Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the great feast of the Lord – the Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem. Today we remember how the Jews, after hearing about the resurrection of Lazarus, greeted Jesus as the conqueror of death, as Christ the Saviour, as the King of the Jews, as the Man who would imminently free them from Roman oppression. This excited hope that the Jews harboured will soon pass, after the Jews see that Jesus came to establish not an earthly, but a spiritual kingdom; not to free them from the Romans, but from sin; not to place all people under their dominion, but to call all people to a union with God. In short, we can say that the spiritual meaning of today’s feastday is our personal meeting with our Saviour and God. Jesus Christ came to Jerusalem, that is, personally to me, to suffer on the cross and to nail to this cross my personal sins and in such a way cleanse me, to personally take me by the hand and drag me out of my personal hell and open to me the entrance to the Eternal Kingdom.

Last night we individually, or with our families, sang or read the festive vespers service, which could not but make us sad, because not once, but several times we sang: “Today the Grace of the Holy Spirit has brought us together!” How many years have we gathered together on this day and sang or listened to these words and truly rejoiced that the Lord had vouchsafed us to once more enter into Holy Week together. We always understood that someone will become sick, someone will leave this mortal world and another will not be able to attend the festive church services for some other good reason, but it’s unlikely that any of us thought that no one would be able to pray in church this year! Probably some of you are asking – Why, Lord? Why are people dying? Why am I and others suffering? Why is the church closed? Why can’t I receive the Mysteries?

On Great Monday the Church offers us the image of Joseph, the favourite son of Jacob, who in ancient times was captured by his brothers, lowered into a deep pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused and thrown into prison. Despite these misfortunes and temptations, he remained without fault and remained under God’s protection and consequently became the de-facto ruler and saviour of Egypt and also the saviour of his brothers. You can read more about him in the Book of Genesis (Chapters 37-50). It is not by chance that Holy Week begins with the memory of this saint, as he is an especially bright prefigurement of Christ and His salvific sacrifice.

This year Joseph can become for us not only a type of Christ, but also an example of fidelity to God’s Providence. All those misfortunes that befell him lead to him becoming the ruler of Egypt and gave him the opportunity to save the Egyptians, as well as his brothers and father, from starving to death.

Today, let’s not forget that our God and Saviour arranges everything for our own personal salvation. All the hardships that have befallen our world can have a positive impact on our spiritual lives and on our salvation. For this to happen, we are obliged, following Joseph’s example, to put our hope in God and to use those God-given talents and abilities to climb out of the situation in which we now find ourselves.

Finally, we have to try to avoid falling into a state of melancholy, but instead to be joyful, although we all understand that we would rather be attending the church services together. This is not the first, nor is it likely the last time Christians will be unable to attend church on Pascha. Remember the first Pascha, when the apostles hid in fear from the Jews and there was neither communal prayer nor the Divine Liturgy. Remember also the 20’s, 30’s and the beginning of the 40’s in the 20th century Soviet Union, when churches were being closed, the clergy exterminated and the Divine Liturgy ceased to be celebrated in many places. Remember how unexpectedly the situation changed and churches began to once again be opened (during the Second World War and in the 90’s). Times were awful, but for us everything is relatively fine. Therefore, let’s pray to the Righteous Joseph the Magnificent, the Holy Apostles and the New-Martyrs and Confessors of Russia that they bring our prayer to the Throne of Christ and that, through them, our faith is strengthened and today’s trials lead us to the Heavenly Kingdom.

priest Alexis