What Is Fasting Since the diet trend has boomed in our society, the word fasting has been thrown around quite a bit.  There’s the Juice Fast, Fruit Fast, Water Fast and many, many more.  The idea of fasting in the diet world draws plenty of people every day because it promises instant results within a […]

And its here, The Pentecost Celebration Pentecost is a celebration that fills the week, thus is celebrated throughout the week climaxing to Saturday. The most special of the after feast days is Monday, called Whit Monday or Monday of the Holy Spirit or Third Day of the Trinity. Even though the start of the Church […]

The Anastenária Custom Explained. The folklore custom that is predominantly connected with the feast of St Helen and St Constantine is the world famous “Anastenária”, a ritual of ecstatic dance and fire walking. Haven’t you heard about it? Let me paint you a picture… The custom is mainly located in the village of St Helen […]

Mageiritsa Soup.. Say what? If you haven’t had the chance to try it and despise the thought of eating lamb’s inwards, I have a vegan’s alternative for you. You will need ½ kgr mushrooms – portobello is my recommendation, 4-5 spring onions, the juice of a lemon, one lettuce semi-finely cut, dill, a handful of […]

Pascha – Its Orthodox Easter The Feast of Feasts, starts about 11pm. We will all dress up and go to the church. Little children are holding their lambatha (λαμπάδα), a colored candle ornamented with flowers or other spring and Easter art craft, a gift from the godparents. The adults will have to be contented with […]

Holy Saturday, only a few hours separating us from the Pascha!!!!   In the morning Holy Saturday Vespers and a Divine Liturgy of St. Basil are served, accompanied with reading of Psalms and Resurrection hymns that describe Christ’s descend into Hades, celebrated as the First Resurrection of Adam and the conquering of Death. This service […]

The culmination of the Holy Week is Great and Holy Friday. Basically this is the day of  Christ’s funeral and entombment. In the morning service, the priest takes the Body of Christ – the Epitaphios –   wraps it in a white sheet and places it inside the altar. Inside the Sepulcher is placed a painted […]

Holy Thursday is the day the martyrdom of Christ takes place. On the evening, the Holy Passion service of the reading of the Twelve Gospels is conducted. Faithfull go over every moment of agony, pain, suffer and humiliation Christ went through. The question by the Sanhedrin, the trial by Pontius Pilate, scourging, the mocking as […]

Pascha and the first three days of the week. On the first three days of the Holy Week Jesus left His last instructions to the Apostles and the rest of His pupils. Holy Monday is dedicated to the memory of Joseph, the youngest son of Jacob.  Joseph was jaundiced by his brothers who tossed him […]

Orthodox Easter is approaching and we thought it would be a good time to do some articles on Pascha (Orthodox Easter). This will be a series of posts covering tradition and the meaning of Pascha for us Orthodox Christians. With these series of posts introducing our new author Effie Arvanitou. For the Orthodox Christians around […]