Category: Eastern Liturgy
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Review Essay: Maternal Body
Michael Plekon reviews Carrie Frederick Frost’s latest book Maternal Body: A Theology of Incarnation from the Christian East
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Six Days of Creation Icon Painting Workshop
This past week I worked with iconographer Anna Gouriev at a Hexaemeron icon painting workshop hosted at Diakonia Retreat Center in Salem, South Carolina. Another track, on icon carving, was led by Jonathan Pageau. For those not familiar with the traditional Russian process of icon painting (or “writing”), it is a prayerful time of transforming…
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Glimpses of Liturgical Renewal in Russia
Similar to the voices of the Liturgical Movement in the West, the Bishops of the Russian Church in the early 20th century were concerned with the participation of the faithful in liturgy. As one bishop wrote, “…the faithful must participate in it directly, consciously, and actively.”
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Female Altar Servers? Acolytes? East and West
One of the most debated liturgical practice and pastoral issues of our day is the opening of formal roles for women and girls in the liturgical assembly…
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Are there things we ought not bless?
I was struck by an articleat Catholic News Agency that reported how the Russian Orthodox Church is considering ending their practice of blessing large weapons including nuclear bombs: Last month, a committee on ecclesial law met in Moscow and recommended ending the practice of blessing missiles and warheads, and suggested that priests should instead bless only…
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The Female Diaconate: Issues East and West—Part 2
Does ordaining women to the diaconate automatically mean that women could be ordained to the Priesthood (i.e. the Presbyterate)?
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The Female Diaconate? Issues East and West
In the modern period, the question of ordaining women as deacons (again) in the Roman Catholic Church was raised as early as Vatican II, some fifty plus years ago. In the Orthodox world, this question is over a hundred years old…
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An Office Hymn from the East
Here your servant waits for peace.
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Holy Week, Pascha, and Piety
We need not fear death. To put it quite simply, God is telling us, “do not be afraid; all will be well.”