St. Athanasius Orthodox Church • Nicholasville/Lexington Kentucky

Celebrating Pentecost

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

On Pentecost Sunday, June 15th, St. Athanasius Orthodox Mission celebrated its first Sunday Liturgy on our Land on Chrisman Mill Road. About 80 people braved the heat (and cicada bugs) to pray with us on top of the hill. We served the Divine Liturgy at 9:30am. This was followed by a picnic and the Vespers of Pentecost which include the Kneeling Prayers of Pentecost. The next morning, at a much cooler 7am, we celebrated a Divine Liturgy for Holy Spirit Day, which is an important commemoration on our Orthodox calendar.

Stay tuned for other events out on our Land throughout the coming months. Please keep our parish in prayer as we draw closer to August 6th (the Feast of Transfiguration), our goal for paying off our Land through our Land Campaign!

Please also note that, for the duration of the summer, all Sunday Liturgies will be served at 9:30am and in our chapel on Main Street in Nicholasville.

Pentecost Liturgy on the Hill

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

We begin our summer schedule this Sunday, June 15, 2008 with Liturgy beginning at 9:30am. Our first Sunday of summer will not served in our chapel (as it will be on other Sundays of the summer) but rather on our church’s land at 2500 Chrisman Mill Road. [directions to the hill] (Note: the 6:30pm Saturday evening Vigil will be held in our chapel as usual for the eve of Pentecost).

Included in our festivities on the land on Sunday morning will be Liturgy at 9:30am, a Picnic lunch (bring a picnic blanket and basket with extra food for one person), followed by recognition for our Sunday School teachers and the prayers of the Pentecost Kneeling Vespers service. Visitors are invited to join us for this momentous occasion–as our parish celebrates its first Sunday service out on our beautiful property.

Christ is Risen!

Monday, April 28th, 2008

Christ has risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!
  — Troparion for Pascha

The whole creation keeps a feast, my brethren, and everything that hath breath praises the Lord, as the Psalmist [says], on account of the destruction of the enemies, and our salvation. And justly indeed; for if there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, what should there not be over the abolition of sin, and the resurrection of the dead? Oh what a feast and how great the gladness in heaven! how must all its hosts joy and exult, as they rejoice and watch in our assemblies, those that are held continually, and especially those at Pascha (Easter)? For they look on sinners while they repent; on those who have turned away their faces, when they become converted; on those who formerly persisted in lusts and excess, but who now humble themselves by fastings and temperance; and, finally, on the enemy who lies weakened, lifeless, bound hand and foot, so that we may mock at him; ‘Where is thy victory, O Death? where is thy sting, O Grave?’ Let us then sing unto the Lord a song of victory.
  — Saint Athanasius, Festal Letter VI, For 334 Easter Day, ch 10

The Great Fast: Keeping it in Spirit and in Truth

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008

–Fr. Justin Patterson

In the English language, Orthodox Christians call the season of preparation before Pascha (Easter) “Great Lent.” The word “Lent” comes from an early English word indicating spring. Indeed, both the feast of Passover in the Jewish tradition and the feast of Pascha in the Christian faith which is historically and theologically connected to the Jewish Passover, take place from towards the end of spring. For both the Jews and the Christians, these spring feasts herald the grace of God and, for Christians, Feast of Christ as the New Passover Lamb.

In Russian, the literal translation of Great Lent (Velikiy Post) is “The Great Fast,” clearly indicating what Orthodox Christians assume lies at the center of Great Lent: fasting in preparation for the celebration of Christ’s Pascha. The fathers of the Church are very clear that authentic fasting must have two components:

1. fasting in terms of our diet
2. fasting in terms of the very way we live, including adjustments to our prayer life, heightened awareness of our words and deeds towards others, and spiritual examination.

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Behold, I Make All Things New

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

“It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the end.” — from Revelation 21

One of the most poignant prayers Orthodox Christians pray is a morning prayer addressed to the Theotokos, the Mother of our Lord. As we pray, we confess our brokenness and our many sins. We then ask her, as a mother, to “renew me, who am grown old from senseless sins.”

G.K. Chesterton once wrote, speaking for all mankind, that “we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we are.” The time of preparation, prior to the Feasts of Nativity and Theophany, are times when we in the Church meditate on this reality: that we have grown old in our sins. We have allowed the beautiful image of God in us to be tarnished. We have allowed the splendid robes of righteousness He has offered us to be tattered and worn. We, many of whom are so young, have rather “grown old from senseless sins.”
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Feasting on the Faith—Even as We begin to Fast

Saturday, November 10th, 2007

The Feast of The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple
– Fr. Justin Patterson

On November 21st, not even a full week into the Nativity Fast, we celebrate one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church: the Presentation, or Entry, of the Theotokos into the Temple. What does this feast signify for us?

