February 21, 2020 Help for the Departed Souls from Commemoration at the Liturgy (Saint Gregory the Great’s legend of a monk who died during his epitimia and was forgiven after thirty-day commemoration) Prayers, commemoration charity work performed…
January 10, 2020 What Is the Antimension For? An antimension (Greek: ἀντί – instead of, and lat. mensa – table, lit. “instead of the table”) is a special rectangular plate made of…
January 4, 2020 Why Is the Litany for the Catechumens Omitted Sometimes? We can often find that in the everyday liturgical practice of a parish, the litany for the catechumens, and thus the prayer for the…
November 30, 2019 The Symbolism of a Phelonion Ecclesiastical objects are full of symbolism. Why is that? Each symbol carries a Christian message and reminds us of Jesus and His Gospel. We…
November 22, 2019 The Problem of the Third Hour Troparion Interpolation The Orthodox have celebrated the Liturgy for more than two thousand years. The Liturgy has gone through a great deal of development, evolution and…
November 9, 2019 The Compilers of the Philokalia Answer the Opponents of Frequent Communion There was a certain crisis of the Eucharistic life in the Russian Orthodox Church during the Synodal era. People received communion only sporadically, on…
November 8, 2019 Division or Addition? In recent decades, thanks to the active revival of church life, the Russian Orthodox Church has seen an increase in the number of communicants….
November 2, 2019 Lay People Celebrate Liturgy Too One can often hear that priests and deacons celebrate the Liturgy, while laypeople pray during it, or even, as it is colloquially said, “I…
October 24, 2019 Why Is Psalm 34 Sung at the End of the Liturgy? The Liturgy is the immeasurable depth and mystery of the life of the Holy Spirit in man. It contains a lot of symbols, meanings,…
August 30, 2019 The Little Entrance: Beginning of Christ’s Public Ministry or Entrance of the Church into the Kingdom? The Orthodox Liturgy is highly dynamic and agile. We see periodic movements of priests and clergymen throughout the service, particularly during the so-called Little…
