The Catalog of Good Deeds

Holy Monday

Behold, the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night, and blessed is that servant whom He shall find watching, but unworthy 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 shut 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.

Troparion

About the Icon:

Jesus and the Five Wise Virgins stand on the roof of the house that they have entered for the wedding party. These five women had extra oil to keep their lamps burning until the Bridegroom, Christ, arrived.

The Five Foolish Virgins standing outside the house had no extra oil and their lamps went out just as the groom was arriving.

The extra oil is actually the good things that we do and the valuable company that we keep; this is the oil that makes sure that our lamp, our faith, is always lit, as we wait for our Bridegroom.

Holy Monday Evening. The Service of the Bridegroom

Introduction to Holy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

The first part of Holy Week presents us with an array of themes based chiefly on the last days of Jesus' earthly life. "The story of the Passion, as told and recorded by the Evangelists, is preceded by a series of incidents located in Jerusalem and a collection of parables, sayings and discourses centered on Jesus' divine sonship, the Kingdom of God, the Parousia [Second Coming], and Jesus' castigation of the hypocrisy and dark motives of the religious leaders."

The Orthros [Matins] Service of Holy Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday is called the Service of the Bridegroom, and gets its name from the central figure in the well-known parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:113). The title Bridegroom suggests the intimacy of love. It is not without significance that the Kingdom of God is compared to a bridal feast and a bridal chamber. The Christ of the Passion is the Divine Bridegroom of the Church. The imagery connotes the final union of the Lover and the beloved. The title, Bridegroom, also suggest the Parousia.

Each day of Holy Week has its own particular theme. The theme of Monday (celebrated in anticipation on Palm Sunday evening) is that of the barren fig tree (Matthew 21: 18-20) which yields no fruit and is condemned. On Tuesday (celebrated Monday evening) the theme is on the vigilance of the wise virgins (Matthew 25: 1-13) who, unlike their foolish sisters, were ready when the Lord came to them. On Wednesday (celebrated Tuesday evening) the focus is on the sinful woman (Matthew 26: 6-13) who repents. Great emphasis is made in the liturgical services to compare the woman, a sinful harlot who is saved, to Judas, a chosen apostle who is lost. The one gives her wealth to Christ and kisses his feet; the other betrays Christ for money with a kiss.

Some suggested activities for families:

Make a point to attend services with your children. Make time to read the "theme" gospel lessons before coming to services, since they are not part of the Gospel reading, but only referred to during the service. Speak with your children about Christ's Second Coming, ie., that "He will come again" as we recite in the Nicene Creed. Jesus reminds us during the first three days of Holy Week, as was done on many occasions during Lent, that we must be watchful and repent while there is still time.

Holy Tuesday (Celebrated on Holy Monday Evening)

Behold, my soul, the Master entrust thee with a talent. Receive His gift with fear; make it gain interest for Him; distribut to the needy, and make the Lord thy friend. So shalt thou stand on His right hand when He comes in glory, and thou shalt hear His blessed words: “Enter, servant, into the joy of thy Lord.” I have gone astray, O Savior, but in Thy great mercy count me worthy of this joy.

Aposticha

On Great Tuesday the Church calls to remembrance two parables, which are related to the Second Coming. One is the parable of the Ten Virgins (Mt 25.1-3); the other is the parable of the Talents (Mt 25.14-30). These parables point to the inevitability of the Parousia [Second Coming] and deal with such subjects as spiritual vigilance, stewardship, accountability and judgment.

From these parables we learn at least two basic things. First, Judgment Day will be like the situation in which the bridesmaids (or virgins) of the parable found themselves: some ready for it, some not ready. The time one decides for God is now and not at some undefined point in the future.

The tragedy of the closed door is that individuals close it, not God. The exclusion from the marriage feast, the kingdom is of our own making. Second, we are reminded that watchfulness and readiness do not mean a wearisome, spiritless performance of formal and empty obligations. Most certainly it does not mean inactivity and slothfulness. Watchfulness signifies inner stability, soberness, tranquility and joy. Watchfulness is the deep personal resolve to find and do the will of God, embrace every commandment and every virtue, and guard the intellect and heart from evil thoughts and actions. Watchfulness is the intense love of God.

By Fr. Peter Orfanakos

Source: http://orthochristian.com/69890.html

Archpriest Andrew Lemeshonok, the spiritual father of St. Elisabeth Convent, answers various questions of the parishioners.

How would you describe the joy that a priest feels when the person who comes for confession repents genuinely?

When a person opens his heart for God, grace of the Holy Spirit who cleanses the person’s soul of sin enters that person’s heart. This grace touches the priest who is a witness and a participant of this Sacrament, too. The joy that the priest feels resembles the joy after communion.

The Sacrament happens and people are visibly transformed, even their appearance changes. Their eyes start to radiate light. It can’t leave the priest indifferent.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is not merely a discourse, an argument, or a counselling session, where a priest gives advice — no matter how good and wise that advice might be. This Sacrament is an act of God.

Why is it that every year the Great Lent feels different?

God always has everything new. He never repeats or copies himself. The cycle of divine services helps one’s soul to see God in a new light. You can never get accustomed to it.

That is why when we participate in a holiday, when we go through a certain ecclesiastical season, like the Lent, we change and our perception of God and understanding of his grace also changes. We discover new depths of prayer and chants — the innermost beauty that a Lenten service possesses. Perhaps, we will never fully comprehend this beauty but we do improve and grow spiritually. Some of the words that we have heard many times now acquire a new meaning. This is a source of great happiness when we explore the majesty of Orthodox worship and God’s love towards us sinners.

The Psalter is read many times during the Great Lent. There are a lot of Psalms that call for God’s wrath upon sinners. How should we interpret that?

It doesn’t show personal relationships, where people must forgive and love. It illustrates spiritual relationships where a sin is always evil. You have to struggle against evil.

The Old Testament gives us prototypes and indicates what we have to be aware of in order to understand what people before Christ were like and what kind of life and mentality they had. Their mentality was entirely different. That was why David could not preach love like Jesus did. Christ came to the earth when people had already been prepared by the Old Testament to accept God and his love. The Old Testament way of dealing with other people is eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The dreadful moments of bloodshed, curses, and brutal retaliation must not be viewed literally from the height of our contemporary morals. Look at it with the eyes of Old Testament people.

At the same time, we see in the Psalter the magnificent poetry of the Spirit. Enemies are a personification of the devil. They are the sin that we have to combat and to dash it against the rocks. Christ is our Rock. You must not negotiate and try to find compromise with sin. You must cut it off resolutely. Christ said that He had brought us a sword. The Gospel also says, If thy hand offend thee, cut it off (Mark 9:43). Sounds cruel, doesn’t it?

Your personal enemies and your relationships where you have to humble yourself down are one thing. The enemies of the Church or the Homeland who conspire to conquer your land and destroy its holy places are a different thing. You have the blessing to defend your Church and country. You mustn’t just sit around watching your enemies destroy and slaughter.

That is why we must not take everything literally. We should try to interpret the God-inspired words of Psalms as a battle cry calling us to fight the sin and the devil who does whatever he can to separate man from God completely.

March 28, 2018

St. Elisabeth Convent

By Archimandrite Nektarios (Mohov)

“A strict fast – well, it is just impossible for a modern person. Having such a stressful daily routine, people are not allowed to eat meat, fish or milk… Even oil is prohibited on some days! The Orthodox who keep the fast deserve a monument to their feat!” I often hear such words from different people. At such moments, I recall how my own family kept the fast and how my children lived it through.

Matushka and I have a large family; we have 8 children. Their childhood fell on the 90s: it seems now that to nourish a family with a lenten food at that time was not as easy as it is today. In fact, I remember a completely different situation in our family.

