Jerusalem on Holy Saturday 2011

Holy Fire in Jerusalem

Thousands mark Easter Week's holy fire rite in Jerusalem church

Daniel Estrin
Associated Press


Jerusalem— The small doorway to the traditional site of Jesus' tomb cracked open to reveal a bright flame and tens of thousands of worshippers cheered ecstatically, marking the pinnacle of Easter Week's holy fire ceremony in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

The annual ritual has been practiced for at least the last 1,200 years on the day before Easter, which celebrates Jesus' resurrection.

Worshippers of various Orthodox Christian sects packed into the Jerusalem church — Christianity's most sacred shrine and revered as the site where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. In the ceremony, a flame believed to be miraculously lit emanates from the tomb.

"I'm all vibrating," said Romanian pilgrim Ivan Kurnia. "It's really, really impressive."

Hours before the ceremony, local Christians and pilgrims from around the world snaked through the narrow alleyways of Jerusalem's old city and filled the small courtyard outside the church. About a thousand Israeli police officers processed the crowds through police barricades that filtered access to the church's only entrance.

Inside gathered a colorful mix of clergymen and worshippers representing the different Orthodox Christian sects — from Armenian monks in black robes and pointed hoods to Russian Orthodox women wearing turquoise headscarves.

People crammed against each other in the dimly lit, cavernous church, and police broke up scuffles. One middle-aged American woman fainted, but she remained standing because people were pressed up against her in the densely packed crowd.

Despite the suffocating crowds, the throngs waited in anticipation for the ceremony to begin, clutching bundles of 33 slim candles signifying the years of Jesus' life.

Adorned with a golden crown encrusted with jewels and religious icons, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theofilos III, entered the Edicule, the small chamber at the core of the church marking the site of Jesus' tomb. Armenian clergymen entered as well, and the door was sealed, guarded by clergymen and an Israeli policeman.

Then, the door was opened to reveal candles lit with the holy fire — said to be miraculously lit and interpreted as a message to the faithful from the heavens. The precise details of the flame's source are a closely guarded secret.

The flame was quickly passed on from one bunch of candles to another, and soon the dark church was filled with worshippers holding flickering torches and waving it around their faces. Bells rang and people cheered.

"Christos has risen. I feel amazing," said a Russian Orthodox pilgrim from San Francisco who identified himself only as Igor. "It came from God, from the sky."

Police spokesman Shmuel Ben Rubi said around a thousand police officers were deployed to direct foot traffic and keep the peace. He estimated tens of thousands of worshippers were in the church.

Asaf Abras, spokesman for Jerusalem's firefighting services, said about 10 firefighters with mobile units were stationed around the church in case of emergency.

Israeli officials have been worried since the late 1990s that a fire could erupt from the church during the ritual. In 1834, pilgrims in the church panicked, a stampede ensued, and several hundred people were crushed or suffocated to death.

But the six Christian sects that stake claim to different sections of the church have been reluctant to build an emergency exit or a fire escape. The sects zealously guard their portions of the church and brawls have erupted in recent years when clergymen of one sect encroach on another section, even when only sweeping the floor. None of the sects wants to give up an inch of precious real estate in the church to construct a second exit.

After the holy fire ceremony, the flame was immediately taken from the church and past an Israeli military barrier into the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Bethlehem where it was received at the Church of the Nativity, the traditional site of Jesus' birthplace.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad attended another holy fire ceremony in a central square in Ramallah, the seat of his government in the West Bank.
In the Gaza Strip, about fifty Christian worshippers attended a mass in one of Gaza's two churches.
 
Source: Detroit News

"Pascha...is the equivalent of prayer with fireworks."

Fr. Meletios Webber

listen here

Easter in Syria

I knew that Middle Easterners just love to celebrate by firing their guns into the air, but for some reason I assumed it was just the Muslims that did that. I guess I was wrong.

(You know you've been to too many military firing ranges when you watch this and think "gosh, that's going to leave a lot of shell casings for someone to pick up.")

Soccer fans

Here is another item for the "Types of Things You will Never See in the United States" file.

This gives me chills. It is a video that was taken recently at a soccer stadium in Russia. One group of fans is shouting and another is responding. What are they saying?
"Tastes great!" "Less filling!" ???
"Let's go Red Wings!" ???

No, they're shouting "Christ is Risen?" "Truly, He is Risen!"

"Christos voskrese!" "Voistinu voskrese!"

NPR: In Rare Instance, Greek Orthodox Easter Aligns With West

"Well, this is a phenomenon that no one has in recorded history. Usually the dates of Easter either coincide every four years or they're one week behind or two weeks behind, accordingly. But this year and next year, 2011, is a phenomenon of the Easters coming together back to back. And this I think God's speaking to us. Now, if we don't act on this, he's not going to have too much patience with us because it's never going to happen again for 800 years."

Read transcript here

Orthodox church brings traditional Easter celebrations to the mountains

From the WNC Sentinal

There are screens, projectors and cameras. Stages, lights and sound systems.

