Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church A Parish of the Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese

Ecumenical Patriarchate 10201 Democracy Blvd

Potomac, Maryland 20854 301-299-5120(Office) 301-367-9051(cell)

www.holyresurrection.com www.facebook.com/groups/hroc25

HROC Media on YouTube Very Rev. Peter Zarynow, Pastor Protopresbyter John Fedornock

Subdeacon Anastasios Davis Reader Stephen Sudik ₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

Sunday 03 May 2020 Third Sunday of Pascha/Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women

Venerable Theodore Trichinas ("the Hair-shirt Wearer"), hermit near Constantinople Epistle: Acts of the Apostles 6:1-7

Gospel: Mark 15:43-16:8 Tone Two

The Schedule of Live streaming for Bright week is as Follows:03 May (SUN) 3rd Sunday of Pascha/Myrrh-bearing Women Chanting of the 3rd Hour 8:40 Singing of the Paschal Verses Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom 9am Panachida: +John Krynitsky (1st Anniv) by son Alex 10 May (SUN) 4th Sunday of Pascha/Paralytic Chanting of the 3rd Hour 8:40 Singing of the Paschal Verses Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom 9am

Announcements: By Protocol of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and under the direction of His Eminence, Metropolitan Gregory, all public activities in the parish, are cancelled to aid in the containment of the covid-19 virus. In addition, the Assembly of Bishops has set forth a Protocol for us to follow for Holy Week and Pascha (and beyond), and we are putting that Protocol into effect immediately. See also the latest Protocol from Metropolitan Gregory from 07 April. As they guide us now, as always, please continue to keep our Metropolitan Gregory, and all of the Assembly of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops, in your prayers! Traditional greeting for the Paschal Season: English-“Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!”; Slavonic-“Christos Voskrese! Voistinu Voskrese!”; Greek-“Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!” These greetings are used until the eve of the Feast of Ascension, 27 May. Reminders during the Paschal Season: there is no kneeling in prayer, at home or in church, until the Feast of Pentecost; We always stand during the singing of “Christ is Risen!;” at all times we should never sit during the distribution of Communion, unless there is a physical need to do so. Deepest sympathies are extended to Vic, Staci & Julia Fitzwater on the falling asleep in the Lord of Vic’s mother, +Patsy Fitzwater, this past Thursday. We ask that you keep the Fitzwater family in your prayers. Because of the Covid-19 situation, funeral services will be private. May her memory be Eternal! Christ is Risen! Please pray for the following: Metropolitan Gregory, Bishop Matthias, Metropolitan Antony, Fr. Frank & Paňi Connie Miloro; Fr. John & Paňi Betty Jean Baranik, Fr. John Fencik, Fr. George Hutnyan, Fr. Paul Stoll, Fr. Robert Teklinski, Fr. Michael Psenechnuk, Fr. John Gido, Dn. Peter Skoog & family, Pani Kathy Dutko, Fr. Gregory Allard, Fr. Lawrence Barriger, Fr. James Gleason, Fr. Luke Mihaly, Fr. Ted & Paňi Marjorie Mozes, Fr. Thomas Blaschak, Hieromonk Michael, Fr Thomas Kadlec; Paňi Donna Smoley, Fr. Michael & Paňi AnnaMarie Slovesko, Fr John & Paňi Patricia Duranko, Fr. Christopher Rozdilski, Fr John & Paňi Cindy Zboyovski, Fr. Jonathan & Paňi Marsha Tobias, Fr Robert Lucas, Pañi Delores Zuder; Paňi Amy George, Fr Ken Ellis; Protonica Katherine Demshuk; Elisa Castilla, Ann Thear, Beth & Ed ‘Skeets’ Williams, Carol Miller, Cindy Russell, Michael Buchko, Dorothy Mastronicola, Angie Wali, Nancy Lynn Arthur, Mary Urbas, Tony Zankey, Justin Popek, Karen Ogden, Joshua, Faye & Tess, Emilie Dixon, Shirley Miree, Michael Rake, Olga Vasconez, Diane Dupere-Lindell, Gerry Sadler, Ann Eckert, Lois Hall, Marshal Smith, Dave Stanton, Florence Gregoric, Gregory Davis, James & Melody Peyton, Louann Giger, Daniel Ward, Jennifer Brady, Carol Blum, Katie Bleeker, Alexi Williams, Missy Johns, Susan Buckley, Constance Amey, James Lazor, Debbie Dell, Rose & Douglas Eade, Robert Horsch, Edward & Grace Yoon, Michael Dinneen, Kellie Barett, Joan Detwiler, Joan Kondratick, John Homick, Jim David, Melanie Samson, Mary West, Laura Gary; Richard & Wendy Sulich; James Durachko, Julia Rapach, Randi Caffalle, Hayley Marshall, Jon Green, Aleia Dick, MaryJane, Kyle & Rosie Brant, Mary Agnes, Alicia, Lisa Cherno, Stephen Brancho, Emily, MaryMargaret , Kenneth Laury, Leslie Perez, Thomas & Deborah Delare, Diana Hannan; Ed Murphy; Emilia Zak; LeLe Luu; Bridget Myers; Devan Merrill; Joann Wiant; Diane Jacobs; Bob Fitzurka; Vasili Pavuk; Frank Pavuk; Richard, Kari, Nicholas & Daniel Zarynow; infant Emilia Zak, Paňi Iliana & sons, Elizabeth Fabian & baby

