Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew We celebrate the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew on November 16th. One thing we know about St. Matthew is that he was a tax collector before following Christ. And, in reading his gospel, we see his attentiveness to numbers never leaves him! His gospel was written specifically for a Jewish …
Phillip the Apostle We know a few things about Phillip the Apostle from scripture and tradition. First of all, Phillip was well versed in the scriptures himself, and able to recognize Christ as the Messiah through this knowledge (and God’s grace). Phillip brought his friend Nathaniel to Christ (in the Gospel of John). In John’s …
Akathist to The Theotokos – Heading to Egypt In continuation of our akathist to the Theotokos series, let’s cover the seventh set of prayers! This week all of humanity comes together to sing the praises of the Theotokos. If you missed the first six articles, be sure to read them first! Start with https://thebyzantinelife.com/akathist-to-the-theotokos/ and …
A while back I did an article on encouraging faith in infants and toddlers. As a quick recap, I talked about sitting at the front in church (read about why in my article about keeping kids (somewhat) quiet at church). I also mentioned reading stories about the faith and having icons and crosses on the …
Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary On September 8th we celebrate the Nativity of Mary, which is one of the 12 major feast days. It is also the first major feast in our new liturgical year. Tradition is that Joachim (a descendant of King David) and Anna (of the tribe …
Akathist to The Theotokos – Heading to Egypt This week we are heading to Egypt in the Akathist to the Theotokos. Also Happy Church New Year! This year I want to do more saint and bible story read-aloud time with my children. Be sure to check out our new year article and let me know …
Akathist to The Theotokos – The Three Magi This week we continue the series exploring the akathist to the Theotokos. If you missed the first four articles, be sure to read them first! Start with https://thebyzantinelife.com/akathist-to-the-theotokos/ and then follow it up with https://thebyzantinelife.com/ineffable-akathist/. Next there is https://thebyzantinelife.com/akathist-john-baptist/. Finally, read about https://thebyzantinelife.com/akathist-nativity/. The Fifth Set of …
Although the sign of the cross is prayed and practised among the whole Catholic Church, no where is this sacramental sign beloved more than by the Byzantines. Today we are going to look at a bit of the history. How do Byzantine Catholics use the sign of the cross? And how can you add to …
One of the marks of a Byzantine life is praying with icons. In fact, we use icons with prayer everywhere. There are icons all around the church, including the seasonal icon on the tetrapod, and all the icons on the iconostasis. Not only do our homes have icons, but we have dedicated icon corners! In …
The Protection of Mary in the Akathist to The Theotokos – Section 4 This week we continue the series exploring the Akathist to the Theotokos. And this time we witness the Nativity of Christ within the Akathist, which highlights the protection of the Theotokos! If you missed the first three articles, be sure to read …