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Because we
normally stop our weekly talks for Great Lent we never get the chance to
speak on the services of Holy Week, so, as this is our last talk until
after Easter I thought it would be a good idea to jump a little ahead and
look at the meaning and messages found in the services of these Great and
holy days. But I also want to prepare you for the correct frame of mind
you should have as you attend these services and it fact every service.
You should at all times keep in mind that they are more than just
commemorative services where we remember the events of the Lord’s Passion.
The Church doesn’t live in the past, but in the present and although we
re-act the events that took place historically, we do these as though we
are actually present with Christ as he suffers the passion and the
Crucifixion. We have spoken before of how the Church stands at a point of
intersection where the past, present and future of our earthly existence
are merged with the unchanging and motionless time of the Kingdom of
heaven where all the events are forever taking place. Thus the events we
hear and see are not at all commemorative, but actually taking place
before our eyes. We therefore become witnesses of the Lord’s Passion,
Crucifixion and death just as the disciples and the people were witnesses
2000 years ago.
Great Lent
ends with the Friday before Lazarus Saturday and to celebrate the end of
the forty days of fasting and spiritual struggle, the Church commemorates
on the Saturday and Sunday two major feasts in the life of Christ – the
raising of Lazarus and the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem known as Palm
Sunday. Both feasts are connected to Pascha and proclaim Christ as the
promised Messiah and at the same time emphasize His divine authority. On
the Saturday we hear the Gospel reading of the miracle of Lazarus’
resurrection after being dead for four days. I’m sure you all know the
story so we will just look at the major points that help us to understand
the message of the feast. Lazarus became ill and his sisters sent word to
Jesus saying “Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick”. In response
Jesus said: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,
that the Son of God might be glorified thereby”. What Christ is saying is
that the miracle that is to follow will be so great, so incredible, that
there will be no doubt in anyone’s mind that only someone with the power
of God could perform it. On hearing that Lazarus was ill Jesus didn’t
immediately go to Bethany to heal him, but instead remained in the place
where He was staying for two more days. Only after Lazarus had died did he
tell his disciples that they were returning to Judea.
By the time he
reached Bethany Lazarus was already dead for four days and his corpse had
already begun to decompose and stink. Bethany was near to Jerusalem and
many of the Jews had come to comfort Lazarus’ sisters Martha and Mary.
They would also be witnesses to an unconceivable miracle. Martha had heard
that Jesus was approaching and went to meet him and said “Lord, if you had
been here my brother would not have died, but I know that even now
whatever you will ask of God he will grant it to you”. Martha’s statement
had faith but it needed correcting. If she recognized Jesus as God she
would have said that “whatever you say will be done, but instead her
statement makes Christ as a prophet or saint who intercedes to God to
grant him his requests. Jesus thus needed to test Martha’s faith and said
to her “Your brother will rise again” without saying if he meant now or in
the future Resurrection of the Dead. Martha took it to mean at the
Resurrection on the Last Day. Jesus then said to her plainly “I am the
Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live” in other words I am life itself, I am God and have the
power to give life to whomsoever I will. Do you believe this? Then Martha
answered with a true confession of faith, “Yea, Lord: I believe that thou
art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”
Martha then
runs to tell her sister that Jesus had come and Mary, falling to his feet
said: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” On
seeing her weeping and those who were with her Jesus was moved in spirit
and then when taken to the tomb we are told that he wept. He then orders
the stone to be removed from the front of the tomb and calls Lazarus back
from the dead. As with other feasts the liturgical hymns reveal the
dogmatic meaning and true purpose of the miracle. The hymns reveal the two
natures of Christ the God-man. His full manhood is revealed by the human
feelings of sentiment and weeping for his friend and also by his ignorance
of where Lazarus was buried and then his divinity is revealed by the
divine power in raising Lazarus after he had been dead for four days. A
hymn for the feast says: “Foreknowing all things as God, Thou hast
foretold to the apostles the death of Lazarus; yet at Bethany, when in the
presence of the people, thou hast as man asked where Thy friend was
buried, being ignorant of this. But he whom thou raised after four days
dead, manifested Thy power as God. O almighty Lord, glory to Thee”. (Lauds)
Prophets have
also raised the dead and Jesus had previously raised Jairus’ daughter and
the widow’s son but never before had the world seen someone brought back
to life after four days and when the body had already began to decompose.
