Paschal Homily of St John Chrysostom Ἡ χάρις τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρὸς καὶ ἡ κοινωνία τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος εἴη μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. T his blessing, chanted by the clergy at the beginning of the second main part of the Holy Liturgy, commonly known as the Holy Anaphora, is a direct quote of St Paul’s final blessing from his 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Cor 13:14). Every [...]

Paschal Homily of St John Chrysostom In older parish practice, it was customary for this homily to be read out at the end of the Matins Service (Orthros) of Easter Sunday as an introduction to the Paschal Liturgy. The first three lines of the Homily reveals why: “If anyone is devout and a lover of God, let him enjoy this beautiful and radiant festival. If anyone is a wise servant, let him, rejoicing, enter into the joy of his Lord. If anyone has wearied himself in fasting, let him now receive his recompense.” The Paschal Liturgy itself is where we [...]

In his homily on the Annunciation of the Theotokos, St. Nicholas Cabasilas asks: “But those things which drew the Artificer Himself to earth… What were these things?  A blameless life, an utterly pure way of life, the rejection of all evil, the practice of every virtue, a soul purer than light, a body that was entirely spiritual, brighter than the sun, purer than Heaven, and more sacred than the Cherubic thrones.” In the Theotokos we have the perfect example of humanity victorious over sin. By struggling against sin she overcame it, never becoming receptive to it as we are. Our [...]

1st Ode Katavasia of Christmas This hymn is chanted in every Matins (Όρθρος) service from the 21st November until Christmas Day. It is the 1st Ode of the Katavasies of Christmas, written by St Kosmas, Bishop of Maiouma. Most of the hymn is an exact duplication of the opening of the 38th Oration of St Gregory the Theologian on the Feast of Theophany, from the thrice-fold repetition of the exclamatory phrases beginning with ‘Christ’, up to the phrase which St Gregory himself borrows from Psalm 91:1, “Sing to the Lord all the earth”. Τhese words were also sung by the [...]

What we Hear in Church Triodion Hymn of the Matins Service In the four weeks leading up to Great Lent, there is a discernible shift in the hymnography of the Church. This is because from the Vespers service of Sunday of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee and up to Holy Saturday, the chanters use the service book titled, the Triodion. During the preparatory period up to and during Great Lent, this hymn is chanted after the recitation of the 50th Psalm, during the Sunday Matins Service. Psalm 50 is attributed to King David who wrote it after having committed [...]