Apostoliki Diakonia Holy Week and Pascha

PASSION AND RESURRECTION A JOURNEY INTO THE HOLY AND GREAT WEEK OF PASCHA

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PASSION AND RESURRECTION:

A JOURNEY INTO

THE HOLY AND GREAT WEEK OF

PASCHA

Edited by Alexander Buterbaugh



Saturday of Saint Lazarus

the Righteous

The Saturday

preceding Palm

Sunday - also

known as Palm

Saturday or

Saint Lazarus

Saturday is

the most

ancient of

feasts set down

by the Eastern

Church, in

honor of Saint

Lazarus. On this feast, we celebrate his resurrection by our Lord. The

roots of this feast go back to the 4th century, perhaps even earlier. As

apparent in the speech made by Titus, bishop of Vostrae (ca. 378) on

the Palms, this feast was initially dedicated to our Lords triumphant

entry into Jerusalem. At the time, both events were celebrated on the

same day, Palm Sunday; they were separated, from the 4th century

onwards. Remnants of the joint celebration of these two events are

apparent, in the text of the oldest written hymn for the occasion, The



common resurrection.. Liturgical needs called for the separation of

the one feast from the other, and their partitioning into two

independent days. As we all know, the period of Great Lent finishes on

the Friday before Palm Sunday, thus leaving the Saturday before Palm

Sunday liturgically vacant. This vacancy was filled, by transferring

into it the celebration of Lazarus resurrection.

The feast of Lazarus resurrection is an offspring of the Church of

Jerusalem. The Aetheria Journal informs us that a grand litany proceeded

from the temple of Zion on the seventh hour of the day (about 13.00 hrs),

and headed in the direction of the Lazarium. The Lazarium was a temple

that was erected in Bethany at the end of the 4th century, in the name of the

saint. During the procession, the litany would pause at the place where

Martha came out to meet Jesus (John 11, 20), just before He resurrected

her brother. A temple had been erected in this spot. In the saints temple,

hymns and anthems were chanted, in honor of the day. Scriptural extracts

related to this event would also be recited. The people of God would

afterwards return to Jerusalem to the Temple of the Resurrection, for

Vespers. The placing of Lazarus resurrection eight days prior to the

resurrection of Christ has a symbolic and theological character; that is to

say, it was placed on this specific Saturday, as it is dependent on the

Sunday of the glorious Resurrection of our Lord. Just as in other instances

in the fixed cycle of feasts, where one feast-day is dependent on another

feast-day, so it is in this case. As we know from evangelical history, a

significant period of time transpired between the two miracles (Lazarus

resurrection and the Lords resurrection). Nevertheless, they are celebrated

with a space of only eight days between them. This is because Lazarus

resurrection is a harbinger and a model of the Resurrection of Christ. Jesus



Christ had resurrected others, but it was soon after their deaths; Lazarus,

however, was the most accurate prefiguration of Christs three-day

entombment prior to the His Resurrection. For the first Church, the

Saturday of Lazarus was named harbinger of Pascha. Indeed, this

Saturday announces and predefines the profound light and the peace of the

following Saturday, the Holy and Great Sabbath which is the day of the

life-bearing Tomb.

In Lazarus tomb, God encounters Death: the reality of anti-life,

dissolution and despair. God faces the enemy who abducted His world

to become lord of this world. Thus, all we who follow Christ as He

approaches Lazarus tomb, enter with Him into His hour (behold,

the hour has come); the hour which He had frequently spoken of,

and had presented as the culmination, the fulfillment of His entire

mission. The joy that permeates this days church services, enhances a

central theme: the oncoming victory of Christ over Hades. And while

to this day we acknowledge that Saturdays are intended for the

remembrance of all departed souls, this Saturday of Lazarus is

celebrated as a day of resurrection. It prepares us, to comprehend

Christs victory over the eternal enemy, Hades. A victory that makes

Hades himself tremble and weep bitterly. Hades below, bitterly

wailed and trembled and groaned and with a sigh, disappeared in

fear.

Lazarus, Christs friend, is the personification of each one of us, and

Bethany, his home, symbolizes the entire world, and the place that each

person lives in. However, the detail which has a special significance in this

narration, is the one that was witnessed by John the Evangelist himself and

is repeated by many hymn-writers: Christ shed a tear (John, 11,35). He



does not weep, He does not break into sobs and wails; He simply sheds a

tear. I wonder why? Would Christ shed a tear, knowing full well what was

to follow? Is it possible, that the Creator of all, would ask where is he laid,

the one whom you are grieving for? Where is Lazarus buried, whom I shall

presently bring back to life, from the dead,? (ode c) What is hidden

behind these marvelous words? Hymn-writers believe that those tears

belong to the human nature of Christ, and that they had the power to raise

even the dead. However, we all know that suggestions such as these, would

lead us to the heretic theory of a single-natured Christ, given that both His

natures according to the 4th Ecumenical Synod of Chalcedon are joint,

unalterably, inseparably, indivisibly, distinguishably. Then what could it

be? At this point, we could refer to a small excerpt from saint Damascenos,

who wrote on the matter: neither does human nature resurrect Lazarus, nor

does divine nature shed tears; tear shedding characterizes human nature,

whereas life-giving is a potential of godhood. Nevertheless, He does have

two natures, those of His divinity and His humanity; thus, the divine feats

are accomplished by godhood, but not separately from the flesh; and the

humble feats are accomplished by the flesh, but not without godhood. It

is therefore the human deity who sheds the tear and the same human deity

who will resurrect Lazarus. He sheds a tear. and it is a divine tear. He

sheds a tear, because He sees death becoming prince of the world. The

resurrection has an educational character. It is not an act of God for God; it

was meant to embrace all of humanity. God is Life and the spring of Life.

