HAUNTED BY THE HOLY GHOST

On The Nativity Of Christ In The Flesh by St. Ephraim the Syrian

photo by fantartsy JJ

This is the day that gladdened them, the Prophets, Kings, and Priests, for in it were their words fulfilled, and thus were the whole of them indeed performed! For the Virgin this day brought forth Immanuel in Bethlehem. The voice that of old Isaiah spoke, (Isaiah 10:19) today became reality. He was born there who in writing should tell the Gentiles’ number! The Psalm that David once sang, by its fulfillment came today! The word that Micah once spoke, (Micah 5:2) today had come indeed to pass! For there came from Ephratha a Shepherd, and His staff swayed over souls. Lo! From Jacob shone the Star, (Numbers 24:17) and from Israel rose the Head. (Hosea 1:11) The prophecy that Balaam spoke had its interpreting today! Down also came the hidden Light, and from the Body rose His beauty! The light that spoke in Zachary, today shined in Bethlehem!
Risen is the Light of the kingdom, in Ephratha the city of the King. The blessing wherewith Jacob blessed, to its fulfillment came today! That tree likewise, [the tree] of life, brings hope to mortal men! Solomon’s hidden proverb (Proverbs 3:18) had today its explanation! Today was born the Child, and His name was called Wonder! (Isaiah 9:6) For a wonder it is that God as a Babe should show Himself. By the word Worm did the Spirit foreshow Him in parable, because His generation was without marriage. The type that the Holy Ghost figured today its meaning was [explained.] He came up as a root before Him, as a root of parched ground. (Isaiah 53:2) Anything that covertly was said, openly today was done! The King that in Judah was hidden, Tamar stole Him from his thigh; today arose His conquering beauty, which in hidden estate she loved. Ruth at Boaz’ side lay down, because the Medicine of Life hidden in him she perceived. Today was fulfilled her vow, since from her seed arose the Quickener of all.Travail Adam on the woman brought, that from him had come forth. She today her travail ransomed, who to her a Savior bare! To Eve our mother a man gave birth, who himself had had no birth. How much more should Eve’s daughter be believed to have borne a Child without a man! The virgin earth, she bare that Adam that was head over the earth! The Virgin bare today the Adam that was Head over the Heavens. The staff of Aaron, it budded, and the dry wood yielded fruit! Its mystery is cleared up today, for the virgin womb a Child has borne!

 

h/t to Preachers Institute

A Nativity Sermon of St. Issac the Syrian

This Christmas night bestowed peace on the whole world;
So let no one threaten;

This is the night of the Most Gentle One -
Let no one be cruel;

This is the night of the Humble One -
Let no one be proud.

Now is the day of joy -
Let us not revenge;

Now is the day of Good Will -
Let us not be mean.

In this Day of Peace -
Let us not be conquered by anger.

Today the Bountiful impoverished Himself for our sake;
So, rich one, invite the poor to your table.

Today we receive a Gift for which we did not ask;
So let us give alms to those who implore and beg us.

This present Day cast open the heavenly doors to our prayers;
Let us open our door to those who ask our forgiveness.

Today the DIVINE BEING took upon Himself the seal of our humanity,

In order for humanity to be decorated by the Seal of DIVINITY.

photo: The Breath of New Hope

by Paulo John

h/t to Preachers Institute

ONENESS of the CHURCH

Feast of The Apostles Peter and Paul by Saint John the Wonderworker

 About the Apostles Peter and Paul:  From a collection of Homilies and writings 

of St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai & San Francisco

The day of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is the culminating feasts of the Gospel. Although the last event in the life of Christ which is related in the Gospel as His Ascension into heaven (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51), the preaching of the Apostles is closely bound up with the Gospel.

    The Gospel tells us of their being chosen, and the Gospel
    indicates beforehand the end of Apostolic activity.

Telling of the appearance of Christ on the sea of Tiberias and the restoration to apostleship of Peter, who by his triple confession corrected his triple denial, the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian speaks also of the prediction to the Apostle Peter concerning the end of his struggle.
When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whether thou wouldest not. This spoke He, signifying by what death he should glorify God (John 21:18-19).

It was not pleasing to the Lord then, to reveal the face of each of the other Apostles, although, when sending them to preach, He predicted to them, the persecutions that awaited them (Matt. 10:17-36).
Now, to the question of Peter about John, Christ replied: If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me (John 21:22).

The mysterious words of Christ about John, and the extraordinary circumstances of
the latter's end, have been the cause for the opinion, which spread in the Church, beginning from the days of the apostles, that John would remain on earth until the Second Coming.

Such a view of the end of the earthly life of the Apostle John is set forth in part also in the hymns on the day of his memorial, where mention is made of his special closeness to the earthly Church.

Therefore, the Church does not celebrate the day of the repose of the Apostle John
the Theologian, which is aso revered by the Church as a great feast, as is the day of repose of the Apostle Peter, which was definitely predicted by the Lord.

 It is precisely to the Apostle Peter and to no one else, that the Lord predicted the culmination of his earthly ministry, because it was Peter who first confessed Him,
on behalf of all the Apostles, to be Christ, the Son of God; he was the first to receive the promise of power to bind and loose, which was subsequently given to all the Apostles (Matt. 16:16-19; Matt. 18:18); and it was he who renounced Christ and was again restored to apostleship.
Indicating to Peter the culmination of his Apostolic preaching when restoring to him the Apostolic calling, the Lord thereby reveals the essence of the Apostolic ministry.

    The preaching of the Word of God not only by word of mouth,
    but also by deprivations, sufferings and death, constituted the
    following of Christ and the continuation of His work.