Archimandrite Nektarios (Mohov)

When I came back from the church, our happy children ran towards me. They hugged me and announced solemnly that today their mother has cooked… the coconuts! An appetizing smell of food was in the air, which proclaimed that Matushka had cooked a delicious dinner for us. My wife always invented various dishes made from usual products and gave them interesting names. So, we referred to fried potatoes as “coconuts”. Matushka took potatoes, made several notches on them and filled them with spices. Those coconuts tasted just like potato chips. That dish was the favorite one in our family.

Once our friends came to us, we sat at the dinner table and then our children began to ask for coconuts. Of course, our guests were surprised, so we explained them what food it was and treated them, too. Since than our friends always asked us to cook that dish.

There was another episode, when our kids stayed with their friends and were offered ice cream there. The youngest son asked, “How soon will Great Lent end?” They told him that it would end in a week. Then he announced with a serious look that he was not going to “besmear his conscience” when it was just a week before Pascha!

For our children Great Lent was a 49-day-long period of joy. Why? I think it depends on the environment children are growing in and the way this or that important idea is presented to them. We all were children years ago. If a child is brought up in the atmosphere of love and faith, then any fast will not be something difficult for them. Perhaps, the relationships within our family, the love and faith that I and Matushka, when she was still with us, tried to cultivate, had a beneficial effect on our children’s future. They all go to church today, they all begin to serve God just like their parents.

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Source: https://foma.ru/zhuy-kokosyi-pochemu-moi-deti-tak-polyubili-post.html

Eighteen weeks, or more than one third of the annual cycle, is the ecclesiastical liturgical cycle that revolves around the celebration of the Resurrection.

This is from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee until the Sunday of All Saints. It is a liturgical journey rich in religious and spiritual experiences.

It is a sweet joyful-sorrow. Grief according to God which leads through the Cross to the Resurrection.

And, as in all the liturgical traditions of our Holy Church, so also with this festal cycle, the wisdom of our Holy Fathers who set it in order is revealed.

Not to follow the formalism provisions but to get to the depth of the essence, which is none other than the eternal plan of the divine economy.

In this direction, this text summarizes the events of Holy and Great Week as a noetic and spiritual ladder, which leads the faithful to venerate the revered Passion and glorious Resurrection of the Savior.

The Saturday of Lazarus can be considered the prologue - the first step - and the resurrection of Lazarus the friend of Christ shortly before the Passion of the Lord prefigures His own glorious Resurrection.

Jesus, who wept as He went to the tomb, where His friend was buried, says to the one who was four days dead and commands with the familiar words: "Lazarus, come forth!"

At that moment and with those words of His, who Himself is the Resurrection and the Life, Lazarus immediately resurrected. He who breathed the breath of life into Adam has life in Himself.

This is how His own Resurrection from the dead is theologically interpreted after His descent into Hades, and it ensures our own expectation of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come.

With the expectation of the Resurrection, therefore, we enter Holy and Great Week, that we may journey together and be crucified together, as well as be resurrected together, and finally be united with our Lord.

On Palm Sunday we celebrate the bright and glorious festival of the entrance of the Lord into the Holy City of Jerusalem.

He comes exactly as it was prophesied by Zechariah in the Old Testament: "Behold, your king is coming to you; he is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

Meekly He sits on the donkey, just and endowed with salvation, to suffer the perfect injustice and extreme humiliation, by His Passion, and especially the Cross, to grant salvation to fallen humanity.

He fulfills the plan of Divine Providence and reopens the door of Paradise as a compassionate Father, who never ceases to love His children.

On Holy and Great Monday the Church remembers blessed Joseph the All-Comely. He was the son of Jacob, whom his brothers wanted to kill and repeat the horrible fratricide of Cain because of their envy.

He suffered horrible bullying by his own brothers. God, however, protected him from death, and so was sold to traders and led as a captive to Egypt, where Potiphar purchased him, and after he refused to sin with his master's wife, he was unjustly slandered and imprisoned.

Still even there, the grace of God acted on his behalf, and not only was he liberated, but he became the closest confidant and collaborator of Pharaoh.

In the sufferings of the all-comely Joseph and in his love, by which he forgave his brothers, the Church saw the Passion of the Lord and His perfect love prefigured, which is why it has been set to honor his memory on Holy and Great Monday.

