A Reading from the Epistle of St. Jacob. How often have you heard that at Church? Well, if you attend Church with readings done in Ukrainian on weekdays you might have heard it. Because – get this – James is an awkward translation of the Greek Iacobus. Back when John Wycliffe made his English translation …
Living the best year ever, and making more time for what matters most… Happy New Year! At the beginning of a new year, it seems like everyone is under a lot of pressure to make this year the best year ever. Well, don’t worry! No matter what you do this year, this will be your …
We celebrate the Synaxis of John on the day after Theophany (so January 7th). We have a lot of feast days for John the Baptist (also called John the Forerunner) in Byzantine Churches. First, we celebrate him for being the final prophet and for baptizing Christ. Then there are feasts for his conception, nativity, and …
First of all, what is self care? Well, part of it is taking care of your body. Getting enough sleep, exercising, and proper hygiene are all a part of self care. But so is looking after your mental and spiritual health. And all of these can be hard to take care of as a mom. …
The Immaculate Conception, the motherhood/maternity of St. Anna, or The Conception of Saint Anna, is the feast when we celebrate St. Anna conceiving the Mary, the Theotokos. This feast is generally celebrated in Eastern Churches in December 9th. However, Roman Catholics celebrate this feast on December 8th. And in countries such as the United States, …
The Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostle Andrew the First-Called On November 30th we celebrate the Apostle Andrew the First-Called. St. Andrew gets this title since he is one of Jesus’ first followers, having departed from being a follower of John to Baptist to join Christ. Besides being the first disciple of Jesus, we recognize St. Andrew …
The Entrance of the Theotokos (also called the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary), is November 21st. This feast, which is one of the twelve major feasts, is an early tradition based on writings we have from the Church. There is some evidence that this feast was celebrated in the 400s, but the most solid …
The Nativity Fast That Nativity Fast, or St. Philip’s fast (because it begins after the feast of the Apostle Philip), starts November 15th. I wrote a short article last year about slowing life down in preparation for the Nativity. Looking back on the post, I don’t think I found enough ways to truly answer “How …
Making a Block Schedule Rule of Life I made a Rule of Life last year when I had one child. I marked up every hour of the day with an appoint task. And, well, it was a bit much. In the end it was helpful to have an order to the day. But recently I’ve …
Halloween – But it’s not Byzantine! Halloween, which is also called All Hallow’s Eve (I like this one best because it sounds old fashioned and I love that), Hallowmas, Hallowtide, or All Saint’s Eve, happens on October 31st. Right? Well, kind of. For Roman Catholics, and anyone celebrating whatever comes up on a secular calendar, yes. But …