The Apostle Peter, as the most zealous of all and one who strove to be before the
others in word and deed, by his example aroused the other Apostle Therefore it is primarily him that Christ addresses.
He goes in front of the other Apostles, becomes their "leader;" and it is especially to him that the preaching among the Jews was entrusted, while the Apostle of the Gentiles was the one who received precisely this title, being converted later, the no less zealous Paul (Gal. 2:7-9).

   

These two Apostles were as it were the commanders
    of the rank of the Apostles, which is expressed
     (in the service to them) by the word "leaders."

    Without having authority over others, they both stood in front of all others
    by their warm zeal and labors.

Their life was the most brilliant and was a personification of the life and labors of all the Apostles.
The end of their earthly labors was especially impressive, thanks to the fact that it occurred before the eyes of the whole world.

One of them (Peter) was crucified upside down, and the other (Paul) was beheaded, both in Rome, towards which at that time the gaze of all peoples was directed.
The news of this quickly dew to all the ends of the universe, all the more in that
they were both known personally in many places; their names were everywhere the Savior had been preached

    The Apostle of the Jews and the Apostle of the Gentiles departed to
     Christ on the same day, as if indicating their equal nearness to God
    and the oneness of the Church of Christ, in which there it neither Greek
    nor Jew
                            (Col. 3:11).

    Therefore, the day on which the earthly labors ended for
    "the leaders of the Apostles, who labored more than all,"
    who "separated in body, are together in spirit;"
    became one of the memorable days for the whole Church.

The Apostle John the Theologian was still a1ive then, being in Ephesus, from
where he was exiled to the island of Patmes.
Not long before his transition into the other world, he wrote the Gospel, by which he completed the three Gospels written before him, and which he had approved.
Having already completed his Gospel, he added to it, the account of the manifestation of Christ on the sea of Tiberias in order that quoting precisely the words of Christ about himself, he might refute the opinion that he had been promised by Christ to remain on earth until the Second Coming.

In this afterward to the Gospel written by him, the Apostle and Evangelist John set forth the prediction of Christ to the Apostle Peter concerning his martyr's death, and thus he bound the memory of this death with the Gospel.

Just as the last chapter of the Gospel of John is literally the conclusion of the whole Gospel, so also the feast dedicated to the fulfillment of the prophecy set forth there
is as it were the conclusion of all the Gospel events kept in remembrance by the Church.

Being an immovable feast, it is nevertheless bound up with the movable feasts,
since the preparation for it-the Apostles' Fast-begins one week after the feast
of Pentecost; thus, it depends on the date of the celebration of Pascha.

    The feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul indicates
    the lot of the Holy Apostles here on earth and
    reveals the glory that followed it.

The earthly lot of the Apostles was to go around the earth preaching of the Heavenly Kingdom, in this emulating Christ by their poverty, endurance of dishonor and sufferings, by their love for the children of the Heavenly Father, their inward torments of childbirth over those who heeded their preaching and their grief over those who paid no heed to their words and finally, by offering themselves as a sacrifice.

    However, the culmination of their earthly life
    is the beginning of their heavenly glory.
    Their end is for them a dissolving of earthly ties
     and an ascent to Christ, Whom they loved,
    in order to remain eternally with Him (Phil. 1:23).

The day of their earthly end is the day of their heavenly birth, end the celebration
of it is a solemnity of the coming of the future age for those who have followed
Christ in this age.

   

The receiving of the crowns of righteousness prepared not only for them,
    but also for all who love His appearing (II Tim. 4:8).

    Coming after the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit
    and being in part bound up with it, the feast of the
    Holy Apostles Peter and Paul culminates the yearly cycle of feasts
    dedicated to the earthly life of Christ and
    reveals the essence of His promises.

    Just as the Nativity of John the Baptist is the foreword to the Gospel
    and the beginning of the events described in it,
    so also the death of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is their culmination
    and the afterward of the Gospel.

    The Nativity of St. John the Baptist is the beginning
    of the preaching of the Gospel of the New Testament on earth;
    his Beheading is the preaching of it in hell;
    and the day of the Holy Apostles is the realization of it in heaven.

"The firm and God-proclaiming preachers, the pinnacle of the Apostles, Thou hast received into the enjoyment of Thy good things and into repose; for Thou didst receive their pains and death as above all offerings, O Thou Who alone knowest what is in the heart" (Kontakion).

"The feast of the all-honorable Apostles hath come, interceding for the salvation of all of us. Now mystically clapping our hands, let us say: come into our midst invisibly, vouchsafing immaterial gifts for those who praise your feast in hymns" (Glory at Lauds).

Rise, let us go hence...

Harrowing Hell

What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.

Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam’s son.

The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: ‘My Lord be with you all.’ And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.

‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.

‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.

‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.

‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.

‘See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.

‘I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.

‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the kherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the kherubim worship you as they would God.

‘The kherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages.’

An  reading from an ancient  homily for Holy Saturday

Holy Week - Saturday: This is the Blessed Sabbath -Alexander Schmemann

Holy Week - Saturday: This is the Blessed Sabbath

The "Great and Holy Sabbath" is the day which connects Good Friday, the commemoration of the Cross with the Day of His Resurrection. To many the real nature and the meaning of this "connection," the very necessity of this "middle day" remains obscure. For a good majority of Church-goers, the "important" days of the Holy Week are Friday and Sunday, the Cross and the Resurrection. These two days, however, remain somehow "disconnected." There is a day of sorrow, and then, there is the day of joy. In this sequence, sorrow is simply replaced by joy... But according to the teaching of the Church, expressed in her liturgical tradition, the nature of this sequence is not that of a simple replacement. The Church proclaims that Christ has "trampled death by death." It means that even before the Resurrection, an event takes place, in which the sorrow is not simply replaced by joy, but is itself transformed into joy. Great Saturday is precisely this day of transformation, the day when victory grows from inside the defeat, when before the Resurrection, we are given to contemplate the death of death itself... And all this is expressed, and even more, all this really takes place every year in this marvelous morning service, in this liturgical commemoration which becomes for us a saving and transforming presence.