He invites man into this reality. Man, just as the cosmos, was forged from

the hands of the Creator, so that he may exalt the Creator and become a

participant in Gods works. This is also confirmed by the hymn-writer, who

says: You shed tears as a man, o merciful One; You raised him from



within the grave, and, having been released from Hades, Lazarus cried out:

Blessed are You, o Lord God, throughout the ages (ode 9).

We follow Jesus into Jerusalem, and we have the unique privilege of

following Him to Lazarus grave, to hear His awesome command:

Lazarus, come out. We now comprehend the reason that Jesus shed a

tear. It was because he loved his friend Lazarus. This momentary act was

not meant to display His divine powers, but the power of love. Love, which

is transformed into power, and is capable of overcoming death. God is

Love, and Love is Life. It is Love that sheds a tear by the grave and it is the

same Love that brings Lazarus back to life.

"The joy of all mankind, Christ, the truth, the light and Life, the

resurrection of the world, is revealed on earth, by His benevolence and

the shape of resurrection has emerged, to give divine absolution to

everyone".



Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday

proclaims the

significance of

victory to be

the triumph of

the Kingdom

of God, and

the acceptance

by all the

world of only

one King,

Jesus Christ.

On Palm

Sunday, we remember and we honor this most significant event. By

holding palm fronds, we relate to the people of Jerusalem. Together with

them, we greet the humble Lord and King, chanting Hosannah, blessed is

He that comes in the name of the Lord.

When, during a certain moment of the service, we accept a palm frond

from the hands of the priest, we in fact are renewing our promise to our

Christ; we are confessing that His Kingdom gives a definitive meaning and

content to our life. We are confessing that every single thing in our life

belongs to Christ and that nothing can be taken away from our Creator,

because there is not a place in life where He does not reign, save, or

redeem. We are also proclaiming the universal, overall responsibility of the

Church for the history of humanity, and confirm its universal mission.



The three first Great days

Our journey is approaching its end -its true destination. We are nearing the Week of our Saviours Passion. The passage of the Triodion has

essentially reached its end, from the previous week. "Having completed the

soul-bracing period of Lent, and the Holy Week of your Passion, we

beseech you, o Manbefriending Lord, that we might behold...". Within

these words, our Church tells us that Lent is over. The Triodion is near its

end, and its final part is under way. We are nearing the Week of the

Passion. The Triodion speaks of festivities and of a Marriage whose

ceremony will last an entire week and its duration will be infinite. The

Holy and Great Week is thus named, (stresses the holy Chrysostom), not

merely for the reckoning of its days, but on account of the great salvific

events that took place within them, for the salvation of fallen mankind.

On Great Monday, we honor an important Prophet of the Old Testament,

Joseph the All Comely, who is similar to Christ in his unjustified

sufferings; we also honor our Lords withering of the fig tree.

On Great Tuesday, we are reminded of the parable of the Ten Virgins,

which is of utmost importance for our salvation.

On Great Wednesday, we honor the repentance of the sinful woman, who in

gratitude anointed our Lords feet with myrrh. This event occurred shortly

before His Passion.



On Great Thursday, we celebrate the salvific events that were established

during the Last Supper, the washing of the Apostles feet, the initializing of

the Holy Eucharist, the Lords Prayer, and Judas betrayal.

On Great (Good) Friday, we worship the Holy and Awesome Passion of

our Lord.

On Great Saturday, we honor the divine-corporal Burial of our Lord, and

His descent into Hades.

The first three days of Holy Week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,

play a decisive role within the liturgical cycle. Their divine services are

placed in a perspective that focuses on the End; they remind us of the

eschatological meaning of Pascha, and they prepare us, so that we may

understand this and accept it. The liturgical texts invite us to re-live the

events, and, as expressed by the words of the ode of Great Thursday, to

hearken all ye faithful, to the non-created, innate wisdom of God, which

has convened you, with its lofty sermon (Great Thursday, ode c) .

However, that which follows will not comprise an ordinary remembrance

of past events; they become TODAY. What do we mean by today? Do all

these events take place today, or are they simply repetitions? The liturgical

cycle of our Church may not be of special significance to us, knowing that

everything belongs to the past. But is it truly the past? Our present

condition has created a certain polarity around us, making it impossible to

see these events in their true dimension. Regrettably, we celebrate ideas,

whereas the proper celebration would have been nothing other than a

convening with our fellowman, to overcome isolation. One could say that



the Churchs entire life is one continuous remembrance and reference.

