Category: Tradition

The tradition of placing Orthodox Icons in the church and home developed mainly from the necessity in the early second century to counteract the false Gnostic teaching that Christ was only a shadow and not really and fully human. The Christians countered this incorrect teaching by emphasizing the reality of Christ as the God-Man, for: […]

Yes! Western Orthodoxy is a ministry of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. It has restored to the Orthodox Church her rightful heritage of the beautiful Western forms of worship. Western Orthodoxy enables Americans to worship in a way which speaks to their hearts, language, music and traditions. It enables Americans to be […]

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 […]

Pascha – Its Orthodox Easter The Feast of Feasts starts at about 11 pm. We will all dress up and go to church. Little children are holding their lambada (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 […]

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 was […]

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 […]