On coming to the Church on the morning of Holy Saturday, Friday has just been liturgically completed. The sorrow of Friday is, therefore, the initial theme, the starting point of Matins of Saturday. It begins as a funeral service, as a lamentation over a dead body. After the singing of the funeral troparia and a slow censing of the church, the celebrants approach the Epitaphion. We stand at the grave of our Lord, we contemplate His death, His defeat. Psalm 119 is sung and to each verse we add a special "praise" which expresses the horror of men and of the whole creation before the death of Jesus:

"O all ye mountains and hills, and all ye gatherings of men,"

"Mourn, weep and lament with me,"

"The Mother of your God..."

And yet, from the very beginning, alongside with this initial theme of sorrow and lamentation, a new one makes its appearance and will become more and more apparent. We find it, first of all, in Psalm 119 -- "Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!" In our liturgical practice today this psalm is used only at the funeral services, hence, its "funeral" connotation for the average believer. But in early liturgical tradition this Psalm was one of the essential parts of the Sunday vigil, the weekly commemoration of Christ's Resurrection. Its content is not "funeral" at all. This psalm is the purest and the fullest expression of love for the law of God, i.e., for the Divine design of man and of his life. The real life, the one which man lost through sin, consists in keeping, in fulfilling the Divine law, that life with God, in God and for God, for which man was created.

"In the way of thy testimonies I delight as much as in all riches." (Verse 14)

"I will delight in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word." (Verse 16)

And since Christ is the image of a perfect fulfillment of this law, since His whole life had no other "content" but the fulfillment of His Father's will, the Church interprets this psalm as the words of Christ Himself, spoken to His Father from the grave.

"Consider how I love thy precepts!

Preserve my life according to thy steadfast love." (Verse 159)

The death of Christ is the ultimate proof of His love for the will of God, of His obedience to His Father. It is an act of pure obedience, of full trust in the Father's will; and for the Church it is precisely this obedience to the end, this perfect humility of the Son that constitutes the foundation, the beginning of His victory. The Father desires this death, the Son accepts it, revealing an unconditional faith in the perfection of the Father's will, in the necessity of this sacrifice of the Son by the Father. Psalm 119 is the psalm of that obedience, and therefore the announcement that in obedience the triumph has begun...

But why does the Father desire this death? Why is it necessary? The answer to this question constitutes the third theme of our service, and it appears first in the "praises," which follow each verse of Psalm 119. They describe the death of Christ as His descent into Hades. "Hades" in the concrete biblical language means the realm of death, that state of darkness, despair and destruction which is death. And, being the realm of death, which God has not created and which He did not want, it also signifies that the Prince of this world is all powerful in the world. Satan, Sin, Death -- these are the "dimensions" of Hades, its content. For sin comes from Satan and Death is the result of sin -- "sin came into the world, and death through sin" (Romans 5:12). "Death reigned from Adam to Moses" (Romans 5:14), the entire universe has become a cosmic cemetery, was condemned to destruction and despair. And this is why death is "the last enemy" (I Corinthians 15:20) and its destruction constitutes the ultimate goal of the Incarnation. This encounter with death is the "hour" of Christ of which He said that "for this purpose, I have come to this hour" (John 12:27)... And now this hour has come and the Son of God enters into Death. The Fathers usually describe this moment as a duel between Christ and the Death, Christ and Satan. For this death was to be either the last triumph of Satan, or his decisive defeat. The duel develops in several stages. At first, the forces of evil seem to triumph. The Righteous One is crucified, abandoned by all, and endures a shameful death. He also becomes the partaker of "Hades," of this place of darkness and despair... But at this very moment, the real meaning of this death is revealed. The One who dies on the Cross has Life in Himself, i.e., He has life not as a gift from outside, a gift which therefore can be taken away from Him, but as His own essence. For He is the Life and the Source of all life. "In Him was Life and Life was the light of man." The man Jesus dies, but this Man is the Son of God. As man, He can really die, but in Him, God Himself enters the realm of death, partakes of death. This is the unique, the incomparable meaning of Christ's death. In it, the man who dies is God, or to be more exact, the God-man. God is the Holy Immortal; and only in the unity "without confusion, without change, without division, without separation" of God and Man in Christ can human death be "assumed" by God and be overcome and destroyed from within, be "trampled down by death..."

Now we understand why God desires that death, why the Father gives His Only-begotten Son to it. He desires the salvation of man, i.e., that the destruction of death shall be not an act of His power, ("Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?" Matthew 26:53), nota violence, be it even a saving one, but an act of that love, freedom and free dedication to God, for which He created man. For any other salvation would have been in opposition to the nature of man, and therefore, not a real salvation. Hence the necessity of the Incarnation and the necessity of that Divine death... In Christ, man restores the obedience and love. In Him, man overcomes sin and evil. It was essential that death were not only destroyed by God, but overcome and trampled down in human nature itself, by man and through man. "For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead." (I Corinthians 15:21).