Churches that seem to double as concert halls. It’s an increasingly common sight.

In an age of technological enhancement, St Nicholas Orthodox Church may seem a bit untraditional, but only because it’s so deeply rooted in… tradition.

Incense. Saints. More candles than seats. And chanting… verses and prayers.

“It’s connected to the historical stream of Christianity, theology, belief and practice that has changed very little,” Fr. James Blomeley explained. “It’s entirely consistent now with what it was 1,000 or even 2,000 years ago.”

Before St Nicholas opened in Peachtree last August, the few Orthodox believers in the mountains would have to travel to Marietta or Chattanooga to attend services, Blairsville resident Van Crikis said.

Blomeley, the church’s priest, served as a deacon in an Atlanta parish for several years before being ordained last May. During the week he practices law in Murphy.

“I didn’t really know if there were orthodox up here,” he said. “The first Sunday I didn’t know if anyone would show up.”

He said he was surprised to see 20 locals attend the opening service. “They all thought they were the only orthodox in the area,” Blomeley explained. “They had no idea there was anybody else.”

For Holy Week the church held eight different services, actually fewer than the traditional full range, Blomeley said. “It is a lot of work, but for us Holy Week and Easter is just complete emersion,” he said. “When we actually get to Easter it really is the greatest of all feasts.”

Concluding a selective fast, the congregation gathered for bar-b-que at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
“It was your usual church potluck,” Blomeley said… except for the time. About eight people attend on an average Sunday, Blomeley said, noting that it ranges to 20 on occasion. While most of the congregation is older, one family and some locals in their thirties attend.

“Yes, there is an emphasis nowdays on technology and immediacy and cultural relevence…but what I find is that for a lot of people there is a search not for the surface, but for the depth,” Blomeley said. “The candles, the incense… it speaks to a lot of people.”

Blomeley said that he hopes the parish could one day leave behind the quaint compartment it currently occupies at Peachtree Place and construct a standalone church.

Before that happens, however, the parish has to become financially sustainable. At this point contributions cover the basics and utilities, but Blomeley is serving without a salary.

“We have more people now than we really thought we would at this point,” he said. Fifty to one-hundred families is what you shoot for to become a real parish… If we could get to that point over five to ten years I’d be tickled.”

But no matter how much it grows, the services will stay the same.

“We’re not for everybody,” Blomeley said. “Some find their fullfillment in the technological aspect of services, but others find it in the timelessness.”

Orthodox Christians rejoice following Easter Vigil

Over 5,000 people attended at the vigil in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, the Itar Tass news agency reported, citing the cathedral’s security. Among those present were the country’s leaders.

President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived at the country’s main cathedral to join the congregants for the all-night Easter vigil.

The vigil started at about 11 p.m. The faithful lit their candles from the Holy Fire, which is transported every year especially from Jerusalem. Close to midnight the congregants joined in the sacred procession around the churches, carrying candles lit from the Holy Fire. The people then spoke the traditional declaration, “Christ has risen! Christ has risen indeed!”

Read the rest here.



From rt.com

Triumph of Orthodoxy

In modern American culture, an "iconoclast" is someone who is celebrated as a "creative visionary," an innovator, a hero, a trailblazer; someone whose boldness and foresight we are to admire and emulate.

But, in Christianity an iconoclast is a heretic.

A controversy arose in the eighth century regarding the question of whether or not imagery was appropriate in Christian worship. Those who opposed the use of religious images were known as iconoclasts, which means "image smashers." This controvery stirred up so much trouble that the Church convened a council of bishops to settle the matter. They determined that the use of images is not only acceptable but necessary because, for one thing, it affirms the Incarnation.* They also anathematized those who reject the use of religious imagery. That is, they condemned their teaching as heresy.**

(Like other major heresies of the early Church, iconoclasm once again reared its head during the Protestant Reformation.)

The Church celebrates and reaffirms its use of holy images on the first Sunday of Lent (tomorrow), which is known as the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

The following video, which I boosted from the Pious Fabrications blog, provides a brief examination of holy icons and their use within the Orthodox devotional life.



For further reading:
Sunday of Orthodoxy (OrthodoxWiki)
Sunday of Orthodoxy (Antiochian Archdiocese)
The Sunday of Orthodoxy and the Current State of Affairs
Sunday of Orthodoxy (Glory to God for All Things blog)
Sermon on the Sunday of Orthodoxy (Abp Averky)
Sermon on the Sunday of Orthodoxy (Schmemann)
What is Orthodoxy? (orrologian blog)

* "...we keep unchanged all the ecclesiastical traditions handed down to us, whether in writing or verbally, one of which is the making of pictorial representations, agreeable to the history of the preaching of the Gospel, a tradition useful in many respects, but especially in this, that so the incarnation of the Word of God is shown forth as real and not merely phantastic, for these have mutual indications and without doubt have also mutual significations.

"We, therefore, following the royal pathway and the divinely inspired authority of our Holy Fathers and the traditions of the Catholic Church (for, as we all know, the Holy Spirit indwells her), define with all certitude and accuracy that just as the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross, so also the venerable and holy images, as well in painting and mosaic as of other fit materials, should be set forth in the holy churches of God, and on the sacred vessels and on the vestments and on hangings and in pictures both in houses and by the wayside, to wit, the figure of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, of our spotless Lady, the Mother of God, of the honourable Angels, of all Saints and of all pious people. For by so much more frequently as they are seen in artistic representation, by so much more readily are men lifted up to the memory of their prototypes, and to a longing after them; and to these should be given due salutation and honourable reverence (ἀσπασμὸν καὶ τιμητικὴν προσκύνησιν), not indeed that true worship of faith (λατρείαν) which pertains alone to the divine nature; but to these, as to the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross and to the Book of the Gospels and to the other holy objects, incense and lights may be offered according to ancient pious custom. For the honour which is paid to the image passes on to that which the image represents, and he who reveres the image reveres in it the subject represented."

** "Those, therefore who dare to think or teach otherwise, or as wicked heretics to spurn the traditions of the Church and to invent some novelty, or else to reject some of those things which the Church hath received (e.g., the Book of the Gospels, or the image of the cross, or the pictorial icons, or the holy reliques of a martyr), or evilly and sharply to devise anything subversive of the lawful traditions of the Catholic Church or to turn to common uses the sacred vessels or the venerable monasteries, if they be Bishops or Clerics, we command that they be deposed; if religious or laics, that they be cut off from communion.

"This is the faith of the Apostles, this is the faith of the orthodox, this is the faith which hath made firm the whole world. Believing in one God, to be celebrated in Trinity, we salute the honourable images! Those who do not so hold, let them be anathema. Those who do not thus think, let them be driven far away from the Church. For we follow the most ancient legislation of the Catholic Church. We keep the laws of the Fathers. We anathematize those who add anything to or take anything away from the Catholic Church. We anathematize the introduced novelty of the revilers of Christians. We salute the venerable images. We place under anathema those who do not do this. Anathema to them who presume to apply to the venerable images the things said in Holy Scripture about idols. Anathema to those who do not salute the holy and venerable images. Anathema to those who call the sacred images idols. Anathema to those who say that Christians resort to the sacred images as to gods. Anathema to those who say that any other delivered us from idols except Christ our God. Anathema to those who dare to say that at any time the Catholic Church received idols." (The Decree of the Holy, Great, Ecumenical Synod, the Second of Nicaea)

Forgiveness Sunday

Tomorrow is Forgiveness Sunday in the Orthodox Church. It is the final Sunday before the beginning of Great Lent. Immediately after the Vespers service on the evening of Forgiveness Sunday, every person in the church--beginning with the head priest--bows down to the floor before every other person present and begs for their forgiveness for any transgression, any insult, any slight, any wrong committed, whether in knowledge or in ignorance.

I participated in this last year for the first time, and if I had a hint of any remaining suspicion that Orthodox Christianity wasn't for real, it evaporated that night. Aside from my baptism/chrismation, it was the most powerful and humbling thing I had experienced in my Christian life. There were many tears and embraces, and it set the tone for the long and challenging period of repentance that was to follow.

I'm sorry I won't be there to participate again this year in Forgiveness Sunday Vespers. Even so, I plan to begin Lent on Monday with everyone else to the extent that I am able. With that in mind, I would like to offer to those of my readers to whom it applies, my sincerest, most heartfelt apologies for any wrong to have done them, intentionally or unintentionally, whether in knowledge or in ignorance.

Forgive me, a sinner.

Forgiveness Sunday (OrthodoxWiki)
The Fourth Sunday of the Triodion Period: Sunday of Forgiveness (Cheesefare Sunday)
Questions on Forgiveness Sunday

Fasting

Great Lent begins in less than a week (Monday the 15th). For those of my readers who don't know, Lent is a period of intense preparation; a time when we clean out the cobwebs and refocus on Christ. It involves many hours of prayer, church services several times a week, and much self denial. This last part is challenging for me because it involves fasting, which I find very difficult. But incredibly rewarding. I can't exaplain it. You have to experience it for yourself.

The following is from the blog Gladsome Light Dialogues:

The idea that any Westerner has about fasting is strongly linked with renunciation, with giving-up, with sacrificing something for God. In the Eastern Orthodox Church however, fasting achieves a much richer meaning. Fasting is not only about giving-up, but it is actually more about gaining, about being able to reach things that are possible only through this spiritual exercise.

In a legalistic understanding of salvation some believe that Christ has come on earth to fulfill a duty, to repair an offense that man has brought unto God. His sacrifice on the Cross satisfies this need and mankind enters again in God’s favors. From this perspective fasting is a similar symbol: a personal sacrifice that one makes to step back into God’s grace. This can be anything ranging from giving up chocolate to abstaining from Facebook for the Lenten period. But such frivolous renunciations really don’t cut it into the genuine meaning of fasting. God doesn’t need any of these sacrifices as He does not need the whole burnt offering of the Old Testament anymore. It is us, not God, who need the fasting rule.

