St Nicholas Celebration for Children at St Nicholas Cathedral

Fragments from a liturgical celebration, along with a children’s sermon, for the Feast of St Nicholas at St Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC:

 

New Blog: Letters on Orthodoxy

I just came across a new blog that I thought ought to be shared:

Letters on Orthodoxy

The blogger explains why he’s started his new site:

Hello. This blog is a collection of correspondence begun on October 27, 2011, with my family on the subject of my impending conversion from Protestant Christianity to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. I have been a Protestant for my entire life (about 35 years), but for the last two or three years have been intensely studying Orthodoxy.   I kept this hidden from my extended family so that I didn’t rock their boats while I figured some things out, but after settling in my heart that I was ready to convert I started the process of informing my family.

I decided to post the letters (scrubbed of names) for a few reasons.  I suspect that the issues I’m dealing with are fairly universal to converting Protestants.  You might find them helpful if you are thinking about Orthodoxy, someone you know is converting and you want to know more and why, or you are converting and want to have some help in letting your family know.  You can feel free to take these letters and use them for your own personal correspondence, modified appropriately.  I also am sharing them because they took a lot of time and personal research to write, and while not perfect I’m sure, they might save others some time.

He shares his first comment to his Mom about his spiritual journey and concludes expressing his love for his family:

Over the intervening period we have before the joining becomes official I hope you will take the time necessary to becoming acquainted with Orthodoxy and to pray for us.  I would like for you to be able to become comfortable with what Eastern Orthodoxy is and be able to engage with it.  Maybe you already are!  I don’t know.  You’ve always done such a good job at embracing the things that us kids were involved in.  You’ve looked at the journeys we take and make them your own, to the degree you can.  While this may look like a really bizarre turn I think over time you’ll see what about Orthodoxy draws me and be able to wish us well on the journey, even if it’s not one you would take.

I love you and Dad.  I always have, and I always will.  Think about this email, and then give me a call sometime when we can talk privately about it.  Maybe you can “go for a walk” or something?  Again, please keep this private for the moment until we can talk.  Thanks.

The first few letters have been posted here and more are to follow.  This is a blog definitely worth following.

Florovsky on St. Ignatius of Antioch

 

Fr Georges Florovsky (1893-1979), a prominent Orthodox theologian, also taught at Harvard and Princeton

From the chapter, “The Earliest Christian Writers” in The Byzantine Fathers of the Fifth Century by Protopresbyter Georges Florovsky:

The commonly accepted seven letters of St. Ignatius in their shorter form are exceedingly important documents in the history of Christian theology. They were written before 107, the commonly accepted time of his martyrdom in Rome. His letters are therefore an undisputed witness to the faith of the early Church. Those who find the definitions of the Ecumenical Councils difficult to accept will encounter difficulty with the thought of St. Ignatius. Again, it must be noted that these are not theological treatises but rather letters written by St. Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, on his way to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts. They are in a very real sense existential letters written by one about to die, existential letters, which just happen to touch on theological subjects as well as moral ones. Indeed, it was the so-called “developed doctrine” contained in St. Ignatius’ letters, which caused some Protestant theologians to question their authenticity until Lightfoot and Harnack established the authenticity of the seven epistles. It was especially the 1885 edition by Lightfoot, which established permanently the authenticity of the seven letters in their Greek shorter versions.

In his Letter to the Ephesians (7), St. Ignatius writes, “There is only one physician — of flesh yet spiritual, born yet uncreated God become man, true life in death, sprung from both Mary and from God first subject to suffering and then incapable of it — Jesus Christ our Lord.” He is God Incarnate. In the same letter, he writes (18-20): “For our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived by Mary, in God’s plan being sprung forth from both the seed of David and from the Holy Spirit. He was born and baptized that by His Passion he might sanctify water… for God was revealing himself as a man to bring newness of eternal life. What God had prepared was now beginning. Therefore, everything was in confusion because the destruction of death was being executed.” “The New Man Jesus Christ… is Son of man and Son of God.” In his Letter to the Romans he writes that Jesus Christ is the “only Son of the Father” and he is the Father’s thought — γνώμη.

