Sunday, April 9, 2023

Entry of our Lord into Jerusalem—Palm Sunday

Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)

(OCA) Palm Sunday is the celebration of the triumphant entrance of Christ into the royal city of Jerusalem. He rode on a colt for which He Himself had sent, and He permitted the people to hail Him publicly as a king. A large crowd met Him in a manner befitting royalty, waving palm branches and placing their garments in His path. They greeted Him with these words: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel! (John 12:13).

This day together with the raising of Lazarus are signs pointing beyond themselves to the mighty deeds and events which consummate Christ’s earthly ministry. The time of fulfillment was at hand. Christ’s raising of Lazarus points to the destruction of death and the joy of resurrection which will be accessible to all through His own death and resurrection. His entrance into Jerusalem is a fulfillment of the messianic prophecies about the king who will enter his holy city to establish a final kingdom. “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass” (Zech 9:9).

Finally, the events of these triumphant two days are but the passage to Holy Week: the “hour” of suffering and death for which Christ came. Thus the triumph in a earthly sense is extremely short-lived. Jesus enters openly into the midst of His enemies, publicly saying and doing those things which mostly enrage them. The people themselves will soon reject Him. They misread His brief earthly triumph as a sign of something else: His emergence as a political messiah who will lead them to the glories of an earthly kingdom.

Our Pledge

The liturgy of the Church is more than meditation or praise concerning past events. It communicates to us the eternal presence and power of the events being celebrated and makes us participants in those events. Thus the services of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday bring us to our own moment of life and death and entrance into the Kingdom of God: a Kingdom not of this world, a Kingdom accessible in the Church through repentance and baptism.

On Palm Sunday palm and willow branches are blessed in the Church. We take them in order to raise them up and greet the King and Ruler of our life: Jesus Christ. We take them in order to reaffirm our baptismal pledges. As the One who raised Lazarus and entered Jerusalem to go to His voluntary Passion stands in our midst, we are faced with the same question addressed to us at baptism: “Do you accept Christ?” We give our answer by daring to take the branch and raise it up: “I accept Him as King and God!”

Thus, on the eve of Christ’s Passion, in the celebration of the joyful cycle of the triumphant days of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, we reunite ourselves to Christ, affirm His Lordship over the totality of our life, and express our readiness to follow Him to His Kingdom:

... that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:10-11).

Very Rev. Paul Lazor

Glory to Jesus Christ!

If you haven't done so already, please make an appointment to come to confession before Pascha.

Thursday, April 6, we will pray the Akathist to Our Lady, the Queen of All for those who need healing. Please send me the names of those you want me to pray for. You can do so here.

Saturday, April 8 is Lazarus Saturday. We'll have Liturgy that morning and Vespers and blessing of Palms that afternoon. April 9 is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week!

Holy Service schedule is below. If you are interested in reading the Gospel for Agape Vesper, please let me know as soon as you can. If you'd like to practice the reading is from John 20:19-25:

19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them: "Peace be with you." 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." 

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them: "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him: "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them: "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe."

Ancient Faith Radio has an audio recording of the text  

l33 anguages: English, Afrikaans, Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Church Slavonic, Esperanto, Filipino, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Macedonian, Mandarin Chinese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Q'eqchi', Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Ukrainian, Vulgate Latin. You can find the recording here.

In Christ,

Fr Gregory

Women's Monastery Trip

This Week at Ss Cyril & Methodius

Monday, April 3

• 6:00 PM: OCF Meeting

Wednesday, April 5

• 3:45-5:45 PM Office Hours/Confessions
• 6:00 PM: Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts

Thursday, April 6

• 1:00-3:00 PM Office Hours/Confessions
• 3:30 PM: Akathist to Our Lady, Queen of All

Friday, April 7

• 7:00 AM: Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts

Saturday, April 8 Lazarus Saturday

• 9:30 AM: Divine Liturgy
• 4:30 PM: Confessions 
• 5:00 PM: Vespers & Blessing of Palms
• 6:00 PM: Confessions

Sunday, April 9 (Palm Sunday)

• 9:00 AM: Hours/Pre-Communion Prayers
• 9:30 AM: Divine Liturgy
• 6:00 PM Bridegroom Matins

Holy Week 2023

Saturday, April 8 Lazarus Saturday

• 9:30 AM: Divine Liturgy
• 4:30 PM: Confessions 
• 5:00 PM: Vespers & Blessing of Palms
• 6:00 PM: Confessions

Sunday, April 9 (Palm Sunday)

• 9:00 AM: Hours/Pre-Communion Prayers
• 9:30 AM: Divine Liturgy
• 6:00 PM Bridegroom Matins

Monday, April 10

• 6:00 PM: Bridegroom Matins

Tuesday, April 11

• 6:00 PM: Bridegroom Matins

Wednesday, April 12

• 6:00 PM: Holy Unction

Thursday, April 13

• 9:30 AM: Vesperal Liturgy of St Basil
• 6:00 PM: Twelve Passion Gospels

Friday, April 14

• 9:00 AM: Royal Hours
• 3:00 PM: Vespers of the Disposition
• 6:00 PM: Lamentation Service

Saturday, April 15 Holy Saturday

• 9:30 AM: Vesperal Liturgy of St Basil
• 10:00 PM: Resurrection Service 
• 1:00 AM: Blessing of Baskets & Paschal Meal

Sunday, April 9 (Holy Pascha)

• 1:00 PM: Agape Vespers & Potluck

The First Antiphon

I love the Lord because He has heard the voice of my supplication.

Refrain: Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us!

Because He inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live. (Refrain)

The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of hell laid hold on me. (Refrain)

I suffered distress and anguish, then I called on the Name of the Lord. (Refrain)

I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living. (Refrain)

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

 (Refrain)

The Second Antiphon

I kept my faith, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.

Refrain: O Son of God, seated on the colt of an ass, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia!

What shall I render to the Lord for all the things He has given me? (Refrain)

I will receive the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord. (Refrain)

I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. (Refrain)

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. 

(“Only-begotten Son and immortal Word of God… “)

The Third Antiphon

O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever.

Tone 1 Troparion

By raising Lazarus from the dead before Thy Passion,

Thou didst confirm the universal resurrection, O Christ God. Like the children with the palms of victory, we cry out to Thee, O Vanquisher of Death: “Hosanna in the highest!//Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord.”

Let the house of Israel say that He is good; for His mercy endures forever. 

Troparion of the Feast

Let the house of Aaron say that He is good; for His mercy endures forever. 

Troparion of the Feast

Let those who fear the Lord say that He is good; for His mercy endures forever.

Troparion of the Feast

Entrance Verse

Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord and He has revealed Himself to us.

Hymns After the Small Entrance

Sunday Readings

Epistle: Philippians 4:4-9

Brethren, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Gospel:  MJohn 12:1-18

Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.

But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”

Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

“Hosanna!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

The King of Israel!”

Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

“Fear not, daughter of Zion;

Behold, your King is coming,

Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.

Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.

++++++++++++++++++++++