This was a clear manifestation of his divine power and a clear statement
to the Pharisees and chief priests that they were plotting to kill the
Messiah. But instead of humbly accepting the truth which was before their
eyes, the miracle caused them to erupt with even more hatred and
determination to finally destroy the one person who could judge them for
their hypocritical rendering of the Law.
The miracle of
Lazarus’ resurrection exactly eight days before the Lord’s own
resurrection is also a message of comfort. It was to reassure his
disciples that he is Lord and Victor over death and that they should
understand that even though he will suffer the coming Passion and
Crucifixion, he is the source of life and has the power to raise his own
dead body from the grave. The resurrection of Lazarus is therefore a kind
of prophecy, not in words but in the form of an action. It foreshadows
Christ’s own Resurrection and anticipates the resurrection of all the
righteous on the Last Day. This is the message found in the Apolytikion
hymn for the feast which is the hymn also for Palm Sunday.
“Assuring
us, before Thy Passion, of the General Resurrection, from the dead, Thou
hast raised Lazarus, O Christ our God. Therefore, like the children, we
also carry tokens of victory and cry aloud to Thee, the Victor of death:
Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
Lord.”
The next day
“Palm Sunday” we celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Christ had been to Jerusalem before, but now he enters the city officially
proclaiming that he is the Messiah. Many people were at this time in
Jerusalem as the feast of the Passover was approaching and they had come
to make preparations for the feast. They had heard of the miracle done to
Lazarus and many came to believe that he was the descendant of King David,
the expected Messiah; the Christ who would deliver them from the yoke of
the Romans. One would expect a King to enter the holy city in glory on
horseback with an army of soldiers by his side, but that is human glory
which is based on pride and arrogance. Christ enters not proudly on a
king’s horse, but with humility on a young donkey. He doesn’t come as the
national saviour whom the people expected, but as the saviour of souls.
But this very humble entry is what proclaimed him as the Messiah. Those
who knew the scriptures would have instantly recalled the Prophecy by the
Prophet Zachariah which said: “Rejoice greatly, O
daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh
unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an
ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” (Zach. 9:9)
Those who believed or
were curious to see Lazarus run to meet him and laid their clothes on the
ground as he passed by while others cut branches from the trees and threw
them before him or waved them as a sign of victory. The Palm branches were
used as a visual sign of victory in the Old Testament. We have in the
first Book of the Maccabees the triumphal entry into Jerusalem by Simon
who was accompanied with thanksgiving with palm branches, harps, cymbals,
violins, hymns and songs because a great enemy was destroyed out of
Israel. (1Macc. 13:51) Also in Leviticus we read how the Palm branch was
used during the Feast of Tabernacles as a visual tool proclaiming the
sovereignty of God as the true king of the Israelites. Thus the palms of
Palm Sunday have a double meaning: they proclaim Christ as the Victor over
death and his sovereignty as God and true King of Israel. This recognition
is echoed by the people’s voices who cried out
“Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord, hosanna in the highest.” (Matt. 21:9) Hosanna literally means
“therefore save” but it was also used as a cheer or salutation. Thus
Hosanna to the son of David means: “Hail to the descendant of King David”
and Hosanna in the highest means: “Save us o God in the highest”.
But as
Jerusalem joyfully received its God and King they were unaware of the
purpose of this entry. Christ did not come as a political or military
leader to liberate them from the Romans as they supposed, but for the soul
purpose of accomplishing the mission for which the Father had sent him. He
came to liberate them from the darkness of sin and the bondage of death
and this could only be accomplished by his own death on the Cross whereby,
with his Resurrection that was to follow, he would once and for all
destroy the power of death. His entry into Jerusalem was his journey to
his Passion and Death which he voluntarily took upon himself in order to
re-open the gates of Paradise to all mankind which had been closed since
the fall of Adam the first-man.