In his Letter to the Magnesians, St. Ignatius writes of the co-eternality of Jesus Christ (6): “…Jesus Christ, who was with the Father from all eternity and in these last days has been made manifest.” The union of the Father and Son is explicitly stated (1): “I desire that they confess the union of Jesus with the Father.” “The Lord was completely one with the Father and never acted independently of him” (7). “Make speed, all of you, to one temple of God, to one altar, to one Jesus Christ, who came forth from the one and only Father, is eternally with that One, and to that One is now returned” (7). “God is one… he has revealed himself in his Son Jesus Christ, who is his Logos issuing from the silence” (8).

In his Letter to the Trallians, he poignantly describes the reality of the humanity of Jesus: “Be deaf, then, to any talk that ignores Jesus Christ, of David’s lineage, of Mary, he was truly — άληθΰς- — born, ate, and drank. He was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate. He was truly crucified and died in the sight of heaven and earth and of the powers of the nether world. He was truly raised from the dead, the Father having raised him, who in like manner will raise us also who believe in him — his Father, I say, will raise us in Christ Jesus, apart from whom we have no true life” (9).

He writes more forcefully in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans, “I extol Jesus Christ, the God who has granted you such wisdom… Regarding our Lord, you are absolutely convinced that on the human side he was actually sprung from David’s line, Son of God according to God’s will and power, actually born of a virgin, baptized by John and actually crucified for us in the flesh, under Pontius Pilate and Herod the Tetrarch. We are part of his fruit, which grew out of his most blessed Passion. And thus, by his resurrection, he raised a standard to rally his saints and faithful forever, whether Jews or Gentiles, in one body of his Church. He truly suffered, just as he truly raised himself. It is not as some unbelievers say, that his Passion was a sham. Those are they, who are a sham! For myself, I am convinced and believe that even after the resurrection he was in the flesh. Indeed, when he came to Peter and his friends, he said to them, Take hold of me, touch me and see that I am not a bodiless phantom.’ And they at once touched him and were convinced, clutching his body and his very breath. For this reason, they despised death itself, and proved its victors. Moreover, after the resurrection he ate and drank with them as a real human being, though even then he and the Father were spiritually — πνευματικώς — one.” In this same letter he writes that Jesus Christ is Perfect Man — τέλειος.

In his Letter to Polycarp, St. Ignatius writes, “You must not be panic-stricken by those who have an air of credibility but who teach heresy. Stand your ground like an anvil under the hammer.” He refers to Jesus Christ as the “Timeless, the Unseen, the One who became visible for our sakes, who was beyond touch and passion, yet who for our sakes became subject to suffering, and endured everything for us” (3). These are indeed a collection of powerful and explicit statements on the reality of the full humanity and the full Divinity of Jesus Christ. It is, as it was, a preamble to Chalcedon already at the turn of the first century. It is not an exaggeration to claim that his expressions foreshadow the later doctrine of άντίδοσις των ιδιωμάτων.

Such are some of St. Ignatius’ explicit comments on Christology. If one looks carefully at what he writes about the Eucharist, the hierarchy of the Church, the unity of the Church and the Church’s unity with the unity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, a deeper and even more vital Christology obtains. Everything, for example, that he writes about the Eucharist becomes meaningless without his belief in the Divinity of Christ. The Church is the “place of sacrifice” — θυσιαστήριοι — and the Eucharist is θυσία. He writes in his Letter to the Ephesians (19-20): “Meet together in common — every single one of you — in grace, in one faith and on Jesus Christ (who was of David’s line in his human nature, son of man and son of God) that you may obey the bishop and presbytery with undistracted mind; breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality, our antidote to ensure that we shall not die but live in Jesus Christ forever.” In his Letter to the Philadelphians (3) he writes, “Take great care to keep one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ and one cup to unite us by his blood; one sanctuary, as there is one bishop, together with the presbytery and the deacons.” And in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans, he writes (8), “All of you follow the bishop as Jesus Christ followed the Father and the presbytery as the Apostles. Respect the deacons as the ordinance of God. Let no one do anything that pertains to the Church apart from the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist, which is under the bishop or one whom he has delegated. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, just as wherever Christ Jesus may be, there is the Catholic Church.”

