Holy Week: 'The events we commemorate were not celebrations but absolute tragedy...'

 

Dear Parish Faithful,

Holy Week Meditation - Wednesday

I am doing something a bit different today. Here is a short letter that I read yesterday evening following the Bridegroom Matins. It is from a letter that my former professor from St. Vladimir's seminary wrote to us after our very first Pascha (1982) in my new parish assignment (Granite City, IL). Prof. Verkhovskoy was a representative of pre-revolutionary Russian Orthodoxy at its best. We were very close friends with him at the seminary and visited his home often. He was a sober and serious type and his letter reflects his personality. It is a good reminder of what Holy Week is really about - and what it is not about. As I have said elsewhere: Holy Week is not the Orthodox version of a Passion Play. Neither is it a pageant or a performance. It is our communal experience of worshiping God "in spirit and in truth" as we re-present and actualize the saving events of the Death and Resurrection of Christ - the "Savior of the world."

_____

Dear Fr. Steven and Presvytera Deborah,

I think about you all these days. I hope you are satisfied with the celebration of this week in your parish. But the power and meaning of the events of these days does not depend on their human and even personal celebration. After the Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem all the events which we commemorate were not celebrations but absolute tragedy. Death was vanquished by death and death on the Cross was not a sacramental ceremony, but the greatest possible horror of sufferings of Jesus Christ abandoned by everybody, even by His Father. We are saved by an absolute sacrifice which opened to us the doors of life. Now crowds come to glorify the crucifixion, but when Jesus Christ was really crucified all left except those who mocked him.

Pascha is the triumph of Life, but only for those who will now be spiritually risen from the dead, i.e. reborn as new creatures. Nevertheless, it is still good to enjoy the celebrations and to be emotionally impressed by them. Better something than nothing. But let us not be easily satisfied by our superficial piety. I apologize to express once more my fear of superficial piety which often leads to pharisaism. I do not suspect you to be in danger of pharisaism, but the temptation to give priority to our complicated and beautiful forms of piety is great, especially for clergy and for those who pretend to be perfect members of the Church ("in good standing!"). 

I myself spent too much time and energy on secondary things. I still think that I did not "straighten out" my life and still hope to do this, i.e. to make my life more effective.

I hope that you are happy and resting after Holy Week. Pray for me - a sinner. 

Truly yours,

S. Verkhovskoy