May Our Lord Jesus Christ Touch Them with His Healing Hand During this time of Covid-19, if you have any candle requests, please email or text them to Fr Peter by no later than Wednesday evening. Candles will be lit as requested. Candle requests for Mother’s Day must be into the rectory office by no later than Wednesday 6 May to be listed in the bulletin!

Candle Offerings *Eternal Light: Memory of +Betty Ellis on her Birthday-son Steve (Aonia H Mneni Autou! Christos Anesti!) **Eternal Lamp & Altar Candles: In loving memory of my beloved husband Les- Love Carol (Memory Eternal! Christ is Risen!) Eternal Light: God's Blessings for 10th Anniversary of the consecration of Archbishop Michael-brother George (Mnohaja L’ita! Christos Voskrese!) (2) Happy Birthday goddaughter Pam; for the health of all Holy Resurrection Parishioners-Lois (Many Years! Christ is Risen!); in loving memory of newly-departed +Patsy Fitzwater-Carol Miller (Memory Eternal! Christ is Risen!)

Vigil Candles Offered For the Living (Many Years! Mnohaja L’ita!) 1-specail intention-anonymous 1-health of Mom-your loving family- Chrysa, Taina & Craig 1-health Dad Michael-love Alex & Melanie 2-for health-love Mom & Dad Jonathan & Lara; Stephanie 2-for health-John & Sheila HROC parishioners; Family members 3-special intention-John & Sheila Fr. Peter & family; Diocesan Priests & their families; OCMC Missionaries 1-health of Chris Fallon-Michael, Kathleen, John & Anna 1-health & blessings Marge Tomasevich-Joanie 2-special intention-brother George Archbishop Michael; Barbara Knighton 2-special intention-George Dahulich Metropolitan Gregory; Bishop Matthias 4-for health-George Dahulich Fr Tom Kadlec; Fr Jim Dutko; Chris Fallon; Charlie Myers 12-happy birthday-George Dahulich John Birkenmeier; MaryAnn Swan; Julia Fitzwater; Rachel Timko; Tom Dahulick; Chris Hudack; Alex J Breno; Barbara Knighton; Stephen Sudik; Jacob Myers; Stephanie Krynitsky; Jude Sumner 1-health of Savannah, Chloe, Caroline, Christopher, Natalie, Cole-love Grandparents 17-health & healing-John & Marie Smith Irene Dzubak; Melanie Samson; Fr Tom Kadlec; John & Barbara Homick; Chris Hudack; Ray & Georgene Ammon; Marge Tomasevich; Carol Miller; Marie Skasko; Paňi Eleanor Pribish; Lois Erhard; Chris Fallon; Emilia Zak; Stephen Brancho; Charlie Myers; Debbie & Tom Delare; Rose Marie Jung

6-special intentions-the Breno Family Breno Family; Fedornock Families; Peart Family; Nakonecznyj Family; Zankey Family; Fabian Family 2-specail intention-Mom & Dad Angela & Brian; Stephen 1-special intention Mark-love Marie 1-special intention Marie-love Mark 9-for health-Mark, Marie & Stephen Mom/Baba; Ann Thear; Helen Beverage; Verna Czap; Nancy Shields; Mike & Josie Czap; Skeets; Williams Family; Charlene Myers 14-health & special intention- Mark, Marie & Stephen

Chris Hudack; Ray & Georgene Ammon; Marge Tomasevich; Irene Dzubak; Carol Miller; Alex & Eleanor Breno; Fr John & Paňi Marge; Chris Fallon; Melanie Samson; James Battaglini; Bridget Myers; Charlie Myers; Paňi Bernadette; John Czap

