New Zealand Conservative

This is the last of my posts on the Triodion, where I have shared with you the four Sundays that the Eastern Church use to prepare the faithful for Lent This Sunday is called Forgiveness Sunday, also known as cheesefare Sunday, since dairy products may be eaten but meat may not. Today the Church recalls Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden and how God commanded them not to eat the fruit of the tree, a commandment disobeyed and thus Adam and Eve and their descendants, us, became subject to death and corruption Todays Gospel, Matthew 6:14-21 contains wisdom on both forgiveness and fasting. And following on from the theme of forgivness we forgive one another, before entering the fast of Great Lent which for the Eastern Church begins tommorrow a day we call "clean Monday". Western Christians, of course, begin Lent on Wednesday but for all of us the preparation for Easter is beginning in earnest May you have a blessed, peaceful, and spiritually beneficial Great Len...

For the past two Sundays I have been discussing the Sundays of the Triodion, that is the Sundays leading up to Lent and the particular lessons the Eastern Church has for these Sundays Today is called Judgement Sunday and it is about something that we might prefer not to think about and that is that we all will face the Final Judgement some day We read of the Judgement in todays Gospel Matthew 25:31-46 , of the seperation of the sheep from the goats and we earnestly pray that we might be amongst the sheep I have been asked by Western Christians from time to time "are you saved?" . For me the answer is "I hope to be" for unlike those who ask that question I do not believe that salvation is a given thing that you can assume, rather it is a life long process with stumbles as falls along the way. We are given a key to acheiving salvation in today's Gospel however 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my F...

Today is the second Sunday of the Triodian. Last Sunday , the Sunday of the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee , I wrote on how the Eastern Church spends the Four Sundays before Lent by preparing us for it. For the unchurched, the reason why we go to Church is for healing, not so much for the physical healing of our bodies but for the spiritual healing of our souls, a far more important matter, and something we all are in need of no matter how far along our journeys we may be. Today's Gospel reading is Luke 15:11-32 , the parable of the Prodigal Son, and hence today is called Prodigal Son Sunday. This is a parable deep and full of meaning but the lesson and the thing the Church wants us to reflect upon today is contained in the hymn we will sing today during the Divine Liturgy I have recklessly forgotten Your glory, O Father; And among sinners I have scattered the riches which You had given me. Therefore, I cry to You like the Prodigal: "I have sinned before You, O...

2010 is one of the few years when Easter is marked on the same day by both Eastern and Western Christians - I really love it when that happens. Even more unusually the same thing will happen again next year. That means for all of us, both Eastern and Western, Lent is four weeks away. And in light of this I would like to share my journey towards Easter with you with the Churches teaching for each of the Sundays which precede the Great Feast. The Orthodox Church calls this part of the Church year the Lenten Triodion. It is a time of self reflection in preparation for Lent. And to this end each of the Sundays in Triodion has a special theme and lesson. Today is called the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the name coming from todays Gospel Reading: Luke 18:10-14 . And the lesson contained therein is clear, it is contained in the words of a hymn which will be sung in all Orthodox Churches around the world today Let us flee from the pride of the Pharisee! And learn h...