YO-Mail
(Young
Orthodox Mail)
Vol.
III No. 4
In
this issue:
From
the Office:
Making
the Most out of Holy Week
A couple of years ago we did a special issue on getting the most out of Great Lent. This year we thought we would focus on the week that defines who we are as Christians: Holy Week. Whether your situation allows you to attend services this week or not, the descriptions included here will allow you to come to Paschal services with a fuller understanding of the great miracle that we are celebrating as Orthodox Christians.
This is probably the longest YO-Mail we have ever sent. Don’t think you have to read it all at once. Read a section per day in connection with the services that are celebrated that day.
In addition to the explanations provided here, readers should also check out:
Food
for the Soul: Holy
Week: On the Journey to the Holy Pascha
On the Friday before Holy Week Great Lent officially ends and we enter the feast of the Raising of Lazarus (Lazarus Saturday) and Our Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday). This combined feast, one of the most triumphant periods of our Lord’s life and ministry before His death and resurrection acts as a bridge to a new and unique period of fasting and preparation for Pascha: Holy Week.
Holy Week is the week leading up to Pascha when we participate in our Lord Jesus Christ’s passion and death, which ultimately brings us to the Resurrection. While we refer to it as “Holy Week” in English, the ancient Greek and Slavonic (the core language that eventually developed into Russian, Ukrainian, etc.) really refer to it as “Passion Week.”
It is important to know that the texts of the Church’s liturgical services continually speak in the present tense. They often are prefaced by the word “today” demonstrating that the Church services do much more than commemorate past events. They have as their aim our initiation to and growth in the life of Christ. They remind us that as Christians the events of His life must be the today, the very here and now of our life.
Holy Week and Pascha together comprise the center of the great liturgical “today” of the Church. They are the Passover of Christ from humiliation, defeat and death to triumphant, resurrected life. They are the source and the goal of all Christian life. These days demand that we participate as fully as possible in the Divine services connected with them. The Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ must be the great “today, “ the whole center, of our own lives. The hymns of the Church summon us to accompany Christ during this decisive and climactic hour of His mission.
As we stand in church on the evening of Palm Sunday, we are sunk in darkness. We have seen the light: Christ has triumphed over the darkness of death by raising His friend Lazarus. He has sought—and received—the acclamation of His Kingship by His people Israel: "Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord." We have held high our palm branches and accepted His Kingdom. But now these palms lie at home, and we stand in darkness. The end has come.
The first three days of Holy Week are referred to in the Church as "The End." Jesus was walking into the very midst of those who sought to take His life. He experienced deep anguish within Himself (John 12:27). Despite the triumph of the Palm weekend, which had confirmed the outcome of His Passion even before it had taken place, the Lord had already told His disciples that:
...he must go to Jerusalem and
suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,
and on the third day be raised. (Matthew 16:21)
The moment of truth had arrived. No longer did Jesus speak to the people from boats or in the countryside. He spoke openly in Jerusalem itself. He confronted His enemies and publicly refuted them.
Addressing Himself to the religious leaders and students of the Divine Law, the Pharisees, scribes, and elders, Jesus called them hypocrites, blind guides, murderers, and liars.
Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of
heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would
enter to go in.
(Matthew
23:13)
He went directly to the Temple and cleansed it of the crooked moneychangers. He spoke to them sharply: "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you make it a den of robbers" (Matthew 21:13). He refuted all the questions which the leaders put to Him in order to "entangle him in his talk" (Matthew 22: 15ff.) He condemned the fig tree which had not brought forth fruit. He spoke and acted with great urgency:
Now is the judgment of this world, now
shall the ruler of this world be cast out.
(John 12:31)
The moment of truth revealed that even in the supposedly most religious and righteous places, the world was under the sway of evil. The Messiah came to inaugurate a New Age.
On Palm Sunday evening the Services of Holy Week begin. Long Gospel readings on the first three days divulge the entire content of the final discourses of Christ. In these discourses he is far from the "sweet Jesus" of popular imagery. He speaks with clarity concerning the end of this age.
But of that day and hour no one knows, not
even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only... Watch therefore,
for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. (Matthew 24:36,
42)
We see the sin and darkness which triumph in "this world" loom before us as we follow Christ as He approaches the Cross. On the first three "great and holy" days of this week, it is the Gospel read at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, the "end" of each liturgical day ‑ when "the light of Christ illumines all" ‑ that the "theme" of the whole day is revealed.
On Monday the theme is quite simply the End: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:3‑35).
On Tuesday we are minded of the vigilance and care required of all Christians as we hear Christ's parables of the ten virgins and of the talents, and we are filled with "holy fear" as we listen to Him prophesy the Last Judgment (Matthew 24:36‑26:2).
On Wednesday we hear about the harlot who anoints Christ's feet to prepare Him for His burial, and of Judas who judges her, mercilessly condemning her act of mercy (Matthew 26:6‑16). Indeed, "The Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19). And this darkness brings judgment.
Judgment is the theme of the Gospel lessons read in darkness each evening at Matins.
On Monday we hear of the barren fig tree which Christ curses and causes to be dried up (Matthew 21:18‑43); on Tuesday, of the blind and hypocritical Pharisees (Matthew 22:15‑23, 39); and on Wednesday, of the final rejection of Christ: "now is the judgment of the world" (John 12:17‑50).
