Augustine Sokolovski
The fifth Sunday of Great Lent has a double dedication. The main theme of the day is intended to prepare the faithful to perceive the meaning of the upcoming events of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem and Holy Week. This is the prophecy of the Lord about His upcoming suffering in Jerusalem, as well as the related answer given to James and John to the request to sit on the right and left sides of Him in the Coming Kingdom. During the liturgy, the text from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verses 32-45 is read.
Another dedication of this day is the memory of the Venerable Mary of Egypt. Over the centuries, this second dedication in honor of the saint seemed to displace the main and original. The main Gospel narrative receded into the background. For the Church, as the Assembly of Interpreters and the Community of Remembrance of the deeds and words of the Lord, it is important to be able to return to the original plan of the Lenten Sundays. Serving God is the ability not to forget His words, to create new meanings, and not to abandon the interpretations of the Holy Fathers (cf. Matt. 23:23).
According to the divine plan for the salvation of His people, the Messiah sent by Him had to enter Jerusalem to reign. Incidentally, it is this divine plan for the Kingdom that is constantly proclaimed by believers in the petition for the Kingdom of the prayer "Our Father". Realizing the approach of this glorious event, the Apostles remembered the good deeds performed by Jesus, saw His miracles, were witnesses to the faith of the people in Him. At the same time, the rejection of His words by those who were vested with authority became increasingly obvious. The Gospel reading finds the disciples perplexed by this obvious tragic contradiction between the love of the believing people and the hostility of the religious leaders. We look at them as if from the outside.
The Scripture says that when Jesus and his disciples went up to Jerusalem, they were afraid. Then the Lord called them and told them what was coming: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles, and mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again” (Mark 10:32-34). The words of the Lord are crystal clear. His messiahship will not be accepted. An event unheard of in biblical history will occur, when the chosen people themselves will hand over the Son of Man, that is, Their only Messiah, into the hands of the Gentiles, who will kill Him. The words about the resurrection “on the third day,” which are contained in the Scriptures, and it is not by chance that they are part of our Creed, mean that with the death of Jesus, when all human hope perishes, God Himself will intervene in the course of history, according to the biblical meaning of these words. The prophet Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights.” He was doomed to perish, but the Lord delivered him with an almighty hand (Jonah 2:1.11). “The Third Day” in the Bible is an absolute indication, which the Apostles, brought up on the Scriptures, could not help but know.
Apparently, it was precisely this mention of the resurrection on the third day, contrary to all expectations and the mournful meaning of Christ’s words, that filled James and John with confidence that by the almighty power of God, the Kingdom of the Messiah was nevertheless bound to come. Therefore, they asked for a seat on the right and on the left in glory. “But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink of the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ They answered, ‘We can.’ Jesus said to them, ‘You will drink of the cup that I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared’” (38–39).
This statement – “it is not mine to grant, it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared” – has always been the focus of commentators and theologians. One of the most mysterious and hidden statements in the entire New Testament, it will always retain its undisclosed veil. However, the liturgical structure of the Orthodox calendar allows us to see, to some extent, ways of explaining these words.
Easter is a theological source of meanings. The fifth Sunday of Great Lent is celebrated two weeks before Easter. This celebration has a twin holiday. Exactly two weeks after Easter, on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, all those who remained faithful to Christ to the end are remembered. These are the Myrrh-Bearing Women themselves, together with Mary, the Mother Jesus, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
Despite all human fear, they not only stayed with Jesus at the Cross, but also buried His Body, and then came to honor Him with incense at his burial place. Sitting on the right and left side is a great grace for those who remain faithful to Christ and do not renounce until the last moment. In the words of Christ about those “for whom it is prepared,” there is a warning that will be heard again and again during the reading of the Gospel texts of Holy Week: “All of you will deny Me this night, for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Matthew 26:31). Obviously, if such a sequence of times and memories was calculated by the Holy Fathers and the authors of liturgical charters, then one must be surprised at its thoughtfulness and precision of theological reflection. If it arose more or less spontaneously, then we must reverently acknowledge that the grace of the Holy Spirit itself determined the times and years in the service of God in Spirit and Truth to help the true believers (cf. John 4:23-24). Such are the Orthodox theology of calendar time. It turns out that understanding the texts of Scripture is achieved not only through the study and interpretation of Scripture, but thanks to the amazing liturgical symmetry that exists between the celebrations.
Another dedication of the Fifth Week of Great Lent is the memory of St. Mary of Egypt. St. Mary belonged to a special rank of ancient saints, who, for better understanding, in modern language, would be correctly called grazers.
Imitating John the Baptist, whose food, according to the Gospel, "was locusts and wild honey" (Matt. 3:4), they ate exclusively plants that were freely available. Or they ate nothing at all. They consistently avoided meeting people, and at the sight and, especially, approach of any person, they rushed to run. Holy grazers lived in the open air, like birds, sometimes even in trees. They literally perceived the meaning of Christ's words: "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Father in heaven feeds them" (Matthew 6:26).
In such a holistic desire to find the primordial paradise, the saints found the grace of election. In some inexplicable way of behavior, wild animals ceased to see them as people hostile to them, not only were they not afraid of them, but also began to help. The laws of space and time seemed to cease to operate.
The life of the Venerable Mary talks about this in precious detail. Mary of Egypt, and all those who remain faithful until the end of this age, will be granted a seat at the right hand of Christ, as He Himself, "the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness" (Rev. 3:14), sat at the right hand of the Father. On the paths of Great Lent, approaching Easter, St. Mary invisibly peregrinates with us and intercedes for us before God.