Tag Archives: Holy Week

Mystical Supper

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The Orthodox Church remembers so many events on Holy Thursday that it takes five mostly-long passages to comprise the Gospel reading. These events are: the washing of the disciples’ feet, the institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the agony in the garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal of Christ by Judas.

Icon Reader shares a 15th-century Russian icon that includes all of these events:

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This site explains at length all the commemorations of the day, including the Last Supper, which is our experience also in the Divine Liturgy as the article testifies: “In the Eucharist the Church remembers and enacts sacramentally the redemptive event of the Cross and participates in its saving grace.”

On his blog this week Fr. Stephen explores Judas’s “banal and prosaic” reason for betraying Jesus: the love of money. He writes: “Money is the anti-Eucharist. Like the Eucharist, it is a way of life.”

“Christ gives His disciples the Eucharist on the ‘night in which He was betrayed.’ … Christ loves the Father – and all that the Father has given to Him. The bread that Christ gives is life, and life more abundantly…God give us life!

mysticalsupper

Incessantly and Altogether Beautiful

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Tonight marks the end of Lent in the Orthodox Church. We enter Holy Week with Lazarus Saturday, and of course we do fast until Pascha, but it’s not technically Lent anymore for us. We now stop thinking about whether we succeeded or failed at Lent, because we need to focus on what God has done and be fully present for these last days of the remembering of the death and resurrection of the Lord.

In our parish we had Matins of Lazarus Saturday, a time to remember the whole story of how Lazarus had been dead four days when Jesus came into town and his friends said, “If only you had been here, he wouldn’t have died.” And Jesus wept. Then He showed his power over death, and raised Lazarus. And then followed the events that sent Him to His own death, which He also overcame for our sakes. His powerful beauty is still filling this world.

Despite the effects of the Fall and despite our deep sinfulness, the world continues to be God’s creation. It has not ceased to be “altogether beautiful.” Despite human alienation and suffering, the Divine Beauty is still present in our midst and still remains ever active, incessantly performing its work of healing and transfiguration. Even now beauty is saving the world, and it will always continue to do so. But it is the beauty of a God who is totally involved in the pain of the world that He has made, of a God who died on the Cross and on the third day rose victorious from the dead.

–Metropolitan Kallistos

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Tonight’s the night!

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The victory is in each of us, the victory is in all those of us who believe that death cannot separate us from God….However frightening and dark the world is nowadays, we know that victory has already been won, that God has won and that we who believe in him partake together with him in his victory. And therefore, let us bring, to all around us, this message of life and glory!

— Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

 
 

Joseph preserved his soul.

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HOLY AND GREAT MONDAY

I often think of the Church as a treasure chest full of precious gems, so overflowing and of such varied hues and designs that I will never even see all of them, or be able to fully appreciate them in my lifetime. That’s because the Church is “the fullness of Him that fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:23) or in other translations “who fills all things everywhere with himself,” or “who fills everything in every way,” or “who everywhere fills the universe with Himself.” Doesn’t that sound like a lot to take in?

Every day on the church calendar is rich with the history of our salvation, and with the memory of people who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. But because I  1) have a finite amount of time, and 2) am overly caught up in the cares of this world or my own selfish concerns, I miss many of those connections as the days fly by. Today is the first I recall noticing two traditions of Monday in Holy Week, stories that are brought to our remembrance every year on this day:

Jesus Cursing the Fig Tree — That I love fig trees and figs is not pertinent to this story, in which a fig tree is symbolic of those who do not bring forth the fruits of repentance. This is an event that “actually occurred on the day of the biblical Holy Monday,” as the Wikipedia article tells us.

The Patriarch Joseph — The story of Joseph the son of Jacob, how his brothers sold him into slavery but God raised him to be a ruler in Egypt, is one of my favorites. It’s such a lesson in how God has His purposes which most of us can’t comprehend, especially when we suffer because of the sins of others.

The theme of the hymn this day is: “Joseph, though enslaved in body, preserved his soul in freedom.” He is the positive counterpart to the unfruitful fig tree, and this Mystagogy post explores how the freedom from passions (sin) compares to the kinds of freedom we typically care about and fight for these days. 

One of the passions that Joseph seems to have avoided is bitterness or resentment. He didn’t want his brothers to feel bad anymore about what they did to him, because he thinks they all should rejoice instead and be grateful for what God has done in preserving their people, God’s chosen nation, in the famine. Years ago I learned in a Bible study all the many, many ways that Joseph is a type of Christ. Just more of those riches that I am inadequate to hold on to.

But this week we also have the theme of Jesus the Bridegroom. In our parish we are able to have Bridegroom Matins at 6:30 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. What a blessing! And Lord willing, I’ll be there for at least one of those services and feel the warmth emanating from a few diamonds or rubies of the Church’s treasury.