10 TIPS FOR HOLY WEEK AND PASCHA

 

1. Make participation at the Divine Services for Holy Week and Pacha a priority.

2. In our homes we should strive to "keep out the world" and enter into the peace, solemnity, and theology of the events of the last days of Our Lord.

3. Make sure to read the last chapters of the Holy Gospels that speak of the Passion, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ.

4. If you are visiting another parish and wish to receive Holy Communion, make sure that the priest knows who you are and that you are prepared. This should be done in advance by phone, email, or any other way.

5. Last year's palms and willow branches should be placed outside in an area to decay where they will not be disturbed. They are holy and should not be simply thrown out with the garbage.

6. On Good Friday or Pascha before venerating Holy Objects, such as the Cross, Icons, or the Holy Shroud-Plashchanytsia, make sure to wipe off your lipstick or chap-stick. Reminder: we do not kiss the face of Our Lord, His Mother, or the Saints; instead kiss the hands or feet.

7. If you haven't yet made your Confession during the Great Fast-Lent, try to make it today on Palm Sunday or during Holy Week.

8. Try to make amends with those we may be upset with or those who are upset with us, so that on Pascha-Easter we can joyfully sing, "Let us call brothers, even those that hate us, and forgive all by the Resurrection!"

9. Remember to prepare and to bring an Easter basket to be blessed on the Feast of the Resurrection. Let us share in the joy of the Lord's Resurrection with fellowship and love.

10. During Paschal Season, sing or read the Troparion "Christ is Risen-Христос Воскрес" together with your "normal" morning and evening prayers. Let the joy of praising the Lord's Resurrection accompany you throughout Bright Week, the Paschal season, and your whole life.

Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast

The story of Mary of Egypt is remembered and cherished throughout Christendom, east and west. In our Holy Church, however, we remember her twice each year. The first time, her feast day on April 1^st, is our gift to her: we remember what she did, who she was, and who she became. The second time, today on the Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast-Lent, is her gift to us: the gift of her story at the moment when we ourselves must enter the inner desert of our hearts. For what does Lent mean for us? It is that time when we must face ourselves, and face ourselves in the presence of God. Who are we? What do we live for? We fast, pray, repent, and confess. It is hard and we get lost in the wilderness. And we cannot escape the truth of who we are. At this point in Lent, we prepare for Holy Week. And before we can rejoice, we must complete our full sojourn in the desert.

The Life of St. Mary teaches us that the values of the Church are quite different from those of the world. She went out into the desert and had nothing, no friends, no home, no possessions, no clothes and hardly any food and drink. The world looked for pleasure; the satisfaction of the senses, money and power, but St. Mary was moneyless and powerless in the world. Today's Gospel reading confirms the choice of Mary of Egypt, for it says that those who wish to be great must be servants. This is upside down from all the ways of this world. But our Lord preached this and like Him our venerable mother Mary lived this.

Indeed, as we have already said, the Church calls our venerable mother Mary "the greatest of saints". The use of this word "great" may surprise us. In everyday life, we use "great" in other meanings. The world speaks of "great politicians", "a great car", "and a great amount of money". But the Church calls Mary of Egypt "great" and a thousand and a half years after she lived we ask for her prayers, but not for those of any politician or film-star or sportsman. Let us think more carefully before next we utter this word "great".

And as this last week of the Great Fast - Lent begins; let us also ponder on the words of the Mother of God, which led Mary of Egypt to her salvation through repentance and her greatness: "If you cross the Jordan, you will find true peace". These mysterious words are today also addressed to each of us; the interpretation of their mystery is open to the souls of each of us, but only if we ask the Mother of God and our venerable mother Mary of Egypt to guide us. And then we shall find our own "entry into Jerusalem".

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CROSS ITSELF?

 

St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, in a letter written around 350 AD to Emperor Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great, states that the true Cross was found in Jerusalem during the reign of Constantine. From the beginning of the fifth century, church writers and historians attribute the finding of the true Cross to St. Helena, the mother of St. Constantine. In his Catechetical theological discourses which St. Cyril delivered in Jerusalem beginning in 347 AD, he commonly mentions the sacred Cross. St. Cyril briefly describes a tradition that was followed in Jerusalem on the morning of Holy Friday. The bishop, the clergy and the faithful would gather in the Chapel of the Cross which had been constructed by Constantine near Golgotha, and there they would venerate a large relic of the true Cross which was kept in a beautiful silver and gold reliquary.

