Charlotte’s Blog
Review: Dorotheos of Gaza: Discourses and Sayings
If you’re a reader, you know that writers often refer to characters and stories that came before them. Tolkein didn’t have to make up dragons from scratch. He expected that his readers would have read other stories about dragons, especially the dragon from Beowulf,...
Celebrate Pascha with your godchild
When you became a godparent, you assumed responsibility before God to bring the child up in the Orthodox faith. You pray for your godchildren, of course. You light candles for them every time you enter a church. But if you mean to ensure that your godchild loves the...
The Grace of Being There: Stories of saints and single moms
What do the saints have to do with being a single mom? Some of the saints were single moms. I remember being told, years ago, that the Orthodox Church lays out for us two paths to holiness: marriage and monasticism. God, of course, wouldn’t send you to hell if you...
Living in Christ by Mother Raphaela
I’ve never been a book club person. When my kids were young, I didn’t have the time or energy for a book club. There were years that I barely had time to read at all. Those were hard years. My kids are all grown now, and even though a couple of them still live at...
If you don’t know what to do, be kind
I said this on my Facebook page a few years ago, and it seems worth saying again: If you can't think of anything else to do right now, be kind. Find one or two or five organizations that feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, minister to...
Halloween hospitality
This morning's Gospel was the story of a poor man named Lazarus and a rich man whose name we don't know. Or, rather, we know his name all too well. It's my name. It's yours. We, all of us, are the rich man. And it's such an interesting story to fall today, on...
A History of Words: Pascha and Easter
Why do Orthodox Christians call Easter Pascha? For all Christians, Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant, the heart of our faith is the Resurrection of Christ. At first, the celebration of the Resurrection was called Pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover, because the...
The best picture books with disabled characters
Updated April 2022 How many of the picture books at your house include characters with disabilities? The book collection at my godson's house is probably typical. Four big piles of books with no disabled characters, and two very small stacks that have major or minor...
Icons in Catherine’s Pascha
Some thoughts from R.J. Hughes The Orthodox faith is a faith of art in many forms. While my work was limited to the visual arts, I wanted to, and hoped I did, create a rich, colored world that reflects the beauty of a Pascha service. A huge thank you to Father John...
Orthodox churches in Catherine’s Pascha
When my illustrator, R.J. (Becky) Hughes, had the idea of framing the pages in Catherine’s Pascha with images of Orthodox churches from around the world, she wanted to have at least one church from every continent: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South...
Children’s basket cover project
Do you fill a basket with candy and small gifts for your children on Pascha morning? If you’ve made an embroidered cover for the Pascha basket that you take to church, your children might like to try their hand at basket covers for their baskets at home. Older...
How to make Pascha ornaments
Project created by R.J. Hughes “Oh! Could you make a blown-egg ornament like those eggs Catherine’s holding on the cover?” A single, off-hand comment from my mother-in-law. She had arranged an author’s presentation for me at her P.E.O. Chapter. At each meeting they...
THE MAGIC OF BOOKS
Share the joy of the Pascha through the magic of a book: Catherine's Pascha.