On this day we
are also called to join the thousands who celebrated the Lord’s triumphant
entry and it is customary to bring Palm branches with us to Church, but as
we don’t have many Palm trees in Cyprus, we bring branches of Olive tree.
At the end of the Service there is a procession around the Church which is
symbolic of Christ’s journey into Jerusalem and then the Priest will read
the Gospel for the day. At the point where it says: “And a very great
multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from
the trees, and strawed them in the way.” The people throw their branches
towards the Priest who represents Christ and in that way they identify
themselves with the multitude of the Gospel. Another custom which we have
only in Cyprus is that apart from the olive branches, people also bring
bags full of olive leaves, which after being blessed, are kept in Church
for 40 days as another form of blessing, and then the people take them to
their homes and use the leaves as incense. This is a custom the younger
generation have left behind, but our grandmothers would begin their
morning prayer by first offering incense to God and asking him to bless
the day.
On the evening
of Palm Sunday we begin Holy Week with the first service of “Christ the
Bridegroom”. The service is actually the morning service for Holy Monday
morning, but during Holy Week all the services are sung in anticipation of
the actual event. I’ll explain what I mean. The morning or matins services
as sung on the evening before and the evening or vespers services are sung
on the morning before. This is done for two practical reasons. The first
because the most beautiful services of the Crucifixion and the Burial are
actually morning services, but because people have to work in the
mornings, they would not be able to attend the services, so we reverse the
order of the services so that the people can be present. The other is that
we celebrate the Sunday morning service of the Resurrection at midnight so
all the preceding services are brought forward half a day.
Thus the
service for Holy Monday morning is sung on the evening of Palm Sunday.
This together with the following two evenings comprise the services known
as the Bridegroom (Nyphios). The Icon for the Bridegroom doesn’t show
Christ dressed up as a Bridegroom, but as the Man of the Passion,
reminding us that shortly Christ will suffer the humility of the Passion.
The Icon brings to mind the Gospel passage which says: “And they stripped
him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of
thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they
bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the
Jews!” In the Gospels Christ calls himself the Bridegroom, as in the
passage where he tells the disciples of St. John the Baptist that the
children of the bridechamber cannot mourn as long as the Bridegroom is
with them, but the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from
them, and then they will fast. But the title Bridegroom is actually taken
from the Gospel reading of Holy Tuesday, which recounts the Parable of the
Ten Virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the
Bridegroom. The Parable is related to the Second Coming of Christ and the
need for us to prepare ourselves for this day by being spiritually
vigilant, watching and waiting for the Lord, who will come again to judge
the living and the dead.
The Resurrection
service is not only a celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection from the
dead, it is also the Celebration of the Second coming of Christ. We have
seen this interpretation in the Liturgy where our participation in the
Holy Eucharist is our participation in the wedding banquet that the
faithful will partake of after the Second Coming and the General
Resurrection of the dead. But Easter night is even more special because
even though we don’t know when this will be, there is a tradition from the
times of the Apostles that the Second coming of Christ will be one year on
the night of the Resurrection. The image of the Church preparing to meet
the Bridegroom is therefore very appropriate for the days before the Lord
begins his passion. There is a clear message that the Lord is coming and
we must at all times be vigilantly watching for the moment so that we do
not find ourselves locked out of the bridal chamber. The main hymn for
these three days is based on the Parable of the Ten Virgins:
“Behold the Bridegroom comes in the
middle of the night; and blessed is the servant whom he shall find
watching, but unworthy is he whom he shall find in slothfulness. Beware,
then, O my soul, and be not overcome by sleep, lest thou be given over to
death and shut out from the Kingdom. But return to soberness and cry
aloud: Holy, holy, holy art thou, O God: through the Theotokos have mercy
upon us”.
Another hymn sung on
these three days is also based on the Bridegroom theme taken from another
Parable:
“I
see Thy bridal chamber all adorned, O my Saviour, but I have no wedding
garment so that I may enter in. Make bright the vesture of my soul, O
Giver of light, and save me.”