On the same day we also remember the event of the withered fig tree, which reveals the holy will of God that we are to struggle, and multiply our talents entrusted to us and increase our inheritance of grace, that we may bear spiritual fruit.

Otherwise, as our Lord said at the Sermon on the Mount, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit, is cut down and thrown into the fire." This is what happened with the withered fig tree.

On Holy and Great Tuesday we remember the Parable of the Ten Virgins. With this parable we are called to cultivate watchfulness, alertness, as we do not know the day or hour when we will be called to the heavenly marriage of the Bridegroom Christ, and risk not having oil in our lamps.

Let our hands not be empty, because we have no mercy and love, because we are perhaps unmerciful and hard-hearted before the needs of our neighbors.

On Holy and Great Wednesday we remember the harlot woman, who anointed the Lord with myrrh prior to His salvific Passion. One act and one person who will probably even scandalize us!

How dare such a woman approach Jesus! Yet our Lord loves all His children. He does not exclude any of His children from salvation and teaches us not to judge, so that we will not be judged.

And, indeed, this harlot woman was saved by repentance, just as the thief who was crucified with the Lord, and like Zacchaeus along with countless other examples in the history of the Church.

So also are we invited if we are sunk in our sins and in despair over our actions, and we are encouraged by the all-loving mercy of God to offer Him our broken and contrite hearts, to be healed and to have a clean heart created within us.

On Holy and Great Thursday the Church celebrates the washing of the disciples feet in the sacred Basin, the Secret Supper, the supernatural prayer and the betrayal.

It is a practical teaching of extreme humility, the tradition of the Mystery of the Divine Eucharist, the amazing High Priestly Prayer of Gethsemene, as well as the false betrayal of Judas by a kiss.

Jesus desired to eat with His disciples, and even prepares the details of the supper, and He welcomes them as a servant, washing their feet on His knees, and serving them at the table.

There He delivers the mystery of mysteries and seals the New Testament with His Blood.

He also gives Judas an opportunity at repentance by foretelling who it would be that would betray Him, but the lawless Judas was unwilling to change his mind.

On Holy and Great Friday we commemorate the salvific and horrible Passion, especially the Cross and Death of the Lord, as well as the salvific confession of the grateful thief on the cross.

He was crucified for us and He suffered and was buried and became obedient even unto death, death by a cross.

On Holy and Great Saturday all flesh is silent, as we celebrate the entombment of the Body of God and the Savior's descent into Hades. But already the tomb cannot contain the Lord of Glory. And we have a foretaste of the joy of the Resurrection. At the Vespers of the Resurrection, which is chanted on the morning of Holy and Great Saturday, we proclaim once again while spreading out bay leaves: "Arise O Lord and judge the earth, for to You belong all the nations."

Through this journey and ladder and our conscious participation in the wonderful life of worship in the Church this year is completed, just as in every year, Holy and Great Week and the spiritual struggle of the faithful.

Since, then, we will hopefully arrive at Pascha Sunday, may we be made worthy of Divine Grace to venerate once again this year, the glorious and life-bearing Resurrection.

By Fr. George Economou

Translated by John Sanidopoulos

Source: http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2016/04/the-spiritual-ladder-of-holy-week.html

Lazarus was a close friend of Christ, from Bethany, about three kilometers east of Jerusalem. He lived there with his sisters Mary and Martha, and they often gave hospitality to Jesus (Luke 10:38-40; John 12:1-3).

John the Evangelist informs us (John 11) how one day Jesus was notified of the death of Lazarus. Four days later He arrived in Bethany, not only to bring comfort to Lazarus' grieving sisters, but to show the power of God and perform His greatest miracle by raising him from the dead, in anticipation of His own resurrection.

The resurrection of Lazarus brought short-lived great admiration and fame to Jesus, as evidenced by his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, but it also provoked great anger among the teachers of the Law. Now they wanted both Jesus and Lazarus dead. Lazarus escaped, but Jesus did not. But what happened to Lazarus?

