"The noble Joseph, having taken Thy most pure body down from the Tree and wrapped It in pure linen and covered It with spices, laid it in a new tomb.
When Thou didst descend unto death, O Life Immortal, then didst Thou slay hades with the lightning of Thy divinity. And when Thou didst also raise the dead out of the nethermost depths, all the Hosts of the heavens cried out: O Life-giver, Christ our God, glory be to Thee. Unto the Myrrh-bearing women did the angel cry out as he stood by the grave: Myrrh is meet for the dead, but Christ hath proved a stranger to corruption." |
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"Behold the Bridegroom cometh at midnight, and blessed is that servant whom He shall find watching; but unworthy is he whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, lest thou be weighed down with sleep; lest thou be given up to death, and be shut out from the kingdom. But rouse thyself and cry: Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, O God: through the Theotokos, have mercy on us."
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This is a new recording, from Holy Monday evening (Matins for Holy Tuesday.) All three iterations of "Thy Bridal Chamber" are sung. Fr. George chants the first one, and the choir does the other two.
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Here is the first part of Father John's homily from Sunday, January 30, 2011.
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Here is the second part of Father John's homily.
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"So it is that we are able to sacrifice and give ourselves for each other, as well. How important it is to support each other. How important it is to support the shepherd of this parish. Because he is given a burden. He is given a burden that is impossible for man even to think about or conceive. He is given a burden of the salvation of the souls of everybody here. And it’s as if he is carrying a huge cross up a steep hill. And as he gets older, as I get older, that cross is heavy, and it’s hard, very hard to pull up that hill. So we depend totally, we shepherds, unworthy though we are in every way, yet still trying to do something, to follow the will of God for the salvation of the faithful, depend on you to come and take the base of that cross, and carry it with us up the hill - to take it up the hill." Read full text here
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Open unto me the doors of repentance. We sang it for the last time this year on the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt, the last Sunday of Great Lent. |
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Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!
Sunday's Paschal Vespers. |
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From 'St John of Shanghai and San Francisco, Zealous Builder of Churches'
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