Christ freely accepts death, of His life He says that "no one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord." (John 10:18) He does it not without a fight: "and He began to be sorrowful and troubled." (Matthew 26:37) Here is fulfilled the measure of His obedience, and therefore, here is the destruction of the moral root of death, of death as the ransom for sin. The whole life of Jesus is in god as every human life ought to be, and it is this fulness of Life, this life full of meaning and content, full of God, that overcomes death, destroys its power. For death is, above all, a lack of life, a destruction of life that has cut itself from its only source. And because Christ's death is a movement of love towards God, an act of obedience and trust, of faith and perfection -- it is an act of life (Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit -- Luke 23:46) which destroys death. It is the death of death itself...

Such is the meaning of Christ's descent into Hades, of His death becoming His victory. And the light of this victory now illumines our vigil before the Grave.

"How, O Life, canst Thou die? Or abide in a grave.

For Thou dost destroy the kingdom of death, O Lord,

and Thou raisest up the dead of Hades realm."

"In a grave they laid Thee, O my Life and my Christ.

Yet behold now, by Thy death, death is stricken down,

and Thou pourest forth life's streams for all the world."

"O, how full that joy was! O, how great that delight!

Wherewith Thou didst fill all them that were held by Hades,

when Thou shonest forth Thy light in those dark depths."

Life enters the Kingdom of death. The Divine Light shines in its terrible darkness. It shines to all who are there, because Christ is the life of all, the only source of every life. Therefore He also dies for all, for whatever happens to His life -- happens in Life itself... This descent into Hades is the encounter of the Life of all with the death of all:

"Thou hast come down to earth to save Adam, and having not found him on earth,

Thou hast descended, searching him, even into Hades..."

Sorrow and joy are fighting each other and now joy is about to win. The "praises" are over. The dialogue, the duel between Life and Death comes to its end. And, for the first time, the song of victory and triumph, the song of joy resounds. It resounds in the "troparia on Psalm 119," sung at each Sunday vigil, at the approach of the Resurrection day:

"The company of the angels was amazed, when they beheld thee numbered among the dead,

yet, Thyself, O Savior, destroying the power of death, and with Thee raising up Adam

and releasing all men from Hell."

"Wherefore, O women disciples, do ye mingle sweet-smelling spices with your tears of pity?

The radiant angel within the Sepulcher cried unto the Myrrh-bearing women:

Behold the grave and understand; for the Savior is risen from the tomb."

Then comes the beautiful Canon of Great Saturday, in which once more all the themes of this service -- from the funeral lamentation to the victory over death -- are resumed and deepened, and which ends with this order:

"Let all creation rejoice, and all the earth be glad; for Hades and the enemy have been spoiled.

Let the women meet me with myrrh; for I redeem Adam along with Eve and all their descendants,

and will rise on the third day."

"And will rise on the third day." From now on paschal joy illumines the service. We are still standing before the Tomb, but it has been revealed to us as the life-giving Tomb. Life rests in it, a new creation is being born, and once more, on the Seventh Day, the day of rest -- the Creator rests from all His work. "The Life sleeps and Hades trembles" -- and we contemplate this blessed Sabbath, the solemn quiet of the One who brings life back to us: "O come let us see our life, resting in the grave..." The full meaning, the mystical depth of the Seventh Day, as the day of fulfillment, the day of achievement is now revealed, for

"...The great Moses mystically foreshadowed this day, saying: and God blessed the seventh day.

This is the blessed Sabbath; it is the day of rest, and on it the Only-begotten Son of God

rested from all His works..."

We now go around the Church in a solemn procession with the Epitaphion, but it is not a funeral procession. It is the Son of God, the Holy Immortal, who proceeds through the darkness of Hades, announcing to "Adam of all generations" the joy of the forthcoming Resurrection. "Shining as the morning from the night," He proclaims that "all the dead will rise again, all those in the graves will live, and all those created will rejoice..."

We return to the Church. We know already the mystery of Christ's life-giving death. Hades is destroyed. Hades trembles. And now the last theme appears -- the theme of Resurrection.

Sabbath, the seventh day, achieves and completes the history of salvation, its last act being the overcoming of death. But after the Sabbath comes the first day of a new creation, of a new life born from the grave.

The theme of Resurrection is inaugurated in the Prokeimenon:

"Arise, O Lord, help us, and deliver us, for the glory of Thy name.

O God, we have heard with our ears."

It is continued in the first lesson: the prophecy of Ezekiel on the dry bones. (Chapter 37) "...there were very many upon the valley; and lo, they were very dry." It is death triumphing in the world, and the darkness, the hopelessness of this universal sentence to death. But God speaks to the prophet. He announces that this sentence is not the ultimate destiny of man. The dry bones will hear the words of the Lord. The dead will live again. "Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel..." Following this prophecy comes the second Prokeimenon, with the same appeal, the same prayer:

"Arise, O Lord my God; lift up Thine hand..."

How will it happen, how is this universal resurrection possible? The second lesson (I Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 3:13-14) gives the answer: "a little leaven leavens the whole lump..." Christ, our Pascha, is this leaven of the resurrection of all. As His death destroys the very principle of death, His Resurrection is the token of the resurrection of all, for His life is the source of every life. And the verses of the "Alleluia," the same verses, which will inaugurate the Easter service, sanction this final answer, the certitude that the time of the new creation, of the day without evening, has begun:

"Alleluia!! Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered,

and let them that hate Him flee from before His face...

Alleluia!! As smoke vanishes, so let them vanish,

as wax melts before the fire."

The reading of the prophecies is over. Yet, we have heard but prophecies. We are still in Great Saturday before Christ's tomb. And we have to live through this long day, before we hear at midnight: "Christ is risen!", before we enter into the celebration of His Resurrection. Thus, the third lesson -- Matthew 27:62-66 -- which completes the service, tells us once more about the Tomb -- "So they went and made the sepulcher secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard."