The two themes of darkness and judgment are combined in the troparion sung at Matins on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday:
Behold! The Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless.
Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death, and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom.
But rouse yourself, crying:
"Holy! Holy! Holy! art Thou, O our God. Through the Theotokos,
have mercy on us!"
This hymn tells us that midnight, the nighttime of "this world" is when we look for the coming of the Kingdom of God. The parable of the wise and foolish virgins who went out to meet the bridegroom forms the basis of this special troparion sung at the beginning of Matins each day. Ten virgins went out to meet the bridegroom. They were not sure when he would come. Five took sufficient oil for their lamps. Five did not. The five who came unprepared had to return to buy more oil. At midnight, while these are gone, the bridegroom came and the virgins who were prepared entered the bridal hall with him to begin the marriage feast. The bridal hall is the Kingdom of Heaven. The Bridegroom is Christ. He comes at an hour when we least expect Him. We must "watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour" (Matthew 25:13).
In
view of this special troparion, the Matins of the first three days of Holy Week
are commonly called "The Bridegroom Service." This service is customarily served
in anticipation on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evenings. Throughout the services
we are never allowed to forget that Christ the Bridegroom who comes is God, the
God who created man in the beginning and who now comes to do all things for
man’s salvation in His love for mankind. He calls us to return this love, and to
show to others the same mercy that He shows to us. On Great and Holy Thursday
the last of the Bridegroom Services is celebrated, and there we see this vital
Christian requirement of love put to the ultimate test. For the last time we
sing the exaposteilarion which forms the only link between all of
the services of the first four days of Holy Week.
Thy Bridal Chamber I see adorned, O my
Savior, but I have no wedding garment that I may enter. O Giver of Light,
enlighten the vesture of my soul, and save me.
This special hymn, sung near the end of the Service, tells us, in effect, that in our present state we are not ready to meet the Lord. There is no room for pride, callousness, or the recounting of our good deeds. We must repent, i.e., have an inner change of mind and heart before we can enter the Kingdom.
The first three days of Holy Week are concluded by the clandestine betrayal of Christ by one of His own disciples ‑ Judas. Even after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Christ continued to withdraw from the city at night. Out of fear of the masses, the leaders did not arrest Him and He moved about the city during the day. It was necessary that one of His companions betray Him by revealing to the leaders the location of His nocturnal abode as well as His identity in the group. Judas filled this need.
On this day, the beginning of Great and Holy Thursday (usually celebrated on Wednesday night), as we enter Christ's chamber together with the glorious apostles to partake of His table, we see the impious traitor Judas indeed sitting at the table with no wedding garment. The troparion of this day says:
When the glorious disciples were
enlightened at the washing of their feet
before the supper,
Then the impious Judas was darkened, ailing
with avarice,
and to the lawless judges he betrays Thee,
the righteous Judge.
Behold, O lover of money, this man who
because of money hanged himself.
Flee from the greedy soul which dared such
things against the Master.
O Lord who art good towards all men, glory
to Thee!
We realize that all of the things we have heard about and experienced this week, all the things we have been called to do and to be in order to partake worthily of the Master's table, are impossible without Christ's mercy and help. And now we stand in the lengthening shadow of Calvary. Judas has made his choice. He has hanged himself in remorse, and Christ is in the hands of lawless men.
What motivated Judas to commit this terrible act? In the mind of the Church, the motive is the greed for money and a general love for the choking pleasures of this world. Judas had the same opportunity to be with Jesus and to learn at His feet, but he "refused to understand," as the Church hymns say. He exchanged all this for thirty pieces of silver. The question remaining to be answered by us is this: What is Christ worth in our lives? Do we take proper advantage of all the opportunity given to us to live in Him and learn of Him in the Church?
The End becomes our "end' if we, too, join in rejecting the Light and Life of the world, or share in selling the Master of all in order to satisfy our own, self‑centered motivations.
The Matins of Holy Friday, commonly celebrated on the evening of Holy Thursday and known as "The Order of the Holy Passions of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," or more popularly as "The Passions" or "Twelve Gospels," is a climactic point of the entire task set before us during Holy Week. During this wonderful Service we accompany Christ, step by step, from the time of His last discourse with His disciples to His being laid in a new tomb by the noble Joseph of Arimathea and the pious Nicodemus. Each of the twelve Gospel sections read during the Service involves us in a new scene: the arrest and trial before Annas and Caiaphas, the Jewish High Priests; the threefold denial of Peter; the trial and other happenings before Pontius Pilate; the scourging and mocking by .the soldiers; the carrying of the Cross; the engaging of Simon of Cyrene; the Crucifixion and the opposing fates of the two thieves hung with Christ; the loving tenderness of that moment when Jesus commits His Mother to the care of His faithful disciple, John; the Lord's final yielding up of the spirit and burial.
The twelve Gospel readings, however, are only a part of the Service. Another large part is composed of the service’s hymns. This hymnography (the antiphons, verses and canons sung during the Service} sets the Gospel readings within the consciousness of the entire Church, with all of her history and people over the past 2000 years. The Gospel texts narrate the events. The hymnography gives the response of the Church, the community of true Christian believers from all ages, to these events. The hymnography clarifies and gives deeper meaning as well as the proper sense of significance: to the narrations which the Gospel relates with such epic simplicity. We are confronted and perplexed by the horrid and the sobering:
What caused you to betray the Savior, O
Judas?
