A Sobering Christmas Ghost Story: REPOST

Posted on Friday, October 21, 2016 by Mendicant Monk

It has been three years since this last time that Scrooge: A Christmas Carol was staged and this review was published. It is happening again, and the Friar Family is in it. Please don’t miss the action. Click on the banner below to buy tickets and come see us.

December 15, 2013
Concord, MA

Every year faithful Christians struggle with the rush and distraction of holiday preparations and long to take a moment to slow down and reflect on the real meaning of the season. It is an especially difficult struggle for Orthodox Christians as we are prescribed by Mother Church to fast in our preparation to meet the newborn King in his Nativity. The Lenten Fast by comparison is somewhat easier in the sense that the season is already more austere in the wider culture (everyone fasting in the springtime, if for no other religious reason, so that they can fit into summertime bathing suits). The weeks leading up to Christmas in America are anything but austere. Between Christmas parties at work, holiday concerts galore, and the extra latte at Starbucks to keep up our shopping stamina, few things in the broader culture give us pause to stop and reflect on our eternal destiny with one amazing exception, Charles Dicken’s classic Christmas ghost story, A Christmas Carol. Continue reading →

Smaller is Better

Posted on Sunday, October 9, 2016 by Mendicant Monk

Wanted to publish this rather excellent apologetic for smaller parishes made by one of our favorite pastors, Fr. Marc Vranes, on the 100th anniversary of his parish’s existence today. It is the parish church where my wife and I were engaged in the spring of 2003. We join in the chorus to wish Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Willimantic, Connecticut many, many, many more blessed years of ministry.

9 October 2016
Feast of St Tikhon, Apostle to America

Your Eminence, Reverend Fathers, My Beloved Community at Holy Trinity, Students from the UConn OCF, Both Current & All Alumni, Honored Guests, & Friends of HTOC in Willimantic, Connecticut-

As we hear in the Orthodox Church throughout the year, “O Lord, how manifold are Thy works, in wisdom hast Thou made them all” (Psalm 103).

Several years ago as I was about to embark on a long discourse with a friend about a subject that required detailed explanation – it was no doubt an opportunity for me to set the record straight on some baseball related matter – I rhetorically asked my friend the time-honored question, “I don’t know where to start?” He responded by suggesting, “How about at the very beginning? It always works for me.” Continue reading →

A Sin-o-cide Bombing in Many Languages

Posted on Sunday, May 1, 2016 by Mendicant Monk

Christ is risen! Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! Христос Воскресе! !المسيح قام! حقا قام
Truly, Truly, He is risen!

When our Lord rose from the dead and the Holy Spirit descended upon the polyglotted people gathered at Pentecost, the truth was proclaimed in every language available. In fact, in the latter feast, each heard the Gospel proclaimed in his/her own native tongue. Though of all the world’s languages, some have been set aside for particularly holy purposes, this does not preclude preaching the good news in them all. It is for this evangelical reason that the Church has ordained a service on the day of Pascha called Agape (Love) Vespers.

Continue reading →

Arriving Even at the Eleventh Hour

Posted on Sunday, May 1, 2016 by Mendicant Monk

freyburg_28unstrut29_stadtkirche_st-_marien_weinberg_279 May, 1, 2016
The Bright & Saving Pascha of Christ
the Lord Who Rose from the Dead
Trampling down Death by Death

No parable in Scripture proves a greater challenge to notions of human justice than that of the Workers in the Vineyard. In the story, those who come to work at the eleventh hour receive the same generous portion from the Master of the Vineyard as those who have labored from the beginning of the day. The only rationale given is the right of the master to do as he pleases with his wealth.

The Paschal Homily preached tonight in churches worldwide features this coming at the eleventh hour as the rich invitation of the Master and Lord of the heavenly vineyard towards the whole human race, especially to those who are least deserving of it. What can account for this reckless extravagance on the part of Our Lord and Master? Continue reading →

An Assurance of Resurrection

Posted on Saturday, April 23, 2016 by Mendicant Monk

duccio-di-buoninsegna-the-raising-of-lazarus-1310e2809311-e1277334608647 April 23, 2016
Lazarus Saturday
23rd Anniversary of my Reception into the Orthodox Church by Chrismation

Giving us before Thy passion an assurance of the general Resurrection, Thou didst raise Lazarus from the dead O Christ Our God. Therefore, we like the children carry tokens of victory and cry to Thee the conqueror of death, “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord. (Troparia of Lazarus Saturday)

As a youth, I was often in need of assurance. Movements of my soul toward God were quickly followed by moments of intense doubt: “Did the Creator of the universe really perform a work in me or was it simply something I ate?” Assurance of genuine salvation then came by frequently answering a call to the altar, kneeling in a bare church, and praying somehow that this time salvation would really sink in deep. While this was a great beginning, I sensed there was more to my relationship with Christ. And when I discovered the Church’s sacramental life, I also found the key to unlocking my much needed assurance. Continue reading →

Coming to an Orthodox Church near you!

Posted on Thursday, April 21, 2016 by Mendicant Monk

crucifixion2 For those of you in my faithful readership who have yet to experience an Orthodox Christian Holy Week, now is your chance. At an Orthodox parish near you, begins a week of services next week unlike any you have experienced anywhere else on the planet. If you are local to Boston, you are cordially invited to attend all of the services our parish offers. If you can only do one, come to either Saturday morning Liturgy or late Saturday night, early Sunday morning for the Feast of Feasts, GREAT AND HOLY PASCHA.

Worse case scenario, if you are unable to appear hypostatically (in person), you can at least listen to a youtube channel created that has much of the key music or the ever-mellifluous Ancient Faith Radio. WARNING: Once you have gone to one service, you won’t be able to stop, so clear your schedule for God because He deserves your praise more than baseball games, concerts, or that addicting TV series. Let the divine drama begin!

The Day of Resurrection

Posted on Sunday, March 27, 2016 by Mendicant Monk

March 27, 2016
Easter Day, Western Calendar
2nd Sunday of Great Lent, Eastern Calendar

As I was formatting the bulletins for Holy Week and Easter last week at the Episcopal Church where I work, I made a most amazing discovery. I had stated earlier how an Englishman in the middle of the nineteenth century was the first to translate the Orthodox hymns of Easter into English, specifically the Canon of Pascha (Easter). Well, this past week, I discovered where exactly in the Anglican hymnal exists both the words and the melody used. In the 1982 hymnal in the Episcopal Church, it is #210 to the tune Ellacombe: Continue reading →

God Is With Us

Posted on Sunday, March 13, 2016 by Mendicant Monk

kneeling March 13, 2015
Sunday of Forgiveness
Beginning of Great Lent

Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy house, the place where Thy glory dwelleth. (Psalm 26:8)

Fr. Michael Pomazansky of blessed memory has a wonderful phrase to describe the rich banquet of divine services offered by the Church for the salvation of our souls: He calls this banquet liturgical maximalism. And now as the Orthodox Church begins her 40 days of the Great Fast toward Holy Week and the Bright & Holy Pascha of Our Lord’s Resurrection, the sheer number of services multiplies exponentially. In just the two Orthodox parishes local to us, there is a service offered almost every day in this first week of Lent. What should we make of all this church-going in a month usually dedicated to madness and green beer? Doesn’t all this abstaining and prostrating lead to a repression of life and joy? Continue reading →

The Feast of Faith

Posted on Thursday, December 17, 2015 by Mendicant Monk

kidsicon One of the most awkward moments in my life happened the first time I visited an Orthodox Church. I came armed with my trusty notebook containing all the biblical questions I was prepared to hurl at anyone who might ask. From my infancy, I had known the Holy Scriptures which were intended to make me wise unto salvation; at that point in my life, however, they served more to puff up my ego. I thought I was prepared for any question about my faith, to give a defense in the form of words. What I was NOT prepared for was an argument in the form of images, a faith in the form of a divine feast, and a challenger in the form and substance of a little child. While I stood through the beautifully festive service with my notebook of interrogations, a wordless boy of not more than three next to me gazed upward in silent wonder at an icon of a saint. I put away my notebook and realized quickly that this babe was getting something that I was missing: wonder in the face of something or rather Someone much larger than my feeble intellect. Continue reading →

Christmas Kitsch

Posted on Wednesday, December 16, 2015 by Mendicant Monk

Okay, I will admit it. I am a sucker for Christmas decoration in whatever form it takes. I am one of those crazy papas that likes to drive around the neighborhood with his children on Christmas Eve looking at everyone else’s Christmas Kitsch. Below is something I found online: a church which seems to share my enthusiasm for the rich diversity of this season. St. Andrew’s in Ayer, MA is currently host to 450 nativity scenes from around the world. Enjoy the press release, and watch their video below. Happy Christmas and joyous preparation for the upcoming feast of our Lord’s birth in Bethlehem!