The services of Holy Week transform us into eyewitnesses and direct participants in the events of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In readings from both Old and New Testaments, in hymns, processions, and liturgical commemoration, we see the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies, and the mighty acts by which Christ destroys death and grants us His great mercy.

Lazarus Saturday

9:00 a.m. Baptisms and Divine Liturgy. On this day we commemorate the Lord’s raising his friend Lazarus from his four days in the tomb. History tells us Lazarus went on to become the first bishop of Cyprus. At the Liturgy, catechumens Laci Cole and the Poirot family will be received into the Church. We will have a potluck meal afterward to welcome them. Oil and wine are appointed for this day.

5:00 p.m. Great Vespers for Palm Sunday. With this service we enter with the Lord into Jerusalem and the Holy Week of His Passion.

Today and tomorrow we sing:

By raising Lazarus from the dead before Your passion, You confirmed the universal resurrection, O Christ God. Like the children with the palms of victory, we cry out to You, O vanquisher of death: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!

Palm Sunday

8:00 a.m. Matins. Unlike other Sundays, today we do not celebrate the Matins of the Resurrection; instead we follow the order of Festal Matins, and all the hymns of the service teach us the significance of Christ’s triumphal entry and welcome by the joyful people of Jerusalem — who will soon turn on Him and call for His death. During Matins, the priest blesses palm leaves and branches, which the faithful will hold through the Divine Liturgy.

9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy. At the end of the Liturgy is a joyful procession around the church, carrying palm leaves and branches. Fish, wine and oil are appointed for this feast.

Holy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

6:30 a.m. Bridegroom Matins. On the first three days of Holy Week we sing the sober, compunctionate service of Bridegroom Matins. The service takes its name from this Matins hymn of Holy Week:

Behold, the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night; and blessed is that 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 on us!

6:00 p.m. Presanctified Liturgy. As during Great Lent, the Church gives us the Body and Blood of Christ to strengthen us for the struggle. On these days, we receive the Gifts that were consecrated during the Divine Liturgy on Palm Sunday.

Holy Thursday

6:30 a.m. Vesperal Liturgy of Saint Basil. From this point on in Holy Week, services will be anticipated — so the Vesperal Liturgy, properly the Thursday evening service, is served on Thursday morning. The hymns of this service recall Judas’ betrayal and the Last Supper; we will sing repeatedly the hymn that says:

At Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, receive me today as a communicant. For I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies, neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss, but like the thief will I confess Thee. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!

6:00 p.m. Matins. The Matins of Holy Friday is served on Thursday evening. We begin with foot-washing. In commemoration of the Lord’s washing His disciples’ feet before their Last Supper together, the priest washes the feet of a dozen men. When Christ did this, He commanded His disciples to remember what He had done — laying aside His dignity to serve them in humility. Tonight’s literal foot-washing teaches us to disregard our status and reputation, and humble ourselves to serve one another.

Before the Matins service begins, we will share a soup supper together. We share the meal in silence, meditating on the Lord’s Last Supper with His disciples, and preparing for the service to come.

Holy Friday Matins is often called the service of the Passion Gospels. During this lengthy service, the priests will read all the events of the Lord’s betrayal, suffering and death, from all the Gospels: A total of twelve readings. During this service, the Cross is placed in the center of the church, and the icon of Christ is affixed to the Cross with nails. In this service we watch together with the disciples and the Mother of the Lord during the hours Christ was on the Cross for us.

Great and Holy Friday

On this day there is no celebration of the Liturgy. In the strictest tradition, nothing is eaten today, as the Lord said: “The days shall come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then they shall fast.”

9:00 a.m. Royal Hours. Monasteries observe set prayers at certain hours of the day: The first, third, sixth and ninth hours (about 6am, 9am, noon, and 3pm.) On great feasts, traditionally the Byzantine emperor was present for all these services, hence the name Royal Hours. We serve all four Royal Hours together on Friday morning.

3:00 p.m. Vespers. Because of the Sabbath, the Jews demanded that the body of Christ be taken down before sunset on Friday. During Vespers, the icon of Christ is taken down from the cross, wrapped in white cloth, and carried to the Holy Table. Then the image of Christ’s body called the epitaphios is brought out in procession, placed in the center of the church, and venerated by the faithful.

This hymn is sung on Friday evening:

The noble Joseph, when he had taken down Your most pure body from the Tree, wrapped it in fine linen and anointed it with spices, and laid it in a new tomb. But You rose on the third day, O Lord, granting the world great mercy.