But it is probably here, at the very end of Matins, that the ultimate meaning of this "middle day" is made manifest. Christ arose from the dead, His Resurrection we will celebrate on Easter Day. This celebration, however, commemorates a unique event of the past, and anticipates a mystery of the future. It is already His Resurrection, but not yet ours. We will have to die, to accept the dying, the separation, the destruction. Our reality in this world, in the aeon, is the reality of the Great Saturday; this day is the real image of our human condition. We believe in the Resurrection, because Christ has risen from the dead. We expect the Resurrection. We know that Christ's death has annihilated the power of death, and death is no longer the hopeless, the ultimate end of everything... Baptized into His death, we partake already of His life that came out of the grave. We receive His Body and Blood which are the food of immortality. We have in ourselves the token, the anticipation of the eternal life... All our Christian existence is measured by these acts of communion to the life of the "new aeon" of the Kingdom... and yet we are here, and death is our inescapable share.

But this life between the Resurrection of Christ and the day of the common resurrection, is it not precisely the life in the Great Saturday? Is not expectation the basic and essential category of Christian experience? We wait in love, hope and faith. And this waiting for "the resurrection and the life of the world to come," this life which is "hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3-4), this growth of expectation in love, in certitude; all this is our own "Great Saturday." Little by little, everything in this world becomes transparent to the light that comes from there, the "image of this world" passes by and this indestructible life with Christ becomes our supreme and ultimate value.
Every year, on Great Saturday, after this morning service, we wait for the Easter night and the fulness of Paschal joy. We know that they are approaching -- and yet, how slow is this approach, how long is this day! But is not the wonderful quiet of Great Saturday the symbol of our very life in this world? Are we not always in the "middle day," waiting for the Pascha of Christ, preparing ourselves for the day without evening of His Kingdom?

The Very Rev. Alexander Schmemann
From "Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week" published by St Vladimir's Seminary Press

 

Holy Week - Friday: The Cross -Alexander Schmemann

Holy Week - Friday: The Cross

From the light of Holy Thursday we enter into the darkness of Friday, the day of Christ's Passion, Death and Burial. In the early Church this day was called "Pascha of the Cross," for it is indeed the beginning of that Passover or Passage whose whole meaning will be gradually revealed to us, first, in the wonderful quiet of the Great and Blessed Sabbath, and, then, in the joy of the Resurrection day.

But, first, the Darkness. If only we could realize that on Good Friday darkness is not merely symbolical and commemorative. So often we watch the beautiful and solemn sadness of these services in the spirit of self-righteousness and self-justification. Two thousand years ago bad men killed Christ, but today we -- the good Christian people -- erect sumptuous Tombs in our Churches -- is this not the sign of our goodness? Yet, Good Friday deals not with past alone. It is the day of Sin, the day of Evil, the day on which the Church invites us to realize their awful reality and power in "this world." For Sin and Evil have not disappeared, but, on the contrary, still constitute the basic law of the world and of our life. And we who call ourselves Christians, do we not so often make ours that logic of evil which led the Jewish Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilate, the Roman soldiers and the whole crowd to hate, torture and kill Christ? On what side, with whom would we have been, had we lived in Jerusalem under Pilate? This is the question addressed to us in every word of Holy Friday services. It is, indeed, the day of this world, its real and not symbolical, condemnation and the real and not ritual, judgment on our life... It is the revelation of the true nature of the world which preferred then, and still prefers, darkness to light, evil to good, death to life. Having condemned Christ to death, "this world" has condemned itself to death and inasmuch as we accept its spirit, its sin, its betrayal of God -- we are also condemned... Such is the first and dreadfully realistic meaning of Good Friday -- a condemnation to death...

But this day of Evil, of its ultimate manifestation and triumph, is also the day of Redemption. The death of Christ is revealed to us as the saving death for us and for our salvation.

It is a saving Death because it is the full, perfect and supreme Sacrifice. Christ gives His Death to His Father and He gives His Death to us. To His Father because, as we shall see, there is no other way to destroy death, to save men from it and it is the will of the Father that men be saved from death. To us because in very truth Christ dies instead of us. Death is the natural fruit of sin, an immanent punishment. Man chose to be alienated from God, but having no life in himself and by himself, he dies. Yet there is no sin and, therefore, no death in Christ. He accepts to die only by love for us. He wants to assume and to share our human condition to the end. He accepts the punishment of our nature, as He assumed the whole burden of human predicament. He dies because He has truly identified Himself with us, has indeed taken upon Himself the tragedy of man's life. His death is the ultimate revelation of His compassion and love. And because His dying is love, compassion and co-suffering, in His death the very nature of death is changed. From punishment it becomes the radiant act of love and forgiveness, the end of alienation and solitude. Condemnation is transformed into forgiveness...

And, finally, His death is a saving death because it destroys the very source of death: evil. By accepting it in love, by giving Himself to His murderers and permitting their apparent victory, Christ reveals that, in reality, this victory is the total and decisive defeat of Evil. To be victorious Evil must annihilate the Good, must prove itself to be the ultimate truth about life, discredit the Good and, in one word, show its own superiority. But throughout the whole Passion it is Christ and He alone who triumphs. The Evil can do nothing against Him, for it cannot make Christ accept Evil as truth. Hypocrisy is revealed as Hypocrisy, Murder as Murder, Fear as Fear, and as Christ silently moves towards the Cross and the End, as the human tragedy reaches its climax, His triumph, His victory over the Evil, His glorification become more and more obvious. And at each step this victory is acknowledged, confessed, proclaimed -- by the wife of Pilate, by Joseph, by the crucified thief, by the centurion. And as He dies on the Cross having accepted the ultimate horror of death: absolute solitude (My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me!?), nothing remains but to confess that "truly this was the Son of God!..." And, thus, it is this Death, this Love, this obedience, this fulness of Life that destroy what made Death the universal destiny. "And the graves were opened..." (Matthew 27:52) Already the rays of resurrection appear.

