Sermon Father Aleksey delivered during the Pan-Orthodox Presanctified Liturgy at Christ the Saviour Orthodox Christian Church in Paramus, NJ.
The second Sunday of every Great Lent we celebrate the memory of Saint Gregory Palamas, who lived in a distant 14thcentury. He is widely considered to be the patron saint of Christians who practice silence and stillness in their life. By the late Father Alexander Schmemann A Homily delivered to the community at Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary on Forgiveness Sunday of 1983.
As once more we are about to enter the Great Lent, I would like to remind us – myself first of all, and all of you my fathers, brothers, and sisters – of the verse that we just sang, one of the stichera, and that verse says: "Let us begin Lent, the Fast, with joy." Author: Father Justin Patterson Source: Saint Athanasius Orthodox Church In the English language, Orthodox Christians call the season of preparation before Pascha (Easter) “Great Lent.” The word “Lent” comes from an early English word indicating spring. Indeed, both the feast of Passover in the Jewish tradition and the feast of Pascha in the Christian faith, which is historically and theologically connected to the Jewish Passover, take place from towards the end of spring. For both the Jews and the Christians, these spring feasts herald the grace of God and, for Christians, Feast of Christ as the New Passover Lamb.
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