LET US KEEP THE FEAST, ALLELUIA! Now we can, finally, share the Alleluia once again! Now those hebdomadarii can finally eat after the Great Week concludes with Sunday feasting, and so can we! For 50 days no one in Egeria’s world fasted, an astonishingly efficient way to finish the remaining
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Αλληλούια! Can you read it, the first word in this new Eastertide reflection journey?! It’s all Ελληνικά to me! How about הללויה in Hebrew, the originating language of this joyous proclamation of praise? In Latin as in English it’s the very same, “Alleluia!” From the Hebrew root, literally, Praise the
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Whew wasn’t getting here a push! 40 days (absent Sundays) from Ash Wednesday until today (Part One). Feels like 4 years in chronological time but no, 40 days, a Lenten quarantina if you recall the Venetian term. Like a new driver, or a grammatical period, or much of the world today,
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Since we will be leaving Egeria soon, I thought to provide a few interesting excerpts from her writing about Good Friday of the Great Week I could not wedge into a longer Reflection above. So, Bonus Egeria this Good Friday morning for you! From her journal…. The Bishop’s Chair is
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We have come to Good Friday. Dark is never darker than here. As an exhausted and broken Frodo Baggins says to his faithful friend Samwise Gamgee after their quest to destroy the Ring of Power is fulfilled and the world around them is being destroyed, “I am glad you are
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Sir Patrick Stewart, one of England’s leading Shakespearian actors, recently reprised his role as Jean Luc Picard for CBS’s lucrative Star Trek franchise. Admiral Picard is universally regarded as amongst the most famous science fiction cinematic characters of all time, perfectly blending leadership qualities of unrelenting ethical character with decisive,
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What a pleasure during this Lenten journey to share a small portion of sacred vocabulary with you. And here we come to one of the most significant titles for Christian worship in the latter half of the Great Week. Triduum in Latin of course means the three days, that singular
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Not Holy Wednesday, in case you were guessing. Spy Wednesday is today in the Great Week. Egeria provides the answer why. Following the same worship schedule like the past two days, Bishop Cyril, after the evening worship and blessing in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher’s main nave or sanctuary,
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Welcome to Holy Tuesday, the third day of the Great Week. For Egeria this day mirrored yesterday except for the very end. She describes a special hike after the final evening blessing back up Mount Olivet to a small church near the Gethsemane, very late, as Bishop Cyril read from
Continue readingOur earliest Christian forebears (often called the “primitive church” by scholars who seemingly never perceived the derogatory implication of that term) lived in a terribly brutal world. Recall that while both Jesus and the Apostle Paul enjoyed financial and personal support from wealthy male and female patrons throughout their respective
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