Pascha (Easter) comes with a great note of joy in the Christian world. Christ is risen from the dead and our hearts rejoice. That joy begins to wane as the days pass. Our lives settle back down to the mundane tasks at hand. After 40 days, the Church marks the Feast of the Ascension, often attended by only a handful of the faithful (Rome has more-or-less moved the Ascension to a Sunday to make it easier). Some excitement returns with the Feast of Pentecost, 50 days after Pascha, which conveniently falls on a Sunday making its observance easier in a too-busy-to-notice world. Lost in all of this, however, is a subtext (perhaps it is the main text). Continue reading “Pentecost – a frontal assault on Hades!” →

In the Catechist Homily by Saint John the Chrysostom, which is read during the Holy and joyful night of the Lord’s Resurrection, we hear the following words: Continue reading “Let no-one fear death!” →