Remembrance may be far more admirable, but of all human functions, it is

also the most tragic, because nothing else can so vividly reveal the

disintegrated nature of our lives, the incompetence of man to truly hold

onto something, and to truly possess it in this world. Memory exposes how

time and death reign on earth. Naturally, all this does not happen today,

but today we can remember all our acts, and our Church is basically the

gift and the power of this remembrance, which converts these acts from

past to actual eternal events. Time ceases to exist in the form of the present

and the future; we acknowledge it as a continuous present. We live as

though everything happens today. It is only within the Church, that a

historical event can and does become an outstanding event, for me, for you,

for each one of us individually. It becomes a strength in ones life, a

remembrance, and a joy. The Venerable Passion dawns as lights of rescue

upon the world today, the hymn writer again reassures us. This

eschatological challenge is revealed in the hymnological refrain common to

all three Days : Behold, the Bridegroom cometh in the middle of the night,

and blessed is the servant who He shall find watching; and again,

unworthy is he, who He shall find sleeping. Bewaret therefore, o my soul,

lest thou be born down with sleep, lest thou be given up unto death

and be shut out of the Kingdom; But rather rouse thyself and cry: Holy,

Holy, Holy art Thou o God; Through Theotokos, Have mercy on us. The

middle of the night is the point where the day reaches its end, and a new

day commences. This is exactly why the middle of the night becomes

symbolic of the time during which we live as Christians. The Church may

on the one hand live inside this world, participating in its weaknesses and

its tragedies; however, on the other hand, her true existence is not of this



world, because she is the Bride of Christ and her mission is to proclaim

and to reveal the Kingdom of God and the new day. Her life is an eternal

anticipation, a continuous, vigilant expectation of this new Day. Our

incapacity to partake in advance of the joy of this new day, of the

second and glorious re-appearance of Christ, and to fully offer our love

to the only true Persona of love, is expressed perfectly in another, terminal

hymn of these three days: Thy bridal chamber o My Savior, do I behold all

adorned, And a garment I have not, That I may enter therein Illumine the

garment of my soul. O Light-bestower, and save me".



Great Monday

On the first day of the

Holy Week, we honor

Joseph the All-

Comely, the son of

Jacob(Israel) who was

sold by his brothers,

on account of their

great envy, as a slave

in Egypt. His

countenance is

projected, because,

according to the

Fathers of our Church,

he is a prefiguration

and an image of

Christ. Just as the Lord suffered unjustly on account of human malice, he

too suffered in the same way on account of his brothers malice, and like

Christ, he also displayed infinite tolerance.

On this day, we also commemorate the parable of the fig tree that was

cursed and withered by the Lord, an event that took place on the day after

His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, according to the holy Gospels. Having

found no fruits on this tree, He cursed it, and it instantly dried up, in this

way teaching us that if we similarly produce no spiritual fruits, we are to

expect eternal death. The hymnology of Great Monday is truly superb; its



aim is to introduce the faithful into the solemn mood of the week of the

Lords Passions. Matins begin with the superb, familiar anthem Behold,

the Bridegroom cometh in the middle of the night., followed by the

Venerable Passions., Invisible Judge. and the commencement

of our Lords Passions., all of which are introductory hymns for the

Divine Passion. After reading the Gospel, the renowned canon by saint

Kosmas the Melodist .the untrodden, wave-crested sea is sung.

The familiar refrain is inserted Jacob lamented his deprival of

Joseph followed by the very solemn hymn Thy Bridal o my Saviour,

do I behold all adorned.... During the Praises, we sing the renowned

hymns, also works of saint Kosmas the Melodian, Our Lord, on

approaching the voluntary passion.., Having reached, o faithful, the

salvific passion of Christ our God. In the superb refrains of other,

special hymns again belonging to saint Kosmas mention is made of the

episode with the sons of Zebedee, who were asking for first place in the

Kingdom of Christ. The glorification hymn Having found a second Eve in

the Egyptian woman, the dragon sought to supplant Joseph, with words of

flattery , refers to the Prophet Josephs torment. The holy hymn-

writer of Great Monday invites us persistently: "Come along with us, with

cleansed minds, and let us walk alongside Him, and be crucified and

deaden our worldly pleasures for Him, so that we may live together with

Him..



Great Tuesday

"On the Holy and

Great Tuesday, we

commemorate the

parable of the ten

Virgins states the

Synaxarion for Matins

on Great Tuesday,

which is read on the

evening of Great Monday. The Fathers of our Church appointed this day

for the commemoration of the parable of the ten Virgins, while the entire

series of hymns for this day is inspired by this parable as well as the

parable of the talents. The aim of this parable is to remind the faithful that

the Second and most Glorious Coming of the Lord will occur

unexpectedly; it will come "as a thief in the night". This is why the faithful

must always at every moment be prepared for this reception, otherwise,

they will be left out of the Kingdom of God and disappear altogether. Thus,

our divine Fathers considered it expedient, to dedicate one day of the Holy

and Great Week to the commemoration of this eschatological parable of the

ten Virgins. Furthermore, vigilance is intertwined with the Passion of our

Lord. On the dramatic evening of his arrest in the garden of Gethsemane,

the Lord Himself emphasized to his disciples Stay vigilant, and pray! Let

us pay attention to a small, characteristic excerpt by Saint John

Chrysostom, regarding the meaning of this parable: When I stop to

consider all the things of the world, and bring to mind all its good things,

riches, glory, temporary and perishable fantasies, as well as time - which



revolves and flees like a shadow - and then remember the End, and the day

on which the world will end, and the fearsome, unwavering Judge, who

will fill us all with fear and dread; and how the Judge will descend as

lightning from the heavens, and how the celestial Powers will follow Him

in great turbulence; and how the dreaded throne will be prepared, and, after

all this, how the heavens will fold away like a paper scroll, and how the

elements of nature will dissipate, as though they never existed; and how the

earth will tremble and shake, beholding the arrival of the fearsome Judge.

And then, I remember how the trumpets will peal and the tombs will open

up at the sound of the trumpets, and how the souls will rush to reunite with

their bodies which have been sleeping for so many years in the soil; how

the Just Ones will hurry to meet with the Bridegroom, how they will have

the honor of accosting the Bridegroom; how the vigilant ones will be

bestowed the honor of entering the bridal chamber, while the indolent ones

are rejected outside. Well, when I put all these thoughts in my mind, I

realize how fortunate are those wise Virgins that the holy Gospel of Mark

the Evangelist mentions, because they combated the vice of slumbering,

because they kept firmly in mind the endless, eternal life, because they

stood guard for the hour of the coming, because they maintained the fear of

the Bridegroom who is to come, because they shunned the nocturnal

darkness and duly attended to the light in their lanterns.

The hymnology of the Holy and Great Tuesday is also as exciting as that of

the entire Holy Week. The Matins service is full of solemn anthems, and

other hymns by Romanos the Melodist."Let us become enamored of the

Bridegroom, my brothers...", "Deliberations, o Savior, of illegality against

You..." and the refrain: "Judas the adverse, who in thought profiteers



against his master...". This is followed by the excerpt from the Gospel, in

which are found the terrible woes of the Lord, against the hypocritical

Pharisees. The hymn which says: The hour, o soul, of the end have I

acknowledged as well as the verse Why are you idle, my wretched

soul?.. are both related to the events of the day. The Praises works of

Kosmas the Melodist and John the monk How can I, the unworthy one,

enter into the splendors of Your saints?., The one whose soul

indolently allows him to slumber . And he that buried the talent..,

as well as the refrains Come, ye faithful, let us work willingly for the

Master, When You come in glory, along with the angelic hosts.

and The Bridegroom, fairest by far of all men. are all related to the

excerpt of the parable of the ten Virgins. Finally, the amazing glorification

hymn also by saint Kosmas - "Behold, my soul, the talent that the Master

has entrusted you; accept this gift with fear., refers to the other, equally

expressive parable of the Lord: that of the Talents.



Great Wednesday

"On the Holy and Great

Wednesday, our divine fathers

appointed the commemoration

of the Lords anointing with

myrrh by the harlot, given that

this event took place shortly

before His Passion ". This is

the content of the Synaxarion

for Great Wednesday, which

is read on the evening of Great

Tuesday. The holy Fathers,

having taken into account that

contrition is a basic

prerequisite for every persons

redemption, ordained that we should remember and honor on this day a

sinful woman who made the decision to repent sincerely, and, in her desire

to make this redeeming action more apparent, anointed the feet of merciful

Christ with priceless myrrh. Let us see how the great orator of our Church,

Saint John Chrysostom comments on this incident. "Observe, then, o

friends of Christ- the holy father stressed - so that you may understand

and appreciate the beneficial story of this good woman, and how she set

out and reached the place that she desired, without being called upon; how

she approached the spot where the Lord was seated and confessed to Him

from within her heart everything that she had done, and see how this brave

soul felt no shame, nor did she fear the disturbance that she caused to



those serving in that house, nor the adverse comments of the others who

were present. She took none of this into consideration, but instead, thought

to herself: if I myself do not appear with a face of iron or copper, I shall

not be saved. Now is the time to make haste and turn everything upside-

down. Now is the opportunity to fight the one who fought me up to now, so

that I may earn the victory wreath from merciful God. All these years, I

was liked by people, therefore now, it is only fair that I should be liked by

God, so that, with a cleansed and sanctified soul, I may be purged by Him.

It was on account of despicable sinning, that the people liked me, so, from

now on, let me be liked by my benefactor, through my contrition. What,

therefore, could I bring to this meeting, so that I might draw His attention

and achieve my goal? It seemed proper that I should bring along this

expensive perfume, and offer it to Him as a small gift. I shall therefore hold

it in my hands, and run towards Him, and, if he should nonetheless drive

me away, it will be enough that my eyes looked upon Him, as I, the

miserable one, would not have been worthy of receiving His forgiveness for

the multitude of my unspeakable sins. Vivid pictures, dialogues and

contrasts characterize the hymns of Great Wednesday. In one hymn is

portrayed mans sinfulness. The divine poet speaks in place of the whore,

and beseeches the Master and Savior, Christ, to have mercy on him:

Having sinned, o benevolent One, even more than the whore, and having

brought to you no rain of tears (like her), I only kneel before you in silent

beseeching, and passionately kiss your immaculate feet, so that you, as

Master, might grant me absolution as I cry out to You o Savior: free me,

from the mire of my works. Exquisite poetic works that were created by

saint Kosmas the Melodian, are the refrains of the Praises. In them, we find

artful contrasts between the repenting woman and the future betrayal of the



disciple Judas. The divine poet praises the whores repentance, and

stigmatizes the disciples betrayal. In other refrains, there are also amazing

poetic creations, works of Byzantius the Melodian. Towards the end, one of

the best known, superb poems not only of our Church, but of worldwide

literature in general is sung. It is the glorification hymn: O Lord, the

woman who has fallen into a multitude of sins., also known as the

hymn of Kassiane.



Great Thursday

"On the

Holy and

Great

Thursday,

the wisely-

organizing,

divine

Fathers

delivered to

us

alternately

from the

divine apostles and the holy gospel, the celebration of the following four:

the sacred Ablution, the Last Supper (that is, the delivery of our most holy

sacraments), the sublime prayer, and the betrayal. This is the content of

the Book of Saints, which is read on the evening of Great Wednesday. The

services of this Great Day are marked by two events: the Last Supper of

our Lord Jesus Christ with His disciples, and Judas betrayal. The first act

of Jesus, before they commenced their supper in the loft, was to wash the

feet of His disciples. In ancient times, it was the custom for the servants to

wash the feet of their masters and their masters guests before the meal.

