Coffee with Sister Vassa -- BELIEVING ONE ANOTHER

 

“… Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.” (Jn 20: 26-31)

“ These are written,” – thus St. John explains to us the purpose of his Gospel, – “ that you may believe…, and that believing you may have life…” We do not “see” the risen Lord in the same way that Thomas and the other eye-witnesses saw Him. But we believe their eye-witness accounts, their life-giving testimony to His new life, because God willed it so, that we receive the gift of faith from one another, from other human beings. “ Blessed are those who have not seen,” He says about us, “ and yet believe” because of the testimony of other human beings. In Christ’s one Body that is the Church, His Spirit breathes new life into us, by fostering faith not only in Him, but also in one another, in human testimony to Him. This is a particularly precious gift in our “ post-truth” world of “ fake news,” which threatens to destroy our faith in the human capacity to receive and pass on truth; to bear trustworthy witness to God’s “ good news” that is Truth.

“ That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship/communion (κοινωνίαν) with us,” St. John reminds us elsewhere (1 Jn 1: 3). Thank You, Lord, for uniting us, and teaching us to trust one another, by entrusting Your good news to merely-human beings. Holy Apostles, pray to God for us!

Monday Morning Meditation -- The Glorious First and Eighth Day of the Week

Source: oca.org

 CHRIST IS RISEN!  INDEED HE IS RISEN!

In St. John's account of the first appearance of the Risen Lord to the disciples as a group (Jn. 20:19-31), we find the liturgical structure of the Church as it exists to this very day in his account of this incredible encounter. For St. John records: "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week ..." (20:19). The first day of the week is the day after the Sabbath, and that would be our Sunday.

It was on this day that the risen Christ appeared to his bewildered, dejected, and frightened disciples in order to convince them that He was risen from the dead. "Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord" (20:20). Jesus returned to further convince the unbelieving Thomas that He was indeed risen. And significantly, this next appearance was "eight days later" (20:26). Which means, of course, the following Sunday.

Since those memorable two days until today, we use the language - with all of its symbolic meaning - of the First and Eighth Day of the week for our liturgical assemblies on the Lord's Day - Sunday. In a deep sense, the first day of the week is the eighth day, if we understand the "eighth day" as taking us beyond the seven days of the week as a kind of anticipation of the Kingdom of God which is beyond the "time" of this world.

St. Gregory Palamas (+1359), Archbishop of Thessaloniki, in a homily entitled "On the Sabbath and the Lord's Day," explains it like this:

You will see that it was Sunday when the disciples assembled and the Lord came to them. On Sunday He approached them for the first time as they were gathered together and eight day later, when Sunday came around again, He appeared to their assembly. Christ's Church continually reflects these gatherings by holding its meetings mostly on Sundays and we come among you and preach what pertains to salvation and lead you towards piety and a godly way of life.

Yet, as a pastor, St. Gregory continued his homily with this admonition:

Let no one out of laziness or continuous worldly occupations miss these holy Sunday gatherings, which God Himself handed down to us, lest he be justly abandoned by God and suffer like Thomas, who did not come at the right time. If you are detained and do not attend on one occasion, make up for it the next time, bringing yourself to Christ's Church. Otherwise you may remain uncured, suffering unbelief in your soul because of deeds or words, and failing to approach Christ's surgery to receive, like divine Thomas, holy healing.

To our modern sensibilities, even these words of pastoral admonition may seem over-stated if not harsh to us today. But the saint was trying to reinforce the sense of commitment that the believer needs to have to the Lord's Day Liturgy which brings us directly into the presence of the Risen Christ - "Christ is in our midst!" - as we joyfully exclaim at the Liturgy.

St. Gregory's homily clearly places commitment over convenience. This is our first priority. He was writing to a Christian society that was not as pluralistic or diverse as our own, there is no doubt. That means that the pressure for us is "out there" to conform to those "worldly occupations" that St. Gregory warns us about. Today, that could even have a bearing on our presence at the Sunday morning Liturgy. As one example from among many: How many Orthodox parents have to deal with their child's sports events scheduled these days on Sunday morning? So, we can see that the challenges are out there.

