The Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy is celebrated on the first Sunday of Great Lent. It is the celebration of the victory of the iconodules over the iconoclasts by the decision of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. Therefore, the service is to commemorate the restoration of icons for use in services and private devotional life of Christians. Services usually include a procession of icons around the Church. Orthodox Parishes, Monasteries, Cathedrals, and Chapels all over the world will be celebrating this important feast, and will be doing their own processions, just as we will. We at ASONA will be keeping this tradition and having the annual Procession of Icons after Divine Liturgy. … [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...]
Preparation for Great Lent
by S. V. Bulgakov The preparation for Great Lent begins soon after the feast of the Theophany of the Lord corresponding to its historical commemoration that soon after His baptism Jesus Christ left for the desert for a fast, in commemoration of which the Holy Forty Day Fast was established. Beginning with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the preparation for Great Lent comes to an end with Cheesefare Sunday. The Holy Church for a long time begins to prepare the faithful for Great Lent as a redemptive time for an all general spiritual cleansing and sanctification. This cleansing and sanctification are possible only under the condition of the complete remission of sins, the … [Read more...]
February 2021 Baptisms!
Sunday, February 28th, 2021 was a monumental day for ASONA, and many more souls were brought into the Kingdom! Congratulations to the newly illumined! … [Read more...]
Before the Fast
by St. John of Shanghai The doors of repentance are opening, Great Lent is beginning. It is repeated every year, and each time it brings us great benefit if we spend it the right way. Great Lent is preparation for the future life, while in the shorter term it is preparation for the Bright Resurrection. Just as in a tall building the staircase is constructed in a way that makes it easier to ascend to the building’s heights, so are various days of the year steps for our spiritual upliftment and ascent. The days of Great Lent and Holy Pascha are just such days. By Great Lent we are cleansed of sinful defilement, and on Holy Pascha we feel the blessedness of the coming of Christ’s Kingdom. … [Read more...]
Why They Hate Us
by Frederica Mathewes-Green [Eighth Day Institute, Feb 2019] Back in my college days, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I was a hippie and a spiritual seeker. The range of spiritual options on campus was broad, and I sampled a bit of everything: Ananda Marga Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, Hare Krishna, Transcendental Meditation. I say I was a “seeker,” but that’s not exactly right; I didn’t expect to reach a destination. I was, more accurately, a spiritual explorer, always traveling toward a new horizon. There’s something about that era that I don’t understand, though. My friends and I savored all the more-esoteric religions, but for some reason we hated Christianity. We ridiculed it … [Read more...]
On the Sunday of Zacchaeus
Our lenten journey begins with a recognition of our own sinfulness, just as Zacchaeus recognized his. He promised to make restitution by giving half of his wealth to the poor, and by paying to those he had falsely accused four times as much as they had lost. In this, he went beyond the requirements of the Law (Ex. 22:3-12). The example of Zacchaeus teaches us that we should turn away from our sins, and atone for them. The real proof of our sorrow and repentance is not just a verbal apology, but when we correct ourselves and try to make amends for the consequences of our evil actions. We are also assured of God’s mercy and compassion by Christ’s words to Zacchaeus, “Today salvation is … [Read more...]
The Filioque in Brief
by John Nichiporuk We were recently asked the following question: “Why is it so wrong to say that the Spirit also proceeds from the Son, if He indeed is co-eternal with the Father? Understanding the complexity of this issue, causing argument for more than a thousand years, we will try to give a short answer to it, with no pretension to providing a complete coverage of this theological problem. Testimony of the Holy Scripture First of all, indeed, both Catholics and the Orthodox confess the co-eternity of the Holy Spirit and the Son with the Father, as well as Their consubstantiality and Their complete ontological equality. However, returning to the question posed, the co-eternity of … [Read more...]
Why Do Orthodox Christians Have their Homes Blessed?
by Phyllis Meshel Onest Begin Everything with Prayer Since we are reminded in Scripture to begin whatever we do with prayer, it has been the practice of Orthodox Christians for centuries to have new dwellings blessed either before or just after settling in. This has been extended to one’s business or office, and even college dorm rooms. “The service performed by the priest to bless the new dwelling is somewhat similar to the consecration of a church [in the Russian practice] in that holy water, holy oil, and incense are used and a lesson from the holy Gospel is read. All the rooms of the house are sprinkled with holy water and each of the four outer walls are anointed with the sign of … [Read more...]
2020 – An Apocalyptic Year of Peace?
This article was included in all of our Christmas Newsletters this year. His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine, believes that the Church has entered an apocalyptic era, he said during an interview recently, and many agree with him. Commenting on the introduction of electronic passports, gradual replacement of cash, the emergence of digital identifiers, as well as the possible complete control of the state over a person, Metropolitan Onuphry noted that “changes in the life of humanity in recent times indicate that we are entering a new historical era, which is called apocalyptic in the ecclesiastic language." At the same time, he says, in the future "the Church … [Read more...]
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