With this act, our Lord gave us the measure and the criterion of power,

that is, the attending to our fellow-man. The deeper meaning behind these

events is love .The Last Supper is the eschatological revelation of Gods

redeeming love for man; a love that is the heart of salvation. Judas



betrayal reveals that sin, death and self-destruction will divide, dissolve and

lead us to places where anything else but love reigns. The content of the

hymn for this holy day is truly magnificent. The first verse When the

glorious disciples.", urges the faithful to avoid the ugly passions of

impious Judas. "When the glorious disciples during the Ablution of the

Supper were being enlightened, then Judas the impious one, blighted by

pecuniary desire, fell into darkness and delivered You, the just Judge, to

other, lawless judges. Observe, o lover of money, the one who resorted to

hanging, for what he had done. Away, o insatiable soul, that dared these

things against the Teacher. The canon, written by Kosmas the monk, is

another superb poem of our Church. In the verse "Having received the

bread in his hands, the betrayer.." , a poem by the renowned Romanos,

the cunning and wretched character of Judas is accurately portrayed. The

Oikos, a poem of Simeon the hymn-writer, invites the faithful to emulate

the Disciples of Christ and come to the spiritual dinner-table with clean

souls, in order to partake of the sacrament of redemption. The verses of

the Praises, written by John the monk, are a narration of the ungrateful

disciple. Equally magnificent is the glorification hymn The One whom

Isaiah proclaimed as the Lamb coming to voluntary slaughter.

Likewise amazing are the verses written by the Patriarch Methodios, where

he describes very poetically the arrest and the fake trial of the Lord. As is

the wonderful glorification hymn Having been initiated by You, o

Lord...", by which His disciples are called on by Him, to dedicate their

services to the people, just as He did. Christs death by crucifixion - the

Passover of the New Testament - does not have an exclusively moral

meaning, but also a mystic and liturgical meaning. The mystic meaning is

revealed during the Last Supper. It may seem strange, that the Eucharist



comes before Calvary, and that the Savior Himself, while in the Loft, had

given His Body and His Blood to His disciples: This is the cup with my

blood, that of the New Testament, which is being shed for you (Luke, 22,

20). Christ delivers Himself to the Cross and to death, not in order to buy

off at this price a certain legal guilt of mankind, by satisfying the

wrath of a sadist God who demands to satisfy his personal sense of

justice. When Christ delivers Himself to death, He empties Himself of

every trace of self-sufficiency, thus fully assuming and participating in the

existential failure of mankind, namely, death. This delivery unto death is a

referral, an obedience and a giving of thanks to the Father; it is the Fathers

life-giving will that is being fulfilled, by the Sons sacrifice. In this way,

Christs crucified flesh becomes the life and the resurrection of all flesh,

given that this is the means by which the Triadic love acts, in order to

vivify creation. With Christs obedient, crucified flesh, the Eucharist body

of the Church is formed. This kind of a formation does not require in

advance any personal virtues or deservingness; we need only to bring

forward our personal death, our existential failure and sin. This bringing

forward means that we must abandon ourselves to the love of our

Bridegroom and lover, He Who doth resurrect the dead. We do not strive

for a self-life or self-existence; we only offer in thanks our mortal way of

surviving, to Him, the sole one who belongs to us. We offer ourselves to

the - unhindered by physical demands - freedom of a personal relationship

with our brethren, and we transfer our hopes and potentials of life to the

love which unifies the ecclesiastic body and gives life to its members. In

the Epistle to Hebrews, our Lords redeeming work is pictured as services

being rendered by the Head Priest. Christ comes into the world, to execute

the will of God. He offers Himself to God, in the Spirit; He offers His



blood in absolution of sins; His entire mission takes place within the

Passion. By His blood, the blood of the New Testament, He enters the

heavens; He enters the Holy Sanctuary, behind the curtain. Following His

offering of death, He returns to seat Himself in glory, at the right hand of

the Father, for evermore. His sacrifice begins on earth, and is fulfilled in

heaven, where Christ was and still is - before God - the eternal Head Priest,

"Head Priest of all future treasures"; as the Apostle and the Head Priest of

our confession, and as Intermediator of the New Testament. Christs death

discovered eternal Life, it revealed the powers of the coming era. In

Christs blood, the new and living path was revealed to us, on that eternal

Saturday, when God rested after His great labors. Our Lords death saves

us, because it was the means by which our Lord met with our death, thus

making His death the cause of our immortality". On the Cross, our Lord

attached everything that was separate and connected earth with heaven.

The Church is constantly nurtured by Christs sacrifice. In each Divine

Liturgy, we do not observe an external re-enactment or repetition, because

the sacrifice on the Cross took place only once and therefore cannot be

repeated, but we do have a continuation of, and participation in, the one

and only sacrifice of Christ. It is not a new sacrifice; it is always the same

one: the one that Christ gave us, and the one in which we has included us.

This reality is apparent, in the Cherubic Hymn: "You are the offerer and

the offering, You receive unto Yourself, and You distribute Yourself...". The

reason therefore that we offer the Holy Eucharist, is not because God needs

it, but because Christs sacrifice is the essence and the prerequisite for our

own existence in Christ. This is the only way that the world can be

renovated. Because only a Eucharist community that is transformed during

the Divine Eucharist, is the one capable of truly transforming the world.



Great Friday (Good Friday)

From the brightness of

Great Thursday with

the Last Supper and

the delivery of the

Sacrament of the

Divine Eucharist we

enter the darkness, that

is, the day of our

Lords Passion and

His Death. "On the

Holy and Great

Friday, we re-enact

the Holy, Awesome

Passions of our Lord

God and Savior Jesus

Christ: the spittle, the

beating, the slapping,

the abuses, the jeering, the purple mantle, the reed, the sponge, the acrid

wine, the nails, the lance and above all, the cross and His Death, all of

which He voluntarily submitted Himself to, for our sake, We also

commemorate the grateful robber who was crucified beside Him, and his

redeeming confession while on the cross. The hymnology of this day is

truly magnificent. The service honoring the Holy Passions, with its fifteen

antiphonies, has preserved the palaeo-christian service, in the manner set

down by the Church of Jerusalem. The main characteristic of this service is



the reciting of the twelve evangelical excerpts, the first of which contains

Christs last bequests to His disciples and the Lords Prayer, while the

remaining eleven excerpts refer to the events of His arrest, His trial and His

crucifixion. Interspersed between these excerpts are many superb hymns.

Two such hymns stand out, during the 4th antiphony This day, Judas

counterfeits piety..."; they both give us unsurpassable, contrasting images

of the miserly and treacherous character of the ungrateful disciple, as does

the first refrain of the 6th antiphony: This day, Judas hurries to surrender

the Lord...". The first refrain of the 7th antiphony is also an amazing one:

"Those lawless ones, who seized You..." in which the Lords tolerance is

praised. The two first verses of the 9th antiphony are also superb: "Thus

said the Lord to the Judaeans...". The familiar verse of the 15th antiphony

is heart-rending: "This day, they suspend Him on a piece of wood...",

which is repeated, while a crucifix bearing Christ is carried through the

church in a solemn procession. The verses of the Praises written by

Byzantius the Hymn-writer are also remarkable, as is the glorification

hymn: They stripped me of my garments.. " and the Theotokion hymn

My back I have given them, to be whipped...". Other amazing verses

include the poem of Theophanes: "O Lord, on ascending the Cross, fear

and dread fell upon creation.... The first Church had named this day

Paschaof the Cross. Indeed, this day is the beginning of the Passage, the

Passover, whose deeper meaning will be revealed to us little by little, firstly

during the wondrous silence of the Great and Blessed Saturday, and then,

during the rejoicing on the Day of Resurrection. Good Friday is the only

day of the year in which no Divine Service takes place. Instead of the

Divine Liturgy in the morning, the Hours are recited, which basically

consist of Messianic Psalms from the Old Testament that prophesied



Christs passion, as well as other readings from the New Testament which

also refer to the Divine Passion, and are interspersed with many wonderful

hymns. After reading the Hours, Vespers follow. We can distinguish

renowned verses such as: An impious and strange people, Looking

upon You today.. and the glorification hymn by Theophanes O, how

this lawless synagogue,and the superb Theotokion hymn An

awesome and paradoxical mystery.. After reading from the

Gospel, the Lords Descent from the Cross and His entombment is re-

enacted. On this Great and Holy day, we deeply acknowledge the fact that

Christianity is the religion of the Cross. Behold, for it is by the Cross that

great joy is in the world. This is why the Apostle Paul could not see

anything else inside us, except for Jesus Christ, and Him, crucified..

(Corinthians, A 2, 21, 23). "For me, it is not possible to boast, except in

the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians, 6, 14). Thus, in order to

display our subordination to the Lord, we make the sign of the Cross. We

belong to the Crucified One. We chant and praise the blessed wood, the

new wood which bore Life, on which the King of Glory died, in order to

scatter eternal life to all creation. The Cross of Christ is the culmination

and the key to evangelical history. Our Church chants "the power of the

Cross-" o invincible and indestructible and divine power of the precious

and life-giving Cross, do not desert the sinner. Consequently, the death on

the Cross is a sacrificial offering. But the offering of a sacrifice does not

only imply self-surrender. Even if examined from an ethical point of view,

the overall significance of the sacrifice is not merely self-denial, but the

expression of love as being the dynamic content of the sacrifice. Sacrifice

is not simply an offering, but more likely a dedication and a consecration to

God. The effective impact of sacrifice is love (. Corinthians 13, 3). But



in this case, the sacrificial offering implies something more that the

element of love; it is also a mystic act, a liturgy, a mystery. The sacrifice of

the Cross comprises an undeniable sacrifice of love, as : our Christ loved

us and surrendered Himself for us as a sacrifice to God, like a fragrant

scent. (Ephesians, 5,2) But this love was not only compassion and mercy

towards the fallen. Christ gives Himself, not only in forgiveness of sins,

but also to glorify us; not only for the sake of sinning humanity, but for the

sake of the Church, so that He cleanse and sanctify it, and render it holy,

glorious and immaculate. (Ephesians, 5,25). The power of a sacrifice is

found in its potential to cleanse and sanctify. And the power of the

awesome sacrifice and passion is that the Cross is the path to glory. On the

Cross, the Son of man is glorified, and God is glorified through Him.

(John, 13,31). The request contained in the prayer of our Lord as Head

Priest, was for the glorification and the life of His disciples. " And the glory

which You gave me, I have given to them" (John. 17, 22). Here lies the

fullness of sacrifice ! The death on the Cross was effective, not because

someone innocent died, but because the one who died was the incarnated

Lord. We needed an incarnate God; God died, so that we could live - to

borrow a bold expression by Saint Gregory Nazianzos. This is the

awesome and overly-glorious mystery of the Cross. It was not a man that

died on the Cross. Because the one that suffered was not a common

mortal, but God Himself as a human, fighting the battle of patience, as

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says. The essence of the redeeming mystery of the

