Dan Everiss
<oregdan@hotmail.com> | Sun, Mar 11, 2018 at 12:47 AM |
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Troparion, Tone One:
"O Lord save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance; granting unto Orthodox Christians victory over their adversaries, and
by the power of Thy Cross, do Thou preserve Thy community."
Kontakion, Tone Four:
"O
Thou Who wast lifted up willingly upon the Cross, bestow Thy mercies
upon the new community named after Thee, O Christ God;
gladden with Thy power Orthodox Christians, granting them victory over
their adversaries; may they have as Thy help, the weapon of peace, that
invincible trophy
of Thy Cross."
Another Kontakion, Tone Seven:
"No
longer doth the flaming sword guard the gate of Eden, for a strange
extinction hath come upon it, even the Tree of the Cross,
The sting hath been taken from death, and the victory from hades.
And Thou, my Saviour, didst appear unto those in hades, saying: Enter ye again into Paradise."
"Before Thy Cross, we bow down in worship, O Master, and Thy Holy Resurrection, we glorify!"
"Through the Cross, joy has come into all the world!"
By St. Metropolitan Philaret (Vosnyesensky) of New York:
Sermon: Holy Cross 3rd Sunday Lent
Translated by Eugenia and edited by Joanna
for the final version see Living Orthodoxy magazine issue #188.
From the Collection of Sermons by St. Metropolitan Philaret, Vol. I, pp 123-126
The Holy Life-giving Cross of the Lord
“Rejoice, O life-giving Cross," "the invincible victory of piety,"
"the heavenly door," "confirmation of the faithful," "protection of
the Church," "for by it the curse is destroyed" and "abolished," and
the "reign of death is trampled" and "we are raised
up from earthly to heavenly things," "invincible weapon," "resistance
of demons," "glory of martyrs," the true "adornment of the saints",
the "haven of salvation," "granting to the world great mercy.” With
these words (and many others) today the Church
magnifies and glorifies the life-giving Cross, this weapon of our
salvation.
We all know, of course, that the life-giving cross is our main holy
object, our main spiritual treasure. And the Church glorifies this holy
object in a special manner. During the course of the entire year, on
Wednesdays and Fridays, in Church hymns and practically
on every Sunday, the Cross is glorified. It is brought out triumphantly
three times during the year for veneration: in the summer, on the first
of August [old style], we commemorate the procession of the Cross out
from the cathedral in Constantinople and
along the streets of that royal city; on the 14th of September [old
style] we commemorate the main feast, the triumphant and elevation of
the Cross; and on today's feast, we commemorate the Cross in the middle
of the Great Lent.
Why is it that the Church namely on this day, the third Sunday of Great
Lent, so particularly offers us the Cross for prayer and veneration?
In the Old Testament there was an episode which the Holy Bible relates,
when the Hebrew people who were wandering in the desert under the
leadership of the prophet and God-seer Moses, were walking along the
desert for a long time without water, and finally
they began to grow weak from thirst. Finally they saw a spring with
water. Exhausted, and at the height of their suffering they ran to this
spring, but alas, the water turned out to be so unbearably bitter, that
it was impossible to drink. They called out
to Moses. Moses directly turns to the Lord Himself in prayer, pointing
out to Him the woeful state of the people and this spring of water; and
the Lord indicates to him a tree which he must with prayer immerse into
the water of this spring. When Moses did
this, a wondrous change occurred with the water, and it became pleasant
to the taste and refreshing, as it happens only with the best and purest
sources of water.
And it was this particular miracle, as the Holy Fathers pointed out,
that was a prefiguration of how the Life-giving Cross sweetens the
turbulent and bitter waters of the sea of life in which you and I now
find ourselves.
But particularly now, during the Great Lent, the Church reminds us of
the Cross and offers it to us, in order to give us courage and
strengthen us for the continuation of our podvig of carrying the cross.
Of course, for him who does not fast, this is incomprehensible – he sees
no need for this; but for him who observes the fasts, he knows that
human frailty becomes apparent during this labor of fasting and that a
person grows weak; and in order to encourage
him and spiritually strengthen him, the Church reminds him of the Cross,
of what
the Lord Jesus Christ did for us people, how He took upon Himself
our sins, nailed them to the Cross, became nailed Himself to it and
through His sufferings upon the Cross, obtained for us our salvation and
clemency from Divine Justice.
This is particularly comprehensible for great fasters and ascetics, true
monks in strict monasteries. In such places they fast strictly,
harshly, not sparing themselves. Certain fasters spend entire days
completely without food and drink. And in order to
strengthen human frailty, which weakens with such fasting feats,
ascetics turn to the wood of the Cross. It speaks to us of
what the Lord endured for us, and by this gives us wings for new labors, new podvigs/spiritual struggles
But remember, when we bow down in veneration before the Life-giving
Cross, venerate it and kiss it, as our holy object, as our treasure
which sanctifies us, we must always keep in mind remembrance of what
occurred on the Cross.
The mystery of the Savior's podvig on the Cross consists in His being
nailed to the Cross in His Human nature and in this nature he received
all sufferings of crucifixion. But at the same time, since He was not
merely a man, but God-man, His divine, omniscient
nature revealed to Him the full knowledge of all the sins of all
people of all ages. And of ours as well. And when He was suffering
there, experiencing grievously in these torments the sins of all
mankind, our own sins were also there in front of
Him, and He sorrowed for them and received crucifixion for them – for
the sins of each one of us.
