Apr 10 – 23, 2023
4-10-23 to 4-15-23: Holy Week
Great and Holy Monday Commemorated on April 10 Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week 3. MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY: THE END These three days, which the Church calls Great and Holy have within the liturgical development of the Holy Week a very definite purpose. They place all its celebrations in the perspective of End Times; they remind us of the eschatological meaning of Pascha. So often Holy Week is considered one of the “beautiful traditions” or…
Apr 16, 2023
4-16-23: Great & Holy Pascha
HOLY PASCHA: The Resurrection of Our Lord Commemorated on April 16 Pascha (Easter) Enjoy ye all the feast of faith; receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. (Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom, read at Paschal Matins) The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the center of the Christian faith. Saint Paul says that if Christ is not raised from the dead, then our preaching and faith are in vain (I Cor. 15:14). Indeed, without the resurrection there would be…
Apr 9, 2023
4-9-23: Palm Sunday
Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) Commemorated on April 9 Palm Sunday is the celebration of the triumphant entrance of Christ into the royal city of Jerusalem. He rode on a colt for which He Himself had sent, and He permitted the people to hail Him publicly as a king. A large crowd met Him in a manner befitting royalty, waving palm branches and placing their garments in His path. They greeted Him with these words: “Hosanna! Blessed…
Apr 8, 2023
4-8-23: Lazarus Saturday
The Raising of Lazarus (Lazarus Saturday) Commemorated on April 8 Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday Visible triumphs are few in the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ. He preached a kingdom “not of this world.” At His nativity in the flesh there was “no room at the inn.” For nearly thirty years, while He grew “in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52), He lived in obscurity as “the son of Mary.” When…
Apr 2, 2023
4-2-23: 5th Sunday of Great Lent: St Mary of Egypt
5th Sunday of Great Lent: St Mary of Egypt Commemorated on April 2 Saint Zosimas (April 4) was a monk at a certain Palestinian monastery on the outskirts of Caesarea. Having dwelt at the monastery since his childhood, he lived there in asceticism until he reached the age of fifty-three. Then he was disturbed by the thought that he had attained perfection, and needed no one to instruct him. “Is there a monk anywhere who can show me some form…
Mar 26, 2023
3-26-23: 4th Sunday of Great Lent: St John Climacus (of the Ladder)
4th Sunday of Great Lent: St John Climacus (of the Ladder) Commemorated on March 26 The Fourth Sunday of Lent is dedicated to Saint John Klimakos, the author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent. In this book the Igoumen of Saint Katherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai bears witness to the great effort which is required for entry into God’s Kingdom (Matthew 10:12). The spiritual struggle of the Christian life is difficult since it is “not against flesh and blood, but…
Mar 25, 2023
3-25-23: Festal Liturgy Annunciation
The Annunciation of our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary Commemorated on March 25 The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the earliest Christian feasts, and was already being celebrated in the fourth century. There is a painting of the Annunciation in the catacomb of Priscilla in Rome dating from the second century. The Council of Toledo in 656 mentions the Feast, and the Council in Trullo in 692 says that the Annunciation was celebrated during Great…
Mar 24, 2023
3-24-23: Festal Vigil Annunciation
Forefeast of the Annunciation Commemorated on March 24 The Feast of the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos is celebrated on one day March 25, exactly nine months before the Nativity of Christ. There is one day of Prefeast (March 24), followed by the Feast itself. On March 26, we celebrate the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel. Because the Feast of the Annunciation falls during Great Lent, there is no Postfeast of the Feast.
Mar 19, 2023
3-19-22: 3rd Sunday of Great Lent, Veneration of the Cross
3rd Sunday of Great Lent: Veneration of the Cross Commemorated on March 19 The Third Sunday of Lent is that of the Veneration of the Cross. The cross stands in the midst of the church in the middle of the lenten season not merely to remind men of Christ’s redemption and to keep before them the goal of their efforts, but also to be venerated as that reality by which man must live to be saved. “He who does not take…
Mar 12, 2023
3-12-23: 2nd Sunday of Great Lent, St Gregory Palamas Sunday
2nd Sunday of Great Lent: St Gregory Palamas Commemorated on March 12 This Sunday was originally dedicated to Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (February 23). After his glorification in 1368, a second commemoration of Saint Gregory Palamas (November 14) was appointed for the Second Sunday of Great Lent as a second “Triumph of Orthodoxy.” Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, was born in the year 1296 in Constantinople. Saint Gregory’s father became a prominent dignitary at the court of Andronicus II Paleologos…
Mar 5, 2023
3-5-23: Pan Orthodox Vespers
Beloved in Jesus Christ, On behalf of the faithful at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Phoenix, you are invited to celebrate the Sunday of Orthodoxy Great Vespers service with us the unity of the Holy Orthodox Faith 6:00 PM on Sunday, March 5th. In Jesus Christ, Rev. Father Apostolos Hill | Dean Holy Trinity Cathedral of Phoenix 1973 E. Maryland Ave. Phoenix, AZ. 85016
Mar 5, 2023
3-5-23: 1st Sunday of Great Lent, Triumph of Orthodoxy Sunday
1st Sunday of Great Lent: Sunday of Orthodoxy Commemorated on March 5 The first Sunday of Great Lent is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy because it commemorates the restoration of the Holy Icons and the triumph of the Orthodox Faith against the terrible heresy of the Iconoclasts, i.e. those heretics who refused to honor the Holy Icons. For more than a hundred years the Church was disturbed by the evil doctrine of iconoclasm. The first Emperor to persecute the Church…