Reducing the fasting to a symbol, to a mere idea of fasting, the entire exercise of Great Lent is perverted. Fasting becomes a theoretical notion that can be achieved through an act that involves little or no effort because, at the end, is not the fasting that is important, but only the idea of fasting. This intellectual reduction is yet another symptom of our brokedness, of the ontological separation between mind and heart. The mind creates an entire new reality that we confuse many times with the true authenticity of existence that only a heart open to God can see.

In this world, made-up by our minds saturated with secular values, the importance of the complete involvement of the body in fasting is forgotten, because for the mind a symbol is enough. But man does not exist in a fantasy of the mind, but lives in the real world, as a true person, body and souls, both physical and spiritual.

Christ came to save the world not by spreading only the idea of salvation, but coming down Himself, taking body from the Virgin Mary and physically becoming one of us; not a ghost, not a spirit, but flesh and bones. His death on the cross was not a symbol, but a painful reality. His resurrection was not a simple story full of morality, but the defining moment of a new stage in human existence. By reducing everything to symbols we end up living in our minds and missing genuine life.

In the Orthodox understanding man is utterly aware that living in a physical world, with a corrupted and fallen nature, the body is subject to passions that affect the state of his entire being. Controlling the body through fasting directs the entire human being towards God, because “a body subdued by fasting brings the human spirit freedom, strength, sobriety, purity, and keen discernment.” (St. Ignatiy Brianchaninov). In a paradoxical way by starving the body the entire human being is nourished spiritually and is able to “ascend on high, to contemplate lofty things and to put the heavenly higher than the pleasant and pleasurable things of life.” (St. John Chrysostom).

We don’t want however to reduce the experience of fasting to a mere vegetarian diet. The Great Lent is a period of total transformation, of metanoia, as the Greek fathers call it. The faster should strive to change his or hers entire way of life, redirecting priorities, seeking new avenues to God, striving for perfection in Christ. As St. Basil the Great says “True fasting lies in rejecting evil, holding one’s tongue, suppressing one’s hatred, and banishing one’s lust, evil words, lying, and betrayal of vows.”

From this perspective we can truly say, paraphrasing St. John Chrysostom, that fasting of the body is a feast for the soul. A soul liberated from the weight of an overfed body and nourished with the manna of virtues can reach into the spiritual heights, free of the passions that drag it to the ground. Such a soul can pray more, can forgive more, can love more. Fasting is not a simple renunciation but an exercise of love, as salvation is not an honor satisfying sacrifice but the greatest act of love ever seen.