This is the first written use, which has come down to us of the term “Catholic” Church. The word “catholic” means in Greek “universal” but the conception of catholicity cannot be measured by its world-wide expansion — “universality” does not express the Greek meaning exactly. Καθολική comes from καθ’ ολου, which first of all means the inner wholeness, not only of communion and in any case not of a simple empirical communion. Καθ’ ολου is not the same as κατά παντός. It belongs not to the phenomenal and empirical, but to the nominal and ontological plane. It describes the very essence and not the external manifestations. If “catholic” also means “universal,” it certainly is not an empirical universality but rather an ideal one: the communion of ideas, not of facts, is what is meant. St. Ignatius’ use of the word is precisely this. This word gives prominence to the orthodoxy of the Church, to the truth of the Church in contrast with the spirit of sectarian separatism and particularism. He is expressing the idea of integrity and purity.

Grillmeier correctly observes that St. Ignatius foreshadows the later definitions of the Ecumenical Councils. Grillmeier writes that from “Christ’s Godhead and manhood… there arises the antithetic, two-member formula, so well loved in the later history of the dogma of Christ,” which emphasizes the distinction between the Divine and human nature in the one Lord. σαρκικός και πνευματικός; γεννητός και άγγένητος; εν άνθρωπω… θeoς; εν θανάτω… ζωή αληθινή; και εκ Μαρίας… και εκ θeov; πρώτον παθητός… και ποτε απαθής… εστίν Ίησοΰς Χριστός ό Κύριος ημών.

Martyrdom of St Ignatius of Antioch -- fresco detail from a church in North Africa

There is a tendency among some scholars to assume that if something is not mentioned in a text, the author had no knowledge of it. This is a fundamentally erroneous presupposition and hence an erroneous methodology. The assumption of this methodological approach or perspective misses the prime reality — a living Church was already in existence since Pentecost and that living Church knew the deposit about, which they preached, knew the tradition, which they had received and continued to impart in their missionary activity. Again, the statement by Karl Adam is significant: “Even if the Bible [the New Testament] did not exist, a Christian religious movement would be conceivable.” Indeed, not only conceivable but it actually existed without the New Testament as we know it for decades. And during that time, the Apostolic and Sub-Apostolic Church flourished with and in the fullness of faith. St. Ignatius is an excellent example of this precisely because his seven occasional letters were written so early and especially because of what he has to say about the “documents,” “the archives.” In his Letter to the Philadelphians, St. Ignatius writes (8): “When I heard some people saying, ‘If I do not find it in the original documents, I do not believe it.’” Here, the essence of the dispute was that the Old Testament, the Bible for the early Christians in its Greek Septuagint version, was the reference point of validity. The New Testament is not the criterion, precisely because it was still in process in the days of the early Church and it was certainly not used as a canonical authority in the earlier days of the life of St. Ignatius. It is the reality of the living Church, which gives rise to the New Testament and it is the Church, which determines the “canon” of the New Testament — there were numerous writings circulating, which claimed apostolic authorship and it was the Church, which determined, which of those were authentic. St. Ignatius then makes a statement, which confirms how the early Church understood its reality, its faith, its tradition, its authority: “To my mind it is Jesus Christ who is the original documents. The inviolable archives are his Cross and Death and his Resurrection and the faith that came by him.” St. Ignatius needs no written “documents,” needs no written “archives.” The historical, existential, and ontological reality of the God-Man Jesus Christ and his redemptive work is the truth of the faith — he is oral “document” of the living God. He knows of this through the tradition, through that which was delivered, through the deposit, which was preserved and handed down in its original purity of content and fullness.

