diff --git a/app/pom.xml b/app/pom.xml
index 9a067cf4d5..143041aea7 100644
--- a/app/pom.xml
+++ b/app/pom.xml
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ limitations under the License.
         <spring.version>5.2.7.RELEASE</spring.version>
         <spring.security.version>5.3.3.RELEASE</spring.security.version>
         <struts.version>2.5.22</struts.version>
-        <velocity.version>1.7</velocity.version>
+        <velocity.version>2.2</velocity.version>
         <webjars.version>1.5</webjars.version>
         <ws-commons-util.version>1.0.2</ws-commons-util.version>
         <xml-security.version>1.3.0</xml-security.version>
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.velocity</groupId>
-            <artifactId>velocity</artifactId>
+            <artifactId>velocity-engine-core</artifactId>
             <version>${velocity.version}</version>
             <exclusions>
                 <exclusion>
@@ -372,6 +372,11 @@ limitations under the License.
                     <groupId>xml-apis</groupId>
                     <artifactId>xml-apis</artifactId>
                 </exclusion>
+                <!-- has a compile scope dependency to junit for some reason -->
+                <exclusion>
+                    <groupId>junit</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
+                </exclusion>
             </exclusions>
         </dependency>
 
@@ -723,6 +728,12 @@ limitations under the License.
                             </exclusion>
                         </exclusions>
                     </dependency>
+                    <!-- last velocity version which had the Ant TexenTask -->
+                    <dependency>
+                        <groupId>org.apache.velocity</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>velocity</artifactId>
+                        <version>1.7</version>
+                    </dependency>
                 </dependencies>
 
                 <executions>
@@ -746,7 +757,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 
                                 <taskdef name="texen"
                                          classname="org.apache.velocity.texen.ant.TexenTask"
-                                         classpathref="maven.compile.classpath"/>
+                                         classpathref="maven.plugin.classpath"/>
                                 <texen
                                     controlTemplate  ="control.vm"
                                     contextProperties="${basedir}/src/main/resources/sql/dbscripts.properties"
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/planet/tasks/GeneratePlanetTask.java b/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/planet/tasks/GeneratePlanetTask.java
index fa9ebdc0a9..5059787a11 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/planet/tasks/GeneratePlanetTask.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/planet/tasks/GeneratePlanetTask.java
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 //import org.apache.roller.util.UtilitiesModel;
 import org.apache.velocity.VelocityContext;
 import org.apache.velocity.app.VelocityEngine;
-import org.apache.velocity.texen.Generator;
+//import org.apache.velocity.texen.Generator;
 
 
 /**
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ public void run() {
             }
             
             // Generate files: execute control template
+            throw new UnsupportedOperationException("TODO: upgrade to velocity 2.x");
+            /* 
             Generator generator = Generator.getInstance();
             generator.setVelocityEngine(engine);
             generator.setOutputEncoding("UTF-8");
@@ -96,7 +98,7 @@ public void run() {
             generator.setTemplatePath(templateDir);
             generator.parse(mainPage, context);
             generator.shutdown();
-            
+            */
         } catch (Exception e) {
             log.error("ERROR generating planet", e);
         }
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/RollerResourceLoader.java b/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/RollerResourceLoader.java
index fa3acb55ca..e81bf06256 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/RollerResourceLoader.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/RollerResourceLoader.java
@@ -18,12 +18,13 @@
 package org.apache.roller.weblogger.ui.rendering.velocity;
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
-import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.io.Reader;
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 
-import org.apache.commons.collections.ExtendedProperties;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+import org.apache.roller.weblogger.WebloggerException;
 import org.apache.roller.weblogger.business.WebloggerFactory;
 import org.apache.roller.weblogger.pojos.TemplateRendition;
 import org.apache.roller.weblogger.pojos.TemplateRendition.RenditionType;
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@
 import org.apache.velocity.exception.ResourceNotFoundException;
 import org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.Resource;
 import org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.ResourceLoader;
+import org.apache.velocity.util.ExtProperties;
 
 /**
  * The RollerResourceLoader is a Velocity template loader which loads templates
@@ -46,21 +48,23 @@ public class RollerResourceLoader extends ResourceLoader {
 
 	private static Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(RollerResourceLoader.class);
 
-	public void init(ExtendedProperties configuration) {
+    @Override
+	public void init(ExtProperties configuration) {
 		if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
 			logger.debug(configuration);
 		}
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Get an InputStream so that the Runtime can build a template with it.
+	 * Get an Reader so that the Runtime can build a template with it.
 	 * 
 	 * @param name
 	 *            name of template
-	 * @return InputStream containing template
+	 * @return Reader containing template
      * @throws ResourceNotFoundException
 	 */
-	public InputStream getResourceStream(String name) {
+    @Override
+    public Reader getResourceReader(String name, String encoding) {
 
 		logger.debug("Looking for: " + name);
 
@@ -96,7 +100,7 @@ public InputStream getResourceStream(String name) {
 			if (templateCode != null) {
 				contents = templateCode.getTemplate();
 			}
-			return new ByteArrayInputStream(contents.getBytes("UTF-8"));
+			return new InputStreamReader(new ByteArrayInputStream(contents.getBytes(encoding)));
 
 		} catch (UnsupportedEncodingException uex) {
 			// This should never actually happen. We expect UTF-8 in all JRE
@@ -105,7 +109,7 @@ public InputStream getResourceStream(String name) {
 			logger.error(uex);
 			throw new RuntimeException(uex);
 
-		} catch (Exception re) {
+		} catch (WebloggerException | ResourceNotFoundException re) {
 			String msg = "RollerResourceLoader Error: "
 					+ "database problem trying to load resource " + name;
 			logger.error(msg, re);
@@ -120,6 +124,7 @@ public InputStream getResourceStream(String name) {
 	 * 
 	 * @see org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.ResourceLoader#isSourceModified(org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.Resource)
 	 */
+    @Override
 	public boolean isSourceModified(Resource resource) {
 		return false;
 	}
@@ -129,6 +134,7 @@ public boolean isSourceModified(Resource resource) {
 	 * 
 	 * @see org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.ResourceLoader#getLastModified(org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.Resource)
 	 */
+    @Override
 	public long getLastModified(Resource resource) {
 		return 0;
 	}
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/ThemeResourceLoader.java b/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/ThemeResourceLoader.java
index 58293332a3..2915f837be 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/ThemeResourceLoader.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/ThemeResourceLoader.java
@@ -24,9 +24,9 @@
 package org.apache.roller.weblogger.ui.rendering.velocity;
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
-import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.io.Reader;
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
-import org.apache.commons.collections.ExtendedProperties;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.roller.weblogger.pojos.TemplateRendition.RenditionType;
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 import org.apache.roller.weblogger.business.themes.ThemeManager;
 import org.apache.roller.weblogger.pojos.Theme;
 import org.apache.roller.weblogger.pojos.ThemeTemplate;
+import org.apache.velocity.util.ExtProperties;
 
 /**
  * The ThemeResourceLoader is a Velocity template loader which loads templates
@@ -51,14 +52,16 @@ public class ThemeResourceLoader extends ResourceLoader {
     private static Log logger = LogFactory.getFactory().getInstance(
             ThemeResourceLoader.class);
 
-    public void init(ExtendedProperties configuration) {
+    @Override
+    public void init(ExtProperties configuration) {
         logger.debug(configuration);
     }
 
     /**
      * @throws ResourceNotFoundException
      */
-    public InputStream getResourceStream(String name) {
+    @Override
+    public Reader getResourceReader(String name, String encoding) {
 
         if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
             logger.debug("Looking for: " + name);
@@ -115,7 +118,7 @@ public InputStream getResourceStream(String name) {
             }
 
             // return the input stream
-            return new ByteArrayInputStream(contents.getBytes("UTF-8"));
+            return new InputStreamReader(new ByteArrayInputStream(contents.getBytes(encoding)));
 
         } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException uex) {
             // We expect UTF-8 in all JRE installation.
@@ -142,6 +145,7 @@ public InputStream getResourceStream(String name) {
      * 
      * @see org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.ResourceLoader#isSourceModified(org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.Resource)
      */
+    @Override
     public boolean isSourceModified(Resource resource) {
         return false;
     }
@@ -149,6 +153,7 @@ public boolean isSourceModified(Resource resource) {
     /**
      * @see org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.ResourceLoader#getLastModified(org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.Resource)
      */
+    @Override
     public long getLastModified(Resource resource) {
         return 0;
     }
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/WebappResourceLoader.java b/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/WebappResourceLoader.java
index bb9a277443..a74cfec1ae 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/WebappResourceLoader.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/rendering/velocity/WebappResourceLoader.java
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.io.Reader;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -32,6 +34,7 @@
 import org.apache.velocity.exception.ResourceNotFoundException;
 import org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.Resource;
 import org.apache.velocity.runtime.resource.loader.ResourceLoader;
+import org.apache.velocity.util.ExtProperties;
 
 /**
  * Loads Velocity resources from the webapp.
@@ -76,7 +79,8 @@ public class WebappResourceLoader extends ResourceLoader {
 	 *            the {@link ExtendedProperties} associated with this resource
 	 *            loader.
 	 */
-	public void init(ExtendedProperties configuration) {
+    @Override
+	public void init(ExtProperties configuration) {
 
 		if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
 			log.debug("WebappResourceLoader: initialization starting.");
@@ -117,15 +121,16 @@ public void init(ExtendedProperties configuration) {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Get an InputStream so that the Runtime can build a template with it.
+	 * Get an Reader so that the Runtime can build a template with it.
 	 * 
 	 * @param name
 	 *            name of template to get
-	 * @return InputStream containing the template
+	 * @return Reader containing the template
 	 * @throws ResourceNotFoundException if template not found in classpath.
 	 *
 	 */
-	public InputStream getResourceStream(String name) {
+    @Override
+	public Reader getResourceReader(String name, String encoding) {
 
 		InputStream result = null;
 		Exception exception = null;
@@ -189,7 +194,7 @@ public InputStream getResourceStream(String name) {
 			}
 		}
 
-		return result;
+		return new InputStreamReader(result);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -228,6 +233,7 @@ private File getCachedFile(String rootPath, String fileName) {
 	 * 
 	 * @return boolean True if the resource has been modified
 	 */
+    @Override
 	public boolean isSourceModified(Resource resource) {
 
 		String rootPath = servletContext.getRealPath("/");
@@ -282,6 +288,7 @@ public boolean isSourceModified(Resource resource) {
 	 * @return long The time when the resource was last modified or 0 if the
 	 *         file can't be read
 	 */
+    @Override
 	public long getLastModified(Resource resource) {
 
 		String rootPath = servletContext.getRealPath("/");
diff --git a/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/struts2/editor/WeblogConfigBean.java b/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/struts2/editor/WeblogConfigBean.java
index 8e3200b64c..a936842e86 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/struts2/editor/WeblogConfigBean.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/ui/struts2/editor/WeblogConfigBean.java
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 
 package org.apache.roller.weblogger.ui.struts2.editor;
 
-import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.roller.weblogger.pojos.Weblog;
 
 
diff --git a/app/src/test/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/business/PlanetManagerLocalTest.java b/app/src/test/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/business/PlanetManagerLocalTest.java
index deaaf23d4c..c957e0ea59 100644
--- a/app/src/test/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/business/PlanetManagerLocalTest.java
+++ b/app/src/test/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/business/PlanetManagerLocalTest.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.List;
 
-import static junit.framework.Assert.fail;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.fail;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
 
diff --git a/app/src/test/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/business/WeblogPageTest.java b/app/src/test/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/business/WeblogPageTest.java
index 8b80fe22b6..ba3fceccff 100644
--- a/app/src/test/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/business/WeblogPageTest.java
+++ b/app/src/test/java/org/apache/roller/weblogger/business/WeblogPageTest.java
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 
 import java.util.List;
 
-import static junit.framework.TestCase.assertNull;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNull;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;