During Great Lent the lectionary - the calendar of daily readings - of the Church turns from its usual schedule of Epistle and Gospel readings to readings from the Old Testament. This reflects the fact that, in the ancient Church, Lent was the season par excellence for preparing catechumens for Baptism at Pascha. This preparation consisted, among other things, in daily instruction from the clergy of the church in the basic matters of faith and Christian living. Much time was

This Sunday, the first of Great Lent, is the Sunday of Orthodoxy, otherwise known as the Triumph of Orthodoxy. The celebration of this Sunday as a feast goes back to the year 843 and the final victory of the veneration of icons over those who had destroyed icons and persecuted, imprisoned, and killed those who venerated them. A traditional part of the services for this feast is the procession with icons and, in churches where a bishop serves, the solemn proclamation of the Sy

As we stand at the door of the Great Fast on this last Sunday before Lent the Church turns our attention to the issue of forgiveness. Not only do we have the gospel and the hymns of this Sunday which are focused on forgiveness but, at Vespers on this Sunday, we conclude with the rite of mutual forgiveness. It is, I believe, helpful for us to understand the practice of forgiving others by looking to the teaching of the Fathers. When we do this we find forgiveness is often refe

It is, I believe, most fitting that the Church, in preparing us for Great Lent, follows the Sunday of the Prodigal Son immediately with the Sunday of the Last Judgment. Fitting because, like a diptych, it causes us to see the two parables together, in relation to one another, a seeing that should, perhaps, create within us a certain tension. We don’t like tension that much. And in the American (meaning primarily Protestant) context, theologically speaking, I think it is fair