Such is the double mystery of Holy Friday, and its services reveal it and make us participate in it. On the one hand, there is the constant emphasis on the Passion of Christ as the sin of all sins, the crime of all crimes. Throughout Matins during which the twelve Passion readings make us follow step by step the sufferings of Christ, at the Hours (which replace the Divine Liturgy: for the interdiction to celebrate Eucharist on this day means that the sacrament of Christ's Presence does not belong to "this world" of sin and darkness, but is the sacrament of the "world to come") and finally, at Vespers, the service of Christ's burial the hymns and readings are full of solemn accusations of those, who willingly and freely decided to kill Christ, justifying this murder by their religion, their political loyalty, their practical considerations and their professional obedience.

But, on the other hand, the sacrifice of love which prepares the final victory is also present from the very beginning. From the first Gospel reading (John 13:31) which begins with the solemn announcement of Christ: "Now is the Son of Man glorified and in Him God is glorified" to the stichera at the end of Vespers -- there is the increase of light, the slow growth of hope and certitude that "death will trample down death..."

"When Thou, the Redeemer of all,
hast been laid for all in the new tomb,
Hades, the respecter of none, saw Thee and crouched in fear.
The bars broke, the gates were shattered,
the graves were opened, the dead arose.
Then Adam, thankfully rejoicing, cried out to Thee:
Glory to Thy condescension, O Merciful Master."

And when, at the end of Vespers, we place in the center of the Church the image of Christ in the tomb, when this long day comes to its end, we know that we are at the end of the long history of salvation and redemption. The Seventh Day, the day of rest, the blessed Sabbath comes and with it -- the revelation of the Life-giving Tomb.

The Very Rev. Alexander Schmemann
From "Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week" published by St Vladimir's Seminary Press

 

Holy Week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday- Fr. Alexander Schmemann

Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week

Monday,
Tuesday,
Wednesday:

These three days, which the Church calls Great and Holy have within the liturgical development of the Holy Week a very definite purpose. They place all its celebrations in the perspective of End; they remind us of the eschatological meaning of Pascha. So often Holy Week is considered one of the “beautiful traditions” or “customs,” a self-evident “part” of our calendar. We take it for granted and enjoy it as a cherished annual event which we have “observed” since childhood, we admire the beauty of its services, the pageantry of its rites and, last but not least, we like the fuss about the paschal table. And then, when all this is done we resume our normal life. But do we understand that when the world rejected its Savior, when “Jesus began to be sorrowful and very heavy… and his soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death,” when He died on the Cross, “normal life” came to its end and is no longer possible. For there were “normal” men who shouted “Crucify Him!” who spat at Him and nailed Him to the Cross. And they hated and killed Him precisely because He was troubling their normal life. It was indeed a perfectly “normal” world which preferred darkness and death to light and life…. By the death of Jesus the “normal” world, and “normal” life were irrevocably condemned. Or rather they revealed their true and abnormal inability to receive the Light, the terrible power of evil in them. “Now is the Judgment of this world” (John 12:31). The Pascha of Jesus signified its end to “this world” and it has been at its end since then. This end can last for hundreds of centuries this does not alter the nature of time in which we live as the “last time.” “The fashion of this world passeth away…” (I Cor. 7:31).

Pascha means passover, passage. The feast of Passover was for the Jews the annual commemoration of their whole history as salvation, and of salvation as passage from the slavery of Egypt into freedom, from exile into the promised land. It was also the anticipation of the ultimate passage - into the Kingdom of God. And Christ was the fulfillment of Pascha. He performed the ultimate passage: from death into life, from this “old world” into the new world into the new time of the Kingdom. And he opened the possibility of this passage to us. Living in “this world” we can already be “not of this world,” i.e., be free from slavery to death and sin, partakers of the “world to come.” But for this we must also perform our own passage, we must condemn the old Adam in us, we must put on Christ in the baptismal death and have our true life hidden in God with Christ, in the “world to come….”

And thus Easter is not an annual commemoration, solemn and beautiful, of a past event. It is this Event itself shown, given to us, as always efficient, always revealing our world, our time, our life as being at their end, and announcing the Beginning of the new life…. And the function of the three first days of Holy Week is precisely to challenge us with this ultimate meaning of Pascha and to prepare us to the understanding and acceptance of it.

This eschatological (which means ultimate, decisive, final) challenge is revealed, first, in the common troparion of these days:

Troparion - Tone 8 Behold the Bridegroom comes at midnight, And blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching, And again unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, Lest you be given up to death and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom. But rouse yourself crying: Holy, Holy, Holy, are You, O our God! Through the Theotokos have mercy on us!