The bridegroom of the Church is fastened with
nails.
He who clothes himself with light as with a
garment
Stood naked for trial.
He was struck on the cheek by hands that He
Himself had formed.
A people that transgressed the law
Nailed the Lord of Glory to the cross.
Then the curtain of the temple was torn in
two.
Then the sun was darkened,
Unable to bear the sight of God outraged,
Before Whom all things tremble.
Let us worship Him. (Antiphon 10)
We are comforted and uplifted by signs of hope for us:
Thy Cross, O Lord,
Is life and resurrection for Thy
people.
Trusting in it, we praise Thee, our crucified
God.
Have mercy on us. (Antiphon 15)
The total effect of this integration of the twelve Gospel sections and the responsorial hymnography is to uplift each participant of the Service into the total life of the Church. In this life, past, present and future are one, and our own accompanying of Christ is not merely a dramatic enactment of past and irrelevant events, but a reality. The entire spectrum of our Lord's saving Passions is opened before us, and we are placed within that spectrum.
Within this spectrum a judgment begins to come upon us. Where do we stand in reference to all those who are accompanying Christ on the road of His Passion? Do we share a common spirit with the treacherous Judas, the scheming priests, the fearful and abandoning disciples, or the denying Peter? Do we in any way find ourselves among the fickle and unruly crowds, or the mocking and blasphemous groups of soldiers? Is the indifference of Pilate in any way indicative of our response to Christ? Hope- fully, perhaps we see ourselves more clearly in the devotion of the disciple John, or in the confessing centurion, or the faithful Joseph of Arimathea, or, most of all, in the repentant thief. The words from the Gospel come to us as a concrete and present judgment:
And this is the judgment, that the light has
come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. (John
3:19)
Judas
In making Her response, the Church places particular emphasis on certain of the events of the Passion. One such event, the betrayal of Christ by Judas, receives particularly concentrated attention. Even before any Gospel sections are read the nature of this act, as well as the person who committed it, are brought before us.
When the glorious disciples were enlightened
at the washing of their feet before the supper, then the impious Judas was
darkened, ailing with avarice, and to the lawless judges he betrays Thee, the
righteous judge. Behold, O lover of money, this man who because of money hanged
himself. Flee from the greedy soul which dared such things against the Master. O
Lord Who art good towards all men, glory to Thee! (3) (Troparion)
The man who committed this terrible deed was no outsider or stranger. He was one of the original twelve. He, too, shared in the great moments of the Master's earthly ministry. He, too, had the full opportunity to learn at the feet of the Teacher. He, too, was there at the washing of the feet. But he refused to understand. We hear this same contrast repeated in rapid succession in the hymnography following the first Gospel reading.
Because of the raising of Lazarus,
O Lord Who lovest mankind,
The Hebrew children cried "Hosanna" to Thee,
But Judas the Transgressor was unwilling to
understand.
At Thy supper, O Christ God,
Thou didst announce to Thy disciples,
"One of you will betray me."
But Judas the Transgressor was unwilling to
understand.
At the washing of their feet, O Christ God,
Thou didst command Thy disciples:
"Do as you have seen me do."
But Judas the Transgressor was unwilling to
understand.
(Antiphon 3)
The Church stands in bewilderment before the evil of Judas' deed.
How could Judas, who was once Thy
disciple,
Plan to betray Thee?
That treacherous and unrighteous man
deceitfully ate with Thee
And went to the priests and said:
"What will you give me if I deliver to you
Him who abolished the law and profaned the
Sabbath?"
O long-suffering Lord, glory to Thee!
(Kathisma. Tone 8)
We seek a motive for this outrageous act.
What caused you to betray the Savior, O
Judas?
Did He expel you from the ranks of the
Apostles?
Did He take from you the gift of healing?
Did He send you from the table while taking
supper with the others?
Did He wash their feet and pass you by?
How have you forgotten such good things?
Your ingratitude is notorious,
But His boundless long-suffering and great
mercy are proclaimed to all.
(Kathisma. Tone
7)
The motive is exposed in Judas' avarice, his greedy love of money. The opening troparion speaks of his "ailing with avarice," and his "greedy soul." In a broader sense, however, the hymnography links Judas' avarice with a general love of the cares of this life and warns us not to follow his path.
Let us offer our pure senses to Christ.
As His friends let us sacrifice our lives for
His sake.
Let us not be weighed down by earthly cares
like Judas,
But let us cry in the hidden chambers of our
heart:
"Our Father, who art in heaven, deliver us
from evil."
(Antiphon I)
Judas is not alone in his treacherous act of betraying the Master. He conspires with the lawless council of the priests and leaders of the people. Immediately after the first Gospel, we sing:
The rulers of the people have assembled
against the Lord and His Christ.
Judas hastened to the lawless scribes and
said:
What will you give me to betray Him to
you.
For thirty pieces of silver
And a treacherous kiss, O Lord, The Jews
sought to kill Thee,
But Judas the Transgressor was unwilling to
understand.
