{"id":21905,"date":"2019-04-22T07:38:19","date_gmt":"2019-04-22T07:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/?p=21905"},"modified":"2021-04-26T06:56:36","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T06:56:36","slug":"some-practical-advice-on-holy-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/some-practical-advice-on-holy-week","title":{"rendered":"Some Practical Advice on Holy Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header\"><\/header>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"featured_img aligncenter wp-image-21907 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/42362.jpg.1024x0_q85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"772\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/42362.jpg.1024x0_q85.jpg 772w, https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/42362.jpg.1024x0_q85-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 772px) 100vw, 772px\" \/><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">During Holy Week we will hear again the greatest of all\u00a0stories, the Story that fulfills the ancient myths, the Story that in one way or another is the pattern for almost every significant human story ever told. This is the ultimate catastrophe, the death of God in this world, the destruction of all hope. This is the ultimate Happy Ending,\u00a0too wonderful for us\u00a0to comprehend or\u00a0grasp. On Pascha night, the Apostles \u201cdisbelieved for joy\u201d; it was too good to be true.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thus, in preparation for the blessed days which are upon us, here is my advice on:<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">How to Keep Holy Week<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>1.<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Don\u2019t miss it!<\/strong>\u00a0Old fashioned evangelicals used to have \u201crevivals\u201d, a week focused on a special speaker when people came to church a lot. This is our annual Orthodox \u201crevival\u201d week, when people come to church a lot, but we are focused directly on our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. As we enter into Holy Week, the key words in\u00a0our Palm Sunday Epistle (Philippians 4:4-9)) are these: \u201cWhatever is noble, whatever is just, whatever is pure, lovely, good, virtuous, praiseworthy, think on these things\u201d. The Fathers chose this passage because\u00a0what we hear, see and experience during Holy Week are the most noble, most just, most pure, lovely, good, virtuous and praiseworthy of all things. There is nothing better than to ponder Christ\u2019s Passion, Death and Resurrection, to enter into these things and let them become part of us. This is a wonderful, life-giving, soul-renewing week. During Holy Week set your mind on higher things.\u00a0Don\u2019t waste\u00a0Holy Week on television and movies and sports and computer games. The political soap opera will be still be there\u00a0next week, not to mention the week after that. Live this Holy Week with the Lord and his Mother and his Apostles. Holy Week\u00a0to me is always a passage, a journey. At the end of it nothing externally has changed, but in another way everything has changed. I have changed, I emerge somewhere else. This is a transformative week. It renews me every year and exhausts me too now that I\u2019m old, but it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21908\" src=\"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/1384032-600x455.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"570\" height=\"420\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>2. Stop reading this blog and go to church<\/strong>.\u00a0<strong>Often.<\/strong>\u00a0All Orthodox worship has a \u201cnuminous\u201d quality about it, but especially during Holy Week. At the first Orthodox Holy Week service I attended long ago, the ruach * hung over it so heavily\u00a0it was almost palpable. Most Orthodox churches offer daily services this week, many twice a day. Be there as much as you can. I know\u00a0this is difficult, our modern western world being what it is. The old Orthodox world makes this easier. Not here. Not now. But\u00a0do your best, especially for Palm Sunday, and the services of Christ\u2019s life-giving Passion, Death, Burial and Resurrection at the end of the week. To me,\u00a0Holy Week in church is a little preview of heaven: people I love gathered together, focused on God and good things \u2013 but in heaven we\u2019ll have energy to keep it up more than a week.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">*<em>\u00a0\u201cRuach\u201d is a Hebrew word with overtones of both \u201cglory\u201d and \u201cheaviness\u201d. C.S. Lewis wrote an essay, \u201cThe Weight of Glory\u201d.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For any who don\u2019t know: The\u00a0hymn below is sung before the Kabuklion (bier) of Christ on Holy Friday night, which is covered in flowers in thanksgiving for his life-giving death. This image is the Epitaphion which lies on the bier. Near the end of the service it is carried in procession\u00a0outside the church. All follow and then re-enter the church by passing under it, thereby entering into Christ\u2019s \u00a0death. And so we all will\u00a0die\u00a0with Christ and emerge on the other side of death with him, still in the Church.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c1VhFZaHxJw\" width=\"560\" height=\"314\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21909\" src=\"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/IMG_7990-e1461606288765.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"477\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>3. When you can\u2019t get to church, set extra time aside for prayer. Read the appointed Scripture readings <\/strong>and keep up with the events of the Week. Most Orthodox church calendars list the daily readings, if you wish to read the Scriptures the old fashioned way. Online, they are easily accessible here: <a href=\"https:\/\/oca.org\/readings\">https:\/\/oca.org\/readings<\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>4. Prepare for the devil to be busy during Holy Week.<\/strong>\u00a0I discovered long ago the hard way that if clergy or families are ever going to get on each others\u2019 nerves it will be during Holy Week. Things in the church building tend to break or go out of order during Holy Week. (Why did the bells go out\u00a0<em>tonight,<\/em>\u00a0of all nights?!) Temptations come at us harder during Holy Week. (Why do I find myself thinking those thoughts\u00a0<em>this<\/em>\u00a0week, of all weeks?!)\u00a0Big problems often arise in peoples\u2019 lives during Holy Week which oddly go away after Pascha. Therefore I\u2019ve learned to set myself certain rules: I will not get upset by anything during Holy Week. I\u00a0will not be critical of anyone or anything during Holy Week. No negative comments, no negative thoughts. Quickly I try to put them down. I\u00a0avoid dealing with issues: unless it\u2019s life and death or the house is on fire, I sit on it till after Pascha. I advise you to do the same. There are few things that can\u2019t wait a week, and as I say come Bright\u00a0Week most of the things don\u2019t need to be dealt with. It\u2019s just that the devil wants to distract us this week. Ignore him. If we do this we will have a wonderful and blessed week, and by Pascha we will be a few steps closer to the Kingdom of Heaven.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>5. Live this week joyfully, in\u00a0the\u00a0Light of the Resurrection<\/strong>. The Church teaches us something profound during Holy Week. We encompass this Week, almost saturate this Week with the theme of Christ\u2019s Resurrection, of our resurrection. Our prelude to Holy Week is Lazarus Saturday, the raising of Lazarus, the prefiguring of our\u00a0general resurrection at the End of the age.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-21910\" src=\"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Nesenie-Kresta_d_850.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"633\" height=\"467\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Even\u00a0during the darkest times of Holy Week we keep hearing of the Lord\u2019s Resurrection.\u00a0On Holy Friday when many western Christians strip the church of decorations, we bring in the\u00a0flowers.\u00a0At his\u00a0burial service on Holy Friday night, we finish singing of how \u201cNoble Joseph, having brought down thy pure Body from the tree and wrapped it in pure linen, embalmed it with ointment, prepared it\u00a0and laid it in a new tomb\u201d, when immediately we begin hymns of his Resurrection: \u201cWhen thou didst descend to death, O Life Immortal, thou didst slay hell with the splendor of thy Godhead, and when from the depths thou didst raise the dead, all the powers of heaven cried out: \u2018O Giver of Life, Christ our God, glory to thee!&#8217;\u201d, and again, \u201cThe angel stood by the tomb and cried to the myrrhbearing women, \u2018Myrrh is fitting for the dead, but Christ has shown himself free from corruption.&#8217;\u201d Already on Holy Saturday morning we celebrate the first Divine Liturgy of the Resurrection, as if we just can\u2019t wait for the great celebration at midnight, that glorious \u201cexplosion of joy\u201d!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Orthodox Church is the Church of the Resurrection. The Orthodox Church surrounds every week Sunday by Sunday, with the Resurrection.\u00a0(Come to Sunday Matins if you want to hear a dozen or two Resurrection hymns each week.)\u00a0As \u201ccrucial\u201d as is the Cross of Christ, there is a reason why the Church from the beginning has celebrated Sunday, the day of the Resurrection, as our weekly holy day. Holy Week teaches us to live our lives, even the darkest times, not in morbid gloom but in hope, in the joy of the Resurrection. We are blessed to live in this new age, preceded by Christ\u2019s Resurrection, looking forward to our promised resurrection at the End of the age, knowing that in him nothing\u00a0can destroy us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During Holy Week we will hear again the greatest of all\u00a0stories, the Story that fulfills the ancient myths, the Story that in one way&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56],"tags":[43,17],"class_list":["post-21905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-life-issues","tag-great-lent","tag-lent-and-fasting"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/42362.jpg.1024x0_q85.jpg","views":{"total":772,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1768403600},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPyw9-5Hj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21905"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34738,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21905\/revisions\/34738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}