The Assumption of Mary

Why does the Orthodox Church celebrate the assumption of Mary? It turns out, it’s because of Easter.

But Easter has to do with Jesus, and this feast day is about Mary, right? As with all celebrations of the Saints, of course, it’s Jesus who shines through them to receive the highest and most ultimate praise. … And so a feast day for a Saint is never really just about that Saint. It’s always about Christ who that Saint conforms to. There are some Christians who think of the Kingdom of heaven as a zero sum game, where any praise a Saint gets is praise that God isn’t getting. But that’s not how the Kingdom works at all. Christ glories in his Saints, and his Saints glory in him. Christ’s glory is not diminished when we celebrate those who belong to him; just the opposite—his glory increases. And so let’s look to Mary, and see how she increases her Son’s glory.

The Novena to the Holy Spirit

The Novena to the Holy Spirit is a nine-day prayer after the Feast of the Ascension where we pray for the descent of the Holy Spirit in a fresh way in our hearts as he descended upon the followers of Jesus on the day of Pentecost. Jesus instructed his disciples to pray earnestly for the coming of the Holy Spirit, and they did—for nine days, the first novena.

This novena has a daily prayer at the beginning which changes each day, followed be a set of prayers which are repeated every day.

 
 

Home Devotions for Advent

The season of Advent is meant as a time of preparation to meet the Lord—in his crib to worship him as the Creator of the world become a humble baby, but also when he comes again to judge the world as its Savior and King. We do this by welcoming him into our hearts to be our guide and master.

These devotions for every day of Advent are an excellent way to align ourselves to the three advents of Christ: as a baby, as the great Judge, and as the ruler of our hearts.

Thanks to St. Patrick Orthodox Church in Bealeton, VA for putting this resource together.

A Visual for Lent

This handy visual provides some useful imagery for the season of Lent. At the center and dominating the picture is the Cross, because this entire season has at its center the Cross.

The steps leading up to the beginning of Lent are the preparatory Sundays of Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima. On the right side of the Cross is a censer with incense rising up representing prayer (Ps. 141:2; Rev 5:8, 8:4), because prayer undergirds everything we do in Lent and should even be increased now. On the left side of the Cross is a burning palm branch, because the palms used in procession on Palm Sunday the previous year are burned to become the ashes applied to our heads which remind us that we ourselves are the same dust (Gen 3:19).

A Plan for Lent

By Fr. Patrick Cardine of St. Patrick’s Orthodox Church in Bealeton, VA.

I DON’T WANT TO WASTE ANOTHER LENT

Life is short. I only have so many Lent’s to take advantage of and I am tired of getting to the end of Lent regretting that I squandered yet another opportunity to grow in my salvation. I don’t want to waste another Lent.

St. Aristobulus: First Bishop of Britain

St. Aristobulus: First Bishop of Britain

In the first century, only a few years after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, a certain man who had been living in Palestine began traveling around the Mediterranean preaching about Jesus Christ to the pagan Gentiles. ... He and his companions would inevitably have been brought before the chieftain of whatever tribe they wandered into, and when asked what his name was, he would reply, “Aristobulus.”...