Paschal Greetings

Afrikaans - Kristus het opgestaan! Hom het waarlik opgestaan!
Aleut - Kristus aq ungwektaq! Pichinuq ungwektaq!
Arabic - !المسيح قام! حقا قام (al-Masīḥ qām! Ḥaqqan qām!)
Armenian - Քրիստոս յարեաւ ի մեռելոց՜ Օրհնեալ է յայտնութիւնն Քրիստոսի՜ (Christos harjav i merelotz! Orhniale harutjun Christosi! -- Christ is risen! Blessed is the resurrection of Christ!)
Belarusian - Хрыстос уваскрос! Сапраўды ўваскрос! (Khrystos Uvaskros! Saprawdy Wvaskros!)
Bulgarian - Христос Возкресе! Воистина Возкресе! (Christos Vozkrese! Voistina Vozkrese!)
Czech - Kristus vstal z mrtvých! Vpravdě vstal z mrtvých!
Danish - Kristus er opstanden! Sandelig Han er Opstanden!
Dutch - Christus is opgestaan! Hij is waarlijk opgestaan!
English - Christ is risen! Truly, He is Risen!
Georgian - ქრისტე აღსდგა! ჭეშმარიტად აღსდგა! (Kriste aghsdga! Cheshmaritad aghsdga!)
German - Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden!
Greek - Χριστός Ανέστη! Αληθώς Ανέστη! (Christos Anesti! Aleithos Anesti!)
French - Le Christ est ressuscité! Vraiment Il est ressuscité!
Hawaiian - Ua ala hou ´o kristo! Ua ala ´i ´o no ´oia!
Hebrew (modern) - !המשיח קם! באמת קם (Hameshiach qam! Be'emet qam!)
Icelandic - Kristur er upprisinn! Hann er vissulega upprisinn!
Irish - Tá Críost éirithe! Go deimhin, tá sé éirithe!
Italian - Cristo è risorto! È veramente risorto!
Japanese - ハリストス復活！実に復活！ (Harisutosu fukkatsu! Jitsu ni fukkatsu!)
Korean - 그리스도께서 부활하셨습니다! 참으로 부활하셨습니다! (Kristo Gesso Buhwal ha sho sumnida! Chamuro Buhwal ha sho sumnida!)
Latin - Christus resurrexit! Resurrexit vere!
Lithuanian - Kristus prisikėlė! Tikrai prisikėlė!
Mandarin - 基督復活了 他確實復活了 (Jidu fuhuo-le! Ta queshi fuhuo-le!)
Middle English - Crist is arisen! Arisen he sothe!
Navajo - Christ daaztsáádéé' náádiidzáá! T'áá aaníí, daaztsáádéé' náádiidzáá!
Norwegian - Kristus er oppstanden! Han er sannelig oppstanden!
Old English (Anglo-Saxon) - Crist aras! Crist sodhlice aras! (Lit: Christ arose! Christ surely arose!)
Polish - Chrystus Zmartwychwstał! Zaprawdę Zmartwychwstał!
Portuguese - Cristo ressuscitou! Verdadeiramente ressuscitou!
Romanian - Hristos a înviat! Adevărat a înviat!
Russian - Христос Воскресе! Воистину Воскресе! (Khristos Voskrese! Voistinu Voskrese!)
Serbian - Христос Воскресе! Ваистину Воскресе! (Christos Voskrese! Vaistinu Voskrese!)
Scots Gaelic - Tha Crìosd air èiridh! Gu dearbh, tha e air èiridh!
Slovak - Kristus vstal zmŕtvych! Skutočne vstal!
Spanish - Cristo ha resucitado! Verdaderamente, ha resucitado!
Swahili - Kristo Amefufukka! Kweli Amefufukka!
Swedish - Kristus är uppstånden! Ja, Han är verkligen uppstånden!
Tlingit - Xristos Kuxwoo-digoot! Xegaa-kux Kuxwoo-digoot!
Ukrainian - Христос Воскрес! Воістину Воскрес! (Khrystos Voskres! Voistynu Voskres!)
Welsh - Atgyfododd Crist! Yn wir atgyfododd!
Yiddish - Der Meschiache undzer iz geshtanen! Avade er iz ufgeshtanen!
Yupik - Xris-tusaq Ung-uixtuq! Iluumun Ung-uixtuq!





From OrthodoxWiki

Хрїстóсъ воскрéсе!

If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived therefor. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.

And he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows gifts. And he both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.

Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.

St John Chrysostom, Paschal Sermon

'Αγιος Φως

From OrthodoxWiki

The Holy Fire (Greek 'Αγιος Φως, literally "Holy Light") is a miracle that occurs every year at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Holy Saturday, the day preceding Pascha. It is considered by many to be the longest-attested annual miracle in the Christian world, though the event has only been documented consecutively since 1106. In many Orthodox countries around the world the event is televised live.

The ceremony begins at noon when the Patriarch of Jerusalem or another Orthodox Archbishop recites a specific prayer. The faithful gathered will then chant "Lord, have mercy" (Kyrie eleison in Greek) until the Holy Fire descends on a lamp of olive oil held by the patriarch while he is alone in the tomb chamber of Jesus Christ. The patriarch will then emerge from the tomb chamber, recite some prayers, and light either 33 or 12 candles to distribute to the faithful.
The fire is also said to spontaneously light other lamps and candles around the church. Pilgrims say the Holy Fire will not burn hair, faces, etc., in the first 33 minutes after it is ignited. Before entering the Lord's Tomb, the patriarch or presiding archbishop is inspected by Israeli authorities to prove that he does not carry the technical means to light the fire. This investigation used to be carried out by Turkish soldiers.

The Holy Fire is first mentioned in the documents dating from the 4th century. A detailed description of the miracle is contained in the travelogue of the Russian igumen Daniel, who was present at the ceremony in 1106. Daniel mentions a blue incandescence descending from the dome to the edicula where the patriarch awaits the Holy Fire. Some claim to have witnessed this incandescence in modern times.

During the many centuries of the miracle's history, the Holy Fire is said to have descended on certain other occasions, usually when heterodox clergymen attempted to obtain it. According to the tradition, in 1099, for example, the failure of Crusaders to obtain the fire led to street riots in Jerusalem. It is also claimed that in 1579, the Armenian patriarch prayed day and night in order to obtain the Holy Fire, but the Fire miraculously struck a column near the entrance [pictured left] and lit a candle held by the Orthodox patriarch standing nearby. Upon entering the temple, many Orthodox Christians venerate this column, which bears marks and a large crack attributed to the bolt of lightning from the Holy Fire.

See also
Holy Light
The Miracle of the Holy Fire
Orthodox celebrate holy fire ritual in Jerusalem (AP)
Orthodox mark 'Holy Fire' of Easter in Jerusalem (AFP)

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Patriarch Kiril and the Rite of the Washing of Feet

Below is a video of Patriarch Kiril of Moscow washing the feet of his priests today after the example of Christ washing His disciples' feet (It's in Russian, but you can cut to the chase by clicking forward to the 2-minute mark):



The following is from the Ora Et Labora blog:

Today His All-Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, performed the rite of the washing of the feet at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy at the Annunciation Cathedral in Moscow. This is the first time in recent history that a Patriarch of Moscow has performed this rite. I have adopted what follows (and taken the photographs) from this story (in Russian); for a video (in Russian) see here.