In the light of the Gospel revelation about the glorious first and eighth day of the week, we should at least think hard about any such choices.

Fragments for Friday

Source: orthodoxroad.com

 Christ is Risen!

Today we should give thought to one important thing that not everyone remarks upon when turning to Holy Scripture, when reading about those bright days during which the Lord appeared after His Resurrection. He appeared to many, and to each person differently. In one circumstance it was the weeping Mary Magdalene, lonely and grieving at the empty tomb; in another it was Peter, bewildered and confused, having returned from the garden where He had found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then we see the disciples on the sea. John senses Him in his heart and recognizes Him, while Peter throws himself into the sea and hurries to Him. And, as we read in the epistles of the Apostle Paul, among the last to whom the Lord appeared was he, Paul-Saul, who had persecuted the Church of God. 

This continues even now. Christ, risen invisibly, appears tangibly to each person. In the lives of each of us who has felt the proximity of other worlds if only for a moment, a meeting with the Risen Lord.

Fr. Alexander Men

_____

Fr. Alexander was an Orthodox priest who was brutally murdered in 1990. Born Jewish but raised Christian, he and his mother were part of the underground church in Russia. He was instrumental in speaking to a new generation of young people, and he brought many back to the Church.

A Reflection -- IN DEFENSE OF THE POPE

Source: oca.org

 Christ is Risen!

"Peace be with you!" (Jn. 20:19)

As Orthodox Christians, we have some real differences with the Roman Catholic Church. Simply stated, these are both ecclesiological and theological. Yet, in the recent ongoing tension between the Pope and the President - played out very publicly through interviews and social media communications - I would clearly defend the pope for injecting an authoritative "religious" voice into this debate. In a Christian spirit, the pope criticized the choice of war in Iran (which does not meet the criteria in the Roman Catholic Church for a “just war”), and in the process he exhorted all world leaders to seek peaceful resolutions to the seemingly endless conflicts engulfing the contemporary world. The pope brought a voice of sanity into an increasingly insane world. 

It would be purely cynical to mistrust his sincerity in upholding the Gospel teaching that "blessed are the peacemakers." His voice represents the voice of Christ speaking to the world a word of peace and reconciliation. This is not pious or ethereal idealism. It is the Gospel proclamation of the "peace of God which surpasses all understanding" (Phil. 4:7) to a world deeply wounded by sin and death. And whatever one thinks of the papacy, the pope is clearly the most renowned universal religious figure in the world. His voice is respected.

It would also be cynical to challenge his honest claim that he is not making political pronouncements, or trying to determine any government's foreign policy. When life and death decisions are being made on a political level, profound moral and ethical issues are at the heart of these decisions. And those moral and ethical issues cannot be ignored. If they are, we can make no claims at being civilized. War means death and destruction, and beyond that, profound mistrust and open hostility against one's enemies that endure for generations. As Pope Leo recently reminded us: “Too many innocent people are being killed. Someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way.” 

Public voices invoking the Old Testament image of a "Warrior God," or quoting Old Testament texts to the effect of vanquishing one's enemy are hardly consistent with the image of Christ in the New Testament. In fact, once the bombs start raining down, I prefer that the sacred Name of Jesus Christ remain unspoken. 

Attacking the pope for his plea for peace makes no real sense, especially when accusations are made against him with no basis in reality. Such accusations go far beyond genuine disagreements. We should bear in mind that the pope is not speaking only of America's involvement in the Middle East and the current war with Iran. He is clearly speaking to such dictators as Vladimir Putin and his murderous assault on Ukraine, in which thousands of innocent Ukrainians have been and are being killed, wounded or displaced on a daily basis. 

In early 2025, I defended an Episcopal bishop for challenging our administration to treat immigrants with "compassion." There was nothing wrong with that challenge, and it was not an example of a religious person meddling in politics. It also was a call to moral and ethical thinking and action. The current pope, Leo XIV, is simply doing the same thing about our war of choice with Iran and beyond. That is far more helpful than harmful.

Death's Dominion Has Been Shattered -- The Two Icons of the Resurrection and the Destruction of Death

Source: sttekla.org

CHRIST IS RISEN!      INDEED HE IS RISEN!

The souls bound in the chains of hades, O Christ, seeing Thy compassion without measure, pressed onward to the light with joyful steps, praising the eternal pascha.
(Matins, Paschal Canon of St. John of Damascus)

The awesome mystery of the Lord’s bodily resurrection from the dead was providentially kept hidden from human eyes. Although there were many eyewitnesses to the Resurrected One, there were none of the actual “moment” of the resurrection. There was no access to the tomb until the stone had been rolled away and its emptiness was revealed to the myrrhbearing women. The emptiness of the tomb was a “sign” of the resurrection of Christ; while the angelic voice – “He has risen, he is not here” – was the first announcement of the Gospel of the Risen Lord, thus interpreting the sign. The Lord then appeared to both the myrrhbearing women and the disciples, fully affirming the meaning of the empty tomb and the angelic proclamation. Yet, to repeat, the “moment” of the resurrection remains inaccessible to human perception.

For this reason, artistic depictions of Christ emerging from the tomb, banner in hand, rising in a blinding light over the hapless and sprawling bodies of the guard, are “later” and inauthentic images of the resurrection, though they contain the truth that the “Lord has risen indeed!” In the Western artistic tradition, the most famous of such depictions is probably that of Matthias Grunewald. Such images have also become popular in Orthodox iconography over the centuries, as seen on processional banners, portable icons and walls. Once such images enter the Church, they stubbornly refuse to leave!

There do exist two authentic icons of the Resurrection, one being of a more historical nature and the other theological. The historical icon of the Resurrection is that of the myrrhbearing women gazing in wonder at the empty grave cloths of Christ lying in the tomb while an angel (or two) is further depicted sitting inside the tomb as recorded in the Gospels. This icon captures the startling moment when the myrrhbearers are overcome with “fear and trembling” together with wonder and concern at not seeing the body of the Lord in the tomb.

The theological icon simply entitled the “Anastasis” or “Resurrection,” is also referred to as the “Descent Into Hades.” Here the victorious Christ, resplendent in white garments, Cross in hand, is depicted shattering the gates of the biblical realm of the dead (sheol in Hebrew; hades in Greek; often, though imprecisely, translated as “Hell”) decisively and forcefully grabbing Adam and Eve – representative of humanity and the righteous awaiting deliverance (cf. HEB. 11:39-40) – by the hand and pulling them out of this darkened realm restored to fellowship with God. As iconography and hymnography complement one another, a paschal hymn from the Vespers of Holy Saturday illuminates the meaning of this powerful icon: 

Today Hell cries our groaning:
My power has been trampled upon.
The Shepherd is crucified and Adam is raised.
I have been deprived of those whom I ruled.
Those whom I swallowed in my strength I have given up.
He who was crucified has emptied the tombs.
The power of death has been vanquished.
Glory to Thy Cross and Resurrection, O Lord.

The Fathers found a clear allusion of this descent into hades in a passage from I Peter:

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formally did not obey … For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God. (I PETER 3:18-4:6)

Surprisingly, however, the main source for this icon appears to be the 2nd c. apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. Here we find a dramatic and rather humanly touching description of this profound theological truth:

And behold, suddenly Hades trembled, and the gates of death and the bolts were shattered, and the iron bars were broken and fell to the ground, and everything was laid open … Then the Lord Jesus, the Savior of all, affectionate and most mild saluting Adam kindly, said to him: “Peace be to you, Adam, with your children, through immeasurable ages to ages!” Amen.

Then father Adam, falling forward at the feet of the Lord, and being raised erect, kissed his hands, and shed many tears, saying, testifying to all: “Behold, the hands which fashioned me!” And he said to the Lord: “You have come, O King of glory, delivering men, and bringing them into Your everlasting Kingdom.”

