Sunday<\/p>\n
Explanation of Holy Week from Fr Alexander Schmemann+<\/p>\n
“Having fulfilled Forty Days… we ask to see the Holy Week of Thy Passion.”
\nWith these words sung at Vespers of Friday, Lent comes to its end and we enter into the
\nannual commemoration of Christ’s suffering, death and Resurrection. It begins on the
\nSaturday of Lazarus. The double feast of Lazarus’ resurrection and the Entrance of the
\nLord to Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) is described in liturgical texts as the “beginning of the
\nCross” and is to be understood therefore, within the context of the Holy Week.\u00a0 [Lazarus Saturday]\u00a0 \u00a0is a Sunday, i.e., a Resurrection, service on a
\nSaturday, a day usually devoted to the liturgical commemoration of the dead. And the
\njoy which permeates these services stresses one central theme: the forthcoming victory of
\nChrist over Hades. Hades is the Biblical term for Death in its universal power, for that
\nunescapable darkness and destruction that swallows all life and poisons with its shadow
\nthe whole world. But now — with Lazarus’ resurrection — “death begins to tremble.” For
\nthere the decisive duel between Life and Death begins and it gives us the key to the
\nentire liturgical mystery of Pascha. In the early church Lazarus Saturday was called
\n“announcement of Pascha”, it announces and anticipates, indeed, the wonderful light and
\npeace of the next Saturday – the Great and Holy Saturday, the day of the Lifegiving
\nTomb.<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee, for by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Monday<\/p>\n
Palm Sunday\u00a0announces the meaning of victory as the triumph of the Kingdom of God, as the
\nacceptance by the world of its only King, Jesus Christ. In the life of Jesus the solemn
\nentrance in the Holy City was the only visible triumph. Up to that day, He consistently
\nrejected all attempts to glorify Him. But six days before the Passover, He not only
\naccepted to be glorified, He Himself provoked and arranged this glorification by doing
\nwhat the prophet Zacharias announced: “behold, Thy King cometh unto thee… lowly
\nand riding upon an ass.. “(Zac. 9:9). He made it clear the He wanted to be acclaimed and
\nacknowledged as the Messiah, the King and the Redeemer of Israel. The Gospel
\nnarratives stress all these Messianic features; the Palms, the cry from the crowd of
\n\u201cHosannah\u201d, the acclamation of Jesus as the Son of David and the King of Israel. The
\nhistory of Israel is now coming to its end, such is the meaning of this event, for the
\npurpose of that history was to announce and to prepare the Kingdom of God, the advent
\nof the Messiah. And now it is fulfilled. For the King enters His Holy City and in Him all
\nprophecies, all expectations find their fulfillment. He inaugurates His Kingdom. The
\nLiturgy of Palm Sunday commemorates this event. With palm branches in our hands,
\nwe identify ourselves with the people of Jerusalem, together with them we greet the lowly
\nKing, singing Hosannah to Him.<\/p>\n
We, know however, that the King whom the Jews acclaimed then, and whom we
\nacclaim today, is on His way to Golgotha, to the Cross and to the grave, we know that
\nthis short triumph is but the prologue of His sacrifice. The branches in our hands
\nsignify, therefore, our readiness and willingness to follow Him on this sacrificial way and
\nour acceptance of sacrifice and self-denial as the only royal way to the Kingdom.
\nAnd finally these branches, this celebration, proclaim our faith in the final victory
\nof Christ. His Kingdom is yet hidden and the world ignores it.<\/p>\n
Prayer:<\/p>\n
O Lord and Master of my life, a spirit of idleness, despondency, ambition, and idle talking give me not.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tuesday<\/p>\n
Bridegroom Services (evening of Sunday-Wednesday)<\/p>\n
“Behold, the Bridegroom cometh at midnight and blessed is he
\nwhom He shall find watching, but unworthy is he whom He shall
\nfind heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed
\ndown with sleep, lest you be given up and shut out from the
\nKingdom. But, rouse yourself crying: Holy, Holy, Holy art
\nThou, O God. Through the Theotokos, have mercy on us.”<\/p>\n
Midnight is the moment when the old day comes to its end and a new day begins.
\nIt is thus the symbol of the time in which we live as Christians. For, on the one hand, the
\nChurch is still in this world, sharing in its weaknesses and tragedies. Yet, on the other
\nhand, her true being is not of this world, for she is the Bride of Christ and her mission is
\nto announce and to reveal the coming of the Kingdom and of the new day. Her life is a
\nperpetual watching and expectation, a vigil pointed at the dawn of this new day… But we
\nknow how strong is still our attachment to the “old day,” to the world with its passions
\nand sins. We know how deeply we still belong to “this world.” We have seen the light, we
\nknow Christ, we have heard about the peace and joy of the new life in Him, and yet the
\nworld holds us in its slavery. This weakness, this constant betrayal of Christ, this
\nincapacity to give the totality of our love to the only true object of love are wonderfully
\nexpressed in the Exapostalarion of these three days:
\n“I behold Thy Bridal chamber richly adorned, O my Savior; but
\nI have no wedding garment to worthily enter. Make radiant the
\ngarment of my soul, O Giver of Light and save me.”<\/p>\n
Prayer:<\/p>\n
But rather a spirit of chastity, humble-mindedness, patience, and love bestow upon me Thy servant.<\/p>\n
Yea, O Lord King, grant me to see my failings and not condemn my brother; for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen.<\/p>\n
Wednesday<\/p>\n
Service themes:\u00a0 On Monday
\nAt Orthros: Matthew 21:18-43; the story of the fig tree, the symbol of the world
\ncreated to bear spiritual fruits and failing in its response to God.
