Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feasts of the Resurrection of the Lord and of the Cross, as well as with the completion of the first half of Great Lent!

Today we heard wonderful and comforting words from the Epistle to the Hebrews. We read that we have a great high priest, Christ the Saviour, who is able to sympathize with us and to console us precisely because He was like us. He was a real person who lived through suffering and died here on earth. Since this is so, we need to hold fast to our faith and appeal to Him in times of sorrow.

The Apostle Paul continues that Christ is in some ways like the regular earthly Jewish high priests. Like them, Christ was ordained for service to God for the sake of people. He, like them, had to bring a sacrifices for the sins of the people. The regular priests could easily forgive sins, because they sin just like everyone else. We can add from ourselves that Christ easily forgives sins not because He sinned, for He never sinned in anything, but because He became a real person and experienced all the natural needs of a human body (hunger, exhaustion, etc.). He understands how difficult it is for a person to live. Paul continues that the high priests bring sacrifices not only for the people, but also for themselves (naturally, Christ brings a sacrifice only for the people). The Apostle ends with a note that no one takes up the honour of the priesthood himself, but is called by God. To confirm this, two verses from psalms 2 and 109 are quoted.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, today the Life-giving Cross is before us in the middle of church. On it we see our great high priest, Christ, with outstretched hands. Here we have an image not only of our high priest, but also of the sacrifice brought for our sins, for Christ brought Himself as a living and life-giving sacrifice. Seeing this image and calling to mind the agony tied to the Crucifixion, we cannot but agree with the author of today’s words. Truly our Saviour is able to understand, support, and comfort every suffering person, for no one but He experienced the fullness of human suffering. No one brought such a sacrifice as He did. Therefore, let’s run with all our sorrows to the crucified Lord. Let’s turn to Him and receive consolation.

priest Alexis