Κατηγορία

In English

19 Απριλίου 2020
0

The Time, Location and Purpose of Christ’s Descent into Hades, according to Biblical and Patristic Tradition (Alexandros Christodoulou, Theologian)

Κατηγορίες: In English

The time of the descent. As regards the time of the descent, we can see that Christ’s divine soul descended into Hades immediately after His exclamation on the Cross ‘It is finished’, when His soul was separated from His all-pure body. He remained there three days, until the Resurrection, a period during which His body lay without breath or decay in the tomb. This was from the evening of Friday to the morning of Sunday (See Matth., 12, 40; Acts 2, 31 and 13, 37; Ps. 15, 10; Luke 23, 43; John 20, 17; I Peter, 3, 19 etc.). This is why the Orthodox Church declared that the descent was to be celebrated on Great Saturday. The synaxari for the day ...

Περισσότερα
18 Απριλίου 2020
0

Patriarchal Encyclical for Holy Pascha 2020 (Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople)

Κατηγορίες: In English

† B A R T H O L O M E W BY GOD’S MERCY ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE-NEW ROME AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH TO THE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH: MAY THE GRACE, PEACE AND MERCY OF CHRIST RISEN IN GLORY BE WITH YOU ALL * * * Dearest brother Hierarchs and beloved children in the Lord, Having arrived at Holy Pascha and becoming partakers of the joy of the Resurrection, we praise the Lord of glory, who trampled down death by death and resurrected with Him the entire race of Adam, opening for us all the gates of paradise. The splendid Resurrection of Christ is the confirmation that what prevails in the life of the world is not death, but the Savior who abolished the dominion of death. Formerly known ...

Περισσότερα
18 Απριλίου 2020
0

Through the prism of eternity (Saint Justin Popovich)

Κατηγορίες: In English

For us, Christians, who are illumined and enlightened in Christ, everything in this world has value and meaning only insofar as it’s a means and path to eternity. Because we see what’s not apparent and gaze upon the invisible. We regulate the whole of our lives in time on the basis of that which is eternal, what is human on the basis of the God/human. As long as there is something eternal within the sphere of the temporal, that’s what we live off. But when that’s missing, we’ll seek it beyond time, in the kingdom of the unending and invisible. We gaze upon everything through the prism of eternity, that is, through the prism of Christ, since He is the eternal God and ...

Περισσότερα
17 Απριλίου 2020
0

The Dogma of Christ’s Descent into Hades

Κατηγορίες: In English

The descent in the Orthodox dogmatic system There is evidence for the Orthodox dogma of Christ’s descent into Hades both in Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition, though it is vague and general. Holy Scripture does not define in strictly dogmatic terms the details of the Redeemer’s descent into the kingdom of the dead, instead using general and symbolic expressions; nor did the ancient Church develop this dogma based on the Apostolic Tradition, since there was no reason to. The ancient Church Fathers occasionally made reference to the dogma of the descent, but not leave us with specific, systematic treatises concerning it. Instead, they were content to repeat the relevant passages in Scripture and the experience of the dogma in the worship ...

Περισσότερα