St. Raphael of Brooklyn Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church in America - Diocese of the South
1277 N. Paul Dr., Inverness, FL 34453
/ Journey to Pascha
Christ the Bridegroom
Christ the Bridegroom
Christ the Bridegroom

Is it necessary to explain that Easter is much more than one of the feasts, more than a yearly commemoration of a past event?

Anyone who has, be it only once, taken part in that night which is "brighter than the day," who has tasted of that unique joy, knows it. [...]

On Easter we celebrate Christ's Resurrection as something that happened and still happens to us. (Continue reading excerpt "An Introduction to Great Lent" by Fr Alexander Schmemann)

Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee (Beginning of the Lenten Triodion)
Click Icon for further reading
Click Icon for further reading

What is the Lenten Triodion?

The Lenten Triodion is the service book of the Orthodox Church that provides the texts for the divine services for the pre-Lenten weeks of preparation, Great Lent, and Holy WeekThe Lenten Triodion is the title of a classic and popular English book translated with an extensive and helpful introduction by Metropolitan Kallistos and Mother Mary; it provides many (but not all) of the texts necessary to observe the great fast. In Greek and Slavonic it is simply called the triodion. It is called the triodion because the canons appointed for Matins during this period are composed of three odes each.

The weeks of preparation, and especially the Sunday gospel readings, serve to exercise the mind, whereas the fasting of Great Lent focuses on the body, and Holy Week's services exercise the spirit.

Sunday of the Prodigal Son
Read more
Read more

 Scripture Readings

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

SUNDAY OF THE PRODIGAL SON — Tone 2. Afterfeast of the Meeting. Ven. Isidore of Pelusium (ca. 436-440). Rt. Blv. George, Great Prince of Vladimir (1238). Ven. Kirill (Cyril), Abbot and Wonderworker of Novoezérsk (Novgorod—1532). Ven. Abraham and Coprius, of Pechenga (Vologdá—15th c.). Martyr Jadorus (3rd c.). Hieromartyr Abramius, Bishop of Arbela in Assyria (ca. 344-347). Ven. Nicholas the Confessor, Abbot of Studion (868).

 

Judgement Sunday (Meatfare)
Read more
Read more

Scripture Readings

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

SUNDAY OF MEATFARE — Tone 3. Sunday of the Last Judgment.Hieromartyr Blaise, Bishop of Sebaste (ca. 316). Ven. Dimitri (Demetrius), Wonderworker of Prolix (Vologdá—1392). Rt. Blv. Great Prince Vsevolod (in holy Baptism Gabriel), Wonderworker of Pskov (1138). Righteous Theodora, wife of the Emperor Theophilus the Iconoclast (ca. 867).

Forgiveness Sunday: Expulsion of Adam from Paradise (Cheesefare)
Read more
Read more

Scripture Readings

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

SUNDAY OF CHEESEFARE — Tone 4. The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. St. Leo the Great, Pope of Rome (461). Ven Cosmas of Yakhromsk (1492). St. Agapitus the Confessor, Bishop of Synnada in Phrygia (4th c.). St. Flavian the Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople (449-450).

1st Sunday of Great Lent: Sunday of Orthodoxy
Read more
Read more

Scripture Readings

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT — Tone 5. Sunday of Orthodoxy. St. Tarasius, Archbishop of Constantinople (806).

2nd Sunday of Great Lent: St Gregory Palamas
Read more
Read more

Scripture Readings

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT — Tone 6. St. Gregory Palamas. Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of the Kiev Caves Lavra. Ven. Gerasimus of the Jordan (475). Ven. Gerásim of Vologdá (1178). Ven. Joasaph of Snetogórsk (Pskov—1299). Rt. Blv. Prince Basil (Vasilko) of Rostov (1238). Rt. Blv. Prince Daniel of Moscow (1303). Martyrs Paul and his sister, Juliana (ca. 273). St. James (Jacob) the Faster of Phœnicia (Syria—6th c.). Translation of the Relics of Rt. Blv. Prince St. Wenceslaus (Viacheslav), Prince of the Czechs (935). St. Gregory, Bishop of Constantius in Cyprus.

3rd Sunday of Great Lent: Veneration of the Cross
Read more
Read more

Scripture Readings

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT — Tone 7. Veneration of the Cross. St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (638-644). St. Euthymius, Bishop of Novgorod (1458). Hieromartyr Pionius of Smyrna and those with him: Asclepiades, Macedonia, Linus, and Sabina (250). Translation of the Relics of Martyr Epimachus of Pelusium. St. Sophronius, Bishop of Vracha (Bulgaria—1813). Ven. Sophronii, Recluse, of the Kiev Caves (Far Caves—13th c.).

4th Sunday of Great Lent: St John Climacus (of the Ladder)
Read more
Read more

Scripture Readings

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT — Tone 8. Repose of St. Nikolai of Zhicha(1956). St. John Climacus (of The Ladder). St. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem (386). Martyrs Trophimus and Eucarpus of Nicomedia (ca. 300). Ven. Aninas of the Euphrates.

5th Sunday of Great Lent: St Mary of Egypt
Read more
Read more

Scripture Readings

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT — Tone 1. The Annunciation of our Most Holy Lady, Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary St Mary of Egypt.

Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)
Read more
Read more

Please see Schedule of Services/Calendar Page for Holy Week Services

Scripture Readings

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

ENTRY OF OUR LORD INTO JERUSALEMPalm Sunday . Ven. Mary of Egypt (522). Ven. Euthymius of Suzdal’ (1404). Martyr Abraham of Bulgaria (1229). Ven. Gerontius, Canonarch, of the Kiev Caves (Far Caves—14th c.). Ven. Macarius, Abbot of Pelecete (ca. 830). Martyrs Gerontius and Basilides (3rd c.). Righteous Achaza.

