Festal Matins for 2nd Sunday of Great and Holy Lent, Sunday of St, Gregory Palamas, March 16, 2024

Matins: https://mci.archpitt.org/sheetmusic/g... Livestream: https://stjohnchrysostom.org/st-john-... Festal Matins for the 2nd Sunday of Great and Holy Lent, the Sunday of St, Gregory Palamas, March 16, 2024 at St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church, Seattle Washington USA Rise and Walk! Your sins are forgiven! – Take up your bed. Carry the very mat that once carried you. Change places, so that what was the proof of your sickness may now give testimony to your soundness. Your bed of pain becomes the sign of healing, its very weight the measure of the strength that has been restored to you. (St. Peter Chrysologus) The icon is of St. Gregory Palamas, who is commemorated in the Byzantine Church especially on the Second Sunday of the Fast. Saint Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) was a monk, archbishop and eminent theologian. He was also a major figure in fourteenth-century Byzantium. His greatest work, In Defense of Holy Hesychasts [commonly known as the Triads], was written between 1338 and 1341 as a response to the charges of Barlaam. Barlaam denied the legitimacy of the spiritual methods of Byzantine monastic groups known as hesychasts and discredited their claims to experience the divine presence. Hesychasm, a movement dating back to the Fathers of the desert, believed that since the body itself receives the grace of sacraments and the pledge of final resurrection it would properly have a share in "pure prayer". They believed that God is accessible to personal experience because He shared His own life with humanity. It is from this tradition that we have the famous "Jesus Prayer": “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Please be generous and consider a gift by visiting: https://stjohnchrysostom.org/one-time...