My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
Holy and Great Week in the Orthodox Christian
Holy Tradition.
Palm Sunday Hymns
(Stichera. Tone Six)
Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us together,
and we all take up Thy Cross and say: Blessed is He that
comes in hte Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
Today the Logos/Word and Coeternal Son of God the Father, whose
throne is the heaven and whose footstool is the earth, humbles
Himself and comes to Bethany, seated on a dumb beast, on a foal.
Then the children of the Hebrews, holding branches in their hands,
praise Him saying: ‘Hosanna in the highest: blessed is He that
comes, the King of Israel’.
Prefiguring for us Thy Holy Resurrection, Loving Lord, by Thy
command Thou has raised up from death Lazarus Thy friend, who
was without the breath of life; and after four days is the tomb he
had begun to stink. Then, O Savior, mounted on a foal, and as
though riding in a chariot, Thou hast given a sign unto the Gentiles.
Therefore also Israel Thy beloved offers Thee praise out of the
mouth of innocent babes and sucklings, as they behold Thee,
Christ, enter the Holy City six days before the Passover.
HOLY AND GREAT MONDAY
Troparion Hymn. Tone Eight
Behold the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night; and
blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching, but un-
worthy 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 shyt out from the Kingdom. But return to soberness
and cry aloud: Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, O God: through the
Theotokos have mercy upon us.
[Sessional hymn]. Tone One
Today the Holy Passion shines forth upon the world with the
Light of Salvation; for Christ in His love hastens to His sufferings,
He Who holds all things in the hollow of His hands consents to be
hung upon the Tree, that He may save mankind.
HOLY AND GREAT TUESDAY
Aposticha:
Come, ye faithful, and let us serve the Master eagerly, for He
gives riches to His servants. Each of us according to the measure
that we have received, let us increase the talent of grace. Le one
gain wisdom through good deeds; let another celebrate the Liturgy
with beauty; let another share his faith by preaching to the
uninstructed; let another give his wealth to the poor. So shall we
increase what is entrusted to us, and as faithful stewards of His grace
we shall be counted worthy of the Master’s joy. Bestow this joy upon
us, Christ our God, in Thy love for mankind.
When Thou shalt come, O Jesus, in glory with the Angelic Hosts
and shalt sit upon the throne of Judgment, do not send me from
Thy presence, O Good Shepherd. Thou dost accept those who stand
upon the right, but those upon the left have turned away from Thee.
Destroy me not with the goats, though I am hardened in sin, but
number me with the sheep on Thy right hand, and save me in Thy love
for mankind.
HOLY AND GREAT WEDNESDAY
Tone Eight
(by Kassiani the Nun)
The woman who had fallen into many sins, perceiving Thy
Divinity, O Lord, fulfilled the part of a myrrh-bearer, and with
lamentations she brought sweet-smelling oil of myrrh to Thee
before Thy burial. ‘Woe is me’, she said, ‘for night surrounds
me, dark and moonless, and stings my lustful passion with
the love of my sin. Accept the fountain of my tears, O Thou Who
drawest down from the clouds the waters of the sea. Incline to
the groanings of my heart, O Thou Who in Thine ineffable self-
emptying hast bowed down the heavens. I shall kiss Thy most
pure feet and wipe them with the hairs of my head, those feet
whose sound Eve heard at dust in Paradise, and hid herself for
fear. Who can search out the multitude of my sin and the abyss
of Thy judgments, O Savior of my soul? Despite me not, Thine
handmaiden, for Thou hast mercy without measure.
HOLY AND GREAT THURSDAY
The glorious disciples were illumined at the Supper during the
washing of the feet, but ungodly Judas was darkened by the
disease of avarice, and he delivered Thee, the Righteous Judge,
to lawless judges. See, O lover of money, how for money’s sake
he hanged himself. Flee from the greed which made him dare to
do such things against his Master. O Lord, Who are good
towards all men, glory to Thee.
Aposticha. Tone Eight
Today the evil Sanhedrin has assembled against Christ and devised
vain things against Him, plotting to deliver Him, though innocent,
to Pilate to be put to death. Today Judas places his neck the noose
of money, and deprives himself of life both temporal and divine.
Today Caiaphas prophesies against his will, saying" ‘It is expedient
that one man should perish for the people.’ He came to suffer for our
sins, that He might set us free from the boandage of the enemy: for He
is good and loves mankind.
Troparion. Tone Six
At Thy Mystical Supper, Son of God, today receive me as a communicant:
for I will not speak of the mystery to Thine enemies; I will not give Thee a
kiss like Judas; but as the thief I confess Thee: Remember me, Lord, when
Thou comest in Thy Kingdom.
‘Let Jesus Christ be crucified’, cried the Hebrew people together with the
priests and Scribes. O faithless people! What evil has He done, He Who raised
up Lazarus from the tomb and wondrously has brought to pass the salvation
of all?
The lawless people cried aloud before the judgment seat of Pilate:
"Crucify Him, and set free for us Barabas the murderer who lies
bound. Scourge Christ and take, O take Him and crucify Him with the
evildoers.
THEOTOKION
Ewe that bore the Lamb, Thy Mother stood, O Master, by the Cross
and wept for Thee, O Creator of all Things, as she looked upon Thy
great longsuffering. For by Thine own will Thou was born incarnate,
and hast suffered in the flesh all Thy Passion that Thou mightiest
save the world.
[To be continued]
_________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 