Holy Week – Royal Doors

Apr

04

2020

Holy Week & Pascha – A Brief Explanation

NewsHoly Week, Lent, Pascha

by Fr. Peter Babej Lazarus Saturday The Great Fast (40 days) ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday. Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday form a short and joyous prelude to the days of grief which will follow. Bethany is the place where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and reveals Himself to be “the Resurrection and the Life.” “Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live” (John 11:25). Bethany is also the point of departure for Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. On this Saturday, we go to Bethany, to Lazarus’s tomb. We want to meet Jesus at Bethany…

Singing in the Midst of the Flames

LiturgyDivine Liturgy, Holy Week, Liturgical Year, Old Testament, Scipture

Source: Eparchy of Newton One of the last books in the Old Testament – and perhaps the most intriguing – is the Book of Daniel. Written in the second century bc, it tells the adventures of the godly Jewish nobles Daniel and his companions Ananiah, Azariah and Mishael who were taken captive by the Babylonians four hundred years before. Given new names – Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – and trained for service in the Babylonian court, they were imprisoned for not worshipping the gods of their pagan masters but vindicated by the power of the true God, the God…

Great and Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

FaithGreat Fast, Great Lent, Holy Week, Lent

The following is excerpted from A Paschal Pilgrimage: A Guide to the Great Fast by Bishop Basil Losten. The Bridegroom Cometh On Palm Sunday evening at Vespers we “pass from the feast of palms and branches… to the saving solemnity of the sufferings of Christ.” On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning of Holy Week, Matins is popularly called the “Bridegroom Service,” because each time we sing the Troparion, “Behold, the Bridegroom is coming in the middle of the night!” (Hear this troparion on Youtube) Each day the Gospel is read. There is Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts on Monday, Tuesday and…