Weekly Diocesan Bulletin - Sunday, April 1st, 2018
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 to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
REFRAIN: Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us.
SECOND ANTIPHON
VERSE: I kept my faith even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted!”
REFRAIN: O Son of God who sat upon the foal, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia!
VERSE: What shall I render to the Lord for all the things He has given me?
REFRAIN: O Son of God who sat upon the foal, save us who sing to Thee: Alleluia!
VERSE: 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...
THIRD ANTIPHON
VERSE: O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever!
PALM SUNDAY TROPARION - TONE ONE:
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!
VERSE: Let the house of Israel say: For He is good, for His mercy endures forever!
PALM SUNDAY TROPARION
INTROIT OF THE LITTLE ENTRANCE:
Wisdom, let us be attentive! 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 has revealed Himself to us!
PALM SUNDAY TROPARION
SECOND PALM SUNDAY TROPARION - TONE FOUR:
When we were buried with Thee in Baptism, O Christ God, we were made worthy of eternal life by Thy Resurrection! Now we praise Thee and sing: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!
PALM SUNDAY KONTAKION - TONE SIX:
Sitting on Thy throne in Heaven, carried on a foal on earth, O Christ God! Accept the praise of angels and the songs of children, who sing: Blessed is He that comes to recall Adam!
HYMN TO THE THEOTOKOS (REPLACES “IT IS TRULY MEET”):
God is the Lord and has revealed Himself to us! Celebrate the feast and come with gladness! Let us magnify Christ with palms and branches, singing: Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!
EPISTLE READING
THE PROKEIMENON IN TONE FOUR:
Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord! God is the Lord and has revealed Himself to us!
PALM SUNDAY: 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 your 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.
THE ALLELUIA VERSES:
O sing to the Lord a new song, for the Lord has done marvelous things! All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God!
GOSPEL READING
PALM SUNDAY: JOHN 12: 1-18
At that time, 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 the 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.
FROM THE PROLOGUE:
MARCH 19/APRIL 1, BY SAINT NIKOLAI VELIMIROVIC:
The Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria, and others with them, at Rome
Chrysanthus was the only son of Polemius, a distinguished patrician, who moved from Alexandria to Rome. As the son of wealthy parents, Chrysanthus studied all the secular subjects, having the most learned men for instructors. But secular wisdom confused him and left him in uncertainty as to what is truth. As a result of this, he grieved. But God, Who plans all and everything, alleviated his grief: a written copy of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles came into the hands of the young Chrysanthus. Having read them, Chrysanthus was enlightened with the truth. He desired a teacher and found one in the person of a certain priest, Carpophorus, who taught and baptized him. This did not please his father, who by all means attempted to dissuade him from believing in Christ. Not succeeding, the wicked father at first tried to corrupt him by placing him alone with an immoral woman. But Chrysanthus was victorious over himself in this, and persevered in chastity. His father then coerced him into marrying Daria, a pagan girl. Chrysanthus counseled Daria to embrace the Christian Faith and to live together with him as brother and sister, although pretending to be married. When his father died, Chrysanthus began to confess Christ openly and to live as a Christian, both he and his entire household. During the reign of the Emperor Numerian, he and Daria were cruelly tortured for their faith. Even the torturer Claudius, witnessing the forbearance of these honorable martyrs and the miracles which were manifested during their sufferings, embraced the Christian Faith along with his entire household. For this Claudius was drowned, both of his sons were beheaded, and his wife, after having recited her prayers, died on the gallows. Daria was so steadfast in her martyrdom that the pagans cried out: “Daria is a goddess!” Finally, it was decreed that Chrysanthus and Daria be buried in a deep pit and covered with stones. Later a church was erected on this site. There was a cave near this pit where some Christians assembled for prayer and Communion in memory of the martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria. Hearing of this, the pagans attacked and sealed off this cave, and thus they drove these Christians from this world to a better world, where Christ reigns eternally. These glorious martyrs, Chrysanthus and Daria and the others with them, among whom were the priest Diodorus and the deacon Marianus, suffered for Christ in Rome in 283 or 284.
The Holy Martyr Pancharius, at Nicomedia (302)
Pancharius was born in Villach, Germany [present day Austria]. He was a high-ranking officer at the court of Diocletian and Maximian. At first he denied Christ, but, being counseled by his mother and sister, he returned to the Christian Faith and died for it in the year 302.
Righteous Maria, wife of Vsevelod III (1206).
St. Bassa, nun, of Pskov Caves (1473).
St. Innocent, founder of Komel Monastery (Vologda) (1521), disciple of St. Nilus of Sora.
New Martyr Demetrius, at Constantinople (1564).
St. Sophia of Slutsk and Minsk (1612).
New Martyr Nicholas Karamanos of Smyrna (1657).
St. Symeon (Popovic), archimandrite, of Dajbabe, Montenegro (1941).
Smolensk “Umileniye” (“Tender Feeling”) Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.
HYMN OF PRAISE: The Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria
Saint Chrysanthus counsels Daria: Adorn your soul with the flower of virtues,
“O virgin, forsake the lie, sow the flower with faith in the Lord,
And do not venerate the idols as gods; Enclose it with hope and love,
Neither seek truth from the world. Water it with the Life-creating Spirit,
The truth is in the One God, weed it of the weeds of sins,
the One Triune God. Let grow the flower of virtues, Who created the celestial armies. Let grow the flower of piety,
of angels and the heavenly powers; Let grow the flower of charity,
Who created the whole universe, Let grow the flower of repentance,
with man as its crown. Let grow the flower of patience,
the only One, immortal and living: Let grow the flower of abstinence,
He, out of the earth, creates wrappings. Let grow the flower of obedience
and the clothing of spiritual wealth. Your soul is like a hymn of Paradise:
Our soul is spiritual wealth, Let it smell like a garden in May,
wrapped up in the dust of the body. And may God dwell in it,
the soul should be tenderly nurtured. For that is what He made it for.”
As a bride, to make ready for Christ. Daria heeded Chrysanthus;
Forsake, O virgin, the bodily: She wedded her soul to Christ.
It leads to suffering and sorrow. And submitted her body to torture
God does not look at the vessel of the flesh, With Chrysanthus, her spiritual brother.
But at the flower that grows in it. And God transplanted them to Paradise;
O virgin, clothed in death, With them He adorned the garden of Paradise.
Today, tomorrow consumed by death:
REFLECTION
“The mercy (of God) that raises us up after we have sinned is even greater than the mercy by which He gave us being, when we did not yet exist. Glory, O Lord, to Thine immeasurable mercy!” Thus speaks St. Isaac the Syrian. He means that greater is the mercy that God showed toward us when, through Christ, He saved us from the corruption of sin and death, than when He created us from nothing. Truly, it is so. Even earthly parents show greater mercy to a perverted and fallen son when they embrace him again, forgive him all, make him civilized, cleanse him, heal him, and again make him their heir, than when they gave him birth. When the young Pancharius, surrounded by royal honors, denied Christ, his mother wrote him a letter full of pain and sorrow. “Do not be afraid of men,” wrote his mother, “but it is essential to fear God’s judgment. You should have con- fessed your faith in Christ before emperors and lords and not have denied Him. Remember His words: Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven (Matthew 10:33).” Being ashamed of himself, the son accepted the advice of his mother, confessed his faith in Christ before the emperor, and died a martyr’s death for Christ in order to live with Him eternally. And so the blessed mother of Pancharius brought about a new birth for her son, a spiritual birth more important than the first, physical birth.
HOMILY
on the sign of the Son of Man
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven (Matthew 24:30).
What kind of sign will the sign of the Son of Man be, which had once been revealed briefly? It is the Cross, brighter than the sun, which manifested itself over Jerusalem before the coming of an early personification of the Antichrist, Julian the Apostate. And, in lieu of any homily concerning this miraculous sign, it is worthwhile to quote here the letter of St. Cyril of Jerusalem written to Emperor Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great and predecessor of Julian the Apostate. A portion of his letter reads: “For in these very days of the Holy Feast of Pentecost, on the seventh of May, about nine o’clock in the morning, a gigantic cross formed of light appeared in the sky above holy Golgotha, stretching out as far as the holy Mount of Olives. It was not seen by just one or two but was most clearly displayed before the whole population of the city. Nor did it, as one might have supposed, pass away quickly like a mirage, but it was visible above the earth for some hours, while it shone with a light greater than the sun’s rays. Surely, it would have been eclipsed by them, had it not exhibited to those who saw it a brilliance more powerful than the sun, so that the whole population of the city made a sudden concerted rush into the church, be- ing seized by fear mingled with joy at the heavenly vision. They poured in, young and old, men and women of every age, even the most secluded virgins, local inhabitants and strangers, Christians and pagans from other lands. All of them with one soul, as if with one mouth, raised a hymn of praise to the Wonderworker, Christ Jesus our Lord, the Only-begotten Son of God, and indeed learned by experience that pious Christian teaching is to be found not in enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power (I Corinthians 2:4), and not only preached by man but also attested to from the heavens by God (Hebrews 2:3–4)… We consider it our obligation not to remain silent about this heavenly vision, but to in- form Your God-glorified Reverence. Therefore I have hastened to fulfill this intention through this letter.”
O my brethren, everything is possible with God: both to reveal the created to man and to create the uncreated. But most importantly for us is that He wants to redeem our souls from sin and death and to give us life eternal. Let us pray to Him for this, day and night.
O Lord Almighty, To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