\nAt the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: Matthew 24:3-35; the great eschatological
\ndiscourse of Jesus. The signs and announcement of the End. “Heaven and earth will pass
\naway, but my words will not pass away.”<\/p>\n
On Tuesday
\nAt Orthros: Matthew 22:15-23:39; condemnation of Pharisees, i.e., of the blind
\nand hypocritical religion, of those who think they are the leaders of man and the light of
\nthe world, but who in fact “shut the Kingdom of heaven against men.”
\nAt the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: Matthew 24:36-26:2; the End again and
\nthe parables of the End: the ten wise virgins who had enough oil in their lamps and the
\nten foolish ones who were not admitted to the bridal banquet; the parable of the ten
\ntalents “… Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” And, finally,
\nthe Last Judgement<\/p>\n
On Wednesday
\nAt Orthros: John 12:17-50; the rejection of Christ, the growing conflict, the
\nultimate warning: “Now is the judgement of this world… He who rejects me and does not
\nreceive my sayings, has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last
\nday.”
\nAt the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: Matthew 26:6-16; the woman who
\npoured the precious ointment on Jesus, the image of love and repentance which alone
\nunite us with Christ.<\/p>\n
One warning, one exhortation runs through all of them: the end and the judgement are
\napproaching, let us prepare for them<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prayer:<\/p>\n
Yea, O Lord King, grant me to see my failings and not condemn my brother; for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages. Amen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Thursday
\nHoly Thursday:\u00a0\u00a0Two events shape the Liturgy of the Great and Holy Thursday: the Last Supper
\nand the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. The Last Supper is the ultimate revelation of God’s
\nredeeming love for man. The betrayal by Judas reveals that sin, death and selfdestruction
\nare also due to love, but love directed at that which does not deserve love.
\nThe mystery of this unique day, and its liturgy where light and darkness, joy and sorrow
\nare so strangely mixed, challenges us with the choice on which the eternal destiny of
\neach one of us depends.<\/p>\n
It is also on Holy\u00a0Thursday that Holy Chrism is consecrated by the primates of autocephalous Churches,
\nand this also means that the new love of Christ is the gift we receive from the Holy Spirit
\non the day of our entrance into the Church.\u00a0\u00a0The Cherubic hymn and the hymn of Communion are replaced by the words of
\nthe prayer before Communion:
\n“Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a
\ncommunicant, for I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine
\nenemies, neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss; but like the
\nthief will I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy
\nKingdom.”<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. O Lord, blot out our sins. O Master, pardon our iniquities. O Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Thy name’s sake.<\/p>\n
Friday<\/p>\n
So often we watch the beautiful and solemn
\nsadness of these services in the spirit of self-righteousness and self-justification. Two
\nthousand years ago bad men killed Christ, but today we — the good Christian people —
\nerect sumptuous Tombs in our Churches — is this not the sign of our goodness? Yet,
\nGood Friday deals not with past alone. It is the day of Sin, the day of Evil, the day on
\nwhich the Church invites us to realize their awful reality and power in “this world.” For
\nSin and Evil have not disappeared, but, on the contrary, still constitute the basic law of
\nthe world and of our life. And we who call ourselves Christians, do we not so often make
\nours that logic of evil which led the Jewish Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilate, the Roman
\nsoldiers and the whole crowd to hate, torture and kill Christ? On what side, with whom
\nwould we have been, had we lived in Jerusalem under Pilate? This is the question
\naddressed to us in every word of Holy Friday services. It is, indeed, the day of this world,
\nits real and not symbolical, condemnation and the real and not ritual, judgment on our
\nlife… It is the revelation of the true nature of the world which preferred then, and still
\nprefers, darkness to light, evil to good, death to life. Having condemned Christ to death,
\n“this world” has condemned itself to death and inasmuch as we accept its spirit, its sin, its
\nbetrayal of God — we are also condemned… Such is the first and dreadfully realistic
\nmeaning of Good Friday — a condemnation to death…But this day of Evil, of its ultimate manifestation and triumph, is also the day of
\nRedemption. The death of Christ is revealed to us as the saving death for us and for our
\nsalvation.<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3X)<\/p>\n
Saturday
\nThe “Great and Holy Sabbath” is the day which connects Good Friday, the
\ncommemoration of the Cross with the Day of His Resurrection. To many, the real
\nnature and the meaning of this “connection,” the very necessity of this “middle day”
\nremains obscure. For a good majority of Church-goers, the “important” days of the Holy
\nWeek are Friday and Sunday, the Cross and the Resurrection. These two days, however,
\nremain somehow “disconnected.” There is a day of sorrow, and then, there is the day of
\njoy. In this sequence, sorrow is simply replaced by joy… But according to the teaching of
\nthe Church, expressed in her liturgical tradition, the nature of this sequence is not that of
\na simple replacement. The Church proclaims that Christ has “trampled death by death.”
\nIt means that even before the Resurrection, an event takes place, in which the sorrow is
\nnot simply replaced by joy, but is itself transformed into joy. Great Saturday is precisely
\nthis day of transformation, the day when victory grows from inside the defeat, when
\nbefore the Resurrection, we are given to contemplate the death of death itself… And all
\nthis is expressed, and even more, all this really takes place every year in this marvelous
\nmorning service, in this liturgical commemoration which becomes for us a saving and
\ntransforming presence.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Prayer:\u00a0 Christ is Risen…indeed He is Risen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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