Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Tomorrow is the final weekend before we head into a most significant transition with a full head of steam. Next Saturday is the Saturday of Lazarus. The combined observance of the Raising of Lazarus and Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem is the pivot point from Great Lent into Holy Week. For the many of you who are experiencing these commemorations and liturgical celebrations for the first time, or are still new to them, I envy you. The wide-eyed and open-hearted spirit with which you will approach this season is an inspiration to us all. The Passion and Resurrection of Christ is in full display in all the dignity, reverence, awe, poetic expression, and respect They so completely deserve. You are in for the spiritual ride of your lives!
The services of Holy Week and Pascha are filled with the dogma, theology, teachings and truths of holy Orthodox Church. The Church from the beginning. The Church that was there. The Church that continues. The Church that is His precious Body.
To those of us who have been accustomed to these days, please, approach them with the childhood innocence of your youth. Each year is a new celebration, a new observance, a new reality. To be sure, these Holidays happen every year, but we mourn the crucified Christ and celebrate the Resurrected Christ every year as if it is happening now, for the first time. The language indicates the present, not simply referencing us to the past.
This coming week, there are no weekday evening services. You have been diligent these past five weeks in participating in the Great Compline Services, Presanctified Liturgies, and Salutations Services, as well as Saturday Evening Great Vespers. I encourage you to take this needed rest from an intensified liturgical schedule and gear up for an energized Holy Week experience. Come to as many services as possible. His Eminence Metropolitan Constantine will be with us for the first Bridegroom Service next Palm Sunday Evening. The Sacrament of Holy Oil will be administered twice on Holy Wednesday, and for sure, please, PLEASE, make sure that your children, from kindergarten through 12th Grade are with us for the Holy Friday Retreat. There is no reason for them not to be with us on that most sacred, solemn, sad, and auspicious day.
I have attached the Holy Week and Pascha Schedule, as well as having it included within the Weekly Bulletin. Please reference it and plan accordingly.
Lastly, please remember that we will, once again be breaking bread and breaking the fast together with our annual Anastasi Dinner following the Paschal Divine Liturgy in the early morning hours of April 20th. There are many things that will take place in the coming and immedate days. They are all to God’s glory. They are all to our spiritual benefit. Enjoy.
With Much Love in Christ,
Fr. Anthony Savas
Protopresbyter