According to St. Epiphanios of Cyprus (367-403), Lazarus was thirty years old when he rose from the dead, and then went on to live another 30 years following his resurrection. Another tradition says that Lazarus fled the anger of the Jews and took refuge at Kition in Cyprus around 33 A.D.

While in Cyprus, Lazarus met the apostles Paul and Barnabas, as they were traveling from Salamis to Paphos, and they ordained him the first Bishop of Kition. He shepherded the Church of Kition with great care and love for eighteen years until the end of his life.

There are traditions which say he was sullen and never smiled after his resurrection, and this was due to what he saw while his soul was in Hades for four days. Some say he never once laughed, except one time when he saw a man steal a clay vessel, and he uttered the following saying: "One earth steals another".

Other Traditions About Lazarus

Another tradition connects him with Aliki in Larnaca (today's Kition). In Aliki at that time was a large vineyard. As the Saint was walking by he saw an old woman filling her basket with grapes. Tired and thirsty, the Saint asked the old woman for a few grapes. However, she looked at him with disdain and said:

"Go to hell, man. Can you not see that the vine is dried up like salt, and you are asking me for grapes?"

"If you see it dried up like salt, then let it become salt," responded Lazarus.

In this way the entire vineyard became a salt marsh.

Workers who collect salt in this area today confirm this tradition. They claim to find when they dig there roots and trunks of vines. It is said that in the middle of the salt lake today there is a well of fresh water, known as "the well of the old woman".

The Synaxarion of Constantinople, speaking of this tradition, says that the lake was claimed by two brothers, who broke ties for its possession. To end the dispute, the Saint by his prayers dried up the lake and it remained salty.

Another tradition says that the Theotokos came to Kition with John the Evangelist in order to meet Lazarus. St. John gave him clerical vestments and cuffs, and then they went to Mount Athos.

The Second Death of Lazarus

St. Lazarus ended his second earthly life at Cyprus in 63 A.D. The faithful wept and buried him with honors in a sarcophagus made of Cypriot marble, on which they wrote in Hebrew:

"Lazarus of the four days and the friend of Christ."

Above the sarcophagus there was built a beautiful church, which was renovated in 1750.

His memory is celebrated by the Church every Saturday before Palm Sunday.

The transfer of the relic of St. Lazarus from Kition to Constantinople, which took place in 890 by order of Emperor Leo VI the Wise is celebrated on October 17th. Emperor Leo wrote the idiomelon for the Vespers of St. Lazarus.

The Relic of St. Lazarus in Constantinople

The transfer of the relic of St. Lazarus is detailed for us in two panegyric homilies delivered by Bishop Arethas of Ceasarea (850-after 932). After extolling the arrival of this great treasure to Constantinople in his first homily, he describes in the second the procession formed with the presence of the Emperor when the relic arrived from Chrysoupolis to Hagia Sophia. In exchange for this transfer, Leo VI sent money and artisans to Cyprus, where he built a magnificent church to honor St. Lazarus, which is maintained until today in Larnaca. Furthermore, he built a monastery in Constantinople dedicated to St. Lazarus, in which he placed the sacred relic. To this same monastery was later transferred the relic of St. Mary Magdalene from Ephesus. It later became a custom for the Emperor of New Rome to worship at the monastery on the Saturday of Lazarus.

Not too many years ago (specifically November 23, 1972) the superintendent of the Department of Antiquities, who worked towards the restoration of the church in Larnaca, found a sarcophagus with bones beneath the pillar supporting the plate of the Holy Altar. The bones were in a wooden box, placed in the sarcophagus, which in turn had carved on it the word "friend".

This finding seems to confirm the tradition that Leo VI did not take the entire relic of St. Lazarus to Constantinople, but left a portion behind. Authentic testimony and evidence for this fact is the location where the bones were found: under the Holy Altar.

