Holy Week: The True Lamb of God


                           Holy Week

 

  We are on the verge of the Resurrection of Christ. Holy Week is an incomparable time. There are only a few steps left to take, a few days left to get through. The world is struggling against each of us, trying to separate us from God, to cause misunderstanding and resentment. It attempts to tie us down with sin, make us closed to God. This is why we should stay awake and fight for our hearts which can hold God and in which the Kingdom of Heaven could start.

  On the one hand, the Lord voluntarily accepts sufferings, which means His death. 
On the other hand, His steps towards Golgotha is a feast for us. We partake of Holy Communion, we take His love and thus we can live. 
The majority of people do not live today, but simply exist. They try to do their best to live in comfort, they build and collect something, they try to make their life more interesting and entertaining, to make it be more diverse. 
However, they just cannot admit that all these things are unreal, that everything will end sooner or later, and people will be separated from their loved ones. Everything falls to ruins in this world. 
This is why God’s steps, the steps of our Savior towards His Golgotha become both grief and joy for us at the same time. This grief contains real life. Our nature is completely different. People lament when they are upset. 
People judge and envy when there is something they do not like. All this happens because of our own foolishness. If we face certain sorrows, then it is our fault because we are corrupted by sin. 
This is why we cannot understand Christ even as a person. It is impossible to join His sorrow because Christ, the Son of Man, was free from sin. Nevertheless, His steps towards Golgotha let us live.

Holy Week is a great opportunity to feel the real life, which can be found only in God. We thank the Lord for this and ask Him for help to stand before Christ, listening to His word…


Fr. Andrew Lemeshonok
St. Elisabeth Convent



Comentarii

Trimiteți un comentariu

Postări populare de pe acest blog

The Gospel of John • Official Full HD Movie • English

Imagine
How Jesus Christ  Lived and Suffered for Us The basis of life is love: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself (Mk. 12:30-31). Because of our sinfulness, none of us is capable of loving God and our neighbors in such a complete and perfect manner. Only Jesus Christ truly loved everyone, even His enemies. His infinite love was evidenced in His every word and deed. Being the only-begotten Son of God and God Himself, Jesus Christ in His pity for us came down from Heaven and was incarnate, becoming in everything the same as us, except in sin. Being the Sovereign Heavenly King, before Whom all Angels and creatures tremble, He deigned to take on the image of an ordinary person, to restore our corrupted nature. While possessing all the treasures of the world, He agreed to be born in poverty, lying in a manger in a dark cave. Being the supreme Lawgiver, Jesus Christ during His ear
Citiți mai multe

The Divine Liturgy of the Greek Orthodox Church in English

Imagine
Lord Jesus Christ Son Of God Have Mercy On Me. a Sinner.   I was strolling through Moscow once on a Lenten evening. There were a lot of people in the churches. This warmed my heart. And although the forty times forty churches were largely lost under the Bolsheviks (even twenty times twenty sounds fantastic), thank God, there are many churches within the Garden Ring. And I repeat, these churches are not empty, and that’s putting it mildly. The smaller ones are even chock full. More and more people come to the churches. People of both sexes and all ages come. They whisper something of their own and repeat something learned by heart from a prayer book. They follow the service, bringing their requests, or, in general, repent of their sins. It’s their business—theirs and God’s. He hearkens to their whispers and thoughts, and He answers. If He didn’t answer they wouldn’t come. That’s something that just occurred to me. Indeed, no one beats us for prayer, and no one cheers us on. No o
Citiți mai multe

Beautiful Greek Orthodox Divine Liturgy - Monastery of Vatopedi/ ATHOS

Imagine
The Monastery of Vatopedi is located on the north-eastern part of the Athos peninsula. It was built in 972, founded by the monks Athanasios, Nicholas and Antonios, all three students of Saint Athanasios the Athonite. Today’s buildings were erected during the years of the emperor Manuel the first Komnenon. Vatopedi ranks second in the hierarchy of the monasteries. It is coenobitic (communal) and is inhabited by 80 monks (1999). To Vatopedi belongs the Greek skete of Saint Demetrios and the Russian skete of Saint Andrew (Serrai). The whole impression is that of a fortress as it features numerous wings, towers, etc. The katholikon was built in the tenth century, and is dedicated to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in accordance with the Athonite architecture. Samples of Byzantine mosaics remain, some of which were retouched in the 12th century and in 1312. Nineteen smaller chapels in addition to the katholikon lie within and outside the boundaries of the monastery. Five ar
Citiți mai multe