As
said, the title of the services is taken from the Parable of the Ten
Virgins, but the actual services contain a great many themes based chiefly
on the last days of Jesus’ earthly life. They are rooted in incidents
preceding the Passion with a collection of Parables and other things
Christ said concerning his divinity, the Kingdom of God, the Second Coming
and his reprimand to the religious leaders for their hypocrisy. But
although they contain many themes, each day is dedicated to two basic
themes. Thus Holy Monday is dedicated to the Righteous Joseph the All-Good
as the Church refers to him (Ιωσήφ του Παγκάλου), the beloved son of Jacob
found in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament and to Jesus’ cursing of
the Fig Tree.
Joseph’s story
is remembered because there are many similarities between him and Jesus
and the Church sees him as a prototype, a prefigurement or image of
Christ. Let see what they have in common. Both were the beloved sons of
their fathers. They were both hated by their brethren: Joseph by his blood
brothers and Jesus by his brethren the Jews. Both were betrayed by their
brethren: Joseph was sold into slavery for 20 pieces of silver and Jesus
was betrayed by Judas for thirty pieces of silver. Both were accused
falsely and accepted their sentence with humility without opening their
mouths to defend themselves. Joseph received glory for his patience, he
suffered and withstood everything that came his way, trusting in God and
not losing hope and his suffering was rewarded and he was raised to such a
position that people now bowed down to him. His time in prison is symbolic
of Christ’s death and his newfound glory symbolic of Christ’s
Resurrection. Joseph forgave his brethren for the evil they did against
him: Christ on the Cross said “forgive them for they know not what they
do.” In both cases the evil done against them was to manifest God’s
providence, his promise and redemption. Joseph was raised to Governor of
Egypt and saved Israel from the famine and death: Christ was Resurrected
and saved mankind from eternal death.
As mentioned,
the cursing of the fig tree is also commemorated on Holy Monday. In the
Gospel account this event is mentioned on the morning after Christ’s entry
into Jerusalem which accounts for how it found its way into the service of
Great Monday. The fig tree is symbolic of Israel who as the chosen people
failed to bring forth fruits of repentance and especially the Jewish
religious leaders who, like the fig tree, full of leaves, appeared from a
distance to be fruitful, but on closer inspection were barren of any
faith. The cursing of the fig tree is like a warning to everyone that
hypocritical faith and being a Christian only in name is something
despised by God and will not be rewarded with Paradise, but rather will
receive the reward of the fig tree. True Christian faith means to live and
walk in Christ and such Christians are recognized by the fruits that the
Spirit bears in them: the spiritual fruits of love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians
5:22-25). A hymn for the day says:
“O
brethren, let us fear the punishment of the fig tree, withered because it
was unfruitful; and let us bring worthy fruits of repentance unto Christ,
who grants us his great mercy”.
(Aposticha of Matins)
On Holy
Tuesday the Church commemorates the Parable of the Ten Virgins and the
Parable of the Talents. Both parables refer to the Parousia – the Second
Coming of Christ and give warning on how we should be spiritual prepared
for this day through vigilance, and that we are subject to give account of
ourselves on the day of judgement. The Parable of the Ten Virgins makes it
clear that no one knows when this day will be and that we should prepare
ourselves now and not leave it for tomorrow or some undefined time in the
future. When the time finally comes it will wait for no man and some, like
the good Virgins, will be ready to enter into the bridal chamber with
Christ while others will find the doors closed and will be outside
knocking and shouting to Christ to let them in. The exclusion from the
marriage feast, in other words the kingdom, is of our own choice and
making.