St. Cyril is the first writer to comment on the fact that relics of the true Cross had been distributed all over the world. By the beginning of the fifth century, fragments of the true Cross were found in churches, monasteries and even in homes. In fact, St. John Chrysostom (d. 407) observed that many individuals in his day wore small gold reliquaries containing particles of the Cross around their necks. The expression "knock on wood" comes from the time Christians touched their reliquary crosses in times of trouble.

A reflection from St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Even in His pain on the Cross, the Lord Jesus did not condemn sinners but offered pardon to His Father for their sins saying, "They know not what they do!" (St. Luke 23:34). Let us not judge anyone so that we will not be judged. For no one is certain that before his death he will not commit the same sin by which he condemns his brother. Saint Anastasius of Sinai teaches, "Even if you see someone sinning, do not judge him for you do not know what the end of his life will be like. The thief, crucified with Christ, entered Paradise and the Apostle Judas went to Hell. Even if you see someone sinning, bear in mind that you do not know his good works. For many have sinned openly and repented in secret; we see their sins, but we do not know their repentance. That is why, brethren, let us not judge anyone so that we will not be judged."

Second Sunday of the Great Fast

On this Lenten journey we have before us a man who is paralyzed, and who has friends that care for him and bring him to the Lord to be healed. He has four friends that will take him on his bed, and want to bring him to Christ. But as we read in the Gospel reading from the holy evangelist Mark 2: 1-12 because of the press (the crowd of people), he couldn't get to Jesus.

What is this press? This "press" is often mentioned in other healings; this press is the obstacles that we encounter in our Christian life. We encounter great obstacles. Now in the case of this man who was paralyzed, he wouldn't have the strength to press through a group of people on his own, and even with help it would be immensely difficult; how can you carry a stretcher through a huge crowd of people? It is not possible. So what did they do? They overcame the press by climbing onto the roof.

A roof is high above all things. The scripture uses this analogy just as it uses mountains sometimes, to say that this is how we should be in our Christian life. We should look up, we should be thinking of spiritual things, not of carnal things, not of just daily things, and we should elevate our mind - to contemplate pure things, and things that God wishes us to know. These people got up on the roof. So of course it was a practical act to get up on the roof, so that they could break the roof tiles and let him down, and it was rather ingenious actually. But it is also an indication of how we should be in our lives.

So how do we get past the press, how do we get past the difficulties we face in our lives? Get up on the roof. Not just get up on the roof, but there must be labor, both physical and spiritual involved in the Christian life. One of the greatest heresies of all time that we face in our modern society is that the Christian life can be fought without labor, that salvation can be gathered and garnered without labor. This is the great heresy of our age — it has been around now for quite some time — that we can actually be saved without labor. The answer to that is very clear: Oh NO! It takes great labor on our part to be saved; it takes effort for us to push by the press; it takes effort for us to get on the roof, to elevate our minds to things above and not to things below. May this Lenten journey make us stronger in our efforts to face the "press", the daily difficulties in life that we encounter. Amen.

Venerable father Xenophon and Venerable mother Maria – January 26

Saint Xenophon, his wife Maria, and their sons Arcadius and John, were noted citizens of Constantinople and lived in the fifth century. Despite their riches and position, they distinguished themselves by their simplicity of soul and goodness of heart. Wishing to give their sons John and Arcadius a more complete education, they sent them off to the Phoenician city of Beirut.

By divine Providence the ship on which both brothers sailed was wrecked. The waves tossed the brothers ashore at different places. Grieved at being separated, the brothers dedicated themselves to God and became monks. For a long time the parents had no news of their children and presumed them to be dead.

Xenophon, however, already quite old, maintained a firm hope in the Lord and consoled his wife Maria, telling her not to be sad, but to believe that the Lord watched over their children. After several years the couple made a pilgrimage to the holy places, and at Jerusalem they met their sons, living in asceticism at different monasteries. The joyful parents gave thanks to the Lord for reuniting the family.

