Holy Thursday, Holy Friday, Holy Saturday

Holy Thursday 12 Gospels.

A lot of tears for my +Aunt Karen that service.

I got this on Holy Thursday, the day my +Aunt Karen died, from our church kiosk, a beautiful wooden prayer rope. I am not a "superstar prayer" but I found this prayer rope comforting to hold in my hand and squeeze, as if I was holding my Husband's hand.

 It's going to be hard for me not to have him with me at my Aunt Karen's funeral, 

but he honestly can't go because of being neck-deep at work. 

But I will travel DV on Monday with this prayer rope nearby.

The prayer rope is from the Sisters at the St Elizabeth Convent in Minsk Belarus and it is nice

to have something from them so nearby to myself.

Procession and entry into the the tomb.

Holy Saturday and the Feast of the Annunciation.

It was a blessing to hear the Gospel for the Theotokos/Virgin Mary and St Elizabeth

Mother of St John the Baptist; this Saint Elizabeth is my patron name Saint. 

St Elizabeth the New Martyr; her name's Saint is

St Elizabeth the Mother of St John the Baptist.

Holy Saturday Bread after the longest liturgy of the year.

Some treats for church kids. This is a hard Pascha for me. I am excited for Pascha, grieving my +Aunt Karen, grieving that I will miss pretty much all of Bright week with my Husband, glad to have family to grieve, love and visit, and other "unbloggable" things that are weighing heavy on my heart. Yet so glad that our Lord loves us so much that He came down to be with us, die for us and in His Resurrection give us eternal life to live forever with Him and in His love.

Almost forgot the whiskey that we got for Christmas! 

Now our basket is complete, with 2 bags of cookies added at the end.

***

I have a basket for the Munchkin and his Mom,

a basket of cookies to give out

and another basket with treats and our second kulich

as well as our main Pascha basket. 

This has been one of the songs I have listened to a lot this week,

since my Aunt Karen died.

It fit the mood.

I will be so glad to hear, DV tonight, the songs of Pascha

and to sing to my +Aunt Karen that Christ is Risen...

a reality she is already in...

Great and Holy Saturday

As alluded to on my post of Great and Holy Friday,

this explanation says everything ~ all that we are waiting for,

all we are hoping for, all the questions we have, they are answered in this day:

"On Great and Holy Saturday the Church contemplates the mystery of the Lord's descent into Hades, the place of the dead. Death, our ultimate enemy, is defeated from within. "He (Christ) gave Himself as a ransom to death in which we were held captive, sold under sin. Descending into Hades through the Cross ... He loosed the bonds of death" 

(Liturgy of St. Basil).

On Great Saturday our focus is on the Tomb of Christ. This is no ordinary grave. It is not a place of corruption, decay and defeat. It is life-giving, a source of power, victory and liberation.

Great Saturday is the day between Jesus' death and His resurrection. It is the day of watchful expectation, in which mourning is being transformed into joy. The day embodies in the fullest possible sense the meaning of "Χαρμολύπη"- joyful-sadness, which has dominated the celebrations of Great Week. The hymnographer of the Church has penetrated the profound mystery, and helps us to understand it through the following poetic dialogue that he has devised between Jesus and His Mother:

"Weep not for me, O Mother, beholding in the sepulcher the Son whom thou hast conceived without seed in thy womb. For I shall rise and shall be glorified, and as God I shall exalt in everlasting glory those who magnify thee with faith and love."

"O Son without beginning, in ways surpassing nature was I blessed at Thy strange birth, for I was spared all travail. But now beholding Thee, my God, a lifeless corpse, I am pierced by the sword of bitter sorrow. But arise, that I may be magnified."

"By mine own will the earth covers me, O Mother, but the gatekeepers of hell tremble as they see me, clothed in the bloodstained garment of vengeance: for on the Cross as God have I struck down mine enemies, and I shall rise again and magnify thee."

"Let the creation rejoice exceedingly, let all those born on earth be glad: for hell, the enemy, has been despoiled. Ye women, come to meet me with sweet spices: for I am delivering Adam and Eve with all their offspring, and on the third day I shall rise again."