Midnight is the moment when the old day comes to its end and a new day begins. It is thus the symbol of the time in which we live as Christians. For, on the one hand, the Church is still in this world, sharing in its weaknesses and tragedies. Yet, on the other hand, her true being is not of this world, for she is the Bride of Christ and her mission is to announce and to reveal the coming of the Kingdom and of the new day. Her life is a perpetual watching and expectation, a vigil pointed at the dawn of this new day. But we know how strong is still our attachment to the “old day,” to the world with its passions and sins. We know how deeply we still belong to “this world.” We have seen the light; we know Christ; we have heard about the peace and joy of the new life in Him, and yet the world holds us in its slavery. This weakness, this constant betrayal of Christ, this incapacity to give the totality of our love to the only true object of love are wonderfully expressed in the exapostilarion of these three days:

“Thy Bridal Chamber I see adorned, O my Savior And I have no wedding garment that I may enter, O Giver of life, enlighten the vesture of my soul And save me.”

The same theme develops further in the Gospel readings of these days. First of all, the entire text of the four Gospels (up to John 13: 31) is read at the Hours (1, 3, 6 and 9th). This recapitulation shows that the Cross is the climax of the whole life and ministry of Jesus, the Key to their proper understanding. Everything in the Gospel leads to this ultimate hour of Jesus and everything is to be understood in its light. Then, each service has its special Gospel lesson:

On Monday:

At Matins: Matthew 21:18-43 - the story of the fig tree, the symbol of the world created to bear spiritual fruits and failing in its response to God.

At the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: Matthew 24:3-35: the great eschatological discourse of Jesus. The signs and announcement of the End. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away….”

“When the Lord was going to His voluntary Passion, He said to His Apostles on the way: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, And the Son of Man shall be delivered up As it is written of Him. Come, therefore, and let us accompany Him, With minds purified from the pleasures of this life, And let us be crucified and die with Him, That we may live with Him, And that we may hear Him say to us: I go now, not to the earthly Jerusalem to suffer, But unto My Father and your Father And My God and your God, And I will gather you up into the heavenly Jerusalem, Into the Kingdom of Heaven….” (Monday Matins)

On Tuesday:

At Matins: Matthew 22:15-23, 39. Condemnation of Pharisees, i.e., of the blind and hypocritical religion, of those who think they are the leaders of man and the light of the world, but who in fact “shut up the Kingdom of heaven to men.”

At the Presanctified Liturgy: Matthew 24:36-26, The End again and the parables of the End: the ten wise virgins who had enough oil in their lamps and the ten foolish ones who were not admitted to the bridal banquet; the parable of ten talents “. . . Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.” And, finally the Last Judgment.

These Gospel lessons are explained and elaborated in the hymnology of these days: the stichiras and the triodia (short canons of three odes each sung at Matins). One warning, one exhortation runs through all of them: the end and the judgment are approaching, let us prepare for them: ‘”

“Behold, O my soul, the Master has conferred on thee a talent Receive the gift with fear; Lend to him who gave; distribute to the poor And acquire for thyself thy Lord as thy Friend; That when He shall come in glory, Thou mayest stand on His right hand And hear His blessed voice: Enter, my servant, into the joy of thy Lord.” (Tuesday Matins)

Throughout the whole Lent the two books of the Old Testament read at Vespers were Genesis and Proverbs. With the beginning of Holy Week they are replaced by Exodus and Job. Exodus is the story of Israel’s liberation from Egyptian slavery, of their Passover. It prepares us for the understanding of Christ’s exodus to His Father, of His fulfillment of the whole history of salvation. Job, the Sufferer, is the Old Testament icon of Christ. This reading announces the great mystery of Christ’s sufferings, obedience and sacrifice.

The liturgical structure of these three days is still of the Lenten type. It includes, therefore, the prayer of St Ephrem the Syrian with prostrations, the augmented reading of the Psalter, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts and the Lenten liturgical chant. We are still in the time of repentance for repentance alone makes us partakers of the Pascha of Our Lord, opens to us the doors of the Paschal banquet. And then, on Great and Holy Wednesday, as the last Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is about to be completed, after the Holy Gifts have been removed from the altar, the priest reads for the last time the Prayer of St Ephrem. At this moment, the preparation comes to an end. The Lord summons us now to His Last Supper.

by THE VERY REV. ALEXANDER SCHMEMANN

THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS

Commemorated on March 25

THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS

FROM OCA

The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the earliest Christian feasts, and was already being celebrated in the fourth century. There is a painting of the Annunciation in the catacomb of Priscilla in Rome dating from the second century. The Council of Toledo in 656 mentions the Feast, and the Council in Trullo in 692 says that the Annunciation was celebrated during Great Lent.

The Greek and Slavonic names for the Feast may be translated as "good tidings." This, of course, refers to the Incarnation of the Son of God and the salvation He brings. The background of the Annunciation is found in the Gospel of St Luke (1:26-38). The troparion describes this as the "beginning of our salvation, and the revelation of the eternal mystery," for on this day the Son of God became the Son of Man.

There are two main components to the Annunciation: the message itself, and the response of the Virgin. The message fulfills God's promise to send a Redeemer (Genesis 3:15): "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; he shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for his heel." The Fathers of the Church understand "her seed" to refer to Christ. The prophets hinted at His coming, which they saw dimly, but the Archangel Gabriel now proclaims that the promise is about to be fulfilled.

We see this echoed in the Liturgy of St Basil, as well: "When man disobeyed Thee, the only true God who had created him, and was deceived by the guile of the serpent, becoming subject to death by his own transgressions, Thou, O God, in Thy righteous judgment, didst send him forth from Paradise into this world, returning him to the earth from which he was taken, yet providing for him the salvation of regeneration in Thy Christ Himself."

The Archangel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth in Galilee. There he spoke to the undefiled Virgin who was betrothed to St Joseph: "Hail, thou who art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."