Moreover, Arethas does not mention an incorrupt relic, but "bones" and "powder". Also, a Russian source at the library of Oxford reports that a Russian monk came from Pskov Monastery in the 16th century to Larnaca, and he venerated the bones of St. Lazarus, taking a small piece for himself as well. This piece is preserved till this day in the Chapel of Saint Lazarus at Pskov Monastery. Based on this account, we can affirm that the relic of St. Lazarus was venerated in Larnaca in the 16th century. A later account is not known, so for some reason, probably for protection, the Kitians hid the relic beneath the Holy Altar until it was discovered in 1972.

By John Sanidopoulos

Source: johnsanidopoulos.com/2013/04/what-happened-to-lazarus-after-he-rose.html

Largely ignored by much of Christendom, the Orthodox today celebrate “Lazarus Saturday” in something of a prequel to next weekend’s Pascha. It is, indeed a little Pascha just before the greater one. And this, of course, was arranged by Christ Himself, who raised His friend Lazarus from the dead as something of a last action before entering Jerusalem and beginning His slow ascent to Golgotha through the days of next week.

One of the hymns of the Vigil of Lazarus Saturday says that Christ “stole him from among the dead.” I rather like the phrase. Next weekend there will be no stealing, but a blasting of the gates of hell itself. What he does for Lazarus he will do for all.

Lazarus, of course, is different from those previously raised from the dead by Christ (such as the daughter of Jairus). Lazarus had been four days day and corruption of the body had already set in. “My Lord, he stinks!” one of his sisters explained when Christ requested to be shown to the tomb.

I sat in that tomb last September, as I mentioned in my last post. It is not particularly notable as a shrine. It is today, in the possession of a private, Muslim family. You pay to get in. Several of our pilgrims did not want to pay to go in. I could not stop myself.

Lazarus is an important character in 19th century Russian literature. Raskolnikov, in Crime and Punishment, finds the beginning of his repentance of the crime of murder, by listening to a reading of the story of Lazarus. It is, for many, and properly so, a reminder of the universal resurrection. What Christ has done for Lazarus He will do for all.

For me, he is also a sign of the universal entombment. That even before we die, we have frequently begun to inhabit our tombs. We live our life with the doors closed (and we stink). Our hearts are often places of corruption and not the habitation of the good God. Or, at best, we ask Him to visit us as He visited Lazarus. That visit brought tears to the eyes of Christ. The state of our corruption makes Him weep. It is such a contradiction to the will of God. We were not created for the tomb.

I also note that in the story of Lazarus – even in his being raised from the dead – he rises in weakness. He remains bound by his graveclothes. Someone must “unbind” him. We ourselves, having been plunged into the waters of Baptism and robed with the righteousness of Christ, too often exchange those glorious robes for graveclothes. Christ has made us alive, be we remain bound like dead men.

I sat in the tomb of Lazarus because it seemed so familiar.

Source: http://orthochristian.com/45977.html

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today we look toward the resurrection, and we look also set our eyes on the resurrection we will celebrate with great fervor and zeal and festivity in only another week. But today we look at our resurrection, very explicitly because Lazarus was a man like us and was dead and already decomposing, and our Lord raised him from the dead.

Imagine what he felt. He was in Hades, and he heard the voice of God, all the way in Hades, and He brought him back in an instant, in a flash. He knew the power of God, and those around saw that power, as Jesus, with a loud voice said, "Lazarus, come forth." And the same voice calls us -- the same voice calls us to come forth. The same voice says, " I am the resurrection. If you believe in Me you will have eternal life." We must believe. We must understand. I tell you. We must also live according to the way Christ is, and then you will understand what it means to be a Christian.

Did you see the two ways that the sisters dealt with the death of their brother? One stayed still in the house, and one ran out to Jesus. They both believed. But their faith was weak, and they'd never heard of a man who was four days dead being raised from the dead. They'd heard of a person who had died that day being raised from the dead. Christ had done it twice. They knew of Saint Elias who had raised someone from the dead, and of the prophet Elisha, but in both of those cases the man was dead one day. Now a man had been dead four days, and it was beyond their understanding how he could be raised from the dead. They thought of a far-off time when there would be the resurrection of all things. They didn't think really of how it applied to then and now.

