Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Congratulations with the end of Great Lent, the feasts of the Raising of Lazarus and the Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem, as well as the beginning of Holy Week!
In the Gospel excerpts for the Liturgy on Lazarus Saturday (John 11: 1-45) and the All-night Vigil for the Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem (Matthew 21: 1-11, 15-17) we read about the wonderful character traits of the holy apostles. Let’s take note of these men and learn from them.
Let’s remember that before coming to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead, Christ and His disciples were on the other side of the Jordan River, that is, the eastern side, which was not part of Judea but a different administrative area of the Roman Empire. They were there so as to escape the persecution of the Jews. Having learned that Lazarus was sick, Christ remained in that place for another two days, but then announced to His disciples that they were going to Judea to raise Lazarus. Upon hearing this, the disciples, were amazed and even raised some objections. Thomas, out of deep fear, and with a hint of sarcasm, says: “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” Despite the fear that had taken hold of all the apostles, through their love for Christ and their trust in Him they were able to subjugate their cowardice and followed their Teacher.
We see the same thing before the triumphant entrance into the city. Christ sends two of His disciples (whom out of the twelve, we don’t know) to the village before them. He instructs them to untie a donkey and a colt, which they will find there, asking no one for permission beforehand, and to lead them to Him. One could think that Christ is sending them to steal from some destitute people, but such a thought doesn’t enter the minds of these disciples and they do everything exactly as they were instructed. In a miraculous manner, everything turns out exactly as Christ had foretold. Once again, we see that the apostles had full trust in Christ.
Today, on the doorstep of Holy Week, when we once again find ourselves in the strange and unpleasant state of not being able to freely attend church services, it would be worth our time to examine whether we have that love and trust for Christ that the apostles had? Are we ready to follow Him and fulfill His instructions? Along with this, are we ready to do this calmly, without complaint ,or will we assert our own wants? Today, let’s lead to Christ our obstinate and self- loving souls, like once the apostles led a donkey to the Lord. The apostles cast their garments on the animal and sat Christ upon it. Let’s cover our souls not with garments, but with good deeds that we have nurtured during the period of Lent, so that Christ can sit upon them. Finally, let’s pray that Christ, having mounted our souls, pilots us not to the earthly Jerusalem, but to the heavenly one – the Kingdom of Heaven.
priest Alexis
Coming to Church on Holy and Bright Weeks
On Holy Week the church will not be open on Wednesday as it usually is. Instead, it will be open from noon until 1 pm on Holy Friday for anyone wishing to quickly come in and venerate the Shroud.
On Bright Week the church will be open on Wednesday as usual.
Beginning with Antipascha (May 9), the church will be open every Sunday from 11 am until noon.
God-willing we will soon be able to pray together again.
How should we pray during Holy Week?
Holy Week is the pinnacle of the yearly liturgical cycle. Thus, it would be good to read at least something, on a daily basis, from the services this coming week.
Below are several variations on how you can delve into the rich liturgical heritage of these services in today’s extraordinary circumstances:
First option (the simplest and shortest)
During Holy Week, the Gospels are read at practically every service. Therefore, the first thing that everyone can do is to read the daily Gospel readings. You can look up these readings in any Orthodox calendar.
Second option
You can add to the Gospel readings some of the hymns from the Lenten Triodion (http://www.st-sergius.org/services/services9.html). The main hymns of any feastday are the troparion and kontakion. If you wish to examine the services deeper, you can also read the following hymns: 1) the canons (or, as they are more often called during Lent – three ode canons) from matins, 2) the stichira from matins, 3) the sedalions from matins, 4) the canons from compline.
Third option
You can read the services the way they would be done in church. You can find the services in an easy-to-follow format here: http://www.saintjonah.org/services/holyweek_index.htm. The litanies should be replaced with ‘Lord have mercy!’ twelve times, in the same fashion as was done in the printouts of the services posted to our parish website. If you wish, you can attempt to put the services together yourselves. To do this you need an Horologion, the Lenten Triodion, the Gospels and the Psalter. You can find guidelines for putting the services together in Russian here (I’m not sure the rubrics exist online in English): http://calendar.rop.ru/?bui=102. We significantly shorten the kathisma readings from the psalter in our parish.
It seems to me that the following texts are the most important to read this week:
-all of the daily Gospel readings
-the Old Testament readings of Holy Saturday (these are the prophecies of Christ’s Resurrection)
-the canon at compline on Great Friday (the lamentation of the Mother of God)
-Matins of Great Saturday (Psalm 118 with the accompanying troparia between each verse, as well as the canon)
Please also pray for me!
priest Alexis