6:30 p.m. Matins. Matins for Holy Saturday is served on Friday evening. During this service we sing the Lamentations: a lengthy hymn based on Psalm 118, in which we mourn with the disciples and the Mother of the Lord, commemorate Christ’s emptying Hades and leading all the departed out of bondage, and begin already to look ahead to the Mystery of the Resurrection.

When an Orthodox Christian dies, his body is washed and brought into the church, and the faithful read the Psalms over his body until the memorial service begins. In the same way, at the end of Matins, the Psalter is read continuously in the church as we watch with the body of the Lord until the Vesperal Liturgy on Saturday.

Holy Saturday

Today the Church contemplates the mystery of Christ’s descent into Hades, where the departed were held captive. Death, our ultimate enemy, is defeated from within. From the priest’s prayers in the Liturgy of St. Basil: “[Christ] gave Himself as a ransom to death in which we were held captive, sold under sin. Descending into Hades through the Cross … He loosed the bonds of death.” This day, between Christ’s Passion and Resurrection, embodies what the Greeks call harmolipi, joyful-sadness. The hymns of Holy Saturday teach us that the Jewish law is a shadow which Christ fulfills in Himself, and they remind us of the deep mystery of the incarnation of God in the flesh:

Moses the great mystically prefigured this present day, saying: “And 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 rested from all His works. Suffering death in accordance with the plan of salvation, He kept the Sabbath in the flesh; and returning once again to what he was, through His resurrection He has granted us eternal life, for He alone is good and loves mankind.

You were in the tomb bodily and in hades with Your soul, as God; You were in paradise with the thief and on the throne with the Father and the Spirit, O Christ, O Infinite One Who fill all things.

An ancient piece of popular Christian literature, the “Harrowing of Hell” is a second-century meditation on Christ’s freeing the captives of hades.

5:00 p.m. Vesperal Liturgy of Saint Basil. We read prophecies of Christ’s triumph and sing the Song of Azariah and the Song of Miriam.

After the end of this Liturgy, instead of the Psalter, the reading is from the Acts of the Apostles. The next time we come together, it will be to celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord.

PASCHA

4:00 a.m. The Midnight Office. During the singing of the Canon, the epitaphios is brought into the Altar. It will remain on the Holy Table until the Feast of Christ’s Ascension, forty days from now. At the conclusion of this service, every light is extinguished. We wait in darkness and silence for the light of the resurrection.

Matins. “Come receive the Light…” The new Paschal light is brought out of the altar, and the faithful light their candles from it. The bells peal in triumph and we proceed around the church singing:

Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Savior, the angels in heaven sing. Enable us on earth to glorify You with purity of heart!

At the entrance of the church the priest announces the Resurrecton and for the first time we sing:

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

When we enter the church it is filled with light and we begin to celebrate the Feast of Feasts. We will repeat many times:

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!
Hristos anesti! Alithos anesti!
Hristos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese!

The Divine Liturgy. At the conclusion of the Liturgy we bring baskets of dairy foods, eggs, meat, and everything from which we have been fasting. The priest blesses it all and we bring the blessed delicacies along to share at the festal meal.

Feast at Center at the Park. (Map)

5:00 p.m. Agape Vespers. From St. John’s Gospel, we read the first part of the account of Christ’s appearing to the Apostles: Up to the point where Thomas doubts and says, “Unless I see and touch the marks of the nails, I will not believe!” This is read in as many languages as we have readers.

Coming up after Pascha:

Bright Monday

2:00 p.m. Picnic at Father Daniel’s home.

Bright Tuesday

6:00 p.m. Great Vespers for the Annunciation.

7:00 p.m. Youth Group meets.

Mar. 25/April 7: Feast of the Annunciation

6:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy. An ancient Syriac calendar once called the Annunciation “the beginning and source of all other feasts.”

Today is revealed the mystery that is from all eternity. The Son of God becomes the Son of man, so that by sharing in what is worse, He may make me share in what is better. In times of old Adam was once deceived: he sought to become God, but did not receive his desire. Now God becomes man, that He may make Adam divine. Let creation rejoice, let nature exult, for the Archangel stands in fear before the Virgin and, saying to her “Rejoice,” he brings the joyful greeting whereby our sorrow is made sweet. O our God who in Your merciful compassion were made man, glory to You!

Bright Saturday

9:00 a.m. Baptism and Divine Liturgy. We’ll receive baby Chloe Moyer into the Church.

5:00 p.m. Great Vespers.

Thomas Sunday

8:00 a.m. Matins.

9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy.