“REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY” Exodus 20:8 SAYS GOD ALMIGHTY.

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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.

“REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY” [Exodus 20:8] says God Almighty.

“Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy. Six days
you shall labor and do all your work, but the SEVENTH DAY
IS THE SABBATH OF THE LORD YOUR GOD. IN IT YOU
SHALL DO NO WORK… THEREFORE, THE LORD BLESSED
THE SABBATH DAY AND HALLOWED IT” [Exodus 20:8-11].

The Fourth Commandment among these was dedicated to reminding God’s people to observe the Sabbath. It says, “Remember the Sabbath, the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the Seventh Day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. The Lord’s Day (Ημέρα Κυρίου η Κυριακή), the first day of the week, which Christians observe as a day of worship and rest. It is also A MEMORIAL OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.

Orthodox Christians observe the Lord’s Day by attending religious divine services, such as the Divine Liturgy, on Sunday mornings. They also write hymns and odes about the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. Orthodox Christians distinguish between the Sabbath (Saturday) and the Lord’s Day (Sunday 20:8). Both days play a special role for Orthodox faithful.

In the first centuries, Sunday became a day of religious services to honor the Resurrection of Christ. Early Christians believed that Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension renewed creation, making Sunday similar to the first day of creation. Many parishes and monasteries will serve the Divine Liturgy both Saturday morning and Sunday morning.

In the Fourth Commandment, our Lord commended the Hebrews to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” In some Protestant circles, this has caused quite a stir. Many of them insist Christians should only worship on the Sabbath (Saturday) and NOT on the Eighth Day (Sunday). Others assert that Christians no longer need to observe the Sabbath, claiming the Law no longer binds us.

The institution of the Sabbath occurred when the Lord delivered the Ten Commandments to the Hebrew people, who observed the Sabbath to remember the Lord’s resting on the seventh day after making heaven and earth (Exodus 20:8; Genesis 2:1-3). The Lord called the Hebrews to “remember to keep, and hallow or sanctify, the Sabbath by resting from almost every kind of work. He provided them this sacred time to CONTEMPLATE HIS AWESOME WORK IN CREATION AND THEIR MIRACULOUS DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT. This was one of the main ways “God ordained to reinforce the people’s covenant with Him [Exodus 31:12-17).

 
   In the earliest days of the Church, many Jewish Christians continued to observe Sabbath regulations and worship on the Sabbath (Acts 13:13-15, 42-44; 18:1-4).  However, they also gathered for the celebration of the Divine Eucharist on the  First Day of the Week – the Lord’s  Day (Κυριακή) [Revelation 1:30, or Sunday (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2).  The Didache, the earliest Christian document outside of the New Testament itself, commands us:  “On the Lord’s Day gather yourselves together and break bread and give thanks, first confessing your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.”  Saint Ignatius of Antioch confirms Sunday served as the main day of worship for the early Church:  “If then those who had walked in ancient practices attained unto newness of hope, no longer observing sabbaths but fashioning their lives after the Lord’s Day, on which our life also arose through Him and through His death…”
 
   There are 168 hours in one week.  Our Almighty God asks one day (24 hours) of the entire week to keep it for Him and for rest.  Is this too much to ask?  The Lord’s Day is Sunday: the Christian’s day of worship, of prayer, a day for learning God’s Word (Logos). and a day for Communion in the Divine Eucharist.  We pray, “O Thou Who has given us the grace at this time with one accord to offer these our supplications unto Thee, and has promised that when two or three are gathered together in Thy name Thou will grant their requests as may be more expedient for them, granting us in this world the knowledge of Thy truth, and in the world to come eternal life” [Third Prayer – Divine Liturgy].

Every Orthodox Christian must participate in the Divine worship of the Church. No one should be passive but all believers must fulfilled this holy obligation of Church life and involve communion with Almighty God and to willingly serve Him. Again we are reminded of the words of Christ who said, “if two or three are gathered together in His name, He is present in the midst of them.” According to our Faith the prayers of the Holy Angels and the Saints are united to the prayers of the faithful standing in Church. At the Divine Liturgy the officiating priest offers the following prayer: “O Master and Lord our God, Who has appointed in heaven orders and hosts of Angels and Archangels for the service of Thy glory; grant that with our entrance there may be an entrance of Holy Angels, serving with us and glorifying Thy Goodness.”

It is difficult to know how many of the faithful attending the Divine Liturgy actually actually know that not only is the Angelic host, the Theotokos and Saints are present but our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ is present. The priest inaudibly prays: “Look down, O Lord Jesus Christ our God from the Holy Dwelling Place, and from the Throne of Glory of Thy Kingdom, and come to sanctify us, Thou WHO SITTEST ON HIGH WITH THE FATHER, AND ARE HERE INVISIBLY PRESENT WITH US. And do Thou deign by Thy Mighty hand to give to us of Thy IMMACULATE BODY AND OF THY PRECIOUS BLOOD, AND THROUGH US TO ALL THE PEOPLE.”

