A Paschal Sermon

The Catechetical Sermon of St. John Chrysostom is read during Matins of Pascha. This sermon is typically preached by the priest in Byzantine churches on Easter Sunday.

If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived thereof. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.

And he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts. And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.

Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

Pages: 1 2

Holy and Great Friday Procession at the Parish 2018

Yesterday, those in attendance at the Holy and Great Friday service for the adoration and veneration of the Holy Shroud, formed an outdoor procession.

Holy Friday is the day that changed the world!

The Kondakion for the Liturgy helps us to understand the divine drama of the day: “Come, let us praise him who was crucified for us, for when Mary saw him hanging on the cross, she exclaimed: Though you endure the cross, still are you my son and my God.”

 

 

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday, March 31

8:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great

4:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
5:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods

6:00 p.m. Prayer at the Tomb —Procession and Paschal Matins

Holy Saturday

“It is finished!”

When Jesus died on the Cross, at that moment he trampled upon death by his death.

“He rose on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Why the wait?
First, our Lord was a pious Jew, part of the people with whom God had made a covenant. It was to perfectly fulfill this covenant that Jesus rested on the seventh day from his labors to begin a new creation on the eighth day.

“The great Moses mystically prefigured the present day when he said: God blessed the seventh day. For this is the blessed Sabbath. This is the day of rest on which the only-begotten Son of God kept the Sabbath in the flesh by resting in death from all his works according to the plan of salvation. Returning again to what he was through the Resurrection, he granted us eternal life. He alone is good and Loves us all.” (Doxasticheron of Holy Saturday)

By keeping the Sabbath, he fulfilled the Scriptures, as we profess always, “he rose according to the Scriptures.” This was to fulfill the sign of Jonah, who spent three days in the belly of the great fish: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matthew 12:39). This day is the sign given to all believers.

Father Alexander Schmemann wrote that Holy Saturday manifests our life in the world. The Son of God was not subject to corruption, but we are mortal and must return to dust. Peter preached on Pentecost: “This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:23-24). But we are still held by the throes of death. This day is a reflection of our lives in the world. He live in the hope of resurrection and eternal life, but for now we must work to establish the kingdom of God in the world in which we live, a world that does not know Christ, a world in which we all must confront the mystery of death. Today we pray that God may give us the grace, the strength to “do his will, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Pages: 1 2

Holy Friday

Holy Friday, March 30

Today is a day of strict fast and abstinence. Therefore, NO meat or dairy products are consumed.

4:00 p.m. Vespers and Veneration of the Holy Shroud

Holy Friday

Our faith is a faith of paradox.

Today the crowd choose Barabbas instead of Jesus. Yet the name Barabbas means “Son of the Father.” The crowd does not choose Jesus, the true Son of the Father. Barabbas, the gospel tells us, was an insurrectionist, a political creature. The kingdom of Jesus is spiritual, and people cannot discern it, they cannot see the true Son of the Father.

The mob cries out, “His blood be upon us and upon our children!” Asking for a curse? God has made it a blessing, for he poured out his blood upon us, we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and are redeemed every day anew by the Blood of Christ, in whom we achieve Communion, for forgiveness and life. What was meant as a curse God has made an infinite blessing.

Pilate, on the other hand, declares, “I am innocent of the blood of this just man.” But he is guilty of his sentence of death. Pilate refuses to share in the blessing of the Blood of the Lord, and like Peter, would hear the words of the one who wished to reject the passion for salvation, “Get behind me, Satan!” Of course, we must not cry out, “Crucify him!” but we must be willing to accept the chalice of the Lord, as Jesus asked James and John, “Can you drink the cup which I will drink? Will you be baptized with the baptism with which I will be baptized?”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Holy Days Schedule 2018

The Holy Week Schedule

Join us in prayer, bring a friend for the week that changed the world!

Holy Thursday, March 29
7:00 p.m.  Matins with the Passion Gospels

Holy Friday, March 30
—A day of strict fast and abstinence NO meat or dairy products
4:00 p.m. Vespers and Veneration of the Holy Shroud

Holy Saturday, March 31
8:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy of St. Basil
4:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
5:00 p.m. Blessing of Easter Foods
6:00 p.m. Prayer at the Tomb —Procession and Paschal Matins

Pascha, April 1 The Glorious and Holy Sunday of the Resurrection of Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ

10:30 a.m For people of the parish
Blessing of Artos
Blessing of Easter Foods

Epistle: Acts of the Apostles 1:1-8
Gospel: John 1:1-17, Tone 2

Holy Thursday

Today we celebrate three mysteries of the church

The mystery of Holy Oil for Anointing the Sick. The Eastern Church has a much broader interpretation of the sick. Ordinarily, those who are suffering the crisis of physical illness receive to anointing to strengthen their whole being – body and soul – by renewing our faith in Christ the Messiah – the Anointed One. When we were baptized we received a holy anointing as a part of our Christian decision to reject evil and commit ourselves wholly to Christ. When the sick were anointed, not only the sick person him/herself but those who were to give care and those present were also anointed, a sign of our solidarity in fighting illness through faith. Perhaps the Holy Anointing of the whole congregation on Holy Thursday is because of the epistle for this day: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying. (1 Corinthians 11:27-30)” The anointing is a response to our unworthiness to receive Communion.

The Mystery of Reconciliation. In the ancient church, Holy Thursday —before the baptisms of Holy Saturday— was the time for the reconciliation of those who were in public penance. This is why Judas is presented in the liturgical texts as one who did not repent. He is contrasted with Peter, who denied our Lord but repented. Judas did not repent. “The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born. (Matthew 26:24)” The constantly repeated hymn in the Divine Liturgy of this day proclaims that we should not follow Judas, but remain ever faithful to our commitment to Christ. “Accept me today as a partaker of your mystical supper, O Son of God, for I will not reveal your mystery to your enemies, nor will I give you a kiss as did Judas.” We now repeat this every time we receive the mysteries of our Lord’s Body and Blood.

Pages: 1 2