost. The first set of offerings will be a Lenten series entitled “My Soul, My Soul, Rise Up:” Lenten Reflections from Holy Cross. These brief video presentations will begin on Clean Monday and will continue every Monday until Holy Week. The first session, entitled “Grant Me to See:” Reflections on the Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem, will be delivered on March 7th by Fr. George Parsenios, Dean of Holy Cross. All lectures will be made available through Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and…
Source: The Uppsala Report: Official Report of the Fourth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, July 4-20, 1968 Bishop Ignatius became Patriarch of Antioch in 1979 and served until 2012. Without the Holy Spirit: God is far away, Christ stays in the past, The Gospel is a dead letter, The Church is simply an organization, Authority a matter of domination, Mission a matter of propaganda, Liturgy is no more than an evocation, Christian living a slave morality. But with the Holy Spirit: The cosmos is resurrected and groans with the birth-pangs of the Kingdom, The risen Christ is there,…
Source: Orthodox Church in America BALTIMORE, MD [IOCC] With the season of Great Lent upon us, International Orthodox Christian Charities recently released a printed booklet of weekly reflections on the theme of service as a vocation. Designed for use by Orthodox Christians during the Great Fast, the booklet opens with a message on “the work of love” from His Eminence, Metropolitan Nicolae of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas, liaison bishop to IOCC from the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America. Reflections follow for each Sunday of Lent, penned by IOCC staff members based in the…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Great Lent is our time to prepare for the great feast of Pascha. And we want to help you make the most of it. The Sunday of the Publican & Pharisee is the first day of the Triodion period, which runs all the way through to Holy and Great Saturday. That’s 10 Sundays of incredibly moving Gospel and Epistle readings; passages that will help open our hearts as we prepare ourselves for Pascha. But we all know that understanding the Scripture isn’t easy… That’s why we’ve created a new Live the Word Bible Study…
Source: MYSTAGOGY By His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Mesogaias and Lavreotiki Great Lent is a period of spiritual opportunities and expectations for the entire Church. We wait for it all year with an inner thirst, those often undefined dreams which are yet so deep, because God promises great things for this period, as well as our entire lives. Our purpose is for our soul to climb to heaven, that we may become heavenly people. These days that are opening up before us provide us this opportunity through the struggle of repentance. Let us see therefore some of the characteristics that this…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE Prot. No. 240 CATECHETICAL HOMILY ON THE OCCASION OF THE BEGINNING OF GREAT LENT † B A R T H O L O M E W By the Mercy of God Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church Grace and Peace be with you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ together with our Prayer, Blessing and Forgiveness Beloved brothers and sisters, children in the Lord, The holy fathers, who arranged everything in an orderly manner, instituted a period of ascetic discipline and spiritual purification for…