Following the example of Christ, Who washed the feet of His twelve disciples before the Mystical Supper (cf., Jn 13: 1-17), the Patriarch washed the feet of twelve priests. After the prayer at the ambo, the Patriarch went to the cathedra in the center of the church, around which twelve priests were sitting on benches. The Patriarch removed his outer vestments (omophorion, panaghia, and sakkos) and tied a long white towel around his shoulder and waist.

The senior priest, taking the role of Peter, first refused, saying: Thou shalt never wash my feet. The Patriarch replied with the words of Christ: If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me. The senior priest replied: Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. To which the Patriarch replied again with the words of Christ: He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet.

The Patriarch then proceeded to wash the feet of the twelve assembled priests.

After the washing of the feet of all twelve priests, His All-Holiness, Patriarch Kirill, put his vestments back on and offered a sermon from the ambon. He first congratulated all present on Holy Thursday, on which the institution of the Mystery of the Eucharist is commemorated. “Through the Mystery of the Eucharist we, through the power of the Holy Spirit, become participants not only of the Mystical Supper, but of all that the Savior accomplished,” remarked the Patriarch.

"Eating of the Body and Blood of the Savior,” the Patriarch continued, “we become communicants of His Divine life, becoming participants of His Divine Kingdom. It is namely Communion of the Body and Blood of the Savior that helps us to overcome sin. No exertion whatsoever of will or mind, no concentration of man’s feelings, is capable of overcoming the power of sin. However, taking on the power of the Savior, we become stronger than any dark forces.”

“In our tumultuous and troubled times, when man is susceptible to various afflictions and temptations,” the Patriarch continued, “we must especially come running to Christ’s Chalice and reverently eat of the Body and Blood of the Savior for our salvation.” Today’s celebration, in the words of the Patriarch, is an invitation for us to live an active liturgical life, not as observers, but as participants.

The Patriarch then related that, in performing the rite of the washing of the feet, he had “performed an action prescribed for us by our Holy Fathers.”

“In imitation of the Savior, the Patriarch today washed the feet of priests who symbolized the twelve Apostles,” said His All-Holiness, emphasizing that this rite helps us to understand the depths of the humility of Christ, Who became man in order to save us.

“At the Mystical Supper, bending His knees, He washed the feet of His disciples, in the same manner as a simple servant normally would, to demonstrate that every human person is important before God,” said the Patriarch. “Precisely this understanding helps a Christian to be a humble person, honestly fulfilling his responsibilities, whatever they may be, remembering that the fulfillment of one’s responsibilities, and the honors that go with it, does not overshadow the great truth that we are all equal before God.”

“Pride, however,” the Patriarch concluded, “destroys the connection that the Lord established with us after His suffering on the Cross and His Resurrection.”

At the same Liturgy, following the completion of the Eucharistic Canon, the Patriarch consecrated Holy Chrism. (See the story, in Russian, here.)

Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday begins with the celebration of vespers and the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil with a Reserved Eucharist in representation of the earthly presence of Christ realized at the Last Supper. In the evening, anticipating the Matins of Friday morning, the Holy Passion service of the reading of the Twelve Gospels is conducted. In these readings Christ's last instructions to his disciples are presented, as well as the prophecy of the drama of the Cross, Christ's prayer, and his new commandment. The twelve readings are:

John 13:31-18:1
John 18:1-29
Matthew 26:57-75
John 18:28–19:16
Matthew 27:3-32
Mark 15:16-32
Matthew 27:33-54
Luke 23:32-49
John 19:19-37
Mark 15:43-47
John 19:38-42
Matthew 27:62-66

From OrthodoxWiki

Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week 3.
MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY: THE END

These three days, which the Church calls Great and Holy have within the liturgical development of the Holy Week a very definite purpose. They place all its celebrations in the perspective of End ; they remind us of the eschatological meaning of Pascha. So often Holy Week is considered one of the "beautiful traditions" or "customs," a self-evident "part" of our calendar. We take it for granted and enjoy it as a cherished annual event which we have "observed" since childhood, we admire the beauty of its services, the pageantry of its rites and, last but not least, we like the fuss about the paschal table. And then, when all this is done we resume our normal life. But do we understand that when the world rejected its Savior, when "Jesus began to be sorrowful and very heavy... and his soul was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death," when He died on the Cross, "normal life" came to its end and is no longer possible. For there were "normal" men who shouted "Crucify Him [" who spat at Him and nailed Him to the Cross. And they hated and killed Him precisely because He was troubling their normal life. It was indeed a perfectly "normal" world which preferred darkness and death to light and life.... By the death of Jesus the "normal" world, and "normal" life were irrevocably condemned. Or rather they revealed their true and abnormal inability to receive the Light, the terrible power of evil in them. "Now is the Judgment of this world" (John 12:31). The Pascha of Jesus signified its end to "this world" and it has been at its end since then. This end can last for hundreds of centuries this does not alter the nature of time in which we live as the "last time." "The fashion of this world passeth away..." (I Cor. 7:31).

