The Catalog of Good Deeds

The Orthodox Church is the Church of the Resurrection, because it gives prominence to Christ’s victory over death. Pascha is the overcoming of death, the passage of the Word to the human heart and not the reduction of the heart to human reason and senses. When one examines the “ethos” of Orthodoxy, one finds that it confers the “spirit” and life that comes out of the Tomb: the “life in the tomb” as the hymns say. It is a blaze of light and the ecstasy of life. This is where the difference between western Christianity and the Orthodox Church can be seen:

Saint Francis, in Kazantzakis’ biography, reaches the highest degree of the spiritual life by feeling “God crucified” in his body. He said of this: “It is a cross, Brother Leone, man’s body is a cross - open your arms and you will see, God is crucified upon it”. And he prayed, “My Christ, my love, I ask one favour of you, one favour for me before I die - that I may feel in my body and soul, as far as possible, Your pain and Your Holy passion…” He reached the point of seeing the wounds of the Cross on his body, and when he asked for another, greater, experience, he heard a divine voice saying: “Do not ask for more; this is where man’s ascent ends - at the Crucifixion!”

On the other hand, the Orthodox saint, St. Silouan the Athonite, saw the Resurrected Christ and experienced Pascha within his being and within creation. Following the vision of Christ resurrected he said: “I was living in a paschal feast. Everything was beautiful; the world was grand, people were pleasing, nature was unspeakably lovely, the body changed and became light, strength was added… the soul overflowed with joy; it had compassion on people and prayed for the whole world.”

This difference between Western and Eastern thinking is seen in the difference between Jean-Paul Sartre and St. Seraphim of Sarov. The former (Sartre), disillusioned by western Christianity said: “The other is my hell!”. The latter (St Seraphim of Sarov) addressed everyone who met him with the greeting: “Christ is Risen, my joy”. Each and every ‘other’ is not ‘different’ a ‘stranger’ a ‘foreigner’, but a brother. The experience of the Resurrection overcomes death, neutralises selfishness, and abolishes Hades. Otherwise, man is enclosed in his own personal hell.

In celebrating “our Pascha” as “the feast of feasts” and as “the death of death, the first-fruits of another life that is eternal” we feel within ourselves and around ourselves the scent of spiritual death, of life that is before the Resurrection of Christ. We live this biological life simply for survival, but, indeed, as yet mortal. We chant “Christ is Risen!”, we celebrate on the outside, but the bitterness of Hades rules within us, often even in church life. The remembrance of death is bitter, so too is the pain of loneliness. These poisonous constraints, even in the field of Christianity are bitter; even in the Church itself, which continues to be the Church of the Resurrection and to preach the mystery of the Resurrection.

It is of course our various passions that keep us away from the existential festival of life. Various pressures also make Church life feel different from this. Christians divided by various political considerations, the Orthodox with various rivalries between themselves; these do not remind us of the Resurrected Christ at all.

So, the crucifixion of the Orthodox Church continues. The wounds of the Cross of the Church in Jerusalem, from its internal weaknesses and external influences blacken the “Holy Fire” that comes from the Sepulchre of Christ. The political opportunism, the nationalistic racists with their all too human passions do not allow the joy of the Resurrection to shine out as light to the people round about.

The domineering powers that can be seen in all Christian confessions drain away the “Joy to all”, the “Peace unto you”, the “be of good cheer”, because they are ruled by other alien powers, foreign to the “spirit” of the Resurrected Christ. Unfortunately, politics, often in ecclesiastical dress, are the nails of the crucified Church, the bride of the Resurrected Christ together with the worldly-led pressures that take place in the name of the term “mother Church”.......

Our Pascha, as the victory over death and the experience of life, is lived out today despite these secular-minded powers and tendencies. It is experienced by those who live humbly and existentially within the sphere of the Church, away from secularisation, racism and political considerations and can be clearly seen in the relics of saints.

