Church Bulletin - April 8, 2001

Saturday of Lazaros

Extreme Humility

Saturday of Lazaros

[click here for more on St. Lazaros]

Palm Sunday Bulletin
Icon courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Ellwood City, PA

Apolytikia of the Feast Day

O Christ our God, before Your Passion, You raised Lazaros from the dead to confirm the common Resurrection for all. Therefore, we carry the symbols of victory as did the youths, and we cry out to You, the victor over death, "Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."

O Christ, our God, we have been buried with You through Baptism and by Your resurrection, made worthy of life immortal. Praising You, we cry out, "Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."

Kontakion

In Heaven, He is seated upon a Throne and on earth He rides upon a foal. O Christ our God, accept the praise of the Angels and the hymn of the children who cry out to You. "Blessed are You who come to recall Adam."

BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD

This April 8th, our Holy Orthodox Church joyfully celebrates our triumphant entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday. Our excitement this morning, however, pales in comparison to what we will experience next Sunday as we bask in the glorious radiance of the Resurrection of Christ. Still, we must realize that the period between these two wonderful events will take on a very different nature, for Holy Week will find us reliving every agonizing moment of our Savior's Passion.

The first three days of Holy Week are ominously referred to by the Church as "The End." Our Lord has come to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. More importantly, He has come to confront His enemies. He speaks out with great conviction in the Temple. He deals with His opponents face to face, openly challenging and condemning their ways. When He retires in the evenings with His Apostles, Jesus instructs them about the final judgment that awaits the world, telling them to "Watch, because you do not know the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will come."

It is during this dreaded week that the hour would come for Christ's ultimate sacrifice. With amazing speed, He will be betrayed, arrested, condemned and crucified. He will give up His Life upon the Cross. Alone and deserted... ridiculed and humiliated, He will breathe His last breath. While the world showed Him total disdain, our Lord showed us complete and unequivocal love.

In reality, Christ's entry into Jerusalem was literally His first steps to His voluntary Passion. As we go through Holy Week, may the image depicted above (from the bulletin) - the image of EXTREME HUMILITY - be ever present in our minds.

[Click here for the Epistle and Gospel Reading
for April 8, 2001:
Phil 4-4-9; Jn 12-1-18]

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
1260 Davis Street, San Jose, California 95126