Pascha means passover, passage. The feast of Passover was for the Jews the annual commemoration of their whole history as salvation, and of salvation as passage from the slavery of Egypt into freedom, from exile into the promised land. It was also the anticipation of the ultimate passage - into the Kingdom of God. And Christ was the fulfillment of Pascha. He performed the ultimate passage: from death into life, from this "old world" into the new world into the new time of the Kingdom. And he opened the possibility of this passage to us. Living in "this world" we can already be "not of this world," i.e. be free from slavery to death and sin, partakers of the "world to come." But for this we must also perform our own passage, we must condemn the old Adam in us, we must put on Christ in the baptismal death and have our true life hidden in God with Christ, in the "world to come...."

And thus Easter is not an annual commemoration, solemn and beautiful, of a past event. It is this Event itself shown, given to us, as always efficient, always revealing our world, our time, our life as being at their end, and announcing the Beginning of the new life.... And the function of the three first days of Holy Week is precisely to challenge us with this ultimate meaning of Pascha and to prepare us to the understanding and acceptance of it.

1. This eschatological (which means ultimate, decisive, final) challenge is revealed, first, in the common troparion of these days:

Troparion - Tone 8
Behold the Bridegroom comes at midnight,
And blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching,
And again unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless.
Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep,
Lest you be given up to death and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom.
But rouse yourself crying: Holy, Holy, Holy, are You, O our God!
Through the Theotokos have mercy on us!

Midnight is the moment when the old day comes to its end and a new day begins. It is thus the symbol of the time in which we live as Christians. For, on the one hand, the Church is still in this world, sharing in its weaknesses and tragedies. Yet, on the other hand, her true being is not of this world, for she is the Bride of Christ and her mission is to announce and to reveal the coming of the Kingdom and of the new day. Her life is a perpetual watching and expectation, a vigil pointed at the dawn of this new day. But we know how strong is still our attachment to the "old day," to the world with its passions and sins. We know how deeply we still belong to "this world." We have seen the light, 'We know Christ, we have heard about the peace and joy of the new life in Him, and yet the world holds us in its slavery. This weakness, this constant betrayal of Christ, this incapacity to give the totality of our love to the only true object of love are wonderfully expressed in the exapostilarion of these three days:

"Thy Bridal Chamber I see adorned, O my Savior And I have no wedding garment that I may enter, O Giver of life, enlighten the vesture of my soul And save me."

2. The same theme develops further in the Gospel readings of these days. First of all, the entire text of the four Gospels (up to John 13: 31) is read at the Hours (1, 3, 6 and 9th). This recapitulation shows that the Cross is the climax of the whole life and ministry of Jesus, the Key to their proper understanding. Everything in the Gospel leads to this ultimate hour of Jesus and everything is to be understood in its light. Then, each service has its special Gospel lesson :

On Monday:

At Matins: Matthew 21: 18-43 - the story of the fig tree, the symbol of the world created to bear spiritual fruits and failing in its response to God.

At the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: Matthew 24: 3-35: the great eschatological discourse of Jesus. The signs and announcement of the End. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away...."

"When the Lord was going to His voluntary Passion, He said to His Apostles on the way: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, And the Son of Man shall be delivered up As it is written of Him. Come, therefore, and let us accompany Him, With minds purified from the pleasures of this life, And let us be crucified and die with Him, That we may live with Him, And that we may hear Him say to us: I go now, not to the earthly Jerusalem to suffer, But unto My Father and your Father And My God and your God, And I will gather you up into the heavenly Jerusalem, Into the Kingdom of Heaven...." (Monday Matins)

by THE VERY REV. ALEXANDER SCHMEMANN

Palm Sunday: The Feast of the Entrance of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem

Introduction
On the Sunday before the Feast of Great and Holy Pascha and at the beginning of Holy Week, the Orthodox Church celebrates one of its most joyous feasts of the year. Palm Sunday is the commemoration of the Entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem following His glorious miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. Having anticipated His arrival and having heard of the miracle, the people when out to meet the Lord and welcomed Him with displays of honor and shouts of praise. On this day, we receive and worship Christ in this same manner, acknowledging Him as our King and Lord.

Biblical Story
The biblical story of Palm Sunday is recorded in all four of the Gospels (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:28-38; and John 12:12-18). Five days before the Passover, Jesus came from Bethany to Jerusalem. Having sent two of His disciples to bring Him a colt of a donkey, Jesus sat upon it and entered the city.