It is historically interesting to take even a casual look at St. Ignatius’ occasional, ad hoc, non-systematic, hastily written letters, for in these seven brief letters St. Ignatius just happens to touch on many of the basic principles of the faith of the living Church, a faith not recorded in a “document” but a faith that has been preserved and delivered faithfully from Christ to the Apostles to the episcopate. The main purpose of all seven letters is two-fold: it is to urge unity and also to convince the churches to which he writes not to interfere with his desire for martyrdom, his desire to “imitate the Passion of Christ God.” And yet we find in these brief pages a rather broad Christian theology in skeletal form. The reality of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is mentioned (in “Son, Father, and Spirit;” “to Christ, to the Father, and to the Spirit;” the Spirit “comes from God;” “the most High Father and Jesus Christ, his only Son”). He has no hesitation to speak of grace and deeds, of a justification by grace and one of deeds, implying an existential understanding of the synergistic relationship between grace and spiritual freedom, between grace and “works.” And from the totality of his seven brief letters, it is clear that everything is a gift from God. It is also clear that man participates in this gift, in his salvation. St. Ignatius also has no hesitation in speaking about predestination, election, and freedom. They all cohere for him in one theological vision. For him there is no tension between predestination and freedom. This is not a result of his inability to see a potential theological problem. Rather it is natural, instinctive, intuitive, and apostolic understanding of the vision of salvation, a salvation which comes from God and in which man participates, a salvation which is a gift but one, which must be received.

St. Ignatius speaks equally of the spiritual nature and the external structure of the Church — the bishops, presbytery, deacons (the “bishops reflect the mind of Jesus Christ;” the Church has a unique “intimacy” with Jesus Christ, as Jesus Christ has with the Father; the Church is “a choir, so that in perfect harmony and with a pitch taken from God,” it “may sing in unison and with one voice to the Father through Jesus Christ”). Jesus Christ is our inseparable life — το αδιάκριτον ημών ζήν, without whom we have no true life — το αληθινόν ζήν ουκ εχομεν.

St. Ignatius’ stress on the “imitation of Christ” is a theme that will be repeated often in the history of Christian spirituality. His specific idea of the “imitation of the Passion of Jesus Christ” is expressed in vivid, fervid terms (“Let me be fodder for wild beasts — that is how I can attain to God. I am God’s wheat and I am being ground by the teeth of wild beasts to make a pure loaf for Christ;” “Come fire, cross, battling with wild beasts, wrenching of bones, mangling of limbs, crushing of my whole body, cruel tortures of the devil — only let me get to Jesus Christ!”). This has struck many as an exaggerated form of spirituality, as one of arrogance. Yet St. Ignatius is quite humble in this respect. For him the process of salvation is dynamic and he in no sense sees his desire as a superior spirituality (“I am only beginning to be a disciple;” — “I am going through the pangs of being born… Do not stand in the way of my coming to life”).

He is ever conscious of the importance, the necessity of a spiritual solidarity among Christians (“I needed your coaching in faith, encouragement.” — “Do not try to convince yourselves that anything done on your own is commendable. Only what you do together is right. Hence, you must have one prayer, one petition, one mind, one hope, dominated by love and unsullied joy — that means you must have Jesus Christ!”). He knows the pain he is to face, yet he is ever mentioning the God-given joy and the overflowing mercy of God. He is on guard against pride and boasting: “I keep my limits, lest boasting should be my undoing. For what I need most at this point is to be on my guard and not to heed flatterers. Those… are my scourge.” He is fully aware that his desire is an “impetuous ambition” and this causes “all the more a struggle” within him. He exclaims that what he needs is “gentleness.” For those who think his desire is extreme, it must be admitted that his attitude towards it is spiritually balanced: “I endure all things because he gives me the power who is Perfect Man.”

The relics of St. Ignatius of Antioch were transferred to the church of St Clement in Rome in 637 AD

St. Ignatius stresses that we must “not only be called Christians but we must be Christians.” For him the Christian life was Christocentric, for through the God-Man all things come from the Father and return to the Father. The Christocentric emphasis of the Christian life is a constant motif in his letters — the constant mention of “the blood of Christ;” “love” as a hymn to Jesus Christ; the “mind of Christ” is “the Father’s mind;” “Jesus Christ is God’s knowledge;” the “Name” of Jesus is sacred; the Cross, the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection of Christ are the foundations of our “Hope,” creating, through the Incarnation, the path to our redemption; “if we live in union with him now, we shall gain eternal life,” we shall rise with him. Through “initiation” into the mysteries [sacraments], through faith, love, continual prayer, and fasting, we can have Christ “within us.” And, through union with Christ, “in faith and love in the Son and Father and Spirit” we shall have “increasing insight” and we shall rise with him, for true freedom is only in union with the Risen Christ.

