12 Apr 2026 at 5:50am
Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen! On this feast of feasts, I pray that each of us would experience the grace and truth…
Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen!
On this feast of feasts, I pray that each of us would experience the grace and truth that have come into the world through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ’s Resurrection is God’s victory over death, and hence over all the forces of corruption, entropy, bleakness, and emptiness. Now all is filled with light! Hopelessness, despair, resignation, nihilism: all of these are shattered forever. God is with us, and his love is stronger than death. Surely it is stronger, then, than any other passing sorrow or oppression that intrudes upon our lives. Finding our joy in the Resurrection, we found our happiness upon a radiant reality that nothing in this world can quench or dim.
Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen!
5 Apr 2026 at 3:16pm
Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary April 5, 2026 Philippians 4:4–9; John 12:1–18 In the Name of the Father,…
Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary
April 5, 2026
Philippians 4:4–9; John 12:1–18
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us together, and we all take up thy Cross and say: Blessed is he that comes in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”
This hymn, which we heard over and over again at Vespers last night, has a very specific historical reference. At some Palestinian monasteries, it was customary for all of the brethren — or at least the most senior monks — to scatter out into the desert for the forty days of Lent, spending that time alone in ascetic struggle. Then, today, on Palm Sunday, they would return to the monastery for Holy Week. And so the monks would sing in joy, after that period of separation: “Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us toge...
5 Apr 2026 at 5:50am
Joyous feast! In the troparion for this two-day Feast of Palms, we sing: “By raising Lazarus from the dead before thy…
Joyous feast!
In the troparion for this two-day Feast of Palms, we sing: “By raising Lazarus from the dead before thy Passion, thou didst confirm the universal resurrection, O Christ. Like the children with the palms of victory, we therefore cry to thee, O Vanquisher of death.” Even as Christ goes to his Passion, we children of the Church already recognize, acknowledge, and celebrate the power of his Paschal victory. This is important to bear in mind during the coming week. Holy Week is not about historical commemoration, but about our own encounter with Christ’s saving work, work that was finished on the Cross and manifest in the Resurrection, but which continues to transform lives and hearts. May God grant us the grace to open our hearts to him throughout the coming days.