Our Holy Week Journey
As we all approach the great Feast of Pascha, ,I invite you to join us on this spiritual pilgrimage to the Resurrection.
The week before Pascha is called Holy Week for many reasons. Remember, “Holy” means set apart for a specific use.
First, Great Lent is behind us, and what do we Orthodox do after a 40+ day fast? We add one more week of even more intense fasting! The fasting wisdom for Holy Week should be more intense than your practice during Great Lent. Consider limiting your meals to one per day. Consider smaller portions and limiting your liquids to water only. The service schedule at your parish will be much more involved, and there will be many times for prayer and preparation. Let your diet reflect your singular focus away from yourself, your schedule, and your desires, and towards the celebration of the Resurrection!
As always, consult with your spiritual father about any and all added disciplines so he can help guide you away from too much or too little.
Next, Holy Week invites us to a radical reorientation. Morning services are held in the evening and evening services are held in the morning! Why? To say to your routine, WAKE UP to how God, through His Son, has turned the world right side out again! A Normal, Orthodoxy is meant to transform you so that the status quo is unacceptable and your life must be formed towards an eternal perspective. The schedule of Holy Week invites you to this transformation.
Holy Week is filled with hymns and chants you absolutely need to form a Normal Orthodoxy in your life. These services of the Bridegroom, Unction, Pre-Sanctified Liturgies, Gospel Readings, Lamentations, Royal Hours, Processions with the Funeral Bier of the Lord (The Kovuklion), the Fortaste of Pascha on Holy Saturday, all contain the full theology of the Church in Her hymns and prayers. A veritable Master’s Degree in Theology is offered to you during this Week, and the invitation to learn the vocabulary of Eternity is laid at your feet!
Because of this treasure, our daily devotionals will focus on our Scripture readings and these hymns and prayers, which are meant to reorient you toward the eternal power of Christ defeating Death on our behalf.
Join us this Holy Week and let’s go together with Christ during His last week before He ascends the Wood of the Cross, Suffers, is Buried, descends into Hades, and ultimately destroys the Gates of Hell through His glorious Resurrection!.
You are invited to a life-changing encounter with the Risen Lord. Be ready. Be changed. Be a Normal Orthodox Christian this Holy Week!
P.S. See! The Bridegroom sets forth in the dead of night. And blessed is that servant whom he shall find on watch; unworthy the one he shall come upon lazing. See to it, soul, that sleep does not overtake you, lest you be given up to death and be shut out of the kingdom. Bestir yourself, then, and sing out: "Holy, holy, holy are You, our God; through the protection of the bodiless powers, save us."
Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouraged
