Resources & Articles

Holy Week Explained
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NOTE: This article is reprinted from "Holy Week in the Western Tradition" at The Orthodox West, a new website explaining Orthodox life and practice according to the ancient Western tradition. Holy Week in the Western Tradition: A Brief Synopsis Holy Week consists of two parts: the first four days, beginning with Palm Sunday; and the Triduum Sacrum (“holy three days”), which celebrate with particular solemnity Our Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. During the first half, the words of St Thomas should fill our hearts and minds: “Let us also go, that we... Read more...
Lent: Dying to Self
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Lent is a kind of retreat from the world. Just as Our Lord, after His baptism, retreated from the world for forty days to immerse Himself in fasting and prayer, so we follow His example. Yet our retreat is not to fight our own battles, just as Our Lord’s retreat was not to fight His own battle. Our Lord retreated in order to enter into our fray; and we retreat in order to participate in His passion. He strove against Satan so that, on the cross, He might overcome him... Read more...
Oh, How Blest Are Ye: All Souls Day
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Let us consider this possible conversation between ourselves and the Faithful Departed, whom we commemorate this day. We might say: Oh, how blest are ye whose toils are ended, Who through death have unto God ascended! Ye have arisen From the cares which keep us still in prison. And the Faithful Departed would respond: Truly, we to glory have arisen From all cares that held us in a prison, Earthly toil ended, We unto our God are now ascended. We are still as in a dungeon living, Still oppressed with... Read more...
Great is Your Reward: All Saints Day
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Today we commemorate the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ lived in and through the nameless and numberless throng that laid down their life for Christ’s sake. Many were violently executed; some were tortured and died in prison. Many died in the great persecutions in Rome or Russia; some were killed secretly. Some saw the faces of their tormenters; some never knew they were headed for death until the sword or the bullet or the bomb struck. However, in every case these Christian martyrs did not die needlessly. For the... Read more...
Return to Being Little Children
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Where I grew up, it was customary to place in children’s bedrooms near the bed a precious picture of an angel watching two little ones cross a precarious bridge over a seething water fall during a nighttime storm. I had one of those pictures hanging in my bedroom. The point of this picture was as clear as it is comforting: Guardian Angels protect each of us when we are in danger. And that is the truth. Angels are bodiless spirits who serve God by serving us. And that truth is... Read more...
Easter Homily: Something Strange is Happening
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Cristo ha resucitado! Hristos a înviat! Kristus är uppstånden! Hristos Voskrese! Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! al-Masīḥ qām! Christus resurrexit! Christ is risen! In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, one God. Something strange is happening. But do we have ears to hear this news? Do we have eyes to see this event? Most unfortunately, most regrettably, most sadly, our eyes and ears focus on what we think really matters—the sights that please us, the music that recalls pleasant memories. But these sights and sounds... Read more...
Receiving Jesus as He Gives Himself
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The goal is to live forever, not live for now. The goal is that we restrain our passions and our appetites, that we hold in check but we think matters most, instead of feeding our passions—our anger and lusts—and letting them get the best of us. The goal is that we find solace in the body of Christ—not simply in the Eucharist as an individual act, but in the church itself—rather than thinking that we will find rest and refreshment by working things out on our own. The goal is... Read more...
Lent at St Michael's Church
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Lent 2017 Lent begins on Wednesday, March 1. It is a season of instruction in the Christian Faith which centers primarily in the great mystery of Our Lord’s Suffering, Death and Resurrection and climaxes in the triduum sacrum (“holy three days”) of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Holy Lent, should be observed with worship in church. Mass will begin at 7 p.m., and will be preceded by “The Imposition Of Ashes.” As the ashes are applied, these words will be said:... Read more...
The Answer To Your Question
The Answer To Your Question
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Epiphany IIIMatthew 8.1-13 The answer to the question is this: Because our Father knows what is both necessary and best for your salvation.   What is the question? It is... Read more...
Bless This Home
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The blessing of a home is an ancient Christian practice that helps us remember that our Christian life of faith and love is lived not only in Church on Sundays but also in the home daily. The Orthodox tradition (Western and Eastern) is to bless homes in the days and weeks after Epiphany. The connection to Epiphany is important. At the first Epiphany, the Magi entered the home of the Holy Family to present their gifts. Blessing the home opens our eyes to see that Christ already lives in our... Read more...
Joining the Magi
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Let us take to heart that the Light of the World, the Light to lighten the Gentiles, the Light and glory of the Lord, the One who is the Light of all men—let us marvel in godly wonder that He was found by Magi who followed a bright shining star through darkness. For darkness covered the earth—and not just the earth; for the souls of the Lord’s own people were shrouded in darkness; Herod was governed by dark desires; and thick darkness covered hearts and minds of the chief priests and... Read more...
The Best Thing about Christmas
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To understand what Christmas is really about, let’s imagine something. Imagine that Adam and Eve had never sinned. Imagine that nothing bad ever happened. Imagine that no one fell for temptations. Imagine there is no evil. Imagine there are no wars, no disasters, no tragedies. Imagine that there is no death. But subtracting all the bad does not yet add up to the best. Making all the negativity disappear does not mean that goodness appears. Because life is not about avoiding sin, and living the best you can. Life is... Read more...