“The Prayer Team” is a daily devotion written by Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis, written every day since February 2015. Fr. Stavros is the Parish Priest at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Tampa, Florida. It began in February 2015 as an opportunity to write more on the subject of prayer and now has branched into other subjects.
Glory to You, Who has shown us the light. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to all people. ~Doxology, Lamentations, Good Friday evening, Trans. by Fr. George Papadeas — And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God Read more…
The great Moses, mystically foreshadowed this day, saying: “And God blessed the seventh day. For this is the blessed Sabbath; it is the day of rest, in which the only-begotten Son of God rested from all His works, and through the dispensation of death, in body He rested. And having returned to Read more…
And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, He began to tell them what was to happen to Him, saying, “Behold, we are going up to Read more…
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves Read more…
The myrrh-bearing women came very early in the morning and sprinkled the tomb with myrrh. ~Stanza Three of the Lamentations, Good Friday Evening, Trans. by Fr. George Papadeas — It was the Day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with Him from Galilee followed, and Read more…
All generations offer a hymn to Your burial, O my Christ. ~Stanza Three of the Lamentations, Good Friday Evening, Trans. by Fr. George Papadeas — For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man Read more…
It is fitting to magnify You, the Giver of Life, Who extended Your hands upon the Cross, and shattered the power of the enemy. ~Stanza Two of the Lamentations, Good Friday Evening, Trans. by Fr. George Papadeas — He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has Read more…
O Christ, the Lord, You were laid in the tomb, and the ranks of Angels were amazed, glorifying Your condescension. ~Stanza One of the Lamentations, Good Friday Evening, Trans. by Fr. George Papadeas — When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was Read more…
Lament not for Me, Mother, as You behold Me in the grave, Whom as a Son you conceived in Your womb without seed. For I shall rise and be glorified, and as God, I shall ceaselessly exalt in glory those, who in faith and yearning, magnify you. My eternal Read more…
And one of the crowd answered Jesus, “Teacher, I brought my son to You, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked Your disciples to cast it out, and they Read more…
For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in Read more…
You Who clothed Yourself with light as a garment, Joseph with Nicodemus, brought down from the Cross, and seeing You dead, naked and unburied, felt deeply a sympathetic lament, and in grieving said: “Woe to me, sweetest Jesus! Whom, but a short while ago, when the sun beheld You hanging Read more…