by Vladimir Lossky The feast of Mid-Pentecost occupies a place (Wednesday of the fourth week after Pascha) between the Resurrection of Christ and the Descent of the Holy Spirit [Pentecost], and thus it is adorned with the especial glory characteristic of “the root of the greatest feasts” (see Matins, the canon of Theophanes, Ode 5). Just like the majority of “ideological” feasts, this mysterious celebration of grace (unknown in the West), apparently dates back to deep antiquity. In fact, our present-day feast of Pentecost contains, besides the stichera of a later period (early eighth century), liturgical elements ascribed to Holy Hierarch Elias of Jerusalem (494–513) or Holy Hierarch … [Read more...]
2025 ASONA Paschal Parish Picnic!
On Thomas Sunday, the parishioners of ASONA and guests travelled to Gateway Park to celebrate our annual parish picnic. The day was in the low 70's with an occasional stiff breeze, but the comfort and happiness of the day prevailed. We greeted each other with the Paschal Greeting, "Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!", and sang the Paschal Troparion to bless the food. What a feast was provided! And part from this bubbles, tug-of-war, and an ASONA-style Easter Egg Hunt all took place with joy. See the gallery below for highlights from our picnic. … [Read more...]
ASONA 2025 – Great Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha
Great Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha have passed, and ASONA is continuing the Paschal celebration. As a part of remembering our heart warming journeys, here are some photo galleries to remind us all what we have just been through. Glory to God! Christ is Risen! Great Lent Lazarus Saturday Baptisms Holy Week Pascha … [Read more...]
Paschal Epistle of the Ruling Hierarch of the Western American Diocese
“The angel cried unto her that is full of grace: O Pure Virgin, rejoice, and again, I say rejoice; for Thy Son hath risen from the grave on the third day…” Paschal Matins – 9th Irmos To the Reverend Clergy, Monastics and Laity of the Western American Diocese CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN! The day of Christ’s Resurrection, Pascha, is a time of joyousness, light and new life – I am come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10). A life in Christ is a life centered not on something transient and fashionable, but it is a life focused on the stability of eternity in God. It is a life of happiness and joy free of the passions and temporal … [Read more...]
The Beauty of Modesty
by His Grace, the Right Reverend Alexei, Bishop of Sitka and Alaska Humility, chastity, and modesty are virtues that especially adorn the most Pure Virgin Mother of our God. Modesty is itself one of the fruits of the Spirit enumerated by Saint Paul. Modesty is a kindness towards one’s neighbor, a humble goodness that provokes neither envy nor desire, and love that thinks more of others than of self. When we pray in Church, we are especially called to modesty, which enables us to approach God with that humble and contrite heart that He will not despise. Our Lord Himself was modest, modest about His miracles, modest in His speech, modest in His example, modest in the washing His disciples' … [Read more...]
What Is Authentic Interior Worship?
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Perhaps among the least appreciated, and seldom thought on, descriptions of Jesus our Lord is the one given by John the Baptist: “His winnowing shovel is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor; and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12). Threshing is a violent activity. It is done by pounding the grain repeatedly on a stone floor with a shovel or a flail, in order to separate it from the husks which enclose it. The discarded husks are called chaff. When this beating of the grain has been done, the thresher uses his shovel to throw it into the air, so that the wind … [Read more...]
The Reason Orthodox Christians Cross Themselves from Right to Left
Orthodox cross themselves from right to left. first we will describe the mechanics of making the cross, then explain why it is indeed important that we make the sign of the cross correctly. Placing the cross on oneself 1) We place our thumb and first two fingers together in a point, and our last we fingers flat against our palm. The three fingers together represent the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the two fingers in the palm represent the two natures of Christ. 2) We touch our forehead, then our belly, tracing the vertical part of the cross. 3) From our belly, we bring our hand up to our right shoulder, touching it. 4) We finish placing the cross on ourself by … [Read more...]
2025 Arizona Walk for Life
Members of All Saints of North America Orthodox Church participated in this year's Arizona Walk for Life in downtown Phoenix on Sunday, March 16, 2025. Parish members from several local Orthodox parishes took part in this annual event. A gallery of pictures from the Walk for Life is below. God is glorified in his saints! … [Read more...]
Out of the Cross
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon When we speak of excruciating pain, we do well to look at the etymology of that adjective: ex cruce, “out of the cross.” It is nearly impossible to exaggerate what the Savior suffered on the cross. Whether the cause of Jesus’ death was asphyxiation, or hypercarbia, or hypovolemic shock, or heart failure, or exsanguination, or total physical exhaustion brought on by tetanic contractions throughout his entire body—or any combination of these, or any other plausible suggestion—the astounding fact is that Jesus, at the very end, “cried out again with a loud voice.” From a medical perspective, this is surprising. Surely, it was the last thing anyone on … [Read more...]
Why the Holy Church proclaims “Anathema”
By Sergei V. Bulgakov The terrible word anathema, by which the Holy Church punishes those who betray the right belief, means excommunication and exile from the society of believers, cutting off from the spiritual and mystical body of Christ, deprivation of all spiritual rights which the faithful children of the Church are used to. To be cut off from the Church means to lose everything that the Heavenly Father through the incarnation of His Only-begotten Son and that were granted to us through faith in Him, to lose the grace of baptism and adoption by God the Father, the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which we were signed in the Sacrament of Chrismation; to lose the most heavenly … [Read more...]
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