St. Ignatius highlights a basic theology of worship and sacramental, liturgical life. The Eucharist is for him “the medicine of immortality.” He has, as is apparent, a developed theology of the unity of the Church. Conversely, he has a theological attitude towards heresy: “He who fails to join in your worship shows his arrogance by the very fact of becoming a schismatic… If then, those who act carnally suffer death, how much more shall those who by wicked teaching corrupt God’s faith for which Jesus Christ was crucified. Such a vile creature will go to the unquenchable fire along with anyone who listens to him.”

A theology of faith and love weaves its way through his letters: “Your faith is what lifts you up; while love is the way you ascend to God… Faith is the beginning, and love is the end.” The dynamism in the process of salvation is constantly emphasized: “For what matters is not a momentary act of professing, but being persistently motivated by faith.”

St. Ignatius has an interesting theological insight into the spiritual importance of silence: “It is better to keep quiet and be real than to chatter and be unreal… He who has really grasped what Jesus said can appreciate his silence. Thus, he will be perfect: his words will mean action and his very silence will reveal his character.”

The great exclamatory Easter hymn in the Byzantine liturgy Χριστός ανέστη εκ νεκρων, θανάτω θάνατον πάτησας — is adumbrated by St. Ignatius: Christ’s death is described as “the destruction of death.” This realism carries over to the sanctification of the material world in the theology of St. Ignatius: Christ’s baptism “sanctifies water” and the pouring of ointment on the Lord’s head passes on “the aroma of incorruption to the Church.”

The deepest parts of the interior life of a person are not neglected in his thought: “all secrets are known and will be revealed.” But repentance and forgiveness by the overflowing mercy of the grace of God are not neglected either: “The Lord forgives all who repent.”

It is clear that the Church already at the time of St. Ignatius believed that marriage must be approved and blessed by the Church: “it is right for men and women who marry to be united with the bishop’s approval.” Already there is implicit here the sacramental nature of marriage.

Simultaneous with his theology of the active Christian spiritual life of continual prayer, humility, love, faith, constant participation in the sacramental life of the Church, simultaneous with his theology of the “imitation of the Passion of Christ God” is a theology of the “social gospel.” He places great stress on concern and care for widows, orphans, the oppressed, those in prison, those released from prison who are in need of help and guidance, those who are hungry and thirsty. His social concern extends to slaves who must not be treated “contemptuously.” He even emphasizes the spiritual importance of “taking an interest in those to whom you talk.”

This sketch of some of the subjects St. Ignatius just happens to address in his seven occasional letters reveals that he certainly had a grasp of the fullness of the Christian life and faith. The early date of these letters and their spontaneous, occasional nature cannot be overstressed. They are vital “documents” of a faith that was not rooted in “documents” or “archives” but rather rooted in the delivered tradition about the living person of Jesus Christ, divine and human, yet One Lord and One Eternally with the Father. It is not an exaggeration to point out that the definition of the Council of Chalcedon can is foreshadowed in general idea in the brief, occasional letters of St. Ignatius, letters, which predate 107.

Source

Resources on St. Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius of Antioch (Wikipedia)

Letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch (Lake translation — parallel Greek/English)

Letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch (Lightfoot/Harmer translation)

Audio recordings of the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch (Lightfoot translation)

St Ignatius of Antioch — audio lecture by Dr. Jeffrey Macdonald

Ignatius of Antioch’s View of the Trinity

The Eucharist in the Letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch

Why We Sing the Divine Liturgy

By Jane M. De Vyver

The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is always celebrated with unaccompanied singing, because the human voice, the only instrument that God Himself created, is considered the sole instrument worthy to be used in His praises. Only the human voice can adequately convey the heart’s love for God. The voice does not just produce a musical sound, but combines beauty of sound with intelligible words so that we can praise and glorify God with both our hearts and our minds, and so “that we may welcome the King of all, Who comes invisibly escorted by angelic hosts.”

