Our God “is not the God of the dead but the God of the living”. (Mk. 12:27) Our greatest joy is our belief in Christ’s resurrection and the resurrection of all in Him. And the Church’s constant prayer for the departed members is thus the affirmation that they are still alive in Christ, that we are all united in God’s love, that, in the words of St. Paul, “neither death, nor life….shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38) The Orthodox funeral service is a wonderful expression of this faith. Both its words and music convey to us the certitude that death is not the absurd end, which deprives life of its meaning and permeates everything with its poison of despair, but the passage into the “desired fatherland”, the return to Him in whom is all joy, all peace, all fulfillment. Indeed it makes life meaningful - it gives it a sense of direction, it makes it a movement toward Paradise. Rt. Rev. Alexander Schmemann Dean, St. Vladimir’s Seminary

The second Sunday before Lent is called Meat Fare Sunday or Sunday of the Last Judgment. This is the signal for all those who fast from meat until Easter to begin the meat fast. Read Matthew 25:31-46. Here is an account of the universal judgment. The needy are the intimate brethren of Christ. When you help “the least of these” you help Christ. Jesus identifies Himself with the poor and the outcast and invites all who are filled with love for others to join Him in His glory by helping those in need. The standard of judgment is uncalculated mercy toward the needy. The works produced by faith are very important, for a saving faith produces righteous works. It is possible to fool ourselves about whether we truly believe, but what we do reflects our true inner state so that we will need no other evidence before God’s court.

The second Sunday before Lent is called Meat Fare Sunday or Sunday of the Last Judgment. This is the signal for all those who fast from meat until Easter to begin the meat fast. Read Matthew 25:31-46. Here is an account of the universal judgment. The needy are the intimate brethren of Christ. When you help “the least of these” you help Christ. Jesus identifies Himself with the poor and the outcast and invites all who are filled with love for others to join Him in His glory by helping those in need. The standard of judgment is uncalculated mercy toward the needy. The works produced by faith are very important, for a saving faith produces righteous works. It is possible to fool ourselves about whether we truly believe, but what we do reflects our true inner state so that we will need no other evidence before God’s court.

Memorial Saturday

Great Vespers followed by General Confession - On the morning of Cheesefare Sunday, at the Divine Liturgy, we hear the words of Christ: “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses…” (Mark 6:14-15). Then, after Vespers – after hearing the announcement of Lent in the Great Prokeimenon: “Turn not away Thy face from Thy child for I am afflicted! Hear me speedily! Draw near unto my soul and deliver it!” [and] after making our entrance into Lenten worship, with its special memories, with the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, with its prostrations – we ask forgiveness from each other, we perform the rite of forgiveness and reconciliation. And as we approach each other with words of reconciliation, the choir intones the Paschal hymns, filling the church with the anticipation of Paschal joy.

The Sunday of Forgiveness is the Sunday before the beginning of Great Lent. This Sunday is also known as Cheese Fare Sunday and reminds those who are fasting from dairy products that dairy is not eaten today and throughout the Great Lent until the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Read Matthew 6:14-21. Jesus directs each of us to pray for the Father’s forgiveness of all, and for all of us to forgive each other. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12). We request God to be to us as we are to our neighbors. Jesus insists on mutual forgiveness between people as a precondition of God’s forgiveness. Those who do not forgive are not forgiven. This teaching is repeated by Jesus in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matt. 18:23-35), which ends with the same words.

Great Lent Begins today. Great Lent – the time of repentance, the time of our reconciliation with God. Repentance is the beginning, and also, the condition of a truly Christian life. Our Church has set apart seven weeks as a special time of repentance and calls each Orthodox Christian to a special spiritual effort. The Church calls us to deepen our religious conscience, to increase and strengthen the spiritual contents of our life, to follow her in her pilgrimage towards renewal and rededication to God.

For the first four days of Holy and Great Lent we conduct the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete. It is one of the most spiritually uplifting and inspiring in the Holy Tradition of our Church. The holy Canon is a "dialogue between St. Andrew and his soul." The ongoing theme is an urgent exhortation to change one's life or in other words to repent. - - Monday - A Helper and a Protector has become salvation to me. / This is my God, Whom I will glorify./  God of my fathers I will exalt Him for in glory was He glorified. / Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.

Attend O heaven and I will speak, / I will sing of Christ, / Who from the Virgin took flesh to dwell with us. / Have mercy on us, O God, have mercy on us.

Establish, O Lord, my unstable heart / on the rock of Your commandments for only You are holy and the Lord. / Have mercy on us, O God, have mercy on us.

Out of the night watching early for You, / enlighten me I pray, O Lover of man, / and guide me in Your commandments, / and teach me, O Saviour, to do Your will. / Have mercy on us, O God, have mercy on us.