 (9th Ode of the Canon)

Great Saturday is the day of the pre-eminent rest. Christ observes a Sabbath rest in the tomb. His rest, however, is not inactivity but the fulfillment of the divine will and plan for the salvation of humankind and the cosmos. He who brought all things into being, makes all things new. The re-creation of the world has been accomplished once and for all. Through His incarnation, life and death Christ has filled all things with Himself He has opened a path for all flesh to the resurrection from the dead, since it was not possible that the author of life would be dominated by corruption.

Saint Paul tells us that:

"God was in Jesus Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). Hence, eternal life - real and self-generating - penetrated the depths of Hades. Christ who is the life of all destroyed death by His death. That is why the Church sings joyously "Things now are filled with light, the heaven and the earth and all that is beneath the earth"

(Canon of Pascha).

The Church knows herself to be "the place, the eternal reality, where the presence of Christ vanquishes Satan, hell and death itself.

The solemn observance of Great Saturday help us to recall and celebrate the great truth that "despite the daily vicissitudes and contradictions of history and the abiding presence of hell within the human heart and human society," life has been liberated! Christ has broken the power of death.

It is not without significance that the icon of the Resurrection in our Church is the Descent of Christ into Hades, the place of the dead. This icon depicts a victorious Christ, reigned in glory, trampling upon death, and seizing Adam and Eve in His hands, plucking them from the abyss of hell. This icon expresses vividly the truths resulting from Christ's defeat of death by His death and Resurrection." (see here for source and more information)

Services on Great and Holy Saturday:

8:50 AM Hours & Typika 

9:30 AM Vesperal Liturgy

11:15 PM Midnight Office with Procession

Holy Friday {evening} and Holy Saturday {morning}

The tomb of Christ adorned with Lily and Hyacinth. 

We stand at the Cross with Christ's Mother,

His disciple, St. John the Beloved Evangelist, 

and the Myrrh Bearing Women,

we lament Christ's death 

in song, singing poetical canons of Lamentation.

This is Christ's Shroud and we entomb Christ,

worshiping Him in His Holy Passion.

The lamentation is real but with a sweetness of 

love for our Sweetest Lord Jesus...

*

Later the shroud is lifted up

and everyone who is able processes outside 

with it, singing, holding candles...

It is deeply memorable and we are going down with Christ in 

His Holy Saving Passion.

 Everyone enters the church by first dying with Christ

and so we all enter into the tomb by walking

under the Shroud upon entering again.

*

The picture above shows Mr. Husband entering,

carrying the Holy and Life-Giving Cross.

The shroud is placed back on the tomb

and we all stand lamenting, singing sweetly to our 

Beloved Lord Jesus.

During this time we feel the Lord's death;

a little boy I was with and teaching

through the icon of our Lord's crucifixion,

of Holy Friday;

in simplicity the boy asked 'did He really have to die'? 

Yes, to save us, Yes, so He can kill death.

Yes because it is the only way He can bring us 

dead in sin to life again...

*

During this time it is not uncommon to see a few

crying at the sight of our Holy Beloved Lord's Passion, His Death,

the words of His love, His forgiveness,

the Good Thief asking 

Remember me in Your Kingdom.

*

This service also speaks of Christ

descending into hell, harrowing hell,

raising up Adam and Eve.

*

By the next morning the poetical songs

are speaking of Christ shattering hell, 

releasing it's captives and that

Hell can hold them no more.

When people enter they see the tomb of Christ;

people pray in front of the tomb,

others bow in worship of Christ's Passion.

*

15 Old Testament Readings are read Saturday morning

and the service becomes joyful, more and more joyful!

*

In the middle of it the colours of purple or black

are changed for Paschal White! 

In the Greek Tradition the Shroud is taken into the altar at this time.

In the Russian Tradition the Shroud is taken in later, before Pascha.

The Lord is resting in the tomb on this the

Sabbath Day 

and has released those in the tomb...

Hell has been broken, forever! 

At the end of liturgy,

5 loaves of bread are given for the faithful to eat.

And some wine.

In the tradition of the Church, for those with the 

spiritual strength and in for many centuries,

people have fasted from Holy Thursday to Holy Saturday

and this bread and wine is given to them

to strengthen them as they wait the later evening liturgy,

of Great and Holy Pascha!