The Orthodox Churches that follow the Julian calendar (the Orthodox churches of Constantinople, Albania, Alexandria, Antioch, Bulgaria, Japan, Cyprus, Greece, America, and Romania) celebrate Easter (Pascha) today, on April 24th, 2022.
If you are interested in finding out more about the holiday, here are some articles from the previous years: 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Easter (Pascha) is a celebration of the resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, The Son of God, The Second Person of The Holy Trinity.
He is risen!
I wish you a joyous Easter celebration and a blessed year ahead!
And I leave you with this video on how Romanians celebrate Easter:
R&R Partners Bucharest – Orthodox Easter in Romania
“What is God’s Will for my life?” is a question Christians have been wrestling with for centuries. Every Christian who wants to live a life pleasing to God has wondered what God wants him or her to do throughout every stage of his or her life.
Because it is a question I’m still trying to find answers for, I’ve sought online the wisdom of various people from different Christian denominations, and I now want to share with you a few videos in which clergymen try to offer guidance on this topic.
Let’s start with Orthodox Christianity.
The first video is of Fr. Andrew Smith from The Holy Annunciation Church:
God’s Will for Your Life – A Sermon at Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church, Brisbane
Following are two videos from a sermon of Fr. John Vass from The Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church:
Orthodox Sermon – What is God’s Will (Part 1)
Orthodox Sermon – What is God’s Will? (Part 2)
Let’s move on to the Coptic Church. In the following video, Fr. Anthony Messeh from The St. Mary and St. Joseph Coptic Orthodox Church speaks about the topic in a conference:
Fr. Anthony Messeh – What is God’s Will for My Life?
From the Catholic Church, I have chosen the following two videos. The first one is a short clip of Fr. Mike Schmitz, who sums up how to never miss God’s Will for your life, as a Catholic:
Fr. Mike Schmitz: “How To Never Miss God’s Will For Your Life” | SEEK2015
The second Catholic video is one of Sister Maris Stella of The Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia. She talks about how to discern God’s plan for your life.
Discerning God’s Plan For Your Life
And finally, I’ve chosen 2 videos from Protestant & Evangelical Christianity. The first one is of Pastor John Piper. He lists a series of steps about how to find God’s Will for your life, as an Evangelical Christian.
Desiring God – John Piper – How Do I Find God’s Will for My Life?
And I will close this article with a video on the same topic from the popular Protestant website GotQuestions.org:
How can I know God’s will for my life?
Let me know what if you found any of these videos helpful in the comments. Also, I invite you to share your thoughts on the topic of finding God’s Will for your life, what are your ways of seeking it, and anything else you’d like to share on the subject.
My life has had a lot of ups and downs over the past half a year or so. I currently feel exhausted, and I don’t think I have the right mental state to write a detailed article or to even gather information from the internet and mix it into an article about Orthodox Easter.
I invite you to read about the holiday in the previous years’ articles (2019 and 2020), and I wish you a blessed Orthodox Easter (Pascha), filled with joy for Christ’s resurrection from the dead, and with gratitude for everything He has done for us.
Silouan the Athonite (Russian: Силуан Афонский) also sometimes referred to as Silouan of Athos, Saint Silvanus the Athonite or Staretz Silouan (January 17, 1866 – September 24, 1938) was an Eastern Orthodox monk of Russian origin, born Simeon Ivanovich Antonov who was a poet and monk of the St. Panteleimon Monastery.
In the following video, Fr. Angelo Maggos from the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church offers us a detailed presentation of the origin and significance of the word “AMEN” in Christianity. If you were interested in finding out what “Amen” means and why Christians use this word at the end of the prayers, I invite you to watch it.
What is the Origin of “Amen”? | Orthodoxy Fact vs Fiction
Today we observe the Feast of The Holy Epiphany, a commemoration of our Lord Jesus Christ’s baptism in the river Jordan. Happy Feast of The Holy Epiphany to everyone!