What is more important for the genuine and true follower of Christ then to be at the Divine Liturgy on Sunday and to be in God’s presence? It is there and by Him that we are forgiven and healed and restored when we approach Him “WITH THE FEAR OF GOD, WITH FAITH AND WITH LOVE.” The lukewarm Christian is the one who finds all kinds of excuses to justify his/her absence from worship. Not only is it offensive to our Creator but we also deprive ourselves from receiving His grace and the forgiveness of our sins and transgressions. How very foolish are they who ignore and resist to obey God’s Commandments? The other question is, if the person who claims to be a Christian is not willing to dedicate one hour of his/her time a week to the Lord, why would he/she want to spend an eternity with Him?

In our Holy Orthodox Tradition we understand the Church as a “hospital” where the faithful come to receive spiritual healing from sins which have injured our souls and bodies and have inflicted us with spiritual illness that needs to be treated through the Mysteries (Sacraments) like confession and holy communion. The Physician of our souls and bodies is none other than our Savior Jesus Christ Whose love for the penitent is unconditional. It is very similar to how a physical ailment is treated in our local hospital, essentially, the Church is a special place where the believer finds spiritual care and healing. When one understands and believes what the Holy Orthodox Church teaches and enters it seeking healing and does it with humility, contrition, and faith, that person will be made well. One arrives in Church hurt, in agony and pain, full of sores and injuries, and leaves it completely restored and in good health physically and spiritually. No one believer ever leaves the Church as he or she enters it, empty handed, and untouched by the grace of God. Of course, the Church, indeed, serves as a hospital, and as in the case of an ordinary hospital in the Church we can meet doctors, nurses, recovering patients, sick people, and seriously infirmed people. Sometimes we can even find those who are dying. Saint John Chrysostomos writes: “The Church is a hospital, and not a courtroom, for souls. She does not condemn on behalf of sins, BUT GRANTS REMISSION OF SINS.”

We. Orthodox Christians, believe that the Holy Church takes a broken person’s life and restores it in all its dimensions, renews it, transforms it, and sanctifies it. It is wise for us to recall the Parable of the Good Samaritan [Luke 10:25-37]. Due to the man’s mistakes, wrong decisions, and even betrayal and deception from those he trusted he falls among thieves, that is, the devil and the hostile powers, and is left half dead. Our Lord Christ found the badly injured man practically unconscious. Symbolically, the Good Samaritan is Christ Himself, the wounded man is humanity set upon by demons, and the inn is the Church. The Parable says, “So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on OIL and WINE, the holy sacraments, and carried him to the “inn” (His Holy Church), to be fully healed through the care of the innkeeper (priest). Those Orthodox Christians who walk in the Church willingly are those who consider themselves as patients who need His healing touch. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” [Matthew 9:12), the sick being the sinners.   Therefore the Church’s mission is therapeutic in nature.

 
   Yes, my dear friends, all followers of Christ must keep the Lord’s Day holy.  The temptations are intensified on Sunday morning by the evil one to hinder and stop us from attending the Divine Liturgy but we must not yield to his wicked temptations.  Our commitment to our Merciful and All-Loving God must be strong and uncompromising.  It is necessary that we do  some soul searching, to do some introspection, and to truly examine our conscience and our life, past, present, and immediate future.  To check our priorities and make the necessary changes and adjustments.  None of us are without sin, without mistakes, and none of us even come close to perfection.  Our Lord says, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE.  FOR I DID NOT COME TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT SINNERS, TO REPENTANCE” [Matthew 9″13]. Jesus rejects the sacrifices of the temple, but that His PRIORITY IS MERCY–THE FORGIVING LOVE OF GOD IN ACTION [see Psalm 50[51]. Since all of us are sinners WE ALL NEED HIS MERCY AND FORGIVENESS.

Let us pray to the Lord

Kyrie eleison

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A PRAYER TO THE GUARDIAN ANGEL

Holy Angel, companion of my soul and my
whole life, do not abandon me nor depart
from me because of my weakness and sin.

Do not allow the wicked demon to overcome
me by the oppression of this mortal body.
Restrain and strengthen me and guide me in
the way of salvation.

O Holy Angel of God, guardian and protector
of my wretched soul and body, forgive me
everything in which I have grieved you all
the days of my life, and in which I have sinned
in the day just past,

Protect me during the coming night and keep
me from every influence of the enemy, that
I may not anger God in any sin. Intercede
for me to the Lord that He may strengthen me
in His fear and make me worthy to be a servant
of His Goodness. Amen.

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, O
Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on
us and save us. Amen.

___________
“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

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