Orthodox Christian Holy Week — Today is Lazarus Saturday
Walking Through Holy Week With Our Saviour is a Special Place to Be
One of the things that I love most about being an Orthodox Christian is the hymnology. It’s not sappy, it’s not insipid or boring, it’s not “happy”….it’s deep, and theological. It’s true poetry for the soul. You can read a service and feel like you just took a spiritual bath, that you just walked through a garden of lovely and fragrant flowers that don’t exist in this world.
Of all the times of year to experience beautiful hymnology, Holy Week is one of the most special. When I was a child and teen, growing up in a different tradition, I was encouraged to “do the stations of the Cross.” I have to admit, I never did them. The closest I got was going to the church, standing in the doorway, and feeling it was too dark, too depressing. Others may feel differently about it, but that was my experience.
As an Orthodox Christian, though, I have an entirely different feeling and experience of Holy Week. It’s special….moving…consoling, and, maybe surprisingly, full of life.
Passover, Pascha and Easter
Some may wonder — why is Passover at one time, Easter at another time and Orthodox Christian Pascha at yet another time? Passover is what happened in the Old Testament, when the people of God were led out of Egypt (to then pass through the Red Sea, wander for 40 years in the desert, and then enter the Promised Land.) Christians understand this as a reality that took place, but also as a type, foreshadowing what would become the real fulfillment in time.
Orthodox Christians celebrate “Pascha”, from the Hebrew word Pesach, which means to “pass over.” When celebrating Passover in Jewish homes, the “passing over” refers to the angel of death passing over the homes of the Israelites on the night when the firstborn of the Egyptians were taken in death. When Orthodox Christians use the word Pascha, it means the passing from death unto life, since Christ — understood by Christians as being prefigured by the Paschal lamb — has now conquered death. Whereas the Jews of today only eat unleavened bread as they celebrate Passover, as was the case at the original Passover, Orthodox Christians celebrate Liturgy using only leavened bread, signifying that the type has now been fulfilled and Christ now raises us to new life in Him.
The reason that Western Christian Easter and Orthodox Christian Pascha often fall on different Sundays is because the early Church determined when Pascha would be celebrated by using this formula: Pascha falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, and always after the Jewish Passover. The latter part of the equation is taken from the Scriptures — our Saviour celebrated Passover, then went on to become the true Paschal Lamb. However, in the West, this latter part of the equation got dropped at some point. Hence, Orthodox Christians are still using this original formula, but Western Christians are not, and that’s one basic reason why Easter and Pascha often fall on different Sundays, sometimes even weeks apart.
This coming Sunday is Easter in “the West”, but it is actually Palm Sunday for Orthodox Christians. Which means that today (it is still friday as I type this) was the last day of the 40 day fast leading up to Holy Week. Again, according to early tradition, Orthodox Christians abstain from meat and dairy during this period. Some may assume that this is a “works mentality” but actually Orthodoxy never had a works mentality — it’s clear from Scripture that no matter what any one of us do for “works” we will always be “unprofitable servants.” Keeping the fast in preparation for Holy Week and then Pascha is for our own benefit, not to “change God’s mind about us.” It makes our bodies lighter, our focus more on the time of year, and it keeps us aware of who we are as Orthodox Christians: a nation set apart for the Lord, no matter where we dwell. Fasting is a simple discipline (one which Adam and Eve did not keep in Paradise) that requires us to be aware at every moment of Whom we belong to — like soldiers in the service to their King — and that is a good thing, and an honor. When we get to the entrance to Holy Week we have an excited feeling — the forty day preparation period is behind us, saturated with healing hymns of repentance, and now we get to “lay aside all earthly cares” and “go up to Jerusalem” with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Lazarus Saturday
As Israel of old, the new Israel starts each liturgical day on the night before. So as Friday turns into evening, we start the hymns for tomorrow, that is Lazarus Saturday. Christ’s friend Lazarus has been four days dead in the tomb, and Christ is going to Bethany with His disciples. Christ, Who is God, foreknows what is coming next, but the world of humans — whether it is the Jewish people of that time, the sisters of Lazarus, the Apostles, or even Lazarus — have no idea that they are about to witness something that’s never been done before. A person four days dead in the grave is about to be raised back to life by Christ’s command.
Here are some of the beautiful hymns from tonight’s service, that draw us in as participants to this occasion:
Thou weptest for Lazarus, showing to all men that, O Lord, Thou truly art man; and then Thou didst raise up the dead man, thus showing the peoples that Thou, O Master, art the Son of God.
Thou weptest for the dead, O Saviour Christ, Thou Friend of man, that Thou mightest show to all the world that, being God, Thou didst become man for us; and by weeping of Thine own free will, Thou gavest tokens unto us of Thine affectionate love.
And speaking about the result of this from the perspective of Hades, the place where all souls were kept until that time:
The gates shook with havoc and the bars upon them burst; the bonds that held the dead man came unwoven; and Hades groaned bitterly at the mighty voice of Christ; and tembling, he cried out: Woe is me! What meaneth and whence cometh this dread voice, whereby the dead come to life and rise up?
The Passover of the Old Testament was a type of what was to be fulfilled with the coming of Christ. And the raising of Lazarus is also a foreshadowing of what is to happen soon, when Christ Himself will descend into Hades, overthrowing its former power to detain the souls of mortals, and conquering death forever!
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (I Cor. 15:55)
Here is a link to a non-liturgical beautiful hymn on the occasion of this Feast: Rejoice O Bethany.
Next: Palm Sunday I