This feast constitutes a “churchly” meditation on the Incarnation of the Word, a meditation that takes place in the inner life of the Church. Like a number of the feasts of the Mother of our Lord, the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos is based on the Tradition of the Church rather than on scripture references. The Scriptures are silent not only on the early life of Christ, but also the lives of those closest to Him. In fact, when the Blessed St. Jerome was pressed to reveal details about the life of the Theotokos, he demurred. The fourth-century father and scholar is reputed to have remarked that, “If you were to ask me how the Most Holy Virgin passed the time of her youth, I would answer that this is known only to God Himself and the Archangel Gabriel detailed to protect her.” We know little about the life of the Virgin Mary. But the witness of the Tradition of the Church gives us some information on which to meditate. Some of the early reflections of the Church on the life of Jesus and His fore-bearers are found in the Proto-Evangelium of James, a second-century book into which much of the lore of the first-century Christian community was assembled.

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The Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

by Father Justin Patterson

On October 1 the Church celebrates the Feast of the Protection of the Theotokos.

On September 30^th at 4:30 PM, our parish will gather on our land on Chrisman Mill Road to keep the Vespers of this Feast. With the pan-Orthodox community of Kentucky, we will together glorify the works of God which have been granted through the Theotokos to our spiritual forefathers and now to us, also.

This feast of the Protection of the Theotokos is neither one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Church nor is it a commemoration of any events in the earthly lives of our Lord or His Mother. So why does the Orthodox Church—here in twenty-first-century North America—keep this feast?
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The Dormition of the Theotokos: Our Summer Pascha

Wednesday, August 1st, 2007

by Father Justin Patterson

In the Orthodox Church, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ–which we call “Pascha”–lies at the center of all that we do. It has often been said that we, as Orthodox Christians, live from Pascha to Pascha. Everything before Pascha is lived in expectation of Pascha, and everything that follows Pascha is lived in light of Pascha. Even our weekly remembrance of our Lord’s Resurrection (Sunday) is a partial partaking of the joy of the Risen Lord. The Lord’s Day becomes for Orthodox Christians a kind of “mini-Pascha!”

If we take a look at our church calendar, it becomes clear not only that the Lord’s Day is part of this Paschal remembrance, but also that every saint we commemorate on each day of the year takes us into the Mystery of Christ’s triumph over death by death. After all, each saint’s day is the remembrance of that particular saint’s death—which now, in the economy of Christ, has become that saint’s “birthday” into Christ’s Resurrection.

Chief among the saints of the New Testament is the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. For Orthodox believers, the Theotokos is no “afterthought.” She is the very flower of the Jewish people, the true descendant of Abraham by faith. St. Paul writes movingly of the drama of Christ’s appearing when he speaks of the Spirit overshadowing the Virgin Mary in his letter to the Galatians: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem” us. With the Virgin Mary’s bold “yes” to God, the “time for the Lord to act” had arrived. Her body, consecrated to the Lord, would bear God Incarnate and become the fulfilment of the Ark of the Covenant. The Old Law, by her free consent, would be fulfilled by the New Law. Her womb–a finite space–would contain the infinite!

The Orthodox Church teaches that when the Virgin Mary “fell asleep” (Greek kimesis or Latin dormitio), she did, in fact, die. The Church also teaches, however, that since she literally bore God in the flesh, her Son would not allow her body to see corruption. On the third day after her repose, the Church teaches, her Son sends angels to carry her body up into heaven; and, at the same time, He whom she cradled now cradles her in perfect love.

In the arms of her Son, then, the Virgin Mary becomes the first fruit of those who will follow Jesus into the Resurrection. Her hope and glorification become now our hope and glorification! Her personal Pascha becomes the foretaste of our own Pascha, as well!

Just as we approach Pascha with reverence and prepare our hearts for that glorious celebration, so too we eagerly await this “Summer Pascha.” As we look longingly towards the Feast of Dormition, we expect to encounter Life; but before we rush headlong into Life we must first taste of Death (following Christ’s pattern). Thus, we keep a strict two-week fast which begins, appropriately, with a feast of the Cross. The Dormition Fast—within which we behold the glory of Christ’s Transfiguration on August 6th—leads us right into the Feast of the Dormition, which becomes for us the promise of the Resurrection and Life everlasting in Christ, with the Theotokos and all those who have learned to love Him.

