Author: lazarus abboud
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Determining the Date of Pascha Is Not a Matter of Doctrine
Lazarus Abboud. The First Ecumenical Council completely separated the Christian Pascha from the Jewish Passover and freed us from following their calendar, and Rome and Alexandria followed the custom of Pascha. Thus the First Ecumenical Council proclaimed the following: “We announce to you the good news concerning the agreement about the holy Pascha: that this…
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The Pope’s Apology: Repentance from Infallibility
“I ask forgiveness, especially for the ways in which many members of the Church and the religious communities cooperated, and also for the indifference they showed, in those projects that destroyed cultures and in the forced assimilation to which the governments of that time resorted, and which reached its climax in the system of compulsory…
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Boasting in Ignorance
Lazarus Abboud. Many of us Orthodox take pride that the light springs forth in the Holy Sepulchre at the hands of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and no one else, and that there have been several attempts throughout history that failed to bring forth the light. Some therefore regard this event as an occasion to boast…
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The Nomination of a Metropolitan: Divorce.
Lazarus Abboud The Archdiocese of America became vacant following the resignation of Metropolitan Joseph Zahlawi, and the procedures for electing a new metropolitan for the archdiocese began according to its internal statutes (the Constitution of the Archdiocese of North America). It is noteworthy that this archdiocese is the only one that enjoys such an organization…
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The Impurity of Woman as a Justification for Exclusion
(Is the man pure at all times in the priesthood?) Lazarus Abboud The ordination of a deaconess in Africa stirred wide clamor in Orthodox circles, for this formidable step was like a bomb that blew up all stagnation and shook religious thought. I will not speak about the deaconess; I shall go to another angle,…
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A Study of the Custom of Kissing the Cleric’s Hand, and the Origin of the Title ‘Sayyidna’
Introduction We find in the canon law the custom of kissing mentioned only once, where it speaks of the kiss of peace “after the priests kiss the bishop, the people kiss one another”[1] and this kiss is the handshake, which today is confined to the priests alone in the Liturgy, and the bishop […]
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The Priesthood of Women: Does the Church Have the Right to Change Canonically and Theologically?
Therefore, from the standpoint of canonical church law, the Church is progressive, because it is able to add to it, to omit from it, or to make in it whatever modification and alteration suits the needs of every time and place. If the Church takes a decision to ordain women within the orders of the…
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The Disaster Between God and Authority
A disaster struck with the Syria and Turkey earthquake this current year, and so the question returned: who permits disasters, God or another? But what is striking is that we do not ask why earthquakes are permitted, because the earthquake occurs by reason of the nature of the earth’s formation and its movement, and this…
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Lift, O Lord, Your Burden from Me
Lift, O God, Your burden from me, for my burden has exhausted my soul and my body Remove, O God, Your burden from me, for I am wearied by a portion of my burden I heard Your prophet calling out” “Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you””, and I heard You…