The talents are the
spiritual graces that God gives to each of us at our Baptism. Unto one he
gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; in other words each
man receives grace according to his ability and strength. The amount we
receive is not important because whether we received one two or five
talents if we put them to good use our reward will be the same. The more
grace we are given the more accountable we will be in the day of judgement
on how we put it to good use. Thus in the parable the good servant who
received five talents used them to make five more talents and the servant
with two made two more. But the wicked and slothful servant buried his
talent, in other words he lived his life, not necessarily doing evil, but
was too lazy to help others and unconcerned with his own spiritual welfare
to live with even the least of spiritual alertness. His reward for not
even trying will be that he will be cast out of Paradise, into outer
darkness: where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. A hymn for
day says:
“Behold
my soul, the Master entrusts thee with a talent. Receive his gift with
fear; make it gain interest for him; distribute to the needy, and make the
Lord thy friend. So shall thou stand on the right hand when He comes in
glory, and thou shalt hear His blessed words: Enter, servant, into the joy
of the Lord”.
On Holy
Wednesday we commemorate the sinful woman who anointed the Lord with
precious ointment shortly before the passion (Matthew 26:6-13). The Gospel
reading during the Liturgy is the account of this event and on how from
this moment Judas Iscariot secretly convened with the Jews to betray the
Lord for thirty pieces of silver. The hymns make a contrast of these two
people:
“The
harlot drew near thee, O thou who lovest mankind, and poured out on thy
feet the oil of myrrh with her tears; and at thy command she was delivered
from the foul smell of her evil deeds. But the ungrateful disciple, though
he breathed thy grace, rejected it and defiled himself in filth, selling
thee from love of money. Glory be to thy compassion, O Christ”
The harlot is
used as an image of repentance and we are prompted to identify ourselves
with her:
“I have
transgressed more than the harlot, O loving Lord, yet never have I offered
thee my flowing tears. But in silence I fall down before thee and with
love I kiss thy most pure feet, beseeching thee as Master to grant me
remission of sins; and I cry to thee, O Saviour: Deliver me from the filth
of my works.”
But we can
also identify ourselves with Judas for have we not betrayed the Saviour
many times in our hearts and crucified Him anew?
For many the
highlight of Wednesday’s Matins service sung on the Tuesday evening is the
hymn known as the Troparion tis Cassianis. Cassiani was the name of the
Nun who composed the hymn and not the name of the sinful woman who is the
subject of the Hymn. It is a very long hymn and usually takes as least
twenty minutes to be sung.
On Great and
Holy Thursday four events are commemorated: the washing of the disciples’
feet, the institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at the Last
Supper, Jesus’ prayer and agony in the garden of Gethsemane, and the
betrayal of Christ by Judas. We don’t have time to look at all these
events in detail so we will just give them a quick glance over.
The Mystical
supper is the commemoration of the first Divine Liturgy that was performed
by Christ himself in the upper room. He took the bread and wine and
identified them as his body and blood and then after giving thanks he gave
the bread to his disciples saying “Take, eat; this is my Body” and then
the cup saying “Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new
testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” He then told
them to do this in remembrance of me. The Church in compliance with
Christ’s bidding to “Do this in remembrance of me” celebrates this Mystery
of Mysteries and will continue to celebrate it until the end of time. The
sacrament of the Eucharist is the very centre of the Church’s life. It is
her most profound prayer and principal activity. It is at one and the same
time both the source and the summit of her life. The Eucharist is the
sacrament that completes all the other sacraments and sums up the entire
economy of salvation. Our new life in Christ is constantly renewed and
increased by the Eucharist. The Eucharist imparts life and the life it
gives is the life of God.
At the
Mystical Supper Christ showed his humility by washing the feet of the
disciples. By this he manifested his prefect love and revealed to them
that they must follow the same path of humility if they are to follow in
his footsteps. If they conduct themselves with pride that they are
superior to others because they were his disciples then they would have no
part with him. If he as Master and Lord could humble himself to wash their
feet then they also must humble themselves and wash one another’s feet.
The servant is not greater than his Lord. A hymn from the service says:
“He who
made the lakes and springs and seas, wishing to teach us the surpassing
value of humility, girded himself with a towel and washed the feet of the
disciples, humbling himself in the abundance of his great compassion and
raising us from the depths of wickedness, for he alone loves mankind”.
There is a
special service for the Washing of the Feet which has fallen into disuse
but is still performed in certain places. In Jerusalem for example it is
conducted with special solemnity on Holy Thursday every year.
The Prayer in
the Garden of Gethsemane which followed the Mystical Supper is a prayer of
agony which reveals the human nature of Christ: “O my Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as
thou wilt”. So terrible was the thought of being nailed to the cross that
we are told that “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling
down to the ground.” We have spoken before of the two natures of Christ
and the two wills and actions. Christ acts in conformity to both natures,
and by both natures. Each nature acts according to its own properties: and
here we see his human nature freely manifesting itself in fear of the
approaching passion. The prayer of Gethsemane was an expression of horror
in the face of death, a reaction proper to all human nature, especially to
an incorrupt nature which should not submit to death, and for whom death
could only be a voluntary rending contrary to nature. When His human will
refused to accept death, and His divine will made way for this
manifestation of His humility, the Lord in conformity with His human
nature, submitted to struggle and fear, and prayed to be spared from
death. But since His divine will desired that His human will should accept
death, the humanity of Christ voluntarily accepted the Passion.
Judas in his
foolishness prefers thirty pieces of silver to the Master’s love. By his
passion of love for money he is blinded of the true Light and betrays
Christ with a kiss, the sign of friendship and love. Under the guise of
friendship he conceals deceit. His action is expressed as ingratitude as
in the following hymn:
“What
reason led thee, Judas, to betray the Saviour? Did he expel thee from the
company of the disciples? Did he deprive thee of the gift of healing? When
thou wast at supper with the others, did he drive thee from the table?
When he washed the other’s feet, did he pass thee by? How many are the
blessings that thou hast forgotten! Thou art condemned for thine
ingratitude, but his measureless longsuffering and great mercy are
proclaimed to all”.
On the
morning of Holy Thursday two Lambs are consecrated during the Divine
Liturgy. The second Lamb is dried and used as the Reserved Sacrament so
that the priest can have the Holy Sacrament ready at hand at whatever time
of the day or night to give communion to the sick and especially to those
who are in danger of dying and are about to leave this world without the
provision for eternal life. The Reserved Sacrament from the previous year
is consumed by the priest after the Liturgy on either Great Thursday or
Great Saturday in the usual manner.
On the evening
of Holy Thursday we have the special and very long Matins service for Holy
Friday. During this service we commemorate: The Holy, Saving and Awful
Passion of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, the spitting, the
scourging, the buffetings, the scorn, the mocking, the purple robe, the
reed, the sponge, the vinegar, the nails, the spear and above all the
Cross and Death which he accepted willingly for our sake; but also the
saving confession on the cross of the Good Thief, crucified with him.
The service is
known as the service of the 12 Gospels which are read at intervals, the
first being extremely long. The readings begin with the last instructions
of Christ to his disciples then the complete account of the betrayal, his
arrest and trials before the High Priest and Pilate, his sufferings and
Crucifixion, his Death on the Cross, the taking down of his Body and
burial and finishing with the order for the tomb to be sealed and guarded
by the Roman soldiers. The most solemn moment of the service comes a
little after the reading of the fifth Gospel and before the sixth Gospel.
The lights are dimmed so that the Church is in darkness and the Priest
with his helpers come out of the sanctuary in procession around the nave
of the church with the crucifix, the figures of Christ, the Mother of God
and the beloved disciple John. As they go round the priest chants the
following hymn:
“Today
is hung upon the cross, he who hung the earth upon the waters. He who is
King of the angels is arrayed in a crown of thorns. He who wraps the
heaven in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery. He who in Jordan set
Adam free receives blows upon his face. The Bridegroom of the church is
transfixed with nails. The Son of the Virgin is pierced with a spear. We
venerate thy Passion, O Christ. Show us also thy glorious Resurrection.”
As the
procession ends, the Crucifix is placed on a stand in the middle of the
Church and the figure of Christ is secured to it with nails. Flower
wreaths are then placed upon the top of the cross and then slowing one by
one we prostrate ourselves before the Cross and venerate the Crucified
Lord.
The day of
Christ’s death is a day of deep mourning yet at the same time there is a
ray of joy for mankind. Already we see in the hymns that we sing of the
hope of the Resurrection and this is the fulfilment of Christ’s mission on
earth. His death on the Cross was the manifestation of his perfect
obedience to the Divine Will and the expression of his total love for us.
In all that he suffered he did so for us, so that we might be with him in
Paradise. This was his mission and on the Cross his agonizing cry “It is
finished” indicates that his work of redemption was accomplished, finished
and fulfilled. Christ’s death is the day of our rebirth, the day when the
gates of Paradise were re-opened. His death became for us the passage from
death to life.
On the morning
of Great Friday we have the services of the Royal Hours and the Vespers
Service for Great Saturday. The Royal Hours are four short services
primarily made up of readings of Psalms, prayers, hymns, and passages from
the Old Testament, Epistles, and Gospels. In the Gospels we hear again of
all the events leading to the Passion and Crucifixion. The Vespers service
continues immediately after the Hours. During this service Christ is taken
down from the Cross. His body is then wrapped with a white sheet as did
Joseph of Arimathaea and is placed in the tomb. The taking down from the
Cross is done during the reading of the Gospel Lesson. When the Priest
comes to the passage “And when Joseph had taken the
body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth” the body is taken down
and wrapped in the white sheet, and as he continues with the next line
“And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn
out in the rock” the Priest lays the dead body of Christ upon the
Holy Altar which is symbolic of the tomb where Christ was laid.
But even though the
burial has taken place, the people cannot enter the Sanctuary and venerate
the body of Christ on the Holy Altar so another Icon needs to be placed in
the centre of the Church for public veneration. This is brought out a
little later with another procession around the nave of the Church. The
Icon is known as the “Epitaphios” or “The Entombment” and during the
singing of the Aposticha the Priest exists the Sanctuary carrying the
cloth Icon of the Epitaphion above his head and the Gospel Book in his
hands and solemnly proceeds around the nave until he reaches the Canopy in
the centre of the Church representing Christ’s tomb which is decorated
with flowers representative of the myrrh and spices that were used in the
burial preparation. He then lays the Epitaphion in the Canopy and the
Gospel Book and after censing the tomb he sprinkles it with rose water.
In the Evening
of Great Friday we sing the Mattins service for Great Saturday which is
known as the Epitaphios. On Great and Holy Saturday the Church
commemorates the Lord’s Burial and his descent into Hades. Saturday, in
other words the Sabbath, was in the Old Testament Law a day of rest and
Christ observes the Sabbath resting in the tomb. But his rest does not
mean inactivity. He descents into Hades, to the place of the dead and
defeats death from within. By his own death he defeats man’s ultimate
enemy and frees us from the bonds of death. St. John Chrysostom in his
Easter Sermon says: “Let no one fear death, for the
Saviour’s death has set us free. He who was held by death, eradicated
death. He plundered Hades when He descended into Hades. He embittered it,
when it tasted of His flesh, and this being foretold by Isaiah when he
cried: Hades said it was embittered, when it encountered Thee below.
Embittered, for it was abolished. Embittered, for it was ridiculed.
Embittered, for it was put to death. Embittered, for it was dethroned.
Embittered, for it was made captive. It received a body and by chance came
face to face with God. It received earth and encountered heaven. It
received that which it could see, and was overthrown by Him whom he could
not see.”
There are two
main events during the Epitaphios service. The first is the singing of the
Lamentations which are about 300 short hymns in total. I would say that
this is the highlight of the service. The hymns stir up a mixture of
feelings, moving us from sadness when we are reminded how man put to death
his God and Creator, then to tears when we think of the pain in the
Blessed Virgins heart on first seeing her Son and God suffering the
humility of the Cross and now seeing him dead in the tomb, and then to
hope and joy when we are reminded that in three days he will rise again.