Today we remember the miracle of St Theodore and the boiled wheat. Fifty years after the death of St Theodore, the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363), wanting to commit an outrage upon the Christians during the first week of Great Lent, commanded the city-commander of Constantinople to sprinkle all the food provisions in the marketplaces with the blood offered to idols. St Theodore appeared in a dream to Archbishop Eudoxius, ordering him to inform all the Christians that no one should buy anything at the marketplaces, but rather to eat cooked wheat with honey (kolyva). In memory of this occurrence, the Orthodox Church annually celebrates the holy Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit on the first Saturday of Great Lent and kolyva is blessed and distributed to the faithful.

Tomorrow is "Orthodoxy Sunday" - On the first Sunday of Lent in 843, the veneration of icons was solemnly proclaimed at the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Constantinople. The day was called “The Triumph of Orthodoxy” and its memory is still kept in the Orthodox Church on the first Sunday of Lent. The Iconoclastic Movement - Emperor Leo the Isaurian took a strong stand against the veneration of icons. In 730 AD he published a law prohibiting their use and ordered icons to be taken down from all public places. Leo’s son, Constantine, applied the law viciously. However, the persecution subsided and in 787 Empress Irene called the Seventh Ecumenical Council (the last one) which stated that “Icons are to be venerated; God alone is to be served in faith.” During the reign of the Emperor who succeeded Irene, many monks and bishops became martyrs in the persecutions that followed. Finally in the year 843. the Orthodox teaching triumphed, thanks to Empress Theodosia.

“We venerate Thy most pure image, O Good One, and ask forgiveness of our transgressions, O Christ our God. Of Thy good will Thou wast pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh and deliver Thy creatures from bondage to the enemy. Therefore with thankfulness we cry aloud to Thee: Thou hast filled all with joy, O our Savior, for Thou didst come to save the world.” (Troparion #2)

Lent is the time when re re-evaluate our life in the light of our faith, and this requires a very real effort and discipline. Christ says that a narrow path leads to the Kingdom of God and we must make our life as narrow as possible. We must make an effort and a decision to slow down our life and to put in as much quiet, silence, contemplation and meditation as possible.

Come and hear the hauntingly beautiful Lenten “Hymn of the Entrance” heard only at the pre-sanctified Liturgy. “Now the powers of heaven do serve invisibly with us. Lo, the King of Glory enters. Lo, the mystical sacrifice is upborne, fulfilled.” The mystical passion of this hymn is spiritually uplifting.

Ikos 4:  Having heard Thy meek and gentle words, Pilate delivered Thee up to be crucified as deserving death, even though he himself bore witness that he had found not a single fault in Thee. Then he washed his hands, but defiled his heart.

Memorial Saturday

Great Vespers for Sunday Divine Liturgy - The second Sunday in Great Lent is dedicated to the memory of St. Gregory Palamas, a great Byzantine mystic and theologian of the 14th century, who centered his teaching on the high calling of man, on his “deification” in Christ.

The second Sunday in Great Lent is dedicated to the memory of St. Gregory Palamas, a great Byzantine mystic and theologian of the 14th century, who centered his teaching on the high calling of man, on his “deification” in Christ.

Pot Luck luncheon will be hosted by the Passaic "O" Club following coffee hour.  Following the luncheon, a vigil with litya for the Feast of the Annunciation will be served.  

"You are the beginning of salvation for all of us on earth, Virgin Mother of God.  For the great Archangel Gabriel, God’s minister, was sent from heaven to stand before you to bring you joy:  Therefore, we all cry to you: Rejoice, O unwedded Bride."    (Kontakion — Tone 8)

"Today is the beginning of our salvation, The revelation of the eternal mystery! The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin As Gabriel announces the coming of Grace. Together with him let us cry to the Theotokos: Rejoice, O Full of Grace, The Lord is with You!"   (Troparion — Tone 4)

“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.”

Fulfilling the words and proclamations of the God-bearing Prophets, O Jesus, You appeared on earth, and You Who are uncontainable dwelled among men. Therefore, being healed by Your wounds, we learned to chant:    Alleluia.

Memorial Saturday

Great Vespers for Sunday Divine Liturgy - Sunday of the CROSS -  "O Lord, save Your people, and bless Your inheritance. Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians, over their adversaries. And by virtue of Your Cross preserve Your habitation!"

The Third Sunday in Great Lent is the Sunday “of the Veneration of the Holy Cross.” At Matins, the Cross is brought in a solemn procession from the sanctuary and placed in the center of the Church, where it remains for the whole week. This rite announces the approaching of the Holy Week, with its commemoration of Christ’s Passion. A special veneration of the Cross takes place at the end of each service. The Cross being out in this manner also serves to encourage us to keep up our Lenten fasting and prayers.

The Church calls us to deepen our religious conscience, to increase and strengthen the spiritual contents of our life, to follow her in her pilgrimage towards renewal and rededication to God.