(Antiphons 1, 2, 3)
Again, utilizing the technique of contrast, the hymnography compares the wonderful works of Christ with the evil of His people:
Thus says the Lord to the Jews:
My people, what have I done to you,
Or how have I offended you?
To your blind, I gave sight, your lepers I
cleansed,
The paralytic I raised from his bed.
My people, what have I done to you,
And how have you repaid me?
Instead of manna, gall; instead of water,
vinegar:
Instead of loving me, you nail me to the
cross. I can bear no more.
I shall call the Gentiles mine.
They will glorify me with the Father and the
Spirit,
And I shall give them life eternal.
(Antiphon 12)
The betrayal is the deed of Judas and those with whom he conspired. The love of money and the pleasures of this world are exposed as the motive behind this terrible deed. A judgment stands before us: how deep is our own attachment to the things of this world, and how willing are we to sacrifice them in the name of Christ.
The
Repentant Thief
Having shown us the hopeless and evil path of Judas and the lawless leaders of the people, the hymnography of the Service begins to direct our attention to something more hopeful—the way of the repentant thief. According to his own words, this thief, unlike Christ, was justly placed upon the cross. He was a criminal—but his repentance at the final hour of his life was deep and sincere. In humbly recognizing his own evil and unworthiness, but in confidently asking Christ to remember him, he shows us the way to our own salvation.
The thief, whose hands were defiled with
blood,
Thou didst accept as Thy
fellow-traveler.
With him, number us also, O Lord,
For Thou art good and lovest
mankind.
(Antiphon 14)
His is the way we must follow:
But we, imitating the righteous thief, cry
out in faith:
Remember us also, O Savior, in Thy Kingdom!
(Beatitudes)
Even though the foundations of the very earth might shake, the example of the thief shows us that the man who confesses Christ as his Savior and sets his hope in Him will never perish.
When it beheld Thee crucified, O Christ, all
creation trembled.
The foundations of the earth shook for fear
of Thy might.
The lights of heaven hid themselves, and the
curtain of the temple was torn in two.
The mountains quaked, and the rocks were
split,
and with us the believing thief cried out to
Thee,
O Savior: Remember me in Thy Kingdom!
(Beatitudes)
The final judgment is whether or not we can be enlightened, as was the thief, by the presence before us of the Lord upon the Cross.
The wise thief Thou didst make worthy of
paradise in a single moment, O Lord;
By the wood of Thy cross illumine me also,
and save me.
(Hymn of Light)
Those
Who Surrounded Christ
The human, personal reactions of those who surrounded Christ at the time of His Passions were, like our own, many and varied. The Service deals with these reactions in much detail, particularly the agony experienced by Mary the Theotokos. Her initial reaction before the Passion of her Divine Son is one of disbelief:
...Where goest Thou, my child? Why dost Thou
run so swift a course? Surely there is not another wedding in Cana to which Thou
now dost hasten to change water into wine?
...Do not pass me by in silence…Thou art my
son and my God.
(lkos)
Her final agony is a compassionate co-suffering with her Son:
Today the blameless virgin
Saw Thee suspended upon the cross, O Word.
She mourned within herself and was sorely
pierced in her heart.
She groaned in agony from the depth of her
soul…
(Aposticha)
With Mary at the time of the crucifixion was John. He alone among the disciples did not abandon the Lord. He remained faithful to the very end, and was present to accept Jesus' last command: "Woman, behold your son! ...Behold your mother" (John 19:26-27).
Simon Peter sought to remain with Christ at least initially. But his faith grew weak, and he denied the Lord three times, even as the Lord had said:
"You will deny your convictions as soon as
the question is put to you, O Simon Peter, and the sudden approach of a servant
girl will terrify you," said the Lord. "But after weeping bitterly you will have
great mercy from Me., whom all creation blesses and glorifies throughout all
ages."
(Canon, Ode 8)
Most noteworthy is the pagan centurion who fell in awe before the torn body yet unshaken majesty of Christ and exclaimed: "Truly, this was the Son of God" (Matthew 27:54).
In sharp contrast with the centurion is the other thief who was crucified with Christ. His reaction to Christ was the same as those to whom both the Gospel and liturgical texts refer as "the crowds." He mocked Christ and demanded a miraculous sign before he would believe. " Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us" (Luke 23:39). He says that 'He is the King of Israel;' let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him" (Matthew 27:42).
The
Universal Significance of the Passion of Christ
The Orthodox Church never
loses sight of the universal significance of the Passion of Christ. The
glorification of the wounds, the bloodshed, and the torturing agony experienced
by Christ does not find its origin in a simple awe before human suffering.
Beyond the scene of the human suffering of Christ is the reality of His work for
the redemption of all men. He is the God-man. He does what no human being alone
can do. He takes upon Himself the sin of all and shatters its power. He suffers
and dies for all in order that all might be able to pass through and find new
hope in the agonies of suffering and death. The hymnography enumerates each
aspect of the human suffering of Christ:
Every member of Thy holy
flesh endured dishonor for us.
