Science

Holy Week: An Explanation

Great Lent and Holy Week are two separate fasts, and two separate celebrations. Great Lent ends on Friday of the fifth week (the day before Lazarus Saturday). Holy Week begins immediately thereafter. Let's explore the meaning of each of the solemn days of Passion Week.

Lazarus Saturday: Lazarus Saturday is the day which begins Holy Week. It commemorates the raising of our Lord's friend Lazarus, who had been in the tomb four days. This act confirmed the universal resurrection from the dead that all of us will experience at our Lord's Second Coming. This miracle led many to faith, but it also led to the chief priest's and Pharisees' decision to kill Jesus (John 11:47-57).

Palm Sunday (The Entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem): Our Lord enters Jerusalem and is proclaimed king - but in an earthly sense, as many people of His time were seeking a political Messiah. Our Lord is King, of course, but of a different type - the eternal King prophesied by Zechariah the Prophet. We use palms on this day to show that we too accept Jesus as the true King and Messiah of the Jews, Who we are willing to follow - even to the cross.

Holy Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday: The first thing that must be said about these services, and most of the other services of Holy Week, is that they are "sung" in anticipation. Each service is rotated ahead twelve hours. The evening service, therefore, is actually the service of the next morning, while the morning services of Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday are actually the services of the coming evening.

Weekly Diocesan Bulletin - Sunday, April 24, 2016

PALM SUNDAY
The Entrance of our Lord Jesus 
Christ into Jerusalem

FIRST ANTIPHON
VERSE: I love the Lord because He has heard the voice of my supplication.
REFRAIN: Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us.
VERSE: Because He inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.
REFRAIN: Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us.
VERSE: Glory to the Father and to the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
REFRAIN: Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us.

On the Synodal translation of the New Testament into Serbian

The Commission of the Holy Synod of Bishops for revision of the translation of the New Testament  done by Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic (1^st edition in 1847, the 2^nd edition in 1856, the 3^rd edition in 1864) was founded in 1962 and worked slowly until 1968 when it intensified its work. It was composed of former Bishop of Raska-Prizren Pavle (later Patriarch of the Serbian Church, 1990-2009), Bishop Dr. Vasilije of Zicha, Vicar Bishop Dr. Daniel Krstic, and of Professors of the Orthodox Theological Faculty: Dr. Milos Erdeljan (Old Testament, expert in Hebrew), Dr. Emilijan Carnic (New Testament, expert in NT Greek), Dr. Stojan Gosevic (Dogmatic Theology, expert in NT Greek), Prof. Bogoljub Cirkovic (expert in Church-Slavonic), and myself as a secretary. The Commission functioned until 1984, when the Holy Synod of the Serbian Church approved this translation as a Church authorized translation.

Latin versions of the Bible

A. The Greek Bible in Latin (Old Latin)

1. Origin. During the first centuries of Christian expansion, the vernacular language of the Mediterranean world was mainly Greek, even in the West. The books of the OT were read in the early Christian churches according to the LXX and the NT in Greek. When the necessity arose—as early as the 2d century in Roman Africa—the Bible was translated into Latin from the Greek. In many places,Tertullian (ca. 160–220) used a Latin version already at his disposal, certain peculiarities of which remained throughout the history of the Latin Bible. When, in the middle of the 3d century, Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, quoted Scripture at great length and not from memory (Libri III ad Quirinum, commonly called Testimonia), he did it according to a Latin translation which was itself a revision and had already a complex history. This process of successive revisions continued for centuries and is aspecial feature of the Latin Bible. The Acta martyrum, in Africa again, mention sacred books as early as180.

Sunday of St. John of the Ladder

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Lent is a time of repentance, a time when our heart of stone must be made by the power of God into a heart of flesh, from insensitive to perceptive, from cold and hard to warm and open to others—and indeed, to God Himself.

Weekly Diocesan Bulletin - Sunday, April 3, 2016

Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT (VENERATION OF THE LIFE-GIVING CROSS): SAINT JAMES THE CONFESSOR

RESURRECTIONAL TROPARION - TONE THREE:
Let the heavens rejoice! Let the earth be glad! For the Lord has shown strength with His arm! He has trampled down death by death! He has become the firstborn of the dead! He has delivered us from the depths of hell, and has granted to the world great mercy!