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Service of the Great Canon of St Andrew St Andrew of Crete (660-740 AD) was a bishop, born in Damascus, who served the Church in various ways until being sent to Crete, which was his final place of office. He is counted as one of the most prolific and important hymnographers of the Orthodox Church, traditionally being known as the first hymnographer to write the type of hymn known as the κανόνα (canon). Amongst his works are major hymns sung on the feasts of Christmas and of the Holy Apostles, Saints Peter and Paul. His most well known work though, [...]

Liberation of the Israelites from Egypt – the Passover The Passover, one of the most important festivals in Judaism, is the commemoration of the liberation of Israel from Egypt after 430 years of slavery.  However the Passover (‘Pascha’ in Greek) is also the root of the Christian celebration of Easter. What is it that links our celebration of Christ’s Resurrection with this Jewish festival? The initiation of the Passover is described in the 12th chapter of Exodus, where Pharaoh refuses to grant freedom to Israel, even after Moses announces to him that the tenth and most terrible plague is about [...]

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? – Psalm 22:1 This verse is the start of a powerful and prophetic Psalm. It is well known because these are words spoken by Christ on the Cross. It is easy to misinterpret their meaning that God is absent for no reason. It is impossible to explain completely why Christ said these words, because our Church regards the Lord’s death on the Cross a great mystery. We will, however, attempt to receive an insight into this mystery. In the days of Christ, when a Rabbi quoted the first verse of a [...]

What is the Kingdom of Heaven that Christ spoke of? The first answer that comes to kind is that Jesus is referring to Heaven, where hopefully we will go after we die.  Indeed, nothing is more important than this, the purpose of our life is to get to Heaven.  We all get stressed over many things, but if we could only see things clearly, then we would realise that by far the most important matter for all of us is to be close to God and to get to Heaven, and many of the things that we stress about are [...]

Gospel Reading March 23rd (Mark 8:34-38; 9:1) Sunday of the Holy Cross The Lord said: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (8:34). What does it mean to take up your cross and follow Christ? Our cross is our conscience. In turn, our conscience is a receptacle of God's word. If we listen to the word of God that knocks at our door, then we open the door. But if we ignore it, then Christ has no way of entering into our heart. Our cross is a burden, [...]