Thy head —the thorns, Thy
face—the spitting,
Thy cheeks—the buffeting,
Thy mouth— -the taste of vinegar mingled with gall,
Thine ears—the impious
blasphemies, Thy back—the scourge,
Thy hand—the reed, Thy whole
body —extension upon the cross,
Thy joints—the nails, Thy
side—the spear.
But the
verse does not stop here. It links all this human suffering with the Divine plan
for the restoration of all men:
By Thy sufferings Thou hast
set us free from suffering.
In Thy love for man Thou
didst stoop down to raise us up.
O Almighty Savior, have
mercy on us.
(ldeomela. Tone 3)
Even
Christ's pierced side is seen as a source of spiritual strength for the whole
Church:
From thy life-bearing side,
O Christ, a fountain flows forth as from Eden, giving drink to Thy Church as to
a living paradise. From there it divided to become the four rivers of the
Gospels, watering the world, gladdening creation, and teaching the nations to
worship Thy Kingdom in faith.
(Beatitudes)
Finally, the hymnography has
Christ Himself exclaiming the true purpose of His Passions:
I gave my back to scourging.
I did not turn my face from
spittings.
I stood before the judgment
seat of Pilate
And endured the cross,
For the salvation of the
world.
(Ideomela, Tone 6)
In concluding this section,
we must move from the universal to the specific. Christ suffered and died not
for the sake of some vague "human mass," but for unique human persons -for you
and me. In this fact lies the hope and joy of each Christian.
Thou wast crucified for my
sake, in order to pour forth forgiveness for me. Thy side was pierced so that
streams of life might flow for me. Thy hands were transfixed by nails so that,
convinced of the height of Thy power by the depth of Thy sufferings, I might cry
out to Thee, O Christ, Thou giver of life: Glory to Thy cross and to Thy
passion, O Savior!
(Beatitudes)
Conclusions
The following points can serve as a
summary to this brief introduction to the Matins of Great and Holy Friday.
I)
The
Orthodox Christian can never view the Passions of Jesus Christ as just past
events having no bearing on life today. Each year the liturgical experience of
the Matins of Holy Friday has us actually accompanying Christ along the road of
His Passion.
II)
This
experience puts us within the personalities and events of the Passions and
confronts us with moment after moment of judgment upon ourselves.
III)
We
are also called upon to clearly understand the nature and ultimate purpose of
the Passions. Through them salvation becomes a real possibility for us.
Moreover, the example of the agony experienced by Christ in this world shows us
most clearly that "for him, who above all things seeks the Kingdom of Heaven,
transfiguration begins in this life on earth."*
*Dimitri
Obolensky, The Diary of a Russian Priest, Faber and Faber, London, 1967,
p. 7.
On Great and Holy Friday, Christ died on the Cross. He gave up His spirit with the words: "It is finished" (John 19:30). These words are perhaps better understood when rendered: "It is achieved," or “It is consummated.” He had accomplished the work for which His heavenly Father had sent Him into the world. He became a man in the fullest sense of the word. He accepted the baptism of repentance from John in the Jordan River. He assumed the whole human condition, experiencing all its alienation, agony, and suffering, concluding with the lowly death on the Cross. He perfectly fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
"Therefore I will divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because
he has poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah
5.3:11)
On the Cross Jesus thus
became "the man of sorrows; acquainted with grief" whom the prophet Isaiah had
foretold. He was "despised and forsaken by men" and "smitten by God, and
afflicted" (Isaiah 53:3-4). He became the one with "no form or comeliness
that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him" (Isaiah
53:2). His appearance was "marred beyond human semblance, and his form
beyond that of the sons of men" (Isaiah 52:14). All these Messianic prophecies
were fulfilled in Jesus as he hung from the Cross.
As the end approached, He
cried: "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). This
cry indicated His complete identification with the human condition. He had
totally embraced the despised, forsaken and smitten condition of suffering and
death - alienation from God. He was truly the man of
sorrows.
Yet, it is important to note
that Jesus' cry of anguish from the Cross was not a sign of His loss of faith in
His Father. The words, which He exclaimed, are the first verse of Psalm 22, a
messianic Psalm. The first part of the Psalm foretells the anguish, suffering
and death of the Messiah. The second part is a song of praise to God. It
predicts the final victory of the Messiah.
The religious leaders in
Jerusalem from the earliest days of His public ministry had sought the death of
Christ. The formal charges made against Him usually fell into the following two
categories:
1.
violation of the Law of the
Old Testament, e.g., breaking the Sabbath rest;
2.
blasphemy: making Himself
equal with God.
Matters were hastened
(consummated) by the moment of truth which followed His entrance into Jerusalem
on Palm Sunday. He had the people behind Him. He spoke plainly. He said that the
Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. He chastised the scribes
and Pharisees for reducing religion to a purely external affair;
"You are like whitewashed
tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones
and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within
you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (Matthew
13:17-18)
It was the second formal
charge, however, that became the basis for His
conviction.
Christ's conviction and death sentence required two trials: religious and political. The religious trial was first and took place during the night immediately after His arrest. After considerable difficulty in finding witnesses for the prosecution who actually agreed in their testimony, Caiaphas, the high priest, asked Jesus the essential question: "Are you Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" Jesus, who had remained silent to this point, now responded directly:
"I am; and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven" (Mark 14:61-61).