Normally, the bodies of those saints that have fallen asleep, which are a just mass of cells, within which are included the cells for ageing, should rot away. However, the power and grace of the Resurrection does not let them break up; something which proves they have overcome death. The saint is a person who is asleep awaiting the last wake up call.

This then is our Pascha, as a mystery of the Resurrection, and not as a Christianity of religiosity with the passions of the love of precedence, of division and of rivalry. ‘Our Pascha’ cannot be replaced by ‘our Religion’, which lives under the rule of death. The Resurrected Christ cannot be made up out of the political expressions of Christianity and the power of the Resurrection cannot fit within the so-called “Christian States”. It is experienced in a life beyond the imagination, thinking and speaking; transfigured by Divine Light, with a loving desire for God and with humility.

By His Eminence, Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

Source: http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/voicefromisles/pascha_in_the_west_and_the_east

On the Bright Saturday, the believers have an opportunity to get Artos in churches. What is the origin of the tradition of taking Artos and how should one do this in the right way?

What is Artos?

The word artos is translated from Greek as “leavened bread” – the common bread blessed for the all members of the Church, in other words the communion bread.

During the whole Bright Week, artos is placed on the most prominent place in the church near the icon of the Resurrection, and when the Paschal celebrations are over, it is handed out among the believers.

What is the origin of the tradition of artos consumption?

Artos consumption began with Christianity itself. On the 40^th day after the Resurrection, Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven. The disciples and followers of Christ found solace in prayerful commemoration of the Lord, they recalled His every word, every step and every action. When they gathered for a common prayer, they recalled the last Suppers and partook of Holy Communion. Preparing a usual meal, they left the first place at the table for the Lord who sat there invisibly and put a bread on this place.

What does it symbolize?

Emulating the apostles, the first shepherds of the Church began to put bread in the church as a visible expression of the idea that the Savior, who has suffered for us, became the true bread of life. On an artos we can see a cross with the crown of thorn, but there is no the Crucified One, which is the symbol of Christ’s victory over death or His Resurrection.

There is another ancient church story connected with artos. It states that the apostles always left a piece of bread – the part of the Mother of God – in a reminder of the constant communion with Her. After the meal, they shared that piece of bread between themselves. In monasteries, this tradition is called the rite of Panagia, i.e. the commemoration of the Most Holy Mother of God. In parish churches this bread of the Mother of God is recalled once a year, when artos is shared.

How is artos consecrated?

Artos is consecrated with a special prayer, besprinkling with holy water and censing it at the Liturgy on the first day of Holy Pascha and after the prayer behind the ambo. An artos is placed in front of the Royal Gates on a table or analogion. After the consecration, the analogion with the artos is put on the solea before the image of Christ, where artos will stand during the whole Bright Week. It is kept on the analogion before the iconostasis for the whole week.

Every day during the Bright Week, cross processions with artos take place after the liturgy. On Saturday of the Bright week, a prayer for fragmentation of artos is read. The artos is divided into pieces and given to people during the kissing of the cross after the Liturgy.

How should we keep and consume artos?

Faithful people keep the particles of artos they got in the church as a spiritual remedy from weaknesses and diseases. Artos is taken in special cases, for example, in case of sickness and always with the words “Christ is risen!”.

Source: http://www.pravmir.ru/zachem-razdayut-artos-5-voprosov/

While praying to Christ, I felt a certain difficulty. The Mother of God – She was just like my own Mother to me. The same was with St. Euphemia. “My dear Saint Euphemia”, I addressed to her… But it was difficult to pray to Christ. I venerated His icons with fear. When during the Jesus Prayer my mind began to distract from prayer, I did not upset me at all. “Who am I to constantly keep Christ in my poor mind?” – I said to myself. And then something happened what I want to tell you about.

It was the evening after the feast of the Finding of the head of St. John the Forerunner, the eve of the feast day of St. Apostle Carp. I felt very inspired that evening. I did not want to sleep at all and I thought, “ Well, let me write something about Fr. Tikhon and send it to the sisters in Suroti”. By 8:30 AM I wrote about 30 pages. I still did not want to sleep but decided to lie down for a while because my legs were weak.

