Holy Trinity Orthodox Church

A Fast-free Friday! Tomorrow is the Leavetaking of Pentecost and then we shift into the celebration of All Saints. These men and women are truly our heroes for with patience, and, often in times of persecution, kept their love of Christ and His Church above all else. The Gospel for the Sunday of all Saints (Matthew 10:32-33, 37-38, 19:27-30) reminds us of the hierachy of love:

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37-38)

These texts from the Vespers of All Saints are also rich in giving us the good example to follow:

Tonight we will be blessed by the presence of the wonder-working Sitka Icon of the Theotokos at St. George Serbian Church! What a joy--especially in this Festal period of Pentecost.

Here are two more texts from the Feast of Pentecost to ponder:

 The Gentiles were unaware, O Lord, that the power of the all-Holy Spirit had come upon Your Apostles. They imagined that the different tongues were caused by drunkenness. But we have them as our foundation, and unceasingly we say: Do not take Your Holy Spirit away from us, we implore You, O Lover of mankind.

Wow! It's been too long since I wrote! Sorry!

With the celebration of the Feast of Pentecost there comes that familiar emotion in the church of a new beginning. As we begin the Great Fast with Forgiveness Vespers there's that sense of everything becoming new--asking each other for forgiveness and embarking on an intensified time of prayer and fasting. At Pascha, life itself feels new and refreshed by the Resurrection. After each time participating in the Sacrament of Confession there is (or should be) the sense of starting fresh. And now at Pentecost, we begin again the "normal" time of the liturgical year and start all over again.

The spirit of renewal is found in the liturgical texts of Pentecost:

The rumblings are beginning!

I'm sure the scene at our church today was similar to many Orthodox Churches. Brass was being shined, vacuums were running, all the "gear" for Pascha was coming out of storage. It's all very exciting! The palms and pussy willows are here, the kielbasa is in the freezer.

I always tell my parishioners that, beginning on Lazarus Saturday it's just one long day until Pascha.

Tomorrow is the Feast of the Annunciation! (exactly 9 months until Christmas!)

The following is one of the hymns sung at Vespers for the Feast:

Gabriel the Archangel was sent from heaven to announce to the Virgin the glad tidings of her conceiving; and coming to Nazareth he pondered in amazement on this wonder. 'O how shall He who dwells in the heights, whome none can comprehend, be born of a Virgin? How shall He who throne is heaven and whose footstool is the earth (Isaiah 66:1) be held in the womb of a woman? He upon whom the six-winged seraphim and the many-eyed cherubim cannot gaze has been pleased at a single word to be made flesh of this His creature. It is the Word of God who dwells within her. Why then do I stand here, and not say to the Maiden: Hail, you who are full of grace: The Lord is with you. Hail, O pure Virgin; hail, Bride unwedded. Hail, Mother of Life: blessed is the fruit of your womb.'