Jesus' reply recalled the many other statements He had made beginning with the words, "I am." "I am the bread of life...I am the light of the world...I am the way, the truth, and the life...before Abraham was, I am." (John 6 through 15). The use of these words themselves was considered blasphemous by the religious leaders. The words were the Name of God. By using them as His own Name, Jesus positively identified Himself with God. From the burning bush the voice of God had disclosed these words to Moses as the Divine Name:
"Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you'." (Exodus 3:13-14).
Now Jesus, as He had done on many other occasions, used them as His own Name. The high priest immediately tore his mantle and "they all condemned Him as deserving death" (Mark 14:64). In their view He had violated the Law of the Old Testament:
"He who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death" (Leviticus 24:16).
The Jewish religious leaders lacked the actual authority to carry out the above law: to put a man to death. Such authority belonged to the Roman civil administration. Jesus had carefully kept His activity free of political implications. He refused the temptation of Satan to rule the kingdoms of the world by the sword (Luke 4:1-12). He often charged His disciples and others to tell no one that He was the Christ, because of the political overtones that this title carried for many (Matthew 16:13-20). He rebuked Peter, calling him Satan, when the disciple hinted at His swerving from the true nature of His mission (Matthew 16:23). To Pilate, the spineless and indifferent Roman Governor, He said plainly: "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). Jesus was not a political revolutionary who came to free the people from Roman control and establish a new kingdom based on worldly power.
Nevertheless, the religious leaders, acting in agreement with the masses, devised political charges against Him in order to get their way. They presented Christ to the Romans as a political leader, the "King of the Jews" in a worldly sense, a threat to Roman rule and a challenge to Caesar. Pilate became fearful of his own position as he heard the charges and saw the seething mobs. Therefore, despite his avowed testimony to Jesus' innocence, he passed formal sentence, "washed his hands" of the matter, and turned Jesus over to be crucified (John 19:16).
On Holy Friday evil
triumphed. "It was night" (John 13:30) when Judas departed from the Last
Supper to complete his act of betrayal, and "there was darkness over all the
land" (Matthew 27:45) when Jesus was hanging on the Cross. The evil
forces of this world had been massed against Christ. Unjust trials convicted
Him. A criminal was released to the people instead of Him. Nails and a spear
pierced His body. Bitter vinegar was given to Him to quench His thirst. Only one
disciple remained faithful to Him. Finally, the tomb of another man became His
place of repose after death.
The innocent Jesus was put
to death on the basis of both religious and political charges. Both Jews and
Gentile Romans participated in His death sentence.
"The rulers of the people
have assembled against the Lord and His
Christ."
(Psalm 2
‑ the Prokeimenon of the Holy Thursday Vesperal
Liturgy)
We, also, in many ways
continue to participate in the death sentence given to Christ. The formal
charges outlined above do not exhaust the reasons for the crucifixion. Behind
the formal charges lay a host of injustices brought on by hidden and personal
motivations. Jesus openly spoke the truth about God and man. He thereby exposed
the false character of the righteousness and smug security, both religious and
material, claimed by many especially those in high places. The constantly
occurring expositions of such smugness in our own day teach us the truly
illusory nature of much so-called righteousness and security. In the deepest
sense, the death of Christ was brought about by hardened, personal sin ‑ the
refusal of people to change themselves in the light of reality, which is
Christ.
"He came to His very own,
and His own received Him not" (John
1:11).
Especially we, the Christian
people, are Christ's very own. He continues to come to us in His Church. Each
time we attempt to make the Church into something other than the eternal coming
of Christ into our midst, each time we refuse to repent for our wrongs; we, too,
reject Christ and participate in His death
sentence.
The Vespers, celebrated in the Church on Holy Friday afternoon, brings to mind all of the final events of the life of Christ as mentioned above: the trial, the sentence, the scourging and mocking, the crucifixion, the death, the taking down of His body from the Cross, and the burial. As the hymnography indicates, these events remain ever‑present in the Church; they constitute the today of its life.
The service is replete with readings from Scripture: three from the Old Testament and two from the New. The first of the Old Testament readings, from Exodus, speaks of Moses beholding the "back" of the glory of God—for no man can see the glory of God face to face and live. The Church uses this reading to emphasize that now, in the crucifixion and death of Christ, God is making the ultimate condescension to reveal His glory to man—from within man himself.
The death of Christ was of a wholly voluntary character. He dies not because of some necessity in His being: as the Son of God He has life in Himself! Yet, He voluntarily gave up His life as the greatest sign of God's love for man, as the ultimate revelation of the Divine glory:
"Greater love has no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:1.3).
The hymnography further develops the fact that God reveals His glory to us in this self-emptying love. The Crucifixion is the heart of such love, for the One being crucified is none other than He through whom all things have been created:
Today the Master of creation
stands before Pilate.
Today the Creator of all is
condemned to die on the cross . . .
The Redeemer of the world is
slapped on the face.
The Maker of all is mocked by
His own servants.
Glory to Thy condescension, O
Lover of man!
(Verse V on "Lord I call", and the
Aposticha)
The verses also underscore the cosmic dimensions of the event taking place on the Cross. Just as God who revealed Himself to Moses is not a god, but the God of "heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible," so the death of Jesus is not the culmination of a petty struggle in the domestic life of Palestine. Rather, it is the very center of the epic struggle between God and the Evil One, involving the whole universe:
All creation was changed by
fear when it saw Thee hanging on the cross,
O Christ!