Then also our mother Eve in like manner fell forward at the feet of the Lord, and was raised erect, and kissed His hands, and poured forth tears in abundance, and said, testifying to all: “Behold the hands which made me!”

In other words, “Death’s dominion has been shattered.” Can Christianity survive without this being the ultimate “Good News:”

That through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. (HEB. 2:14-15)

What of the non-resurrected Christ emerging from certain biblical scholars and other circles now demanding equal time in the popular press and visual media? Is this even remotely consistent with the full content of the New Testament? Does such a “Christ” truly inspire and offer hope to the hopeless? I would answer my own questions with decisive “NO!” 

However, the apostle Paul reminds us that: “all the promises of God find their Yes in him.” (II COR. 1:20) This 'Yes' seems fully convincing when we acknowledge Christ as:

… the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of kings of the earth.

CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!

Bright Monday Meditation -- HE KNOWS MY NAME

 

Source: oca.org

“But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher).” (Jn 20: 11-16)

Mary Magdalene does not recognize our Lord, nor does she stop weeping, until He says her name: “Mary!” Because He said it like nobody else. In His divine love and omniscience, the Lord really “knew” her name; He knew, and understood, her entire identity, – what and who she was, and what and who she wasn’t. So, she takes great consolation in hearing Him call her name.

Today I take great consolation in being “known,” understood, and called, as all of us are, by our one-and-only Creator and Teacher. He does not torment me by “ not understanding” me. So I can be myself, and let go of any masks I may wear for other, simply-human beings, as I approach Him today, in simple and heartfelt prayer.

“Woman, why are you weeping?” He asks me today, and “Whom are you looking for?” I can stop weeping, and stop looking, because my Teacher is alive and well today, for my sake. Christ is risen from the dead, dear friends, “and cannot die again” (Rom 6: 9). So let me respond to Him, Who loves and knows me, as I am.

Holy Saturday Meditation

Source: royaldoors.net

Great and Holy Saturday is the day on which Christ reposed in the tomb. The Church calls this day the Blessed Sabbath.

By using this title the Church links Holy Saturday with the creative act of God. In the initial account of creation as found in the book of Genesis, God made man in his own image and likeness. To be truly himself, man was to live in constant communion with the source and dynamic power of that image: God. Man fell from God. Now Christ, the Son of God through whom all things were created, has come to restore man to communion with God. He thereby completes creation. All things are again as they should be. His mission is consummated. On the Blessed Sabbath he rests from all his works.

Holy Saturday is a neglected day in parish life. Few people attend the services. Popular piety usually reduces Holy Week to one day—Holy Friday. This day is quickly replaced by another—Easter Sunday. Christ is dead and then suddenly alive. Great sorrow is suddenly replaced by great joy. In such a scheme HolySaturday is lost.

In the understanding of the Church, sorrow is not replaced by joy; it is transformed into joy. This distinction indicates that it is precisely within death that Christ continues to effect triumph.

We sing that Christ is "...trampling down death by death" in the troparion of Easter. This phrase gives great meaning to Holy Saturday. Christ’s repose in the tomb is an "active" repose. He comes in search of his fallen friend, Adam, who represents all men. Not finding him on earth, he descends to the realm of death, known as Hades in the Old Testament. There he finds him and brings him life once again. This is the victory: the dead are given life. The tomb is no longer a forsaken, lifeless place. By his death Christ tramples down death.

—Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, Great and Holy Saturday

Great & Holy Friday Mediation -- It is Finished (τετελεσται)

 

Source: oca.org

With his death, all that was involved in his earthly ministry was complete: becoming incarnate, growing from infancy to adulthood, the calling of disciples, the constant teaching, preaching and healing of thousands, his instruction to the Twelve, patiently enduring the debates, arguments, opposition, and accusations of the religious authorities, his institution of the Eucharist, the betrayal, the arrest, the trials, the beatings, the scourging, the mocking, the humiliation, and lastly the excruciating pain of the crucifixion itself. It was over. It was accomplished. His work was done, complete to perfection, exactly according to plan. He had achieved his goal:Tetelestai.

Eugenia Constantinou, The Crucifixion of the King of Glory, p. 284

Great & Holy Friday Meditation -- The Tearing of the Veil

 

Source: goarch.org

Hebrews 10 explains that since Christ has offered himself as a sacrifice, we now have confidence to enter the sanctuary,"by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain (katapetasma), that is, through his flesh" (Heb. 10:20). In that verse, Hebrews is telling us that the curtain is the flesh of Christ, through which we enter the sanctuary - the place of intimate encounter with God. It is this flesh, which he assumed as God for our salvation, that was torn and hanging on the cross. Through the breaking of the body of Christ, the tearing of the veil of his flesh, the sacred, the divine, is opened to us. This happened, not because someone had to pay for sin but because God loved the world and chose the cross to graphically demonstrate that his love is without limits. We directly participate in the life of God, because Christ was incarnate, and through the sacrament of Holy Communion we physically commune and dwell with him and he in us.The depth of meaning is profound and inexpressible.

Eugenia Constantinou, The Crucifixion of the King of Glory

Great & Holy Friday Meditation

Source: legacyicons.com

Today our Lord Jesus Christ is on the cross, and we celebrate the festival, so that you may learn that the cross is a festival and a spiritual celebration. For previously the cross was a name of condemnation, but now it has become a thing of honor; previously a sign of sentencing, but now the basis of salvation. …

Not from the cross alone, but also from the very sayings on the cross can one see His unspeakable love of humanity. For even while He was nailed, made into a joke, and ridiculed, at the time He said: Father, forgive them the sin, for they do not know what they are doing. Even while being crucified He prays for those who crucified. … 

Hence, so that we also may enjoy His love of humanity, let us not be ashamed to confess our own sins fully. … For behold this person also confessed fully, and he found paradise opened. 

Whence, tell me, O bandit, were you reminded of a kingdom? … Nails and cross are visible, and accusations of jests and insults. “Yes,” he says, “for the cross itself seems to me to be a sign of a kingdom. For this reason I call Him king, because I see Him crucified. For it belongs to a king to die on behalf of those ruled. … Therefore, because He has laid down His soul, for this reason I call Him king: Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your kingdom.”

—St. John Chrysostom, On the Cross and the Bandit, as found in Behold the Thief with the Eyes of Faith

Great & Friday Mediation from Sister Vassa -- MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY…?

“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Elo-i, Elo-i, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, ‘Behold, he is calling Elijah.’ And one ran and, filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’ And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mk 15: 33-39)

Centuries before the events of this Holy and Great Friday, when the All-powerful became powerless, and the Life-Giver died, the Prophet Isaiah explained that “we” were the ones “ in trouble,” and not Him, even while those who had Him crucified believed He was disrupting “ our peace.” But He took our “trouble” and false “peace” upon Himself, in order to expose it, and vanquish it, in Him: “ He bears our sins,” Isaiah proclaims, “ and is pained for us: yet we accounted him to be in trouble, and in suffering, and in affliction. But he was wounded on account of our sins, and was bruised because of our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace(παιδεία εἰρήνης ἡμῶν) was upon him; and by his wounds we were healed.” (Is 53: 4-5)

As I weep today, with the Church, beholding the crucifixion, abandonment, and death of our Lord many Fridays ago, I remember that He takes all our darkness upon Himself wilfully, in order to bring us out of it into new Life and new Light, with Him and in Him. He takes on our derision, anger, cruelty, despair, and injustice, – so we no longer need to unleash those things on one another, nor upon ourselves. “ For God so loved the world.” (Jn 3: 16) Glory be to Him.

