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Vigils are starting on Palm Sunday night until Good Friday, when singing the Lamentations of the Lord. The word “denia” comes from slavic “vdenie” and mean nocturnal vigil or service. In Transylvania, we meet the word “straste”. This term has the meaning of “passion”. The phrase “go in strasti” means “go to denia”. Vigils are …

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As we already have seen, the eucharistic Divine Liturgy is not celebrated in the Orthodox Church on lenten weekdays. In order for the faithful to sustain their lenten effort by participation in Holy Communion, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is served. The service is an ancient one in the Orthodox Church. We officially hear …

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In Lent, on ordinary days, fasting is severe, but on Saturdays and Sundays fasting receives something of the light of the Resurrection, the garments are no longer dark, but bright. Fasting continues, but it receives the consolation of the Liturgy, that is to say, of Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ. This reality …

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The first day of Lent, the Great Canon song gives the believer “key” to understanding the harsh journey he has to go to Resurrection repentance, newness of life, return to God. Creation of St. Andrew, Archbishop of Crete, Canon exceeds the amount any other canon hymnodic. At the same time, the depth of the ideas …

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Today the Church commemorates an important event in the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 2:22-40). Forty days after His birth the God-Infant was taken to the Jerusalem Temple, the center of the nation’s religious life. According to the Law of Moses (Lev. 12:2-8), a woman who gave birth to a male child …

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February the 2nd, the Church commemorates an important event in the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 2:22-40). Forty days after His birth the God-Infant was taken to the Jerusalem Temple, the center of the nation’s religious life. According to the Law of Moses (Lev. 12:2-8), a woman who gave birth to a …

Continue reading The Meeting of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Temple