Cross, is that the death on the Cross is a blood-baptism. Baptism is

cleansing. And the baptism of the Cross is the cleansing of human nature,

as it follows the path of restoration of the incarnate Logos. It is a cleansing

of human nature, in the flowing blood of the Divine Lamb. And first of all,



it is a purging of human weakness and mortality itself. It is the purging that

prepares the way for the oncoming resurrection of a new and secret

Firstborn, a Second Adam . This is the blood-baptism of the overall

Church. You bought back Your Church, by the power of the Cross and

therefore the entire Body of the Church is obliged to be baptized in the

baptism of the Cross. Indeed, you will drink from my cup and be baptized

in my baptism (Mark, 10,3, Matthew, 20,23). Furthermore, the death on the

Cross is the purging of the entire world; it is the blood-baptism of all

creation. "A purging not only of a small part of humanity, or a temporary

one, but for the entire Universe, and eternally, to refer to the words of

Saint Gregory Nazianzos. In this way, all of creation participates

mysteriously in the Passion of the death of the incarnated Lord. We now

are aware that this Great day is at its end; we know that we too are at the

end of the long story of salvation and redemption. The Seventh Day, the

Day of rest, the blessed Sabbath is approaching. With it, comes the

revelation of the Life-bearing Tomb.



The Funeral Dirge-Lamentations

"On the holy and

Great Saturday, we

celebrate the

divine-corporal

entombment and

the descent into

Hades of our Lord

and Savior Jesus

Christ, by which

the human race is

revoked from its

deterioration,

towards a

transition into

eternal life". The

God of spirits and

every flesh, having now left His flesh on the Cross, descends into the realm

of spirits and enters Hades as liberator, to give one last battle and free the

spirits in bondage. Whatever we re-enact today, is not funereal in nature. It

is a worshipping, full of admiration. It is not a belief in the power of death,

but in the truth of the Resurrection. This is why the Funeral Ceremony is

not a dirge, but the festive eve of the Resurrection. Today is the day of

prolonged silence, of extended expectation, a day of resting, the Sabbath

(because during the Funeral Service, the Matins of Great Saturday are

read). This Saturday, which is called Great Saturday, is the most blessed

Saturday, in which "Christ, having awoken, rose up, after three days".



"Life slumbers, and Hades trembles". This silence, is the dirge and the

lament for death and Hades. The Lord crushes the portals of death; He

releases from eternal bondage. With His death, He brings death to death.

Life descends into the realm of death; Divine light shines in its darkness; it

illuminates all those who are inside, because Christ is the life of all, and the

sole source of life. Hence, Christ dies for all of us, and whatever occurs in

His life, occurs in everyones life. Every hymn that is sung this day, from

the most solemn c" to the praises, and the other verses and hymns, is a

combination of sorrow from the crucifixion, and joy- from the

Resurrection. This is the Churchs greatest boast and glory: that it discerns

the Resurrection inside the Crucifixion, and the Crucifixion stands out

clearly, under the bright rays of the Matins of the Resurrection. When the

ceremonial bier is carried through the streets on the evening of Great

Friday, it is not the reenactment of a true funeral procession that is taking

place. No, it signifies the Son of God walking through the darkness of

Hades and announcing to all the generations of Adam the joy of the

oncoming Resurrection. This is why the prophecy of Ezekiel and the dry

bones is recited. In this prophecy is portrayed the victory of death over the

world; but then, God speaks to the prophet Ezekiel. He tells the prophet

that this sentence is not the final and irreversible destination of man. The

dried-out bones will heed the words of the Lord. The dead will live again.

"Thus says the Lord : Behold, I open up your tombs, and draw you out of

your tombs...". The divine services of Great Friday are embellished with

hymns of unsurpassable majesty and supreme theological meaning. They

commence during Vespers of the Descent from the Cross, immediately

after the Solemn Hours of Great Friday. Matins service is a sumptuous

array of poetry and music, to honor the funeral service for the dead Christ.



The renowned canon On the waves of the sea, a poem of unsurpassable

poetic and theological value, a creation of three composers of hymns:

Kosmas, Mark and Kassiane, truly delights the faithful. Within its

intricately woven hymns and verses, the major event of Christs victory

over Hades and death is praised. Deep emotions are stirred, on hearing

eulogies such as "Life within the tomb..", "Worthy it is..." and "All

generations ...", possibly works of Kassiane. In these hymns is exalted the

living slumber of Christ, which crushes the rule of the enemy". We also

hear the wonderful verses of the Praises, where the event of victory over

death is exalted. And finally, the magnificent verse that has hidden the

sun", written by Georgios Akropolites is sung, where Christ is

portrayed as the ultimate stranger within sinful humanity.



Great Saturday

"Be silent, all mortal

flesh, and stand in fear

and dread,...", we sing,

in place of the Cherubic

Hymn of the Divine

Service of this Great

Saturday. Little by little,

everything in the world

is pierced by the light,

which emanates from

where we anticipate. We

have already reached the

interim day, awaiting

the Lords Paschaand

preparing ourselves for

the never-setting day of

the Kingdom of God.

The death of Christ brings forth the resurrection of human nature, and the

Cross has become a life-bringer, the new wood of life, "the cause for

cessation of lamenting". The church bears witness most emphatically to

this event, during Great Saturday. While on the Cross, our Lord "restores

us to our former, blessed state" and "through His Cross, gives joy to all the

world. While on the Cross, our Lord suffers and endures, but in the end,

He rests: "Your death was nothing but slumber" (final verse from the

Matins of Pascha). He also reposes man, restores him and renovates him: "



Your repose on the Cross also gives repose to me, the one who is burdened

with sins". From the Cross, Christ grants immortality to mankind. With His

entombment, He opens the gates of Hades, and renovates the deteriorated

nature of man This descent into Hades firstly signifies entry and

penetration into the kingdom of Death, the kingdom of mortality and

deterioration. And in this context, the descent is synonymous to death

itself. The Lord descended into Hades as Victor, as the Lord of Life. He

descended in glory, and not in humility, although He did descend by means

of humiliation. "It was not because of a weakness of the inhabiting Logos

that the body died; it was in order that death be eliminated from within it,

through the power of the Savior. The Lord descended into Hades, to

announce the gospel and to preach to the souls that were imprisoned there

(. Peter 3, 19 and 4, 6); to liberate them and show them their rescue, with

the power of His presence and His preaching (saint Cyril of Alexandria). In

other words, the descent into Hades is the resurrection of entire Adam.