The Apostles’ Fast: the Result of Pentecost

Saturday, June 9th, 2007

The Feast of Pentecost remains one of the most beloved feasts in Orthodox Christian piety and experience. I’ll never forget my “Pentecostal” experience in Russia. As I walked into the church for the Pentecost Kneeling Vespers on Sunday afternoon, the smell of freshly cut greenery overwhelmed my senses. I waded through cut grass that was at least a foot deep, spread out on the floor of the nave. Along the sides of the walls, dozens of small trees had been brought into the church, in full blossom. Life was in the air! Together, we Orthodox believers—crammed into that little church, were entering into the reality of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.

One week after this great feast of Pentecost, the Church continues Her celebration of Pentecost with the commemoration of all the “saints” —all those known and unknown who have shone forth the grace and love of the Lord. And it is on the day after this Sunday of All Saints that the Church enters into what is commonly called the Apostles’ Fast. The Apostles’ Fast, sometimes called the Fast of Ss. Peter and Paul, runs from the Monday after All Saints until the feast of Ss. Peter and Paul on June 29th.

A newcomer recently shared with me, the priest of our little mission parish in the Kentucky Bluegrass, that–while she understood why the Orthodox are so captivated by Great Lent (the forty-day fast prior to Holy Week and Pascha)—she did not understand the significance of our Apostles’ Fast. Why, she asked me, would we—coming just 2 months after the most intense ascetical time (Lent and Holy Week) in the life of our Church—undertake such an effort now?

Inwardly, I chuckled. “In case you didn’t realize it,” I reminded her, “over half the days on our Orthodox calendar for any given year are considered days of fasting and prayer!” (I have to admit that I always get a kick out of the dazed look on the faces of newcomers whenever I share this fact with them!)

I then shared with her that—in my opinion—at least two very good reasons can be put forth for why this fast developed in our Church. On one hand, there can be no doubt that the monastic fathers and mothers who played such an important role in the development of Orthodox life simply relished the times devoted to the spiritual and physical struggle, which they saw as opportunities for growth in Christ. Sanctifying a time of fasting after the exuberance of Pentecost seemed, to these monks and nuns, the most appropriate thing for them to do in the aftermath of Pentecost.

If, on that one hand, the Apostles’ Fast developed naturally from this cloistered monastic sensibility then, on the other hand, it also developed due to a sensitivity to the imperatives of Scripture. When the Lord is asked why His disciples did not fast (as did, say, the more disciplined followers of His austere cousin John), the Lord spoke words that many in the early church took as prophetic. “The days will come, ” Jesus taught, “when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matt.9:15).

The fathers and mothers of the Church clearly believed—as Orthodox Christians recognize today—that the Bridegroom has been taken away. Orthodox believers, due in large part to our yearly remembrance of the Ascension of Christ, are keenly aware of Christ’s being absent. We yearn for Him. We await His Second coming as we profess each Liturgy in the Creed. Yet we are even more keenly aware that the Spirit of Truth has now been poured out on all flesh. The Comforter has come. And He has come not just to bring us “comfort,” but to sanctify us and to equip us to emulate the ascetical struggles of the apostles that, in turn, reveal Christ to the world!

Following the apostles who are following Christ, empowered by the Spirit: it is in this mode that Orthodox believers “sanctify” this Fast of the Apostles. If we are serious about God—and about being His disciples—then we have no choice but to embrace the Cross. By embracing the Cross of prayer and fasting, we “train,” to borrow an image from St. Paul, for the spiritual contests ahead. At the end of the day, all of the spiritual efforts we Orthodox undertake are all about our training: that we might learn, by experience, to be the royal priesthood and holy nation that we were created to be to the glory of God.
— Fr. Justin Patterson

Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!

Monday, April 9th, 2007

Christ has risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!
  — Troparion for Pascha

The whole creation keeps a feast, my brethren, and everything that hath breath praises the Lord, as the Psalmist says, on account of the destruction of the enemies, and our salvation. And justly indeed; for if there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, what should there not be over the abolition of sin, and the resurrection of the dead? Oh what a feast and how great the gladness in heaven! how must all its hosts joy and exult, as they rejoice and watch in our assemblies, those that are held continually, and especially those at Pascha? For they look on sinners while they repent; on those who have turned away their faces, when they become converted; on those who formerly persisted in lusts and excess, but who now humble themselves by fastings and temperance; and, finally, on the enemy who lies weakened, lifeless, bound hand and foot, so that we may mock at him; ‘Where is thy victory, O Death? where is thy sting, O Grave?’ Let us then sing unto the Lord a song of victory.
  — Saint Athanasius, Sixth Festal Letter for Pascha, 334