We sing everything in the Liturgy because speech is not as beautiful as song, and only the most beautiful we can offer is good enough for God. We sing everything, because what is celebrated is the Divine Liturgy, not the human liturgy, and in the divine vision, the angels constantly sing praises to God and behold his ineffable beauty. What we do on earth in the Divine Liturgy, where we participate in and taste the first fruits of the Kingdom of God, is a reflection of the Celestial Liturgy. We sing in the Cherubic Hymn, “Let us who mystically represent the cherubim, and sing the trice-holy hymn to the life-creating Trinity, now set aside all earthly cares.” When we do set aside all earthly cares, we can indeed rejoice in the peace, love, and harmony of God’s Kingdom, and express that joy in the beautiful song.

Since we (those who sing) represent the cherubim on earth, and the cherubim constantly sing God’s praises, naturally we, likewise, sing constantly throughout the whole Liturgy, and as beautiful as we can but without any insincere showiness.

Indeed, the task of standing in the place of the cherubim at the Divine Liturgy is a very high calling.

The choir and people of St. Innocent Orthodox Church (Olmsted Falls, Ohio) join in singing the Divine Liturgy

In addition to singing the praises of God, singing the liturgical text throughout the year also fulfills the important function of teaching the people through the words of the hymns. Thus to accomplish both purposes, the singing must be done with careful attention, awe, reverence, humility, and above all, with understanding. Because we praise God with our minds as well as our hearts, the Church’s services have always been in the language of the people so that all may participate with understanding.

All of the Church’s teaching of salvation, history, all of the Church’s spirituality and inner essence in life are contained in the fulness of the Church’s liturgical life, and therefore,

If you know what you are chanting, you acquire consciousness of what you know; from this consciousness you acquire understanding; and from understanding you bring into practice what you have become conscious of,  (Theoleptos)

and this is the description of Christian life.

Turkana, Kenya: Mass Baptism, Chrismation and First Eucharist

The Inner Meaning of the Divine Liturgy: Metropolitan Kallistos Ware

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, noted author of The Orthodox Church and The Orthodox Way, gave this presentation on the inner meaning of the Divine Liturgy at a clergy retreat in Atlanta on April 4, 2011:

Part One:

Part Two:

“Eat the Living Bread, Drink With Faith the Blood Shed From My Divine Side At My Death”

From Compline for Wednesday of Holy Week:

Eating, O Master, with your disciples, you have mystically revealed your holy end, whereby we who honor your sacred Passion are delivered from corruption….

He who wrote the tables of the Law on Sinai, himself fulfilled the ordinance of the Law. He ate the old Passover which was but a shadow, and he became the new Passover, a mystical and living Sacrifice.

Revealing in a mystery the wisdom hidden from all ages, O Christ our Savior, You have disclosed it at the Supper to all your apostles: and, inspired of God, they delivered it to the Churches.

“One of you shall betray me by guile this night and sell me to the Hebrews,” Christ cried aloud to his friends, filling them with dismay; and then they turned one to another in doubt.

He who is rich made himself lowly for our sakes: rising from the Supper, he took a towel and girded himself, and bowing down he washed the feet of the disciples and the traitor.

Who would not be struck with wonder at the height of your knowledge, which no mind can understand nor tongue describe? You, the Creator of all, have drawn near to your creatures of clay, and washed their feet and dried them with a towel.

The disciple whom the Lord loved, lying on his breast, said to him: “Who is he that shall betray you?” And Christ answered, “It is he who dips his hand now in the dish.”

The disciple received the sop, yet was parted from the Bread; scheming how to sell him, he ran to the Jews and said to the transgressors: “What will you give me if I deliver him to you?”…

Sitting at supper with your companions, O Lord who loves mankind, you have revealed to them the great mystery of your incarnation, saying, “Eat the living Bread, drink with faith the Blood shed from my divine side at my death.”

The upper room wherein Christ kept the Passover was revealed as a heavenly tabernacle; the supper without shedding of blood is our reasonable worship; the table on which the Mysteries were celebrated there is our spiritual altar.