 

HOLY PASCHA: The Resurrection of Our Lord
Read more
Read more

Scripture Readings

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Today’s commemorated feasts and saints

HOLY PASCHA — THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST[Beginning of the Pentecostarion]. Holy Apostles of the Seventy: Herodion, Agabus, Asyncritus, Rufus, Phlegon, Hermes, and those with them (1st c.). St. Niphon, Bishop of Novgorod (1156). Ven. Rufus the Obedient, of the Kiev Caves (Far Caves—14th c.). Martyr Pausilippus of Heraclea in Thrace (2nd c.). St. Celestine, Pope of Rome (432). The SPANISH Icon of the Most-holy Theotokos.

The Lenten Triodion
The Lenten Triodion
Triodion, Great Lent, Holy Week & Pascha Explained
Triodion, Great Lent, Holy Week & Pascha Explained
Orthodox Study Bible
Orthodox Study Bible
Meditations for Great Lent
Meditations for Great Lent
Meditations for Pascha
Meditations for Pascha
Meditations for Holy Week
Meditations for Holy Week
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
Season of Repentance: Lenten Homilies of Saint John of Kronstadt
Season of Repentance: Lenten Homilies of Saint John of Kronstadt
The Lenten Spring
The Lenten Spring
The Icon Series

Watch and learn about six of the foremost icons of Orthodox Lenten:  The Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, The Icon of the Ladder of Divine Ascent, The Icon of the Raising of Lazarus, The Icon of the Resurrection, The Icon of the Ascension, and The Icon of Pentacost.

For The Children . . .
Holy Week & Pascha
Holy Week & Pascha
Orthodox Children's Illustrated Bible
Orthodox Children's Illustrated Bible
Glorious Pascha
Glorious Pascha

For more children's books. . . visit Orthodox Christian Children.com

 

Online resources to aid in teaching children, teens & young adults about Triodion, Great Lent & Pascha:

  • Family Gospel Lessons - Goarch.org
  • Ways to Share Great Lent & Pascha with your Children - Antiochian.org
  • Let Us Attend: Sunday's Gospel for Children - Antiochian.org
  • "Be the Bee"  - Official YouTube channel of the GOA's Department of Youth & Young Adult Ministries: Complete Series 

 

 

 

 

Orthodox Holy Week

Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week click here click here 

Great and Holy Monday Scripture Readings
Great and Holy Monday Scripture Readings
Great and Holy Tuesday Scripture Readings
Great and Holy Tuesday Scripture Readings
Great and Holy Wednesday Scripture Readings
Great and Holy Wednesday Scripture Readings

  

Great and Holy Thursday Scripture Readings
Great and Holy Thursday Scripture Readings
Great and Holy Friday Scripture Readings
Great and Holy Friday Scripture Readings
Great and Holy Saturday Scripture Readings
Great and Holy Saturday Scripture Readings

 

 

Icon of the Ressurection
Icon of the Ressurection
Icon of the Ressurection

In the Orthodox Church the feast of Easter is officially called Pascha, the word which means the Passover. It is the new Passover of the new and everlasting covenant foretold by the prophets of old. It is the eternal Passover from death to life and from earth to heaven. It is the Day of the Lord proclaimed by God’s holy prophets, “the day which the Lord has made” for His judgment over all creation, the day of His final and everlasting victory. It is the Day of the Kingdom of God, the day “which has no night” for “its light is the Lamb” (Rev 21.22–25).

 

The celebration of Easter in the Orthodox Church, therefore, is once again not merely an historical reenactment of the event of Christ’s Resurrection as narrated in the gospels. It is not a dramatic representation of the first Easter morning. There is no “sunrise service” since the Easter Matins and the Divine Liturgy are celebrated together in the first dark hours of the first day of the week in order to give men the experience of the “new creation” of the world, and to allow them to enter mystically into the New Jerusalem which shines eternally with the glorious light of Christ, overcoming the perpetual night of evil and destroying the darkness of this mortal and sinful world:

Shine! Shine! O New Jerusalem! The glory of the Lord has shone upon you! Exult and be glad O Zion! Be radiant O Pure Theotokos, in the Resurrection of your Son! continue reading

Share This:

The Misson of the Orthodox Church in America, the local autocephalous Orthodox Christian Church, is to be faithful in fulfilling the commandment of Christ to "Go into all the world and make disciples of nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. . . ."

Learn More  >

St. Raphael Orthodox Church is part of the Diocese of the South. Our Diocese spans 14 states and has over 100 faithful clergy and monastics serving in 78 parishes, missions, and three monastic communities. We invite you to come worship with us from Alburquerque, New Mexico to Wilmington, North Carolina! Please see our Parish Listings for more details and to find a parish near you, or click on a story above to see the latest news from from the Diocese!

More Information >

The Holy Scripture is a collection of books written over multiple centuries by those inspired by God to do so. It is the primary witness to the Orthodox Christian faith, within Holy Tradition and often described as its highest point. It was written by the prophets and apostles in human language, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and collected, edited, and canonized by the Church.

Daily Readings >

Listen to Daily Readings >

Holiness or sainthood is a gift (charisma) give by God to man, through the Holy spirit. Man's effort to become a participant in the life of divine holiness is indispensable, but sanctification itself is the work of the Holy trinity, especially through the sanctifying power of Jesus Christ, who was incarnate, suffered crucifiction, and rose from the dead, in order to lead us to the life of holiness, through the communion with the Holy Spirit.

Today's Saints >

Listen to Saints of the Day >

St Raphael Orthodox Church