Concerning this, the Holy Fathers tell us the following: since the power
of His podvig on the Cross, its salvific effect, extends over all
times, and consequently touches all mankind's sins, then each time, when
you and I commit a sin, it is as if we exacerbate
the suffering which the Lord endures on the Cross for us. The Holy
Fathers said this directly; that sinners who sin impenitently are
crucifying the Son of God a second time, as if nailing Him to the Cross
again, as if personally participating in the terrible
blows under which the nails of the Cross pierced the body of our Lord.
There is an account concerning the miracle-working icon of the Mother of
God “Unexpected Joy”, where it is said, that a certain man, a sinner,
often walked by the Icon of the Mother of God, despite the fact that he
was on his way to commit his sins, yet with
faith and reverence glorified Her, pronouncing the angelic salutation
“Rejoice O Virgin Theotokos, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with Thee,
blessed art Thou among women.” And then one day, after such a greeting,
he suddenly sees with horror, how the image
seems to have come alive, that the Mother of God and the Savior seem to
be alive on it, and from the wounds of the Savior, live blood is
streaming. He began to shake, and falling before the image in horror,
he asks the Mother of God: “Mother of Mercy, intercede
for me a sinner before Thy Son, that He would forgive me my
lawlessness.” And She answers him: “You call me Mother of Mercy, yet
you are not merciful to My Son, for each time when you sin impenitently,
you nail Him a second time to the Cross.” The sinful
man implored and persuaded her. She obtained forgiveness for him from
Her Son – but what an edification is this for us!
Remember this, Christian, and when bowing down before the cross and
kissing it, pray to the Lord, that the Lord, through the power of the
Cross, would strengthen you in your battle against sin, so that you
might not sin impenitently and through this unrepented
sin, not nail again your Lord to the cross. Amen
============================== ============================== ============================== ============================== ==========
Third Sunday of Lent
Veneration of the Holy Cross
Mark 8:34b - 9:1
From The Explanation of the Gospel of St. Mark
by Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Ochrid and Bulgaria
34-37. And when He had
called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them,
Whosoever desireth to follow after Me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross,
and follow Me. For whosoever desireth to save his life, shall lose it;
but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospels, the same
shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul? [In this passage of St. Mark, and in the following commentary, the single Greek word,
psyche, has been translated as either "life" or "soul" as it has both these meanings. See also Theophylact's
Explanation of St.
Matthew, pp. 30, 61, and 193. Tr.] Since Peter had
rebuked Him for wanting to be crucified, the Lord called the people unto
Him, and said in the hearing of all, but directing His words mostly
towards Peter, "Do you find fault with Me, Peter,
because I take up the cross? I say to you, that neither you, nor anyone
else, will be saved unless you die for the sake of goodness and truth."
See that Christ does not compel a man to die on a cross against his own
will. Instead He said,
Whosoever desireth. The Lord is saying: "I compel
no one. I invite him to something good, not to something bad to which he
must be forced. Whoever does not want these things is not worthy of
them." We can learn what
it means to deny oneself if we understand what it means to deny another.
He who denies another is he who, when he sees his brother, or servant,
or father, being flogged or even murdered, does not turn towards him and
pity him in his suffering, but acts as
if he were a stranger to him. In this same manner the Lord wants us to
show no pity towards our own bodies, so that even if we are flogged, or
worse, let it make no difference to us. Let him take up his cross, that
is, accept a most shameful death, for at
that time to die on a cross was considered the most shameful of deaths.
But since many were crucified for being bandits, the Lord added to the
crucifixion something else: that one ought to have virtue. This is what
it means
to follow Me. Although His command that one give
oneself over to death seemed hard and cruel, the Lord straightway shows
this commandment is given out of love for mankind. For
whosoever shall lose his life for My sake shall
find life. (But the death of a condemned man, or of one who hangs
himself, is not for Christ's sake and brings no such reward.) And, on
the contrary, he who appears to
have saved his life, far from finding life, shall lose it by not
remaining steadfast during his time of martyrdom. Do not say to Me, "But
he has saved his life", it means nothing. Even if you say that he has
gained the whole world as well, it is of no benefit.
No one can exchange money for his salvation, for if that were so, a man
who had gained the world but lost his soul, could, while burning in the
flames of hell, use his money to buy innocence. But at that time and in
that place no such trade can be made. Here
let us shut the mouths of those who say, following Origen, that all the
souls in hell will be restored [and reunited with those in heaven] after
they have been punished in accordance with their sins. ( 1)
Let them hear that there is no exchange that can be made there for ones
soul. No one is kept in hell as a punishment. Rather, it is the weight
of his own sins which holds him there.
38-9:1. Whosoever therefore
shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful
generation; of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He cometh
in the
glory of His Father with the holy angels. And He said unto. them, Verily
I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall
not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with
power.
Intellectual faith does not suffice, but confession of
faith with ones mouth is required as well. Since man himself is
two-fold, let his sanctification be two-fold as well. The soul is
sanctified by faith, but the body is sanctified by confessing.
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed to confess that the Crucified One is his God,
of him also shall the Crucified One
be ashamed. For the Lord shall judge that man to be an
unworthy servant, when He comes with glory, escorted by the angels, and
no longer in lowly form. At the second coming He will not appear, as He
did before, to be of base origin and circumstance,
and an object of scorn. Since He speaks of His own glory, He desires to
show that He is not vainly boasting, and says,
There be some of them that stand here, namely,
Peter, James, and John, who shall not die until I have shown them at the
Transfiguration the glory with which I shall appear at the second
coming. For the Transfiguration
was nothing less than a foreshadowing of the second coming, and as He
appeared in radiance then, so will He shine at the second coming, as
will also all the righteous.
1. This false teaching of Origen,
apokotastasis, the general restoration of all
fallen creation, was condemned by the Church as heresy at the Fifth
Ecumenical Council held at Constantinople in 553
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