Christ is our great and honored Passover, eaten as bread and slain as a Lamb. He has been offered as a sacrifice for us, and mystically we all receive with reverence his Body and his Blood.

Having blessed the bread, O heavenly Bread, you have offered thanks to your Father, and taking the cup you have given it to your disciples, saying, “Take, eat, this is my Body and the Blood of Life incorruptible.”

Christ the true Vine spoke to his branches, the apostles saying: “Amen. I will not drink henceforth from the vine until I drink it new with you my heirs in the glory of my Father.”

For thirty pieces of silver do you sell him who is above all price; and do you not think, wicked Judas, of the mystery of the Supper and the holy washing of the feet? O how have you fallen utterly from the light, embracing with love the hangman’s noose!

The hands in which you have taken the Bread of incorruption, you have stretched out to take the money; and with the mouth in which you have received the Body and Blood of Christ, you have given a kiss deceitfully. But woe to you, as Christ has said.

Christ, the divine and heavenly Bread, gives food to all the world. Come, then, O lovers of Christ, and in our mouths of clay but with pure hearts let us receive in faith the Passover that is sacrificed and offered in our midst.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

Let us glorify the Father, let us exalt the Son, and with faith let us worship the divine Spirit, undivided Trinity and Unity in Essence. Let us adore Light and Lights, Life and Lives, giving life and light to the ends of the earth.

Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

From: The Lenten Triodion,  pp. 544-546, using modernized English.

Lenten Services in Jerusalem

Midnight Liturgy at the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem — March 20, 2011.

From the file descriptions:

This is the Bishops entrance and Cherubic Hymn from the Divine Liturgy for the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas at the Holy Sepulchre. There were 6 Bishops serving with at least 20 priests, including an ordination! Quite an experience with beautiful chanting and readings done in both Greek & Slavonic!

Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

A montage of the sights and sounds of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts celebrated at Golgotha in the Holy Sepulchre, March 30, 2011.

Resources for Lent, Holy Week & Pascha

I will be posting less the next few weeks so that I can attend to some personal goals. The blog will stay open and I will still post from time to time. In the interim, here are links to several posts that have been featured here in the past that can provide resources for Great Lent, Holy Week and Pascha.

Great Lent Resources:

The Journey of Great Lent: Bright Sadness

Hymns in Anticipation of Lent

Forgiveness Vespers

Spiritual Reading for Great Lent

First Week of Great Lent: The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete

The Presanctified Liturgy

Chants from the Presanctified Liturgy

In Many Tongues: The Sunday of Orthodoxy

Lenten Meditation

Sundays of Great Lent

The Doors of Repentance Open Unto Me

Holy Week Resources:

Holy Week Resources

Lazarus Saturday: Rejoice, O Bethany

From Matins for Palm Sunday

Behold the Bridegroom Comes at Midnight

Epithets for the Passion of Christ

Great and Holy Monday

Holy Week Chants

The Mystery of  Holy Unction

Lamentations — Statis 3 — From Holy Friday

Las Lamentaciones del Viernes Santo (same as above but in Spanish)

The “Little Services” of the Church (from Holy Tuesday)

Epitaphios — Great and Holy Friday & Holy Saturday

Today Hell Cries Out Groaning — Holy Saturday Hymn

From Matins of Holy & Great Saturday

How Shall I Bury You, My God?

God Has Died in the Flesh and Hell Trembles in Fear

Why Christ Descended into Hades — Sermon by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Pascha Resources:

Christ is Risen from the Dead!

Singing “Christ is Risen!” in Many Tongues

The Midnight Pascha Service

The Midnight Pascha: A Visitor’s View

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware on the Divine Liturgy

From the file description:

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware of Diokleia speaks about the meaning of the word “Liturgy” and the role of clergy and laity in the life of the Church. This video is an excerpt from the “Clergy and Laity in the Orthodox Church” lecture delivered at the St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and is part of a lecture series in the Detroit Metropolitan area during Metropolitan Kallistos’ visit on February 15-20, 2011 to the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Detroit.

Another lecture by Metropolitan Kallistos given in this series: