Tag Archives: Great Lent

The Gospel for All the World

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Go therefore into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

Matthew 28:16-20

Many people find out that our family is Orthodox Christian. A question that often follows is, “What kind of Orthodox? Are you Greek, Russian?” When we respond that our parish is Bulgarian, meaning we are under the authority of a Bulgarian Bishop, but that most of our people are a mixture of nationalities including Russian, Romanian, Greek and just downright American, the response is usually bewilderment. They are used to Orthodoxy being contained in some kind of ethnic box. “Oh so you are in the Greek Church or the Bulgarian Church.” But the great commission of Our Lord to make disciples of ALL nations disputes this misunderstanding.

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Better Than Prom

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Saturday, March 8, 2025
Clean Saturday

Good strength to all now that East and West both have entered the season of Great Lent. As weather begins to warm in the northern hemisphere, I pray that our hearts warm towards things of God and overcome the deadening distractions of this world which St. John the Beloved testifies, “… is passing away.“

In addition to spring and lent, it is also the season for spring formals. When I was a young man, I loved to dance. Every dance offered by my high school throughout the year saw me cutting a rug with the best of them. When the more formal dances were held like homecoming and prom, I especially enjoyed the pageantry and the chance to exercise whatever few social graces American culture teaches to young adults. First step, find a date: someone agreeable and attractive who would not read too much into the request (unless there was reason for such a reading). Secondly, rent/buy something formal for the occasion: smart, but not too smart; elegant, but not beyond that mall store clerk salary. Finally, pick the young lady up in the best vehicle your recently acquired driver’s license and limited connections can provide. And don’t forget the fresh corsage and boutonniere, giving the lady all the time she needs, opening doors and escorting her to and fro, and finally arriving to the big dance fashionably late. At the event itself, colored lights and festive banners transform the school gymnasium into a delightful paradise of young flowers in their new bloom meeting and possibly making plans that will last a lifetime.

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Papa’s Lenten Pancakes

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Now that we have arrived at the first full week of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church and our Western brethren are approaching Holy Week, I thought I would share a tried and true recipe that our family shares at Sunday coffee hours throughout the year in either its fasting or feasting form (depending on the form of milk used). Blessed Lent or Happy Easter to you depending on which calendar you celebrate!

Dry Ingredients:**

  • 3 cups White Flour*
  • 1 cup Corn Flour
  • 1 cup Whole Wheat (or other flour)- optional
  • 1 cup instant oatmeal
  • ½ cup Flaxseed meal
  • ½ cup chia seeds
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons baking powder*
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon*
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice

Wet Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil (olive okay, but not ideal)
  • 2-3 cups non-dairy milk (soy, oat, almond, etc.; usually oat for us)
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Revival on the Mind

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Dear friends, as we approach the beginning of Great Lent in both the Orthodox East and the West, I am so glad about what I hear coming from the Evangelical Church concerning revival of commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. While I recognize that such occurrences can be fraught with celebrity pastors cashing in on a genuine work of the Holy Spirit, I am greatly relieved whenever I hear of the increase of worship in the One True God.

Tonight, we Orthodox Christians participated in a centuries old ritual of begging each other’s forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ. It is a beautiful way to begin Great Lent, to clean our slate of any lingering bitterness or contempt that we often harbor towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. Please forgive me wherein I have offended you in thought, word, or in all my feelings. May God who forgives have mercy on and save us all. Have a blessed and most fruitful Great Lent!

A Village Pascha

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Dear Readers, I came across this lovely portrayal of an Orthodox Holy Week from the associate priest of our parish who grew up in an Orthodox Christian country. I always say that we converts (those who became Orthodox as adults) can learn so much from those who knew it from their very cradle, for to them the faith is as natural as breathing air. This kind of simple innocence shines through in father’s words below. And if you have never been to any Orthodox services, behold NOW is the time, while Divine Services last until this Sunday when we celebrate the Feasts of all Feasts, Great and Holy Pascha!

Dearly Beloved,

Having prepared through weeks of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, we are now approaching the “feast of feasts and the holy day of holy days.” But before we can arrive at that sacred day of Pascha, we first must traverse the Church’s Great & Holy Week, where there will be more services than usual, sometimes both in the morning and in the evening. That means more opportunities to emerge from our daily jobs, homes, and chores and into the Church – not unlike the way in which the ancient monastics would return to their monasteries after spending the entirety of Great Lent in the wilderness.

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Deep and Sincere Conversation with God

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Am reading a fantastic book for Lent by a woman who serves in ministry in the Anglican Church in their home parish in Pittsburgh, PA. She is another C.S. Lewis in her ability to take complex spiritual experiences and capture them with poignant and contemporary images. Her personal honesty and vulnerability make the work eminently readable and relatable. Tish Harrison Warren is author of Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep. It is half spiritual memoir (my favorite genre of writing at this time of my life) and half prayer manual. The structure is based on the Compline service in the Book of Common Prayer, a service the author has grown particularly drawn to and even dependent upon.

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Mystical Union with God

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from “Introduction to Orthodoxy” – a Presentation at Boston Trinity Academy

by Fr. Romanos Karanos

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

a Greek Orthodox priest

Dear students, faculty, and staff of Boston Trinity Academy, it is a great honor for me to be with you today. I was asked to deliver a presentation entitled “Introduction to Orthodoxy” and I have dressed as fully as I could for the occasion. Inner cassock, outer wide-sleeved cassock, and the funny hat. There are two reasons I dressed like this. The first reason is for you to see what an Orthodox priest looks like and not be too scared next time you see one. The second reason is that people often mistake this look and the outward cultural elements of Orthodoxy for its essence. Several communities here in the United States, such as the Lebanese, the Russians, and the Greeks, use Orthodoxy as a banner under which they unite to project their cultural heritage and distinctiveness. Some think Orthodoxy is about the glory of Hagia Sophia, the iconic cathedral of Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul. Or they think it’s about long robes, beards, intimidating monks, and Byzantine Chant. Some believe Orthodoxy is an ethnic religion. “Are you a Greek priest?,” they often ask me. “When is Greek Easter this year?” “Can I come to your church if I am not Greek or Russian?” More tragically, Orthodox nations sometimes exploit their religious heritage to promote political agendas and even wage war on neighboring countries. OK, I’ll take off the funny hat now, so it doesn’t mess my hair!

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Redeeming the Educated Fool

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Clean Tuesday of First Week of Great Lent

“Cuz you can go to your college and you can go to your school. If you ain’t got Jesus you’re just an educated fool and that’s all.”

Denomination Blues by the 77’s

I love spiritual memoirs. Seems like I am always finishing one right before the start of Great Lent. This year is no exception as I polished off Eric Metaxas‘ very witty and inspiring story of his coming to Jesus called A Fish Out of Water. There is so much in this book I identify with. A son of two immigrants from the vastly different countries of Germany and Greece, Eric always had difficulty fitting in wherever he went. As an intellectual phenom, he was promoted a grade early on which added to his awkwardness since he was almost always the youngest in his age group. After he achieved his dream of graduating from Yale, he hunted about searching for life’s deeper purpose waiting to be “discovered” for the brilliant person he thought himself to be. In the end, a coworker from a dead end corporate job introduces him to Jesus and the idea that God is not just some remote being but a Person interested in having a relationship with him.

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“My Road Leads into the Desert”

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Some movies are very slow starters. The new and Oscar nominated Dune is no exception. This 2+ hour film really tested this reviewer’s endurance, but by the end, I was cheering for Duke Paul’s attempt to “go native” on Arakis: the spice-laden, sand world he was sent to on behalf of the mysterious emperor. I was cued on to this great movie by my usual source.

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The Posture of Prayer

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2 Timothy 3:10-15
Luke 18:10-14

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory Forever. For those who came to vigil yesterday evening, we heard for the first time what might be called the theme song of Great Lent. If you were not there to hear it, perhaps the choir might sing it during communion.  Today marks the opening of the book of the Lenten Triodion, which literally means the book of the three odes. It’s theme song also speaks of an opening:

Open to me the doors of repentance, O Life-giver, For my spirit rises early to pray towards thy holy temple. Bearing the temple of my body all defiled; But in Thy compassion, purify me by the loving kindness of Thy mercy.

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