Rating: 10|Votes: 3
On this day the Church invites all believers to accompany Christ, in a sense to die with Him in regards to earthly pleasures, in order to be resurrected with Him in spirit.
Fr. Peter Orfanakos
Rating: 6,9|Votes: 14
It is a tradition in the Orthodox Church for all the faithful to receive Holy Unction during Great Lent. In many churches, this service is celebrated specifically on Holy and Great Wednesday, after the Matins served that evening.
Rating: 6,1|Votes: 7
The services of Passion Week are a musical feast for the ears and the soul. Russian liturgical tradition is rich in special melodies for certain hymns of this most important week of the liturgical year, and if the services are also sung by a good choir, they are that much more memorable.The Sretensky Monastery in Moscow is fortunate to have a world famous male choir singing at all of these beautiful services. We would like to share some highlights of this singing with our English language readers, and have therefore provided the English texts to match the hymns.
Rating: 7,4|Votes: 7
Each day of Holy Week has its own particular theme. The theme of Monday is that of the barren fig tree which yields no fruit and is condemned. On Tuesday the theme is on the vigilance of the wise virgins who, unlike their foolish sisters, were ready when the Lord came to them.
Rating: 5|Votes: 19
The source for the iconography of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem is the Gospels, where it is related how Christ enters the city seated on the foal of an ass, accompanied by His disciples on the eve of the Judaic Passover, were He will be betrayed to be crucified. The image of the Savior seated on the foal is well known even in early Christian art.