The sun was darkened, and the
foundations of the earth were shaken.
All things suffered with the
Creator of all.
O Lord, who didst willingly
endure this for us, glory to Thee!
(Verse I on "Lord I
call.")
The second Reading from the Old Testament (Job 42:12 to the end) manifests Job as a prophetic figure of the Messiah Himself. The plight of Job is followed in the services throughout Holy Week, and is concluded with this reading. Job is the righteous servant who remains faithful to God despite trial, humiliation, and the loss of all his possessions and family. Because of his faithfulness, however, "The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning" (Job 42:12)
The third of the Old Testamental readings is by far the most substantial (Isaiah 52:13 to 54:1). It is a prototype of the Gospel itself. Read at this moment, it positively identifies Jesus of Nazareth as the Suffering Servant, the Man of Sorrows; the Messiah of Israel.
The Epistle Reading (I Corinthians 1:18 to 2:2) speaks of Jesus crucified, a folly for the world, as the real center of our Faith. The Gospel reading, a lengthy composite taken from Matthew, Luke and John, simply narrates all the events associated with the crucifixion and burial of Christ.
All the readings obviously focus on the theme of hope. As the Lord of Glory, the fulfillment of the righteous Job, and the Messiah Himself, humiliation and death will have no final hold over Jesus. Even the parental mourning of Mary is transformed in the light of this hope:
When she who bore Thee without
seed saw Thee suspended upon the Tree,
O Christ, the Creator and God
of all, she cried bitterly:
"Where is the beauty of Thy
countenance, my Son?
I cannot bear to see Thee
unjustly crucified.
Hasten and
arise,
that I too may see Thy
resurrection from the dead on the third day!
(Verse IV on "Lord I
call.")
Near the end of the Vespers, the priest vests fully in dark vestments. At the appointed time he lifts the Holy Shroud, a large icon depicting Christ lying in the tomb, from the altar table. Together with selected laymen and servers, a procession is formed and the Holy Shroud is carried to a specially prepared tomb in the center of the church. As the procession moves, the troparion is sung:
The Noble Joseph, when he had
taken down Thy most pure body from the tree, wrapped it in fine linen and
anointed it with spices, and placed it in a new tomb.
At this ultimate solemn moment of Vespers, the theme of hope once again occurs—this time more strongly and clearly than ever. As knees are bent and heads are bowed, and often tears are shed, another troparion is sung which penetrates through this triumph of evil, to the new day that is contained in its very midst:
The Angel came to the
myrrh‑bearing women at the tomb and said: "Myrrh is fitting for the dead, but
Christ has shown Himself a stranger to corruption.
A new age is dawning. Our salvation is taking place. The One who died is the same One who will rise on the third day, to "trample down death by death," and to free us from corruption.
Therefore, at the conclusion of Holy Friday Vespers, at the end of this long day of darkness, when all things are apparently ended, our eternal hope for salvation springs forth. For Christ is indeed a stranger to corruption:
"As by a man came death, by a
man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also
in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first
fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ."
(I Cor.15:21‑32)
"If any man would come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would
save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake and the
gospel's will save it."
(Mark
8:35)
The "Great and Holy Sabbath" is the day that
connects Holy Friday, the commemoration of the Cross, with the day of Christ's
Resurrection. To many the real nature and meaning of this "connection," the very
necessity of this "middle day," remains obscure. For a good majority of
churchgoers, the "important" days of Holy Week are Friday and Sunday: the Cross
and the Resurrection. These two days, however, remain somehow "disconnected."
There is a day of sorrow, and then, there is the day of joy. In this sequence,
sorrow is simply replaced by joy...but according to the teaching of the Church,
expressed in her liturgical tradition, the nature of this sequence is not that
of a simple replacement. The Church proclaims that Christ has "trampled death by
death." It means that even before the Resurrection, an event takes place in
which the sorrow is not replaced by joy, but is transformed into
joy. Great Saturday is precisely this day of transformation, the day when
victory grows from inside the defeat, when before the Resurrection, we are given
to contemplate the death of death itself…all this is expressed, and even more,
all this really takes place every year in this marvelous morning service, in
this liturgical commemoration which becomes for us a saving and transforming
present.
On coming to Church for the
Matins of Holy Saturday, Friday has just been liturgically completed. The sorrow
of Friday is, therefore, the initial theme, the starting point of Matins of
Saturday. It begins as a funeral service, as a lamentation over a dead body.
After the singing of the funeral troparia and a slow censing of the church, the
celebrants approach the Epitaphion (burial shroud). We stand at the grave of our
Lord, we contemplate His death, His defeat. Psalm 119 is sung and to each verse
we add a special "praise," which expresses the horror of men and of the whole
creation before the death of Jesus:
"O hills and
valleys,
the multitude of
men,
and all creation, weep and
lament
with me, the Mother of your
God." (1:69)
And yet, from the very
beginning, along with this initial theme of sorrow and lamentation, a new theme
makes its appearance and will become more and more apparent. We find it, first
of all, in Psalm 119 -"Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the
law of the Lord." In our liturgical practice today this psalm is used only at
the funeral services, hence its "funeral" connotation for the average believer.