The resurrection applies to us now brothers and sisters. Not later -- now. It changes us now, makes us able to live now . It comforts us now . It burns away our passions and our sins now . "The kingdom of God is within you," Christ said. The Resurrection and the Life lives within us now . We must understand this. We must live this.

And we must approach Christ in these two ways that his beloved friends approached him. Mary sat still in the house: we must pray, we must develop within ourselves great love, great fervor, unshakable belief. We must also be active in our faith. We must go to Christ. We must beg Him for the things we need. And we must live according to the way He has told us to live. He has told us, live within the ark of the church, to fast, to pray, to partake of all the things that the church has given us. This is the activity that Martha points to. Both are necessary. Neither one is enough to save a soul. We must have fervent belief, and we must live within that belief.

Slightly more than seven days from now -- no, actually it will be Friday evening -- I will read a sermon of Saint Epiphanius in which he speaks of when Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life, when down into Hades. We have a taste of that today. We should meditate very carefully, and think what it would be like to be in the depths of Hades, to be in the depths of hopelessness, to see our flesh and see how weak it is, and for God to say, "Come forth", and break everything that is holding us fast. A Christian must really understand this. This is what the resurrection means for us. It is how we reach our perfection.

It is very painful. It is painful for me, and I tell you, it might sound strange, but I hope and I pray that it is painful for you. I hope that you see the uselessness of so much in what we call this life, that you see the depravity, both in yourself and outside of yourself, and that you long to be made whole, to be made complete. A Christian must be like that. He must be like a stranger in a strange land, like Moses. He must consider himself to only be passing through on the way to the heavenly city, to Zion, to Jerusalem, to perfection.

This is what we are going after, you know. And we see that God can perfect. He didn't just raise Himself from the dead; He raised us from the dead. This must be understood. And it's not just something you read in a book and understand. It's not just a point of doctrine or a question to be answered. It's in the heart. If you know that God raised you from the dead, you won't want to do anything but to become like Him, and you will know that you can become like Him. You have beenpromised that you can become like Him. This is the meaning of the resurrection.

This is why God raised Lazarus from the dead. To show us the power of the resurrection in us, because we're weak. He knows. We might say, "He did it, but he is God. So how does that apply to me?" Just like Mary and Martha, I know that some day we'll be raised from the dead in the resurrection, but they didn't apply it to their life now. This is why Lazarus was raised from the dead. And it's also why Jesus waited. Not only so Lazarus would die. He certainly, as God, could have arranged that He was near the town, but He was far away from the town and after He was told about Lazarus, He went slowly to Bethany and took four days. He waited so that He could teach us something that is very important: that we must wait, that we must be patient, that we must have faith even when it appears that things are not as we would wish them to be, and that they won't change. Jesus Christ can take a man, stinking, from the grave, after four days, and raise him from the dead, He can raise us.

But don't believe in the resurrection later; believe in the resurrection now . Live in that belief. Try to change because of that belief. Believe that you can be changed. I don't care what it is that assails you. God can heal you. Not later, but now . Don't believe in the resurrection -- later. Believe in the resurrection and the life, Who is with us, now. We're about to partake of His holy body and blood for our sustenance, that medicine of immortality. Our immortality, you know, begins with our baptism. And we are just increasingly fulfilling it every day that we live. Live in the light of the resurrection. Believe it. Believe that you will change. And when you hear God's voice saying, "Come forth" at the resurrection, you will be filled with joy. May God help you.

By Fr. Seraphim Holland

Source: http://orthochristian.com/69841.html

Earthly love is born in the same place where tears are born: in the eye. You’ve got to see in order to love. The saying “Out of sight, out of mind” has some truth to it, after all. Nonetheless, this isn’t the main kind of love. The love that does not depend on eye perception is worth a lot more. It is this feeling that faith is linked to. We haven’t seen Christ with our eyes but we love him. We heard words about him and they made it into our hearts and changed our lives dramatically. Eyes don’t have anything to do with it. This is the same kind of love that we feel towards our deceased: the people whom we can’t see anymore but continue to love.

