April 2023 Letter

Dear brethren,

At the end of the Holy Lent, we learn from an article by HE Anba Pachomius about Holy Week:

After few days, our church celebrates the remembrance of the sufferings of the Lord Christ for the whole world. In our celebration of this week, although we call it “Passion Week” because our Lord Jesus Christ suffered bodily on our behalf, the Church teaches us that it is a joyful week for all of us because our Lord Jesus Christ completed the work of salvation for humanity through His death on the cross and His holy resurrection. That is why St. Paul talks about the joy of this salvation when he writes: “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12: 2).

Passion Week is characterized by three joyful matters, with which the events of this week begin and end, in terms of the rites and the biblical readings, signifying a spiritual meaning for each one:

• The week begins and ends with resurrection: the events of the week begin with the liturgy of Lazarus Saturday, which commemorates our Lord Jesus raising Lazarus four days after his death. The week ends at dawn on Sunday with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead as a first fruit for the departed. The resurrection of the Lord is His victory over the sting of sin and death, which no longer has power over any of the people who accept His cross.

Death is no longer a punishment, but it has become the beginning of a joyful and endless life. With the resurrection of the Lord, sin no longer has power over us, the believers. Therefore, let us strive to accept the precious salvation of our Lord Jesus, and be careful to renew our covenants with Him with sincere repentance from the heart, in order to participate in the entitlements of the Lord’s resurrection.

• The week begins and ends with anointment: the events of the week begin on the eve of Palm Sunday, when Mary, the sister of Lazarus, pours the fragrant oil on the feet of the Lord Jesus, as a sign of thanks and gratitude to Jesus for raising her brother from the dead. The week also ends with the Marys who left the city of Jerusalem at dawn on Sunday, while the darkness remained, in order to anoint the body of the Lord Jesus as a sign of love for the person of the Lord Jesus, and how they saw that the stone had been rolled and that the Lord had risen.

Pouring out the oil as a spiritual meaning indicates that the spiritual person should not appear empty before the Lord, but he should carry with him His spices. This is different from one person to the other. So leaving a beloved sin is oil, personal relationship with Christ is oil, service is oil, good behavior is oil, tolerance of others is oil … etc.

• The week begins and ends with the revelation of the Lord Jesus as King: The week begins with the events of Palm Sunday, when the city of Jerusalem received the Lord Jesus riding on a donkey, and they chanted to Him as King: “Hosanna in the highest” (Matthew 21: 9), and the week ends with the Lord Jesus’ ascension on the cross as a King as prophesied by David the prophet: “The Lord reigned on a wood”, and Pilate wrote the accusation on the cross: “The King of the Jews”.

The kingship of the Lord Jesus has a spiritual meaning; that the pleasure of the Lord Jesus is to reign over our hearts, so that the world will no longer have any power over us, but the Lord will reign over all life. When we accept the kingdom of God over our hearts, we also accept that we suffer for His sake, and we accept suffering in our lives as a gift: “to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Philippians 1: 29).

The blessings of St. Mary and St. Mercurius, and the blessings of the Holy Week be with us all.

Belleville, April 1, 2023

رسالة شهر إبريل ٢٠٢٣