Sunrise began. By 9 AM I was still not sleeping. And suddenly I saw that one of the walls of my cell (the one near which my bed stood) just disappeared. I saw Christ – He was in light, just about 6 meters from me. I saw Him from His side. His hairs were bright and His eyes were blue. He did not say a word to me, but only looked – not right at me, but a bit more to the side.

I saw everything with the non-corporal eyes. In such case, it does not matter whether your corporal eyes are closed or not. I saw that with my spiritual eyes.

When I saw Him, I thought, “ How could they all spit in that Face? How could they - the people without any fear of God - hit that Face? How could they slam the nails into that Body? Oh God…”

I was struck by that. How pleased I felt at that moment! What a joy I felt! I cannot express that beauty with words. It was the very beauty about which is was said: “You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips” (Psalm 45:2). This is what that beauty was. I have never seen something like that on any of His images. There was only one – I do not remember where I have seen it – which looked a bit alike.

A person should work in a monastery ever for a thousand years to see this beauty at least for a moment. What great and indescribable things are gifted to people – and how miserable are the things we try to deal with!

From the book “The Life of St. Paisios the Hagiorite”

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

This ceremony takes place in the Orthodox Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem in such a way that bewilders the soul of the Christians.

On Easter Saturday, at noon, the Orthodox Patriarch, or any other Orthodox Archbishop, enters the Holy Sepulchre, recites special prayers and remains waiting. Sometimes the waiting is long, sometimes short. The crowd, in the darkened church, repeats continually with a loud voice:

“Lord, have mercy.” (Kyrie eleison).

At a certain moment the Holy Light flashes from the depth of the Holy Sepulchre in a supernatural way, miraculously, and lights up the little lamp of olive oil put on the edge of it. The Patriarch (or the Archbishop), after having read some prayers, lights up the two clusters of 33 candles he is holding, and begins to distribute the Holy Light to the multitude of pilgrims, who receive it with great emotion, accompanied with the pealing of bells, acclamations, and an unbridled enthusiasm.

The Holy Light is not only distributed by the Archbishop, but operates also by itself. It emits from the Holy Sepulchre having a gleam of a hue completely different from that of natural light. It sparkles, it flashes like lightning, it flies like a dove around the tabernacle of the Holy Sepulchre, and lights up the unlit lamps of olive oil hanging in front of it. It whirls from one side of the church to the other. It enters to some of the chapels inside the church, as for instance the chapel of the Calvery (at a higher level than the Holy Sepulchre) and lights up the little lamps. It lights up also the candles of certain pilgrims. In fact there are some very pious pilgrims who, every time they attended this ceremony, noticed that their candles lit up on the own accord!

The Holy Fire is brought to certain Orthodox countries, such as in Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Syria and Ukraine, and every year by special flights, being received with honors by state leaders at the respective airports.

The Russian hegumen Daniil (Daniel), who was present at the ceremony in 1106 AD, says that traditional beliefs

“that the Holy Ghost descends upon the Holy Sepulchre in the form of a dove” and “that it is lightning from heaven which kindles the lamps above the Sepulchre of the Lord” are untrue, “but the Divine grace comes down unseen from heaven, and lights the lamps of the Sepulchre of our Lord.”

Thousands of pilgrims gather in Jerusalem to partake and witness this annual miracle.

This divine light also presents some peculiarities: As soon as it appears it has a bluish hue and does not burn. At the first moments of its appearance, if it touches the face, or the mouth, or the hands, it does not burn. This is proof of its divine and supernatural origin.