Holy Week Meditation -- Great and Holy Thursday

 

Source: oca.org

He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Lk. 22:19). We are blessed today to keep that commandment and to do this in remembrance of Him. …

In this Divine Liturgy, we will remember and proclaim the entire plan of God—all of the marvelous, wonderful works of God for the sake of our salvation. …

So we remember, we proclaim, and we celebrate that we have been given the honor of living in paradise, enjoying God’s blessings forever. These blessings are nothing less than the very qualities of God Himself. Our delight—and our paradise—is to live within the communion of the Holy Trinity of the uncreated Godhead, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and to enjoy these unending blessings by keeping His commandments.

—Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko, “Remember Me, O Lord,” in Holy Week: A Series of Meditations

Coffee With Sister Vassa -- JUDAS & THE ‘SINFUL’ WOMAN WHO ANOINTED CHRIST

“O the damnation of Judas! Seeing the harlot kissing the feet, he plotted the deception of the kiss of betrayal. She let down/freed her hair, while he bound himself through anger, carrying, instead of myrrh, his ill-smelling malice, for envy does not appreciate preferring that which is beneficial. O the damnation of Judas! Deliver our souls from it, O God!” (Byzantine hymn of Holy & Great Wednesday)

It’s interesting that, on this Holy and Great Wednesday, just before our Lord’s passion, the betrayal of Judas is compared, specifically, to a woman ‘who was a sinner,’ who anointed the feet of our Lord in the house of Simon the Pharisee in Luke 7. This is interesting, because this is not one of the anointings of Christ by a woman (either Mary the sister of Lazarus or another, unnamed woman) that happen shortly before His passion, in the house of Simon the Leper at Bethany. The anointing by the ‘sinful’ woman happened long before these, and not on Bethany but probably up in Galilee.

What is the point of this comparison? It seems that our tradition is at pains, just before the final days of this week, to present us with two examples: 1. of a religious man, - one of the 12 Apostles, no less, - behaving badly; and 2. of a not-so-religious woman, - a harlot, no less, - behaving beautifully. It’s reminiscent of the story of the priest-monk Zosimas and St. Mary of Egypt, in which the religious man, Zosimas, begins to pride himself in his ascetic accomplishments, while the woman with a sinful past, Mary, outshines him in that regard. The point is, I think, to reassure us, as we approach the celebration of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, to assure us thateveryonecan approach and accompany our Lord at this time. And that no religious, ecclesial, or marital or other status (or lack thereof) excludes us from the possibility of being ‘in’ or ‘out’ of communion with our Lord crucified-and-risen. We could, potentially, be in sinful and ill-smelling bondage, as was one the twelve Apostles, Judas, if we bind ourselves (as did he) with his own ambitions and plans, rather than trusting the Lord’s. And we could, potentially, - even if we have been bound with ill-smelling addictions or habits (as had been the sinful woman), “let down our hair” and let ourselves be received and freed from our pain by our loving and forgiving Lord. Glory be to Him, and have a blessed Holy and Great Wednesday, dear friends!

Coffee With Sister Vassa -- I HAVE NO GARMENT

“I see Your bridal chamber adorned, O my Saviour, and I have not the garment, to enter therein; O Giver of Light, make radiant the vesture of my soul, and save me.” (Exaposteilarion-Hymn of “ Bridegroom Matins” on Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday)

Some of us have not fasted enough, or prayed enough, to be well-prepared for the upcoming celebration of Pascha. But in fact the hymns of this Holy and Great Week, like the one quoted above, speak of and for all of us, as ill-prepared for the ”bridal chamber” that is the upcoming celebration. – Like the man in the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, who is found to have no “ wedding garment,” and is thrown out for his impropriety (Mt 22: 1-14).

But today let me let go of any preoccupation with my “ill-preparedness” and join the celebration, handing over “the vesture of my soul” to the Giver of Light. Because I have a Bridegroom Who has overcome my sinful state of affairs by taking them on, having been stripped naked, crucified, and vanquishing all that, in His death and resurrection. O Lord, as You head toward Your cross for my sake, please do for me what I can’t do for myself: “Make radiant the vesture of my soul, and save me.”

Monday Morning Meditation: Golgotha is Alive

Source: omhksea.org

 We accompany Christ to Golgotha during Holy Week:

As the Lord was going to His voluntary passion,He said to the 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, let us also go with Him, purified in mind ...

(Praises of Holy Monday)

We make this journey to Golgotha in our liturgical Holy Week services and in the relative safety of our lives here in America. But we can rest assured that the people of Ukraine - and other people around the world (as "wars and rumors of wars" continue to proliferate) - are experiencing a genuine "Golgotha reality," as they continue to be mercilessly assaulted by bombs and drones on a daily basis. In Ukraine, making a decision to leave one's home for a Holy Week church service can be a dangerous one. While Ukraine has proposed an "Easter truce" for next weekend, Russia has intensified its bombing of civilian targets, recently killing six civilians and wounding 40 others. President Zelensky has called this an "Easter escalation." We have yet to discover what Russia will agree to for next weekend - the "Orthodox Easter" as the press describes it. None of this killing is being tempered by a Christian consciousness, apparently. 

It must be stressed that the bombing of civilian infrastructure targets is against international laws and norms, and is essentially a war crime. This is true for any country that makes the fatal and illegal decision to bomb another country's civilian targets. We all know that "war is hell;" so to further destroy innocent civilians is to violate every norm of a civilized state. These are crimes against humanity, and no amount of misguided Christian rhetoric can hide that ugly truth. 

Holy Week reveals the great truth of divine "power" through powerlessness. That is the way of Christ, as He "empties Himself" on the road to Golgotha. That is the way that we embrace when we leave our homes and drive to the church to immerse ourselves in the intense services of Holy Week. As we chanted yesterday evening: "Let your order be contrary to that of the Gentiles ..." It is important that we remain consistent in our Christian confession of faith in Christ. What we encounter and hear in the church through the services of Holy Week, needs to taken with us into our daily lives as a vision of life that is worthy of the great name of "Christian." 

As I have written before, as we pray for peace and wait on God, apparently God is waiting on us to come to our senses and "turn" and become decent human beings. Yet, with God, "all things are possible.:

Lazarus Saturday Meditation

Source: oca.org

With epic simplicity the Gospel records that, on the coming to the scene of the horrible end of His friend, “Jesus wept” (Jn. 11:35). At this moment Lazarus, the friend of Christ, stands for all men, and Bethany is the mystical center of the world. Jesus wept as He saw the “very good” creation and its king, man, “made through Him” (Jn. 1:3) to be filled with joy, life, and light, now a burial ground in which man is sealed up in a tomb outside the city, removed from the fullness of life for which he was created, and decomposing in darkness, despair, and death. …

The time of fulfillment was at hand. Christ’s raising of Lazarus points to the destruction of death and the joy of resurrection which will be accessible to all through His own death and resurrection.

—Archpriest Paul Lazor, from the Introduction to The Feast of Palms: The Services of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday

Fragments for Friday -- Turning towards the Ultimate Reality

 

Source: legacyicons.com

Later today, Great Lent will be over for this Year of the Lord 2026. We are on the eve of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday. We will celebrate both of these great Feast Days over the course of the next two days. 

Then, of course, Holy Week will begin with the Bridegroom Matins on Sunday evening. Fr. Sergius Bulgakov once described Holy Week as a "mystic torrent"that carries us along toward the paschal mystery of the Lord's death and resurrection. 
Everything around us in our lives is "real" - sometimes "all too real" - but in my mind what occurs in the church during the Holy Week services is somehow "more real." Or, at least as revealing the ultimate realities of life if Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God; and if His death is the death of God on our behalf and for our salvation. Everyone must make their choices as to what extent they are willing or able to participate in this ultimate Reality.

At the same time, with a glance back at the last forty days, we may want to make an assessment of our "lenten efforts." Did I "redeem the time;" or did it slip away despite my intentions and actions? 

As one way of making such an assessment, I am re-sending a text that I often share at the beginning of Great Lent. St. Theodore the Studite (+826) really gets to the deeper meaning of the Fast, far beyond my eating or viewing habits (yet not to be shrugged at, considering our level of dependence in this area). 

 Although a rather severe ascetic from the Byzantine era of the Church, St. Theodore is refreshingly  "holistic" in his approach to Great Lent as he emphasizes the lenten struggle as no less than aimed at "purity of heart," only achieved by a wide-ranging practice of the virtues.

What is this struggle? Not to walk according to one's own will. This is better than the other works of zeal and is a crown of martyrdom; except that for you there is also change of diet, multiplication of prostrations and increase in psalmody are in accord with the established tradition of old.

And so I ask, let us welcome gladly the gift of the fast, not making ourselves miserable, as we are taught, but let us advance with cheerfulness of heart, innocent, not slandering, not angry, not evil, not envying; rather peaceable toward each other, and loving, fair, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits; breathing in seasonable stillness, since hubbub is damaging in a community; speaking suitable words, since too unreasonable stillness is profitless; yet above all vigilantly keeping watch over our thoughts, not giving place to the devil.

We are lords of ourselves; let us not open our door to the devil; rather let us keep guard over our soul as a bride of Christ, unwounded by the arrows of the thoughts; for thus we are able to become a dwelling of God in Spirit. Thus we may be made worthy to hear, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Quite simply, whatever is true, whatever noble, whatever just, whatever pure, whatever lovely, whatever of good report, if there is anything virtuous, if there is anything praiseworthy, to speak like the Apostle, do it; and the God of peace will be with you all.

Coffee With Sister Vassa -- CHRIST’S FINAL WORD

 

“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha… So the sisters (of Lazarus) sent to him, saying, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ But when Jesus heard it he said, ‘This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.’ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” (Jn 11: 1, 3-5) 

Jesus “loved” Lazarus and his two sisters, these simple people, not extolled for any special virtue in the Gospels. Just as He loves all of us, for whom He died on the Cross “ while we were still sinners” (Rom 5: 8). But when our Lord heard about Lazarus’s deadly illness, which was so dire that Martha and Mary sent Him word of it, He “ stayed two days longer in the place” where He was, not rushing over to Bethany to heal His good friend. The Son of God knew that Lazarus would die from this illness, but that his illness would, nonetheless, not be “ unto death.” Because death would not have the final word, concerning Lazarus. The “final word” was that of the life-giving Word of God, Jesus Christ, Who was to raise His beloved friend from the dead several days later, saying, “ Lazarus, come out!” 

Nor does death have “ the final word” concerning all of us, in the love of Christ. Because Christ has embraced us all, with His hands outstretched in His own “illness” on the Cross. But Christ’s suffering was “ not unto death,” just as Lazarus’s wasn’t, even though both Christ and Lazarus truly died a physical death. And so are our illnesses and suffering “ not unto death,” when we embrace His word, in love. Even “ while we are still sinners,” in our imperfections. 

So let me look death in the face today, and recognize that it no longer has “ the final word” in my life. It has been vanquished by the love and friendship of my Lord Jesus Christ, Who grants me His life-giving word, making me capable of the Resurrection of Life. O Lord, may Your word be my “ final word” today, that my “illness” not be unto death, even in my imperfections. Amen!  
____ 

With a recent death in our parish, very timely words from Sister Vassa.

Lenten Meditation -- Sixth Wednesday of Great Lent

Source: smtbethpage.org/

To be sure, the extended fasts during Great Lent … are a time for turning inward through self-discipline and repentance to soften our heart, opening it for the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. … But we do not and cannot refashion our own lives in relation to God apart from our relationships with other people. On the very first Monday of Great Lent, we are enjoined by Isaiah (1:16–17): “Cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” This injunction and warning is repeated in Isaiah 58:6–7, which is read on the Wednesday of the sixth week of Great Lent: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness … to let the oppressed go free, to share bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house?”...

Great Lent, then, is a time in which we respond with humility and gratitude towards the compassion God shows to us and also aim to express that compassion in our dealings with others.

—Priest John D. Jones, Moved by Compassion: Exploring the Core of Orthodox Christian Life