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Chrismation In our previous article we spoke about the Mystery of Baptism and the threefold immersion into the water to shed the ‘old’ man and create a ‘new’ creation in Christ. In the Sacrament of Chrismation (anointing), the newly baptised person receives the Holy Spirit through the anointing with Holy Chrism/Myrrh by the priest. In anointing the recipient with chrism, the priest makes the sign of the cross on the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, breast, hands and feet using the following words each time, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Christ repeatedly promised the gift of [...]

Rock and Sand by Archpriest Josiah Trenham T he title of this book originates from the teaching of Christ about the different houses, with the one founded on the sand collapsing but the one founded on the rock being secure. This metaphor outlines the key aim of the book, which highlights the differences between Protestantism and Orthodoxy and shows how the Orthodox Church is founded on the rock and the Protestant denominations on sand. Rock and Sand approaches this task of explaining the differences between Orthodoxy and the various strands of Protestantism methodically. It starts by explaining the origins of [...]

Dormition Hymn Ἀπόστολοι ἐκ περάτων, συναθροισθέντες ἐνθάδε, Γεθσημανῇ τῷ χωρίῳ, κηδεύσατέ μου τὸ σῶμα, καὶ σὺ Υἱὲ καὶ Θεέ μου, παράλαβέ μου τὸ πνεῦμα. “Apostles, you have been gathered from the ends of the Earth, to this place of Gethsemane, I ask you, lay my body to rest, and you my Son and my God, receive my spirit.”   Much of our Orthodox Tradition, including our hymnology, draw upon events that are not in Scripture. This hymn, which is chanted during the Supplicatory Canons to the Theotokos from 1st – 14th August, immediately preceding the Great Feast of Panayia, the [...]

The earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness, the world and all who dwell therein (Psalm 23) This Psalm of David is used in preparation for Holy Communion and in many Church services. It is intended for the first day of the week, being Sunday, and is also a reference to the eighth day, being the Resurrection. St Athanasius the Great notes that this Psalm is teaching us about the Ascension of Christ and how the Gentiles can become worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. It starts in verse 1 with recognition that God created the earth and that the [...]

Elder Placide Deseille Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Saint Anthony the Great Archimandrite Père Placide Deseille was an outstanding and inspiring French cleric and theologian who was renowned for his intelligence, his consistency and his modesty. He was born on 16 April 1926 in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. At the age of 16 he became a monk at the Roman Catholic Cistercian monastery of Bellefontaine. In 1966 he founded a Byzantine-rite monastery in Aubazine en Corrèze, together with some monastic friends. Because of his broad education, he directed the publication «Sources Chretiennes», publishing the Holy Fathers of the Church. After a [...]