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The Proskomide — Service of Preparation of the Holy Gifts

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Long before most people arrive at Church, the priest prepares the Holy Gifts (the bread and wine that will be consecrated into the body and blood of Christ) in a small service called the Proskomedi. He cuts pieces of a loaf of bread called the prosphora (“before the gifts”) and places them on dish called [...]

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Christianity Without Pentecost

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What happens when Orthodox Christian experience Ascension, but not Pentecost? by: Fr. Josiah Trenham The last ten days in the Church have been unusual. In some sense we have been living between two realities. On the leave-taking of Pascha we ceased the sustained celebration of the Holy Resurrection of the Lord as well as our [...]

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The Christians of Dachau

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By Fr. Hans Jacobse Pascha, 2009 Every Pascha, I repost two stories on OrthodoxyToday.org. that tell how Orthodox prisoners in Dachau held the Paschal Liturgy during their liberation. The first, “The Souls of All are Aflame” provides historical background and detail. The second, “Pascha in Dachau” recounts the story of a prisoner who was there. [...]

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The Word ‘God,’   The Divine Names,   ‘Father’ As Divine Name

The Visitation of Abraham

The words used to refer to ‘God’ in different languages are related to various concepts. The peoples of antiquity attempted to find in their languages a word to express their notion of God or, rather, their experience of encounter with the Divinity.

In the languages of Germanic origin the word Gott comes from a verb meaning ‘to fall to the ground’, to fall in worship. This reflects an experience similar to that of St Paul, who, when illumined by God on the road to Damascus, was struck by divine light and immediately ‘fell to the ground… in fear and trembling’ (Acts 9:4-6).

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The Love of God and the Passion of Christ

Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon

On March 26, 2009, the Fellowship of St. James, publisher of Touchstone and Salvo magazines, hosted a Lenten talk by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon, the pastor of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and the author of Christ in the Psalms and Christ in His Saints, both published by Conciliar Press. The title [...]