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Spy Wednesday

Spy Wednesday is what English Christianity traditionally calls the Wednesday of Holy Week, the day on which Judas betrayed his Lord. Adike, cries St Romanos, astorge, asponde: unrighteous, loveless, ingrate. And yet, O my…

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Lazarus & Dives

Today’s Gospel reading at mass was the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16, 19-31). There is a lot to say about this passage, but I will limit myself to two quotations….

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What’s In A Picture?

March 25, nine months before Christmas, we celebrate the Annunciation, when, according to the Gospel, the Virgin Mary conceived the Son of God according to the flesh (Luke 1, 26-38). Often, this amazing event…

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ASH WEDNESDAY

Ash Wednesday shocks some people. It shocks them, first, that we put ashes on our foreheads, for doesn’t the scripture teach, the very Gospel we read today, that when we fast, we should ‘be…

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Black Masses

When I was a boy, there was a priest called Fr Michael Crowdy. He was a wonderful man, but a trifle eccentric – one of his idiosyncrasies being to announce, from time to time,…

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Sister Death

Rejoicing at the death of someone we love may seem strange. But this is what St Benedict did, at the death of his sister Scholastica. ‘He rejoiced and gave thanks to Almighty God in…

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Something Personal

February 2, the feast of the Presentation is always an emotional day for me, the day on which, now thirty-five years ago, I was tonsured into the clerical state. Even today, even after my…

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Our Friends The Saints

One thing that surprises people about Orthodoxy is the place we give to the saints. The saints, though, are our friends, our fellow-congregants, one with us in love, one with us in prayer. Thus,…

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