Frederica

The “woman at the well,” that vivid figure in the 4th chapter of St. John’s Gospel (John 4:16-26), who converses with Christ beside the well, is known to the Church as St. Photini. She’s a remarkable figure and clearly an intelligent woman, though her irregular romantic life probably made her…

This past Sunday was Cross Veneration Sunday for Orthodox Christians, and I gave the homily at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church about how the Annunciation (March 25) and the Crucifixion are the two “parentheses” around the entire Christian story. Here’s the text of my talk, and I linked below to…

Here’s a tidbit I was interested to learn: When most people are illiterate, they call poems and prayers by the first line. For example, when we say “the Our Father,” listeners know we are referring to the whole prayer, and not just those two words. Catholics and Orthodox call it…

A few days ago, journalist Terry Mattingly posted on his Substack page a column about the beginning of Lent. No, Orthodox Christians don’t have ashes on our forehead (though we may well think, “Dang, that’s cool, why didn’t we think of that?”). We begin with the Rite of Forgiveness, in…

What does “Commitment to Reality” mean to you? You can hear my thoughts in the first episode of this podcast, where the host is Dave Hanegraaff. I met Dave when I went to his father’s chrismation, in April 2017. That day his dad, Hank Hanegraaff, was chrismated along with his…

Well, here we are! On the evening of the first day of Great Lent, we went to Compline. In the churches I’ve been familiar with, Compline is offered every Monday night in Lent. I recommend it to anyone who’d like to just spy out a little Orthodox worship. First, because…

This Sunday is the last day before the beginning of Great Lent, our 7-week journey to Pascha on April 12. (The Pascha service actually begins just before midnight on Saturday, April 11, and is followed by feasting till dawn. All Christians should experience this at least once in their lives.)…