The parents Xenophon and Maria went to separate monasteries and dedicated themselves to God. The monks Arcadius and John, having taken leave of their parents, went out into the wilderness, where after long ascetic toil they were glorified by gifts of wonderworking and discernment. Our venerable father Xenophon and his wife Maria, laboring in silence and strict fasting, also received from God the gift of wonderworking.

 

"No matter where you are, you can set up your sanctuary. Just have pure intentions and neither the place, nor the time will be an obstacle, even without kneeling down, striking your chest or raising your arms to heaven. As long as your mind is fervently concentrated you are totally composed for prayer. God is not troubled by any place. He only requires a clear and fervent mind and a soul desiring prudence."

Our venerable father Anthony the Great

Our venerable father Anthony the Great

January 17

 

Saint Anthony, the Father of monks, was born in Egypt in 251 of pious parents who departed this life while he was yet young. On hearing the words of the Gospel: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell what thou hast, and give to the poor" (Matt. 19:21), he immediately put it into action. Distributing to the poor all he had, and fleeing from all the turmoil of the world, he departed to the desert. The manifold temptations he endured continually for the span of twenty years are incredible. His ascetic struggles by day and by night, whereby he mortified the uprisings of the passions and attained to the height of dispassion, surpass the bounds of nature; and the report of his deeds of virtue drew such a multitude to follow him that the desert was transformed into a city, while he became, so to speak, the governor, lawgiver, and master-trainer of all the citizens of this newly-formed city.

 

Saint Anthony began his ascetic life outside his village of Coma in Upper Egypt, studying the ways of the ascetics and holy men there, and perfecting himself in the virtues of each until he surpassed them all. Desiring to increase his labors, he departed into the desert, and finding an abandoned fortress in the mountain, he made his dwelling in it, training himself in extreme fasting, unceasing prayer, and fierce conflicts with the demons. Here he remained in prayer and solitude for about twenty years. Saint Athanasius the Great, who knew him personally and wrote his life, says that he came forth from that fortress "initiated in the mysteries and filled with the Spirit of God." Afterwards, because of the press of the faithful, who deprived him of his solitude, he was enlightened by God to journey with certain Bedouins, until he came to a mountain in the desert near the Red Sea, where he passed the remaining part of his life. Becoming an example of virtue and a rule for monastics, he reposed on January 17 in the year 356, having lived altogether some 105 years.

 

A man asked abbot Antony, "What shall I keep, that I may please God?" Anthony said: "Wherever you go, have God ever before your eyes. In whatever you do, hold by the example of the Holy Scriptures; and in whatever place you abide, don't be swift to leave [out of restlessness]. These three things keep, and you will be saved."

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

At that time, Jesus went to a city called Nain, and His disciples and a great crowd went with Him. As He drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother…

Today's Gospel reading concerns the resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain. We recall that this miracle occurred just after the healing of the servant of the centurion, a healing which had taken place at a distance. If we meditate upon this event we will see that this miracle of resurrection, like all the Lord's miracles, happened for two reasons.

First let us remember that as the Son and Creating Word and Wisdom of God, Christ in His divine nature, had the power to work miracles, restoring the laws of creation as they had been intended before the Fall, when there was no sickness or death. Through miracles He showed this power, the unique power of the Son of God. In the particular case of the widow, Christ could show His divine power and disprove the rumors which no doubt were already circulating, that the healing of the centurion's servant at a distance had been a mere coincidence - he would have recovered anyway.

As our second point we must remember today that this miracle happened because as a human-being, Christ in his human nature felt pity and had compassion on those who were suffering. In the particular case of the widow, there was great reason for compassion. In those days a widow was likely to become very poor unless she was looked after by her children. Now the only son of the widow of Nain was the only one who could look after his mother. Without him she would have become destitute, a beggar and perhaps would have died of starvation on the streets.

This miracle proves that the divine power of the Holy Spirit flows not from, but through, Christ's all-pure human nature. Christ's Word and Body are Life-Giving, as is later proved in the Gospels by His own physical resurrection. Now since the Church is the Body of Christ, this means that the same power flows through the Church and confers life and healing and resurrection on all who touch Christ in the Church, participating in the spiritual life of the Church.