On Holy and Great Tuesday of Passion Week, concerning that most beautiful Joseph: how the Ishmaelites sold him to Potiphar, and how he came to reign over Egypt. When Joseph’s brothers sold him, they brought a goat, slaughtered it, and dipped Joseph’s robe in the blood. They then sent it to their father Jacob, saying:…
Our ascent toward the days of Christ’s Passion continues. In the hymns of Tuesday, we hear words from the conversations the Savior held with His disciples at the close of His earthly ministry, as recorded in the Holy Gospel. In these dialogues, He prepared His disciples for what was soon to come—His betrayal, His suffering,…
On Holy and Great Monday of Passion Week, a homily of our venerable father Ephraim the Syrian, concerning the righteous Joseph and how his brethren sold him to the Ishmaelites. O God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed art Thou, ever delivering the seed of Thy righteous servants who have loved…
The hymns and canons of Holy Monday center on two key themes: first, the story of the righteous Joseph; second, the miracle of the barren fig tree performed by the Lord. In earlier times, monastic communities would offer readings to the brethren on this day from the writings of the Holy Fathers concerning these subjects—especially “A…
A great day… Palm Sunday, it seems, was greater than people often imagine. Let us try to reconstruct the course of that day. It was the morning after the Sabbath. Word had reached Jerusalem that on this very day, Jesus of Nazareth would enter the city. Jerusalem was in an uproar—He was coming, the One…
Today’s feast mentally transports us to the sorrowful final days of the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ. On the day following the miraculous resurrection of His friend Lazarus from the dead, the Lord Jesus Christ set out from Bethany toward Jerusalem. Great crowds of people followed Christ and went out to meet Him….
On Palm Sunday, the Triumphal Entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem to suffer willingly. A homily by St. John Chrysostom. Just as we have now crossed the deep sea of the fast, let us, O faithful, undertake with even greater zeal the struggle of this week, and pass on from the miracles of…
The Feast of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem also marks the beginning of the days of His saving Passion. Yet in the festal services, we hear almost no forewarning of those sorrowful days when even nature itself shared in the suffering of its Creator in the flesh: “The sun was darkened, the earth trembled,…
Great Lent is drawing to a close, and we stand on the threshold of the Passion days. At the beginning of the fast, when we spoke of its meaning and purpose, we reflected that it should be a time for us to limit ourselves in all that stirs us toward sin, so that we might…
-Venerable Isichiy (Hesychius) of Jerusalem I love this place of the Church, which gathers here for me this spiritual banquet; for the banquet of the Church of God is this very assembly, made drunk with the Mystical Cup, nourished by the Life-giving Lamb. Since the King of Angels made His dwelling upon the earth, feasts…