The historian Eusebius writes in his Vita Constantini, which dates from around 328, about an interesting occurrence in Jerusalem of Easter in the year 162. When the church wardens were about to fill the lamps to make them ready to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, they suddenly noticed that there was no more oil left to pour in the lamps. Upon this, Bishop Narcissus of Jerusalem ordered the candles to be filled with water. He then told the wardens to ignite them. In front of the eyes of all present every single lamp burned as if filled with pure oil. Christian Orthodox tradition holds that this miracle, which predates the construction of the Holy Sepulchre in the fourth Century, is related to the Miracle of the Holy Fire. They admit that the two differ, as the former was a one-time occurrence while the Miracle of the Holy Fire occurs every year. However, they have in common premise that God has produced fire where there logically speaking should have been none.

Around 385 Egeria, a noble woman from Spain, traveled to Palestine. In the account of her journey, she speaks of a ceremony by the Holy Sepulchre of Christ, where a light comes forth (ejicitur) from the small chapel enclosing the tomb, by which the entire church is filled with an infinite light (lumen infinitum).

The pilgrim Bernard the Monk mentions the holy fire in 870 AD.

In 1099, the failure of Crusaders to obtain the fire led to street riots in Jerusalem.

We must also take into consideration that the Holy Light appears only by the invocation of an Orthodox Archbishop. EACH TIME THAT HETERODOX BISHOPS TRIED TO OBTAIN IT, THEY FAILED.

Once the Armenians paid the Turks, who then occupied the Holy Land, in order to obtain permission for their Patriarch to enter the Holy Sepulchre, The Orthodox Patriarch was standing sorrowfully with his flock at the exit of the church, near the left column, when the Holy Light split this column vertically and flashed near the Orthodox Patriarch.

A Moslem Muezin, called Tounom, who saw the miraculous event from an adjacent mosque, abandoned immediately the Moslem religion and became an Orthodox Christian. This event took place in 1549 under Sultan Mourad IV, when the Patriarch of Jerusalem was Sophrony II. ( The mentioned split column still exists. It goes back to the XII c. The Orthodox pilgrims embrace it at the “place of the split” as the enter the church).

The appearance of the Holy Light is an event which occurs every year in front of thousands of visual witnesses. Nobody can deny it. On the contrary, this miracle can reinforce those who have lack of faith.

There are some very touching recent cases of some Jews, who believed in Christ after having seen the Holy Light, and who said to their compatriots:

“Why are you still waiting for the Messiah? The Messiah came indeed”.

Source: http://journeytoorthodoxy.com/2014/12/the-great-miracle-given-by-god-only-to-the-orthodox-church/

- Jesus voluntarily and successfully fasted forty days in the wilderness and overcame the temptations of the devil, because Adam voluntarily yet unsuccessfully kept the God-commanded fast to abstain from the Tree of Knowledge after being tempted by the devil.

- Jesus rebuked Peter as inspired by the devil for trying to dissuade Him from going to Jerusalem to be crucified, because Adam gave in to the suggestion of Eve who was inspired by the devil to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

- Jesus submitted His will to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, because in the Garden of Eden Adam disobeyed the will of the Father.

- Jesus was crucified on the wood of a tree, because the fall of Adam took place through a forbidden tree.

- Jesus' hands were pierced with nails, because Adam held the forbidden fruit.

- Jesus was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem, because Adam was exiled from Eden.

- Jesus accepted curses and became cursed (Deut. 21:23), to reverse the curse of Adam.

- Jesus was naked on the cross and His garment divided among the soldiers, because Adam lost his innocence in Eden and was clothed with animal skin when exiled from Paradise.

- Jesus' mother was at the foot of the cross, because Adam partook of the forbidden tree with Eve who was the mother of the human race.

- Jesus was given vinegar mingled with gall to drink, because Adam ate the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

- Jesus was crucified in between two others who represented the way of life and the way of death, because Adam in Eden was presented with two trees that presented both life and death.

- Jesus unlocked the gates of Paradise for the penitent thief, because Adam shut the gates of Paradise.

- Jesus was stabbed on His side after He died, because after Adam was put in a deep sleep Eve was formed from his side.

By John Sanidopoulos

Source: bio-orthodoxy.com/2015/04/how-passion-of-christ-reversed-fall-of.html

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