In most churches the Lamentations are sung by a choir and the 300 short
hymns are drastically reduced to just a fraction. In the village where I
serve Holy Week we do things a little different, which I feel helps people
move into the atmosphere of the event. Everyone is given a candle and the
text for the Lamentations. We then switch off all the lights and light our
candles and standing around the Epitaphios everyone is encouraged to sing
the lamentations together. As we are a smaller group than the large city
parishes, we have no reason to rush and so sing all the verses. Towards
the end of the lamentations there is a verse which says:
“Ἔρραναν τὸν τάφον, αἱ Μυροφόροι μύρα, λίαν
πρωῒ ἐλθοῦσαι” - early in the morning the myrrh-bearers came to
Thee and sprinkled myrrh upon Thy tomb” As this is sung the Priest, going
around the Epitaphion, sprinkles it with rosewater and girls acting as the
Myrrhbearers throw flower petals on it. The hymn is repeated three or as
many times as needed until the Priest sprinkles the whole church and the
people with the rose water. After the singing of the Lamentations,
everyone comes and venerates Christ in the tomb and receive from the
Priest a flower from the tomb as a blessing.
The second
event is the funeral procession which varies to whether one is in a town
or a village church. In general, the Icon of the entombment or the whole
canopy is lifted above the priest’s head and is carried in procession into
the streets, and as they walk the streets the people walk under the
canopy, the choir all the while singing hymns from the service. In towns
the funeral cortege is often lead by a brass band and members of the armed
forces and meet up with the funeral procession from other parishes.
In theory Holy
Week ends with the Epitaphios service because the Service on Saturday
morning is the Vespers service for the Resurrection. The service is
Paschal in character but we do not sing that Christ is risen until the
actual Paschal service after midnight. The structure of the service begins
as any other Saturday vespers with hymns from Tone 1 of the Resurrection
Cycle and then hymns describing the groanings of Hades at having received
Christ. “Today hell groans and cries aloud: “ My
power has been destroyed. I accepted a mortal man as one of the dead; yet
I cannot keep him prisoner, and with him I shall lose all those over whom
I ruled. I held in my power the dead from all the ages; but see, he is
raising them all. Glory to thy Cross, O Lord, and to thy Resurrection.”
After the entrance
and the singing of “O Gladsome Light” fifteen readings from the Old
Testament are appointed but in practice we only read three. In our talk on
Baptism a month ago we saw how in the ancient church the catechumen were
Baptized during the time of these readings. The first reading is the
account of the creation from Genesis, the second the whole book of Jonah
whose was swallowed up by a whale and remained it its belly for three day
which is a prefiguration of the Lord’s three days in the tomb. The last
reading is from the Book of Daniel recounting the story of the Three
Children in the fiery furnace of Babylon. Towards the end of the reading
the Three Children’s song of praise is taken up by the choir and between
each line is repeated the refrain “Τὸν
Κύριον ὑμνεῖτε, καὶ ὑπερυψοῦτε εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας.” “Praise the
Lord and exalt him above all for ever”. The people usually join in singing
the refrain.
Then follows
the Apostle reading and immediately after the Priest as if calling to the
sleeping Christ chants in a loud voice “Arise, O God, judge thou the
earth: for thou shalt have as inheritance in all the nations”. As this is
sung the Priest exits the Sanctuary throwing Bay leaves, the symbol of
victory, throughout the Church. At this moment, in Cyprus there is a very
noisy custom of banging the lift up seats up and down supposedly symbolic
of the earthquake that occurred at the Resurrection. It is a rather crude
and unrefined and disruptive custom which has become so deep rooted that
the Priest has no control of the situation so just lets it be done with.
This symbolism with the earthquake of the Resurrection has caused people
to believe that the Resurrection has already taken place and people often
wrongly refer to it as the first resurrection.
If we had time
it would have been great to talk on the actual feast of the Resurrection,
but as there is so much to say it really needs a talk on just this. Maybe
this will be our subject for our first talk after Easter.
With this I
would like to with you all good strength for the remainder of the journey
of Great Lent, a spiritual understanding of Holy and Great week and a
rebirth filled with spiritual joy and enlightenment at the feast of the
Resurrection.
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