He destroys death itself. Thus, death is transformed into Resurrection: "I

am the first and the last, and the living; and I became dead, and behold, I

am alive, for ever and ever Amen. And I hold the keys of death and of

Hades" (Revelation.1, 17 -18).



PaschaSunday

The Lord rises from the

dead, like the

Bridegroom coming out

of the bridal chamber.

The Resurrection of

Christ is a victory, not

only over His own

death, but over death in

general. "We celebrate

the annihilation of

death, the deposition of

Hades, the eternal

outset of another life".

With His Resurrection,

all of mankind and all

human nature are co-

resurrected with Christ, the human species is enrobed imperishably.

Although we may be co-risen ( of course not in the sense of actually arising

from the grave ), people still continue to die, but the despair over death has

been eliminated. Death has become powerless, and the power of

resurrection has been bestowed on all human nature. The Apostle Paul

makes this absolutely clear: "If there were no Resurrection from the dead,

then Christ would not have risen; And if the dead cannot be risen, then

Christ could not have risen" ( Corinthians. 15, 13, 16). "If Christ is not

risen, then our faith is futile" (verse 17). Beyond the hope of the general



Resurrection, faith in Christ would have been futile and without purpose; it

would have been mere vainglory. "And now Christ has risen from the dead,

as the first fruit of the slumbering souls" ( Corinthians. 15,20) and this is

where the victory of life is found.



CHRIST HAS RISEN

At midnight, inside the totally dark temple, from inside the Sanctuary and

as far as the very Tomb of the Lord, in every cemetery, the ever-shining

light of the resurrected Christ comes forth and radiates everywhere: "Light

from light, the true God, by true God ", that "light of Christ", which

"shines upon everyone", which we are all invited to acquire, and ourselves

eventually also become the light of Christ. "Now everything is filled with

light, the heavens and the earth and the underworld...". All nature

celebrates; all of creation participates in the light of the Resurrection, and

the people with the flame of the Resurrection in hand, pour out into the

streets and the countryside, and carry the flame to their homes, their

domestic churches. The resurrected Christ becomes "the light of the world".

In this rejoicing, "enter, all of you; For He accepts the last one just as He

does the first and He is merciful to the latter one, and He also cares

about the former one. And He gives to that one, and grants to this one. And

He accepts our labour, and respects our opinion, and honors the act, and

praises the intention..." (Catechist Speech of saint John the Chrysostom).

Christ with His Resurrection intervenes in the world. "Yesterday, I was

buried with Thee, o Christ; and today, I arise with Thine Arising and this

co-resurrection is realized, with the transformation of man and the world.

Do not ask me to tell you what death and resurrection are; do not ask me

what death and life are, or deterioration and imperishability. I am not able

to. But if you insist on an infinitely small sample of the way and the means

to conquer death, you must allow me to borrow a small excerpt from

Dostoevskys masterpiece, the BROTHERS KARAMAZOV. The excerpt

that follows is titled The little onion. "Once upon a time, there lived a



wicked woman. She died, without ever doing anything kind, so the devils

threw her into the fiery lake. However, her guardian angel tried to

remember some kindness that she may have done in her life, so that he

might help her out, when she would stand before God. He remembered,

and told God, that she had once uprooted a green onion and had given it to

a beggarwoman. God then told the angel: Take the same onion, and stand

over the lake. Hold it from one end, and when she grabs hold of the other

end, pull her out. If she manages to get out, then she can enter Paradise.

But if the onion breaks, it will mean that she deserves to be where she is.

The angel ran to the woman, and said to her Hold on, hold on tightly to

this little onion, and I will pull you out. And he started to pull her out,

very carefully. He had drawn her out of the lake almost completely, but

then, the other sinners saw her being pulled out, and they grabbed hold of

her so that they too would be pulled out with her. But the woman was

mean; a proper hag. She started to kick them away, shouting: Its me, me

that they want to pull out, not you! The onion is mine, not yours! No

sooner had she said this, than the onion snapped. And she fell back into the

lake. And the angel broke into tears and went away. I read this narrative,

so that I may complete it, with a phrase by saint Gregory: "He died, so that

He might save, He arose, so that He might draw towards Him those bodies

who had fallen down in sin..." . In other words, Christ Himself rose up to

the heavens, so that He might pull us up with a simple little onion. All our

human sin is hung on Him, and during all this period of time, we are taught

that Christ Himself will submit Himself to death for all of us, to the end.

Participation, or rejection? In the Kingdom of God - a certainty which is

announced to us by the Resurrection you either share the little onion that

God gives you, with the others, or else you head down the path of oblivion.



"In this did we perceive love: that He lay down his life for us. Therefore it

is our debt, to lay down our lives for our brothers.. it is in this, that love

is found : not in our loving God, but in His loving us, and sending us His

son as ransom for our sins " (John, 3,16 and 4,10). TRULY, HE IS

RISEN!

Apostoliki Diakonia Holy Week and Pascha

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