Augustine Sokolovski
The second day of Holy Week in the Orthodox Church is dedicated to several themes. These include the rescue of Moses from the waters by the Egyptian pharaoh's daughter; the collapse of all Job's earthly well-being; the Lord's words about the Second Coming and the end of the world; the parable of the ten virgins; and the Gospel account of the Last Judgment. These themes are addressed in the corresponding biblical and Gospel readings and, of course, in the texts of the liturgical services. Thus, the Church, as a wandering Society of believers in history, approaches the Lord's Passion.
Holy Week is not the suffering and compassion of believers, but the commemoration of the suffering of the Lord Jesus. This can give the impression that believers are reproducing the events of the Lord's Cross year after year, as if it were a kind of cycle, a kind of sacred cyclical time, the connection of which is supposed to be realized through worship. This is a false impression, and Orthodox Christians must be vigilant in order to suppress any such imagination in themselves and their communities. After all, the Passion of Christ took place once and for all in history. Christ, risen from the dead, no longer dies; "death no longer has dominion over him," writes the Apostle Paul (Rom 6:9).
Believers are required to enter his Passion in order to emerge into his Resurrection. This is quite complicated. For the world, and time itself, plunges everyone into carelessness. This is what the Gospel of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on Holy Tuesday says: "For as in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they did not know that the coming of the Son of Man would be like this until the flood came and took them all away." (Matthew 24:38-39)
No one will realize that something extraordinary is approaching. As in Mel Gibson's film "Apocalypto" (2006), the American Indians lived their lives, conversed, and resolved problems, unaware that the conquistadors were about to arrive, and their old way of life would collapse.
Holy Week services are celebrated not only to remember, but also to awaken. "For the hour has come for us to awaken from sleep," writes Paul to the Romans (Rom. 13:11).
This awakening occurs through the perception of the Work of Christ, which He accomplished "for us men and for our salvation," as the Creed says. The sacramental power of this Work of God is great. It gives the opportunity, even without being contemporaries of the Lord, to become participants in His suffering for the resurrection of mankind. This is done through meditation, reading, prayer, and silence.
The time of Holy Week is rich in divine services. All have been modified to commemorate the Work of our Redemption, with the exception of the Midnight Service, which already contains the hymn "Behold, the Bridegroom Cometh at Midnight" and other semantics dedicated to the Second Coming of the Lord.
The purpose of this entire sacred period is to come as close as possible, in these extremely brief moments, to what the Lord Jesus did for people. Holy Week is often rainy or cold, so that it seems as if nature itself weeps with Jesus. This does not happen because, as pagans believe, something calendar-based, cyclical, or natural happens automatically in the world, but because of the incomprehensible rules of the divine administration of creation, which He executes by His Hand.
"The hands of God," as Church Father Irenaeus of Lyon wrote, "are the Son of God and the Holy Spirit." During the painful period of Holy Week, one of God's hands is severed by human ill will, and so it is not surprising that nature weeps.
God Himself creates and distributes the times. The sun may well shine during this period. But this sun is blind. "The sun of the dead," as Ivan Shmelev wrote. But only for religious people. And for those who do not believe, there are no signs, no miracles, only silence and hopeless loneliness. "Nausea" is what Jean-Paul Sartre called it all. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is the title Milan Kundera gave to his literary masterpiece.
And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
“Between us and you there is a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us” (Luke 16:26). The days of Holy Week are a reason to thank God for being present in the Church, even if the number of believers attending weekday services is small. Indeed, the number of people living in a modern neighborhood probably exceeds the flock that was found in the entire diocese of Saint Nicholas in the fourth century. The immense number of people in every modern city and in all towns is like the image of that “house” that “Jack built” in Lars von Trier’s film. Faith has grown so little, the Lord’s followers are so few, and few realize what may soon happen.
The Lord will not delay and will return soon. Christians must live according to these words and this reality, which are confessed in the Creed and indicated in Sacred Scripture. The Second Coming of Christ for Orthodox believers is not a day of fear, but a day of joy. "The creation waits for redemption," writes Paul (Rom. 8:22). Meeting the Lord at the Second Coming means the return of loved ones who have passed away, being forever with those we hold dear, health for the hopelessly sick, and being with Christ. For He is everything to those who believe. "In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9).
During Holy Week, the Church prays especially with Christ. Christ is God-man. The humanity of Christ is authentic. Jesus Christ died, but He was also resurrected. He is also at the right hand of God. "He also intercedes for us," says Paul (Rom. 8:34). These words are an important element of the dogma of the Resurrection. They evoke an immutable reality. God the Father hears Christ's intercession for the Church and has pity on believers.
This mercy, which believers feel throughout their lives, is particularly evident during Holy Week. It is visible in the special light of the candles in the church, in the mysticism of the light and fire of the divine services, in the meteorological phenomena that obscure the sun and moon, in the sadness and gratitude for the Son of God and his earthly destiny. This story of wandering to Golgotha appears to people of good will these days. There are only a few days left until Easter. Like every gift, Christ's Passover asks to be awaited in silence, dignity, and obedience to God, to his commandments, and to his voice during the remaining days, these trembling days of Holy Week.