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."

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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

Holy Tuesday - Saved by the Theanthropos

 

Dear Parish Faithful,

Holy Tuesday Meditation

"In the womb of the Virgin Mother, God "becomes" human, receiving from her the body that makes possible the "passion" of God; while on the Cross, through the Jewish flesh given of Mary, the divine Son is truly crucified. In the same way, in the Eucharist, Christians receive the very flesh the Logos received of Mary and united to himself, that "truly life-giving flesh of God the Word himself." Only insofar as God receives the passibility of human flesh does he become crucifiable and sacramentally givable." 

From ECCE HOMO - On the Divine Unity of Christ, by Aaron Riches

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A fine summation of the Gospel revelation that the "Word became flesh." The impassible became passible and suffered "for us and for our salvation." We could not be saved by a man, but only by the One who is Theanthropos - both God and Man. Although expressed in so much of the hymnography that we are now hearing, perhaps a welcome reminder as we continue through Holy Week.

Holy Monday: 'To stand by our solemn oath'

 

 

Dear Parish Faithful,

"In our liturgical celebrations we remember events of the past. But the whole meaning and power of the Liturgy is that it transforms remembrance into reality. On Palm Sunday this reality is our own involvement in, and responsibility to, the Kingdom of God. Christ does not enter into Jerusalem any more. He did it once for all. And He does not need any "symbols," for He did not die on the Cross so we can eternally "symbolize" His life. He wants from us a real acceptance of the Kingdom which He brought to us. If we are not ready to stand by the solemn oath, which we renew every year on Palm Sunday - if we do not mean to make the Kingdom of God the measure of our whole life - then meaningless is our commemoration and vain the branches we take home from the Church."

- Fr. Alexander Schmemann

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Fr. Alexander Schmemann always had the gift to capture the seriousness with which we need to embrace the life in Christ discovered and nourished within the life of the Church, but without any stuffy solemnity or moral posturing. He presents the fulness of this new reality and how it cannot be reduced to "religious" or cultural expressions, or the merely "symbolic." The challenge he so often eloquently expressed was to our deepest commitments in life - what he often called our "worldview." If Christ and the Kingdom are not the center of our lives, then there is a false note present in our claims to be Christian. 

Looking back on yesterday's splendid celebration of Palm Sunday, Fr. Alexander understands this as our commitment to the Kingdom of God.

 

Guest Meditation: 'Jesus wept'

 

Dear Parish Faithful, The following is a very fine meditation written by our own parishioner, Jenny Harkins. Jenny draws out the duality of natures in the one Christ, who is both God and Man, as the Lord reaches into the realm of death to bring back his beloved friend Lazarus, to life. In this, He anticipates His own resurrection that will occur after His life-giving death on Golgotha. _____     “Weeping for Thy friend, O Bread of Life, Thou didst raise him up.”  - Vespers of Lazarus Saturday “Jesus wept.” - Jn 11:35 After reading this passage several times, a few thoughts come to mind concerning verse 35 “Jesus wept.” One is the striking expression of the Lord’s human nature which is about to be contrasted with the powerful expression of his divinity in the resuscitation of Lazarus; fully man and fully God! His humanity is authentic- vulnerable and sensitive like any of us in the face of heartbreaking tragedy. It’s fascinating to me that though Martha and Mary say the same thing to Jesus, his response to each of them is very different; Martha receives encouragement in Christ’s reminder of what is true and Mary receives comfort in the empathetic compassion of Christ sharing in her tears. He is embodying the beatitude “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.”  It seems to me that even though he knew Lazarus would die and that he would raise him up, he still mourned the fact that sin and death are a reality, and one that now had so viscerally touched his dear friends. It makes me think of Gen 6 when sin and wickedness had polluted his creation and “it grieved him to his heart.” Sin and death cause deep feelings in God. (That feels like a big statement!! It seems to be true, though!) I also thought about Jesus weeping in Gethsemane- how the weight of death is so unnatural and opposite of all that Jesus is! All creation was made through him and he upholds all life with the power of his word! He is the God of the living and not the dead! (Mk 12:27)  This scene in the Gospel feels like that intense moment in an epic movie where the hero is pursuing his enemy and that enemy gets the upper hand temporarily in a dark and disheartening turn. Jesus has come to utterly destroy death itself and yet here, right before the climax of the story, death strikes one so dear to him. I can’t imagine the righteous anger he must’ve felt and what meekness he embodied as he carried out his Father’s will in his perfect timing!

 

Encountering Christ through the depths of Holy Week

 

Dear Parish Faithful,

HOLY WEEK

Christ, the Bridegroom

We have reached the saving passion of Christ our God.
Let us, the faithful, glorify His ineffable forbearance,
that in His compassion He may raise us up who were dead in sin,
for He is good and loves mankind.
(Matins of Holy Monday)

As Orthodox, we "live" for Holy Week and realize that it is the key week of our liturgical year, as it will culminate in the Lord's Death and Resurrection - the great paschal mystery. As Fr. Sergius Bulgakov once wrote:

"Holy Week sweeps the Orthodox believer along as if on a mystic torrent."

Our problem may just be observing Holy Week with focused attention and prayerful participation, as other demands of life impinge upon us in a never-ending flow of responsibilities - and distractions.

Therefore, I would simply like to provide a few pastoral suggestions that everyone can think about and perhaps incorporate into your daily lives as Holy Week unfolds:

• One must first make a commitment to Holy Week and make it the priority for your respective households, regardless of how often you actually make it to the services. This is a week of strict fasting, and no other activities should impinge upon that. Your commitment to making Holy Week the center of your lives is synonymous with your commitment to Christ.
  

• Try and arrange your schedules so that you are able to attend the services as well as possible. However, if you are not able to attend the services, it must not be because of something of "entertainment value;" or some other distraction that can wait for a more appropriate time. Be especially aware of Great and Holy Friday and Saturday. These are the days of the Lord's Death and Sabbath rest in the tomb. These are days of fasting, silence and sobriety. Respect that fact that you are participating in a great mystery - the mystery of redemption and salvation.
  

• Parents, you may think of taking your children out of school on Holy Friday and attending the Vespers service in the afternoon. Other children have their "holy days" on which they may miss school; and we, as Orthodox Christians, have our own.
  

• Reduce or eliminate TV and other viewings for the week. Keep off the internet except for essential matters. Struggle against smart phone distraction/app obsessions.
  

• Be regular in your prayers.
  

• Try not to gossip or speak poorly of other persons.
  

• Choose at least one of the Passion Narratives from the four Gospels — MK. 14-15; MATT. 26-27; LK. 22-23; JN. 18-19 — and read it carefully through the week. There is also other good literature about Holy Week and Pascha that could be read. Actually, this is an incredibly rich resource page from our own parish website that offers extensive and intensive insights into the meaning of Holy Week.
  

• If you have access to any of the Holy Week service booklets, read and study the services carefully before coming to church. This will deepen your understanding of that particular service's emphasis as Holy Week unfolds.
  

• If you come to the midnight Paschal Liturgy, do your best to stay for the entire service, prepared to receive the Eucharist. It does not make a great deal of sense to leave the Liturgy before Holy Communion.

 

Our goal, I believe, is to make of Holy Week and Pascha something a great deal more than a colorful/cultural event that is fleeting in nature and quickly forgotten. To encounter this "more" requires our own human effort working together with the grace of God so that the heart is enlarged with the presence of the crucified and risen Christ.

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At the last of our Presanctified Liturgies for this year, we heard the following hymn:

I am rich in passions, I am wrapped in the false robe of hypocrisy. Lacking self-restraint I delight in self-indulgence. I show a boundless lack of love. I see my mind cast down before the gates of repentance, starved of true goodness and sick with inattention. But make me like Lazarus, who was poor in sin, lest I receive no answer when I pray, no finger dipped in water to relieve my burning tongue; and make me dwell in Abraham's bosom in Your love for mankind.

 

Does this possibly sound familiar to anyone? Do you know of anyone that this hymn may be describing? Is this person well-known to you? If so, you may want to keep this person in your prayers so that he or she may one day - by the grace of God - be freed of these spiritually-harmful traits.

But our primary aim is to focus on the beauty and depth of Holy Week; a beauty and depth that flows naturally from Jesus Christ our Savior.