People had gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover and were looking for Jesus, both because of His great works and teaching and because they had heard of the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus. When they heard that Christ was entering the city, they went out to meet Him with palm branches, laying their garments on the ground before Him, and shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he that comes in the Name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”

At the outset of His public ministry Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God and announced that the powers of the age to come were already active in the present age (Luke 7:18-22). His words and mighty works were performed "to produce repentance as the response to His call, a call to an inward change of mind and heart which would result in concrete changes in one's life, a call to follow Him and accept His messianic destiny. The triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is a messianic event, through which His divine authority was declared.

Palm Sunday summons us to behold our king: the Word of God made flesh. We are called to behold Him not simply as the One who came to us once riding on a colt, but as the One who is always present in His Church, coming ceaselessly to us in power and glory at every Eucharist, in every prayer and sacrament, and in every act of love, kindness and mercy. He comes to free us from all our fears and insecurities, "to take solemn possession of our soul, and to be enthroned in our heart," as someone has said. He comes not only to deliver us from our deaths by His death and Resurrection, but also to make us capable of attaining the most perfect fellowship or union with Him. He is the King, who liberates us from the darkness of sin and the bondage of death. Palm Sunday summons us to behold our King: the vanquisher of death and the giver of life.

Palm Sunday summons us to accept both the rule and the kingdom of God as the goal and content of our Christian life. We draw our identity from Christ and His kingdom. The kingdom is Christ - His indescribable power, boundless mercy and incomprehensible abundance given freely to man. The kingdom does not lie at some point or place in the distant future. In the words of the Scripture, the kingdom of God is not only at hand (Matthew 3:2; 4:17), it is within us (Luke 17:21). The kingdom is a present reality as well as a future realization (Matthew 6:10).

Theophan the Recluse wrote the following words about the inward rule of Christ the King:
“The Kingdom of God is within us when God reigns in us, when the soul in its depths confesses God as its Master, and is obedient to Him in all its powers. Then God acts within it as master ‘both to will and to do of his good pleasure’ (Philippians 2:13). This reign begins as soon as we resolve to serve God in our Lord Jesus Christ, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Then the Christian hands over to God his consciousness and freedom, which comprises the essential substance of our human life, and God accepts the sacrifice; and in this way the alliance of man with God and God with man is achieved, and the covenant with God, which was severed by the Fall and continues to be severed by our willful sins, is re-established.”

The kingdom of God is the life of the Holy Trinity in the world. It is the kingdom of holiness, goodness, truth, beauty, love, peace and joy. These qualities are not works of the human spirit. They proceed from the life of God and reveal God. Christ Himself is the kingdom. He is the God-Man, Who brought God down to earth (John 1:1,14). “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world knew Him not. He came to His own home, and His own people received Him not” (John 1:10-11). He was reviled and hated.

Palm Sunday summons us to behold our king - the Suffering Servant. We cannot understand Jesus' kingship apart from the Passion. Filled with infinite love for the Father and the Holy Spirit, and for creation, in His inexpressible humility Jesus accepted the infinite abasement of the Cross. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows; He was wounded for our transgressions and made Himself an offering for sin (Isaiah 53). His glorification, which was accomplished by the resurrection and the ascension, was achieved through the Cross.

In the fleeting moments of exuberance that marked Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the world received its King, the king who was on His way to death. His Passion, however, was no morbid desire for martyrdom. Jesus' purpose was to accomplish the mission for which the Father sent Him.

Orthodox Christian Celebration of Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is celebrated with the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, which is preceded by the Matins service. A Great Vespers is conducted on Saturday evening according to the order prescribed in the Triodion. Scripture readings for Palm Sunday are: At the Vespers: Genesis 49:1,8-12; Zephaniah 3:14-19; Zechariah 9:9-15. At the Orthros (Matins): Matthew 21:1-17. At the Divine Liturgy: Philippians 4:4-9; John 12:1-18.

On this Sunday, in addition to the Divine Liturgy, the Church observes the Blessing and Distribution of the Palms. A basket containing the woven palm crosses is placed on a table in front of the icon of the Lord, which is on the Iconostasion. The prayer for the blessing of the Palms is found in the Ieratikon or the Euxologion. According to the rubrics of the Typikon, this prayer is read at the Orthros just before the Psalms of Praise (Ainoi). The palms are then distributed to the faithful. In many places today, the prayer is said at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, before the apolysis. The text of the prayer, however, indicates clearly that it is less a prayer for the blessing of the palms, even though that is its title, and more a blessing upon those, who in imitation of the New Testament event hold palms in their hands as symbols of Christ's victory and as signs of a virtuous Christian life. It appears then, that it would be more correct to have the faithful hold the palms in their hands during the course of the Divine Liturgy when the Church celebrates both the presence and the coming of the Lord in the mystery of the Eucharist.

From GOA

Lazarus Saturday

Originally posted on Glory to God for All Things:

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 (Orthodox celebrate Pascha a week later than Western Christians this year).

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 [dead] 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 remained bound like dead men.

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