But in early liturgical tradition this psalm was one of the essential parts of
the Sunday vigil, the weekly commemoration of Christ's Resurrection. Its content
is not "funeral" at all. This psalm is the purest and fullest expression of love
for the law of God, i.e., for the Divine design of man and of his life. The real
life, the one which man lost through sin, consists in keeping, in fulfilling the
Divine law, the life with God, in God and for God, for which man was
created.
And since Christ is the
image of the perfect fulfillment of this law, since His whole life had no other
"content" but the fulfillment of His Father's will, the Church interprets this
psalm as the words of Christ Himself, spoken to His Father from the
grave.
The death of Christ is the
ultimate proof of His love for God and willingness to follow the God’s will, of
His obedience to His Father. It is an act of pure obedience and trust in the
Father; and for the Church it is precisely this obedience to the end, this
perfect humility of the Son that constitutes the foundation, the beginning of
His victory. The Father desires this death; the Son accepts it, revealing an
unconditional faith in the perfection of the Father's will, in the necessity of
this sacrifice of the Son by the Father. Psalm 119 is the psalm of that
obedience, and therefore the announcement that in Christ’s obedience the triumph
has begun.
But why does the Father desire this death?
Why is it necessary? The answer to this question constitutes the third theme of
our service, and it appears first in the "praises," which follow each verse of
Psalm 119. They describe the death of Christ as His descent into Hades.
"Hades" in the concrete biblical language means the realm of death, which
God has not created and which He did not want; it also signifies that the Prince
of this world is all-powerful in the world. Satan, Sin, Death -these are the
"dimensions" of Hades, its content. For sin comes from Satan and Death is the
result of sin -"sin entered into the world, and death by sin" (Romans 5: 12),
"Death reigned from Adam to Moses" (Romans 5: 14), the entire universe has
become a cosmic cemetery, was condemned to destruction and despair. And this is
why death is "the last enemy," (I Corinthians 15:20) and its destruction
constitutes the ultimate goal of the Incarnation. This encounter with death is
the "hour" of Christ of which He said "for this hour have I come." (John
12:27)
Now this hour has come and the Son of God
enters into Death. The Fathers of the Church usually describe this moment as a
duel between Christ and Death, Christ and Satan. This death was to be either the
last triumph of Satan, or his decisive defeat. The duel develops in several
stages. At first, the forces of evil seem to triumph. The Righteous One is
crucified, abandoned by all, and endures a shameful death. He also becomes the
partaker of "Hades," of this place of darkness and despair…but at this very
moment, the real meaning of this death is revealed. The One who dies on the
Cross has Life in Himself, i.e., He has life not as a gift from outside, a gift
that therefore can be taken away from Him, but as His own essence: for He is the
Life and the Source of all life. "In Him was Life and Life was the light of
man." The man Jesus dies, but this Man is the Son of God. As man, He can really
die, but in Him, God Himself enters the realm of death, partakes of death. This
is the unique, the incomparable meaning of Christ's death. In it, the man who
dies is God, or to be more exact, the God- Man. God is the Holy Immortal;
and only in the unity "without confusion, without change, without division,
without separation" of God and Man in Christ can human death be "assumed" by God
and be overcome and destroyed from within, be "trampled down by
death."
Now we understand why God desires that death, why the Father gives His Only-Begotten Son to it. He desires the salvation of man, i.e., that the destruction of death shall not be an act of His power ("Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" Matthew 26:53), not a violence, be it even a saving one, but an act of that love, freedom and free dedication to God for which He created man. For any other salvation would have been in opposition to the nature of man, and, therefore, not a real salvation. This is why the Incarnation and the Divine death were necessary. In Christ, man restores obedience and love. In Him, man overcomes sin and evil. It was essential that death be not only destroyed by God, but overcome and trampled down in human nature itself, by man and through man. "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." (1 Corinthians 15:21)
Christ freely accepts death; of His life He
says that "no man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself." (John
10:18) Here is fulfilled the measure of His obedience and, therefore, here
is the destruction of the moral root of death, of death as the ransom for
sin. The whole life of Jesus is in God as every human life ought to be, and it
is this fullness of Life, this life full of meaning and content, full of God,
that overcomes death, destroys its power. For death is, above all, a lack of
life, a destruction of life that has cut itself from its only source, the
Father. And because Christ's death is a movement of love towards God, an act of
obedience and trust, of faith and perfection -it is an act of life
(Father! Into Thy hands I commend my spirit -Luke 23:46) which
destroys death. It is the death of death itself.
Such is the meaning of Christ's descent into
Hades, of His death becoming His victory. And the light of this victory now
illumines our vigil before the Grave.
O Life, how canst Thou
die?
How canst Thou dwell in a
tomb?
Yet by Thy death Thou hast
destroyed the reign of death,
and raised all the dead from
hell. (1:2)
In a tomb they laid Thee, O
Christ the Life.
By Thy death Thou hast cast
down the might or death
and become the font of life for
all the world. (1:7)
0, how great the
joy,
how full the
gladness,
that Thou hast brought to
Hades' prisoners,