Your deceased relative is like a person who left for a remote land and has to spend a lot of time there. You can’t see him but your heart can’t be fooled. Your heart feels that your loved one is alive. Your heart calls you to prayer.

I’m always terrified when I think that there are millions of people who profess their faith in Christ but don’t pray for the departed. Those people are called Evangelicals. They justify their position by saying that the Gospel does not prescribe doing so. As if Jesus aimed at setting strict rules for our daily life. As if He brought us new laws, thousands of new dos and don’ts, instead of the spirit of freedom. Didn’t He say that our God is the God of the living, not the dead because all live unto him (cf. Luke 20: 38)? If so, why is praying for the living prohibited?

Evangelicals consider the border between those who live here and those who are “gone” to be impassable. If someone has completed his life, you can’t influence his eternal fate so it’s useless to pray for him, they say.

In fact, the border between us and them is quite porous. One can see through it from both sides, if one’s spiritual eyes are sharp enough. The undying love towards the reposed makes us pray to God —who is Love—for mercy on those people who left this earthly realm.

There aren’t any whole people in the spiritual world yet, except Christ and the Mother of God. There are just human souls. A soul without a body isn’t the whole person; it’s just a soul of a person. A body without a soul is just a human body. Death tears us apart. We will be restored no earlier than the Judgment Day comes. No one has heard the final verdict of Jesus Christ yet. No one has been sent off to the hell yet. No one enjoys absolute bliss yet. The eternity will reign only after the bodily resurrection. Some people will be embraced by fire, while others will be met with a joyous song of Angels.

Until that hour comes, souls are in anticipation of their future, which will bring bliss for some and torment for others. If there is anything worth doing during that time, it’s prayer.

The Revelation of St John calls Jesus Christ the One who has the Key of David, among other things. If He locks a door, no one can open it. On the other hand, no one can lock the door that He opened. Evangelicals are in a hurry to lock the door of God’s mercy for the deceased, in spite of the fact that the cup of patience isn’t full yet, the season of grace isn’t over, and Christ has not yet passed his final judgment on certain people.

If only the problem we are talking about was with those who don’t pray at all! There are lots of those who can’t even open their mouth to say, “Lord have mercy!” In this case, we are talking about staunch believers who read the Scripture, pray to the Father, and work hard to fulfill the will of the Son.

If we exclude from our prayers those of our brothers and sisters who happened to die, it’s like cutting off one’s hand or piercing one’s eye. Should we stop praying for other people altogether? Does each person have to rely only on himself? If he is ill, let him suffer. That’s God’s will. He must redeem his sins with that suffering. We don’t think so, do we? We have learned to carry each other’s burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. We have learned to intercede for one another. Prayer has always been the best way to help, defend, and stand up against the enemy.

The Church is one Body. The living and the dead can’t see each other, sure. But then the hair on one’s head can’t see the skin on one’s feet. However, the entire body—from tip to toe—is nurtured with the same blood. The Church is a Grapevine. Not all grapes touch each other but they all draw water from one root. The reposed Christians are members of the same Body of Christ. Leaving them without our prayer is the same as leaving hungry kids without bread. They are as helpless as kids. Countless eyes of our deceased brothers and sisters whose numbers are greater than the number of stars that shine in the sky are looking at us intently and imploringly.

Of course, the dead people have lost their chance to change anything. The time of labor is gone. However, their souls haven’t lost the ability to receive grace, and the time to pay their spiritual bills hasn’t come yet.

O Holy Orthodox Church! How beautiful you are, the meek and simple Bride of Christ, wary of talking too much but focused on the most essential things! During the Last Judgment, it is thanks to you that we will hear the gratitude of those for whom we have prayed with love. After we die, we hope to be comforted with the prayers of those who love us and believe in God, too.

With that said, the source of our primary hope is Jesus Christ the Righteous One with his Cross and his Resurrection. All other incentives are but a dessert at his meal. That dessert is so delicious, though! How blind are those who refuse to eat the sweetest food from the hands of the Great Master who has prepared a huge feast for us!

By Fr. Andrew Tkachev

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