Donald Heinz
Rating: 10|Votes: 7
The history of Hagia Sophia is well known. From its dedication in 360 until 1453, this Byzantine landmark was the Orthodox cathedral of Constantinople. It became a mosque from 1453 until 1934, when it was secularized, and re-opened as a museum in 1935. What was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk thinking when he secularized Hagia Sophia?
Scott Cairns
I remember thinking (and may have even said aloud) Where is everyone? About an hour later, over coffee and a plate of sticky baklava, Father George Paulson would tell me the answer: they were all home sleeping. And God bless them! he added. They're exhausted! What I had attended that Sunday morning was not, it turned out, the actual Easter service, was not the resurrection service of Holy Pascha; it was, rather, the Agape Vespers.
Fr. Stephen Freeman
The verse in John implies just the opposite – hell (condemnation) is what it is – only because we want it so. As a priest this portrayal of condemnation has been by far the most helpful approach in dealing pastorally with people. It is not the threat of what someone (God) may do to them, but the existential reality of what you are doing to yourself – even now.
Rating: 5|Votes: 4
Holy Friday, also known as Good Friday, or Great Friday, is a holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triodion on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday.
Rating: 10|Votes: 2
For Orthodox Christians, the red Easter egg is much more than a celebration of the end of fasting -- it is an attestation of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