In contrast to Eve, who was readily deceived by the serpent, the Virgin did not immediately accept the Angel's message. In her humility, she did not think she was deserving of such words, but was actually troubled by them. The fact that she asked for an explanation reveals her sobriety and prudence. She did not disbelieve the words of the angel, but could not understand how they would be fulfilled, for they spoke of something which was beyond nature.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" (Luke 1:34).

"And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: therefore also that which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.' And Mary said, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.' And the angel departed from her" (Luke 1: 35-38)."

In his Sermon 23 on the day of the Annunciation, St Philaret of Moscow boldly stated that "the word of the creature brought the Creator down into the world." He explains that salvation is not merely an act of God's will, but also involves the Virgin's free will. She could have refused, but she accepted God's will and chose to cooperate without complaint or further questions.

The icon of the Feast shows the Archangel with a staff in his left hand, indicating his role as a messenger. Sometimes one wing is upraised, as if to show his swift descent from heaven. His right hand is stretched toward the holy Virgin as he delivers his message.

The Virgin is depicted either standing or sitting, usually holding yarn in her left hand. Sometimes she is shown holding a scroll. Her right hand may be raised to indicate her surprise at the message she is hearing. Her head is bowed, showing her consent and obedience. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon her is depicted by a ray of light issuing from a small sphere at the top of the icon, which symbolizes heaven. In a famous icon from Sinai, a white dove is shown in the ray of light.

There are several famous icons of the Annunciation. One is in the Moscow Kremlin in the church of the Annunciation. This icon appeared in connection with the rescue of a prisoner by the Mother of God during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Another is to be found in the Dormition Cathedral in Moscow (July 8). It was originally located in Ustiug, and was the icon before which St Procopius the fool (July 8) prayed to save the city from destruction in 1290. One of the most highly revered icons in Greece is the Tinos icon of the Annunciation (January 30).

The Annunciation falls during Lent, but it is always celebrated with great joy. The Liturgy of St Basil or St John Chrysostom is served, even on the weekdays of Lent. It is one of the two days of Great Lent on which the fast is relaxed and fish is permitted (Palm Sunday is the other).

post originally deleted, but then I remembered, this is Lent...a reminder I have no standing to condemn anyone but myself, So here it is: "As a human being I am taken aback by the arrogance and self-righteousness people display in "God's Name"

FROM TOUCHSTONE MAGAZINE (btw,who's in charge over there lately????)-Posted by James M. Kushiner....Quoting an article by Joan Frawley...

The Pope & Condoms for Africa

Joan Frawley Desmond begins her latest Cathoholic article:

I recall a friend of mine arguing that Pope John Paul II was responsible for the deaths of millions of people in the developing worth who had died of AIDS. 

"Why is the pope responsible? I asked, somewhat bemused.

"Because he rejects the use of condoms," my friend replied. "So if some guy is infected with AIDS, he won't use a condom with his wife, and then she'll become infected."

"But the pope is also opposed to adultery," I told my friend. "if that guy won't follow the pope on adultery, why would he pay any attention to John Paul regarding condom use?'

------------------------------------

Not only is this in bad taste, it borders on cruel, not to mention prelest, assumption, and claiming that you can see into another's heart.

   Also, as a medical professional and and human being well aquainted with illnesses;

I am aware of MANY cases of married couples, both who have married as virgins, remained faithful, and through no fault of their own, one or the other has contracted disease or illnesses that can be spread sexually or suffered from a disease that lead to contracting a disease that can be spread sexually....yes, it is possible...

Let the Pope do his own heavy lifting with the burden God gave him-this is a tough one and maybe a one size fits all RULE may not cut it this time...God did not make us out of cookie cutters;

And last I checked the Pope still has the full weight of God and all the defenses of Heaven behind him....so I think we can stand down on this one; we would be of more use to the Pope and to these poor souls  by lifting them up in prayer.

---------------------

And what if the disease was contracted through infidelity (or choose any sin you think is the worst)...

Does that make this person a sinner, undeserving of any Grace, Mercy, Compassion, because even if he or she does repent, it's a given they will just fall again and again and again.....

Oh, wait a minute, I would fall into that category...


All those who don't...as you were, you are free to draw swords or throw rocks, OR WORDS (which, btw, hurt a hell of a lot more the swords or rocks).

Here is born in Spirit-soaked fertility a brood destined for another City

From "THE TRUE BELIEVER" by Aidan Kavanagh, O.S.B. (full article can be found in Type list in right sidebar under 

"Excerpts/Current Books and Articles I am Reading"

"Yet even this is not enough, nor is it where the scandal lies. For to know him baptismally is to know him as we were first known when creation was new.

Baptismal iconography has always imaged Baptism as cosmic rebirth, Eden restored. Early baptisteries, decorated to resemble paradise, were filled with fertility, wines, sunlight, water, and a humid atmosphere.

They were gloriously womb-like, for from them issued a new People whose purpose in life was to beget others by the Church, Christ’s bride, in his power.

Thus the ancient inscription in the baptistery of the Pope’s cathedral in Rome read:

Here is born in Spirit-soaked fertility

a brood destined for another City,

begotten by God’s blowing

and borne upon this torrent by the Church their virgin mother.

Reborn in these depths they reach for heaven’s realm,

the born-but-once known by felicity.

This spring is life that floods the world,

the wounds of Christ its awesome source.

Sinner sinks beneath this sacred surf

that swallows age and spits up youth.

Sinner here scour sin away down to innocence,

for they know no enmity who are by

one font, one Spirit, one faith made one.

Sinner shudder not at sin’s kind and number,

for those born here are holy."

(Lateran baptistry inscription (fifth century))

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.....

 

In the bleak midwinter,
frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

photo:my own