Category Archives: Feast Days

June 21, 2020 · 9:35 am

The Nativity of the Holy Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord, John

The Gospel (Lk. 1: 57-80) relates that the righteous parents of Saint John the Baptist, the Priest Zachariah and Elizabeth, lived in the ancient city of Hebron, and reached old age being childless, since Elizabeth was barren.

One time, Saint Zachariah was making Divine services at the Jerusalem Temple and saw the Archangel Gabriel standing on the right side of the incense offertory. He predicted that Saint Zachariah would father a son, who would announce the Saviour – the Messiah, awaited by the Old Testament Church. Zachariah was troubled, and fear fell upon him. He had doubts that in old age it was possible to have a son, and he asked for a sign. And it was given to him – it appeared at the same time as a chastisement for his unbelief: Zachariah was struck speechless until the time of the fulfilment of the Archangel’s words.

 

 

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June 6, 2020 · 5:32 pm

Revelation of Axion Esti

Feast Day ~ 11 June

It is truly meet and right to bless you, O Theotokos,
Ever-blessed and most-pure mother of our God.
More honourable than the Cherubim,
And beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim,
Who without corruption gave birth to God the Word,
True Theotokos: we magnify you.

Axion Estin is also the name given to the icon of the Theotokos (Mother of God) before which, according to tradition, the hymn was revealed. It stands in the high place of the altar (sanctuary) of the katholikon (main church) of Karyes on Mount Athos.

According to tradition, an Elder and his disciple lived in a cell on Mount Athos. One Saturday night the Elder left to attend the All- Night Vigil in Karyes. He told his disciple to chant the service alone. That evening an unknown monk who called himself Gabriel, came to the cell, and they began the Vigil together. During the Ninth Ode of the Canon, when they began to sing the Magnificat, the disciple sang the original hymn “More honourable than the Cherubim…” and afterwards the visiting monk chanted it again, but with “It is truly meet…” preceding the original Irmos.

As he sang, the icon began to radiate with Uncreated Light. When the disciple asked the visiting monk to write the words of the new hymn down, he took a roof tile and wrote on it with his finger, as though the tile were made of wax. The disciple knew then that this was no ordinary monk, but the Archangel Gabriel. At that moment the Archangel disappeared, but the icon of the Mother of God continued to radiate light for some time afterward.

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June 6, 2020 · 5:13 pm

Pentecost

Pentecost was one of the major feasts of the Jews, the Feast of Weeks, a harvest festival celebrated fifty days after Passover. Pentecost literally means “the fiftieth day.” It was a feast of joy and thanksgiving for God’s protection and His rich provisions. The whole community presented itself before the Lord as a “holy convocation” (see Lev. 23:15-22). The first fruits of the wheat harvest and loaves baked from the new wheat crop were offered to the Lord. The people worshipped God, the source of life. They thanked Him for His great acts of deliverance in history and His gift of the Promised Land. Continue reading →

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May 24, 2020 · 10:56 am

The Ascension of the Lord

On Thursday of this week we reach the 40th day from our Lord’s Resurrection, on which we commemorate His glorious Ascension into Heaven. It the Book of Acts, and in St Luke’s Gospel, we hear a description of how the Lord tells his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit to descend. Then, after telling them this, He is carried up into Heaven, as a cloud “receive[s] Him out of their sight.” Continue reading →

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May 21, 2020 · 11:29 am

Saints Constantine and Helen

21 May 2020
Orthros & Divine Liturgy for Feast Day of Saints Constantine and Helen

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April 12, 2020 · 11:09 am

Divine Liturgy for Palm Sunday

12/04/2020

Jesus enters Jerusalem as King and the people lay palm branches along the road to greet Him. We receive palm branches on this day to acknowledge that we accept Jesus as our King.

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March 28, 2020 · 6:41 pm

The Feast of the Annunciation of our Lady the Theotokos ~ 25 March

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March 25, 2020 · 10:41 am

Service of the ANNUNCIATION OF THE THEOTOKOS

Service of the ANNUNCIATION OF THE THEOTOKOS, St Vasilios Church Brunswick

Liturgy
Sermon in Greek

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March 24, 2020 · 9:34 pm

Great Vespers of the Annunciation

Great Vespers of the Annunciation, Axion Esti Church

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December 22, 2019 · 6:34 am

Figures of the Nativity – The Virgin Mary

Obviously, the central figure in the Nativity story is Christ Himself, the Logos of God become incarnate as a human being. The next most central figure is the Virgin Mary. Tradition teaches us that the Virgin Mary was born to elderly parents, Ioachim and Anna, who had faith to believe that God would grant them a child in old age. She was chosen by God before her birth for this specific role of carrying the Son of God in her womb and allowing Him to enter the creation as a new-born babe. She was raised in the temple from the age of two or three, and then when she came out of the temple around age fourteen, almost immediately she was betrothed to Joseph, and then visited by the Archangel Gabriel, and asked to be part of the God’s plan for our salvation.

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