St Peters Orthodox Church

The writer of Hebrews said that it was for the joy set before Him that Christ endured the Cross. What was His joy? We were His joy. We who have fallen short, we who suffer the disorders and dysfunctions from the fall of man were His joy. It was for the joy of redeeming and healing us that our Lord endured the Cross. What kind of love is this? How far God went to gather us back to Himself.

The last night our Lord Jesus Christ was with His disciples before His Passion, He gave them a command. He took bread and wine, gave thanks blessing them both saying, "This is my Body and this is my Blood. Do this in remembrance of me." This was not a suggestion of something for them to consider doing when they gather. It was a command from the love of Christ our God Who offered His disciples forg...

With Christ's Passion before us, tonight we remember the words of the Prophet Isaiah who said "by His stripes we are healed." Right in the middle of Holy Week, our Lord places one of the greatest reasons He went to His Passion right before us. He became broken so that we might be put together and made whole again. As we bless the oils of Holy Unction and that of the Catechumens, we remember the fu...

Christ our God took the Roman instrument designed to shame, torture, and bring death and turned it into something magnificent. By Christ's willingness to die such a death, and by His presence on the Cross, He turned the Cross into the very instrument through which we could be released from our shame and given life. How far our Lord willed Himself to go that the paradise of fellowship with Him once...

The transition on Palm Sunday itself is a difficult transition. We start out with Palms celebrating the coming of our King and Messiah and transition in that same Mass to His Passion. But it is Christ our God who willed all of this. And why? His love for us drove Him to the Cross.

Why do we bless Palms, waive them, and process to the Altar with them on Palm Sunday? It is not just to re-enact an event that happened over 2000 years ago. God's people who waived their palms as Jesus entered Jerusalem back then were mistaken as to Jesus' kingship and they limited Who He was as Messiah and what He would do as their Messiah. But beyond the Cross and the Resurrection, we know Who H...

St. John of Kronstadt offers wisdom for Priests who serve at the Altar during Liturgy. These same principles can be applied to the Priesthood of all Believers as they take their place as living stones in the Mass. Today we discuss these principles that will help us fulfill the ordination God has given us all in the eternal worship of Him.

We speak often of Christianity as an ascension out of the results of the Fall to our Lord Jesus Christ. And, we are right to do so. But in the last two weeks of Holy Week called Passiontide, we focus on descending with Christ as we journey with Him to and through His Passion. His journey to His Passion was one of great humility. The Lord of Lords, the Word of God condescends to place Himself in th...

One of the greatest roles of the Priesthood of all believers is the role of prayer. Today we look at six aspects of the action and attitude of prayer as taught by St. John Kronstadt.

Here on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, we are given a Mass that bears the name "rejoice!" It is a reminder that rejoicing in the Lord is not dependent on our circumstances. In reality, rejoicing in the Lord may be the antidote to our circumstances. Today we look at some of the benefits that, perhaps, we have forgotten that are realized in our lives as we rejoice in the Lord.

St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7 that "godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. But what is this godly sorrow? Today we discover that it is God's own sorrow over our suffering caused to the yet to be healed areas of our soul. If we would let ourselves be joined to God's sorrow over us, we would rush so quickly to seek the healing touch of o...

Having taken Eucharist by the provision of God, the Mass now guides and prepares us to take that which we have received and offer it to this world. In this last session of this series we explore each part of the Mass as to how the grace of God is given to us as we descend the mountain; a grace that enables us to be transformed by our encounter with Christ for our salvation, and a grace that empowe...

Today we reach the pinnacle event in the Mass. It is in this session that we explore the Eucharist and all that it is on our behalf. We see that in the Eucharist He who fulfilled the Law fills us, it is a time of absolute fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ, we partake of the eternal covenant meal, we receive the provision for life eternal, and it is indeed the Day of the Lord.

In this session, we come to the Passing of the Peace of God. We explore how, in these very few moments in the Mass, the absolute peace of God flows from His throne through each one of the Living Stones as they minister that very peace one to another. We also explore the prayers of preparation said by the Priest and later said by the people. These prayers assist us by grace is posturing ourselves t...

Having sung the eternal hymn of the Sanctus, we now move into what is known as the Canon of the Mass. Here we find and discuss the meaning of Christ’s words of institution, the meaning of the word “remembrance”, the Lord’s prayer, and a prayer for deliverance from evil.

We have arrived at the point in Mass where the Priest calls us to lift up our hearts and we respond by lifting them up to the Lord. But what are we, in fact, offering up to God? In this teaching we explore the answer to this question. The focus of this session is on the understanding of the Sursum Corda, the praise and thanksgiving offering within the Preface, and the eternal hymn offered to God i...

In this session we cover the meaning of the prayers we offer each Mass for the whole Church. We also look at the purpose of the General Confession in Mass. Based on the framework of this prayer, we consider the correct approach to offering up this confession and receiving Christ’s washing and forgiveness of our sins as we draw ever closer to communing with Him in the Eucharist.

The Nicene Creed being said, we now turn our attention to the Offertory. This is the part of the Mass where God’s people offer up to Him the stuff of earth: bread, wine, tithes, and alms. Here we have the picture of God’s people raising their offerings to God as God returns in kind with the offering of Himself to us. In this session we also see how all of the Old Covenant offerings and sacrifices...

After revisiting the Gospel Procession from last week, we move first in this session to discuss the homily which concludes the portion of Mass known as the Liturgy of the Word. After the Liturgy of the Word we say together the Nicene Creed. A look at the history behind the Church’s long-standing statement of faith and an examination of the four parts of the Creed are given to assist us in our expe...

Having cried out for mercy from God in the Kyrie and having received the very mercy our Lord longs give, we now move in the Mass to the great praise of God as we sing the Gloria “Glory be to God on High.” In this session we examine four parts of the liturgy: We delve into the three sections of the Gloria seeking to understand that which we sing to God in praise for all the benefits He has done on...

As the Priest and those assisting in Mass ascend to the altar to take their place, we hear the Introit sung. In this session we come to understand the purpose of the Introit, the Collect for Purity, the Summary of the Law, and the Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy). We approach each of these portions of the Mass in such a way that we might grow towards a greater experience of God as we seek to offer ourselve...

Having begun the Mass with a hymn of praise and joined ourselves to the procession, we now turn our attention to the Confiteor Prayers (The Prayers at the Foot of the Altar) and the Asperges. In this session, we take an in depth look at the profound meaning of the Confiteor Prayers as prayers of consecration. We also look at both Asperges and Vidi Aquam to gain an understanding of where they come...

Now that we are at the beginning of the Mass, this session focuses on the first two events that we encounter: the hymn and the procession. In this teaching, we first look at the prayers of preparation done by the clergy as they prepare to serve God and the people before the altar. Here we are also encouraged regarding how to best approach the singing of the hymn by making the words of the hymn our...

Part 4: Fasting, Praying, & Entering the Church by St. Peter Orthodox Church

In the stage we are referring to as our preparation before Mass, we must understand the concept of consecration. In this lesson, we explore God’s calling upon His people in the Old Testament to consecrate themselves before they meet with God at the mountain or to worship Him in the Temple. In the Mass, where the Body of Christ in heaven and earth meet together with God, we must also consecrate our...