Basilica of St. Mary – Feast of Epiphany 2020 – Blessing Your Home
The Jesus Prayer is one of the most important prayers in Orthodoxy, and its repetition throughout the day is recommended by many of the Orthodox Fathers.
Below is a compilation of videos presenting the opinions of several Christian Orthodox Elders about the Jesus Prayer.
Elder Arsenie Papacioc on whether everyone should say the Jesus Prayer
Elder Ephraim of Katounakia on how to say the Jesus Prayer
The Jesus Prayer explained by Fr. Aimilianos of Simonopetra
Fr. Spyridon’s reflections on the Jesus Prayer
The Jesus Prayer said by Orthodox Saints and Elders
In the comments section, I invite you to share your thoughts on The Jesus Prayer, and tell us in what ways you have incorporated it your prayer life.
Eastern-Orthodoxy observes the Feast Day of Saints Constantin and Helen every year on May 21st.
Saint Constantine was born in 272, the son of Constantius Chlorus, ruler of the western part of the Roman Empire. His mother was St Helen.
After his father death, in 306, St. Constantine was proclaimed successor to the throne. The empire was ruled at that time by several Caesars, each with his own territory.
When Constantine learned that the Caesars Maxentius and Maximinus had joined against him, he marched on Italy, where, on the eve of a decisive battle outside Rome, he saw in the sky a radiant Cross with the words “In this sign conquer.” He ordered that a battle-standard be made bearing the image of a cross and inscribed with the Name of Jesus Christ.
The following day he and his forces attacked and won a spectacular victory. He entered Rome in triumph and in 312 was proclaimed “Emperor of the West” by the Senate. The East was ruled by his brother-in-law, Licinius. Soon thereafter he issued his “Edict of Milan”, whereby Christianity was officially tolerated for the first time, and persecution of Christians ceased. (Many believe, mistakenly, that the Edict made Christianity the only legal religion; in fact, it proclaimed freedom of religion throughout the Empire).
Licinius, though he pretended to accept the Edict, soon began persecuting Christians in his domain. In response, Constantine fought and defeated him in 324, becoming sole Emperor of the entire Roman Empire. In 324 he laid the foundations of a new capital in the town of Byzantium; in 330 he inaugurated the new capital city, naming it “New Rome” and “Constantinople”. In 325 he called the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea, attending its sessions himself. Shortly before his repose in 337, he received Holy Baptism; he died on Holy Pentecost, at the age of sixty-five, and was interred in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.
St. Constantine’s holy mother Helen, in her role as “Augusta” of the Empire, founded countless churches. She traveled to Jerusalem and found the True Cross on which the Lord was crucified. In the Holy Land she established churches at the sites of Christ’s Nativity and burial, which still stand today in much-modified form. She died at about eighty years of age.
Orthodox Easter in 2020 is on Sunday, April 19. In Orthodoxy, this day is called Pascha.
While Pascha and the western Easter are both calculated using the same formula, the end dates often differ because they have different starting points. Orthodox Churches still use the Julian calendar as the starting point for the Pascha calculation.
While the majority of Orthodox Churches adopted the modern Gregorian calendar, some retained the Julian. To maintain unity within the entire church, all Orthodox celebrate the feast of feasts on the same day throughout the world.
The old Julian solar calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian’s at
the moment and its lunar calendar is four to five days behind, causing
the date for Pascha to often fall on a different date to that of Easter.
While Pascha normally falls either one or five weeks later than
Easter, on occasion they can be four weeks apart and on some years the
dates of Pascha and Easter coincide. The dates coincided most recently
in 2017 and the next coincidence will be in 2025.
Pascha is the most joyous celebration of the entire year, as the community gathers together to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Except that, this year, in many Orthodox countries, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, people are prohibited from attending the liturgies and from gathering together in large numbers in any public places. Nevertheless, we can gather together in spirit and be united in prayer from our homes.