1-health & sp. int. Aleksey, Yuliya & Dru-Yuliya Lore 1-happy birthday Kathleen-Mom & Dad 2-happy birthday-the Fallons Becky Connelly; Joe Luchok 1-health & healing for Bob, Hayley, John, Chris, Peggy-Lois 1-for health of Savannah, Caroline, Natalie, Karen K., Elizabeth-Lois 1-specail intention-Lois 7-for health-Rose Plowchin Tom Knipple; Nancy& Dn Steve Hall; Charlie Myers; Pañi Dolores Zuder; Lois Erhard; John Homick; Marge Tomasevich 2-birthday blessings-Rose Plowchin Scott Plowchin; Jan Isner 1-safe travel Alex Zarynow-Rose Plowchin 1-safe travel Alex Zarynow-Carol Miller

Vigil Candles In Loving Memory: (Memory Eternal! Vicnaja Pamjat!) 1+in loving memory of Les-love Carol 1+in memory Mother & Father–Carol Miller 1+loving memory of my husband Tom-your loving wife Ann 1+in loving memory of our father-Chrysa, Taina and Craig 1+in memory of Steve Sheftic-love your family 2+loving memory-the Fallons Paňi Jeannette; Anna & John Luchok 1+in memory of Marion Fallon-Diane 1+in loving memory of Helen Rowland-Diane 1+in loving memory Parents & Grandparents-Diane & Brian 1+Memory Eternal Parents/Grandparents-Koval Family

2+Memory Eternal-Koval Family Uncle George & Uncle Tony 3+Memory Eternal –love Alex, Melanie Mother Katherine; Dad John; Mother Elaine 5+in memory-John & Sheila Dad Kraynok; Mom Kraynok; Charles Hrapchak; Anna Hrapchak; Evelyn Hrapchak 1+In loving memory of Metro-Love, Joan and Family 1+in loving memory of parents Peter & Ann Dahulich-love son George 1+in memory of Mary Fitzurka, granddaughter Lois

*Candle was requested, and was lit, for Sunday 26 April **Candles were requested, and lit, for Sunday 19 April

Follow Your Diocese On-Line Diocesan Website: http://www.acrod.org Camp Nazareth: http://www.campnazareth.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acroddiocese Twitter: https://twitter.com/acrodnews You Tube: https://youtube.com/acroddiocese

“Absent with Reasonable Cause” Lord, I heard Your celebrant today praying for our brothers and sisters ‘who are absent for good reason’. And they stuck in my mind. I want to find them, to discover them and then send up fervent supplications for them. Who are they, Lord? Who are they who are far away from Your house at the time of the Divine Liturgy? Certainly there are those who are too ill to attend. Those for whom it’s their heart’s desire, but whose body fails them. The soul leaps at being close to You, in the warm embrace of Your church, but the flesh, sick as it is, can’t consent. Then there are their companions, the guardian angels of the patients, who, in the hospital or at home patiently stand by with love and serve. Through their love, the patients overcome the needs of human nature, surpass the bounds of humanity and acquire powers they’d never had. There are others who work shifts, in public services, factories or hospitals, the police, the military, people who serve society and don’t have holidays off. They guard our health, our security, our national integrity.

Lord, remember those who are absent for good reason. Send all of them your Grace as: Balm and healing for the first; Patience and courage for the second; And for the last, strength,

stamina, courage, wisdom, protection and shelter.

Attention Class of 2020

To all High School and College Graduates of 2020: Please notify Fr. Peter, by 31 May, of your graduation information. High School Students: your High School, any academic and/or athletic awards, where you will attend in the Fall and your attended major in college (or undecided at this time) College Students, Graduate and Post-Graduate: your college/university, your field of study and degree you have earned

We will recognize our graduates on Sunday 14 June. God willing, we will be able to do this in person Please be in church that Sunday so that we can take a group photo. ↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈↈ

STEWARDSHIP CORNER March 2020 Treasurer’s Report Non-Designated Fund Balance, 2/29 $ 58,264.47 Income $ 15,565.75 Expenses $ 10,466.92 Non-Designated Fund Balance, 3/31 $ 63,363.30 GAIN in March $ 5,098.83 CUMULATIVE Year to Date Income $ 49,101.62 Expenses $ 40,633.82 GAIN for Year to Date $ 8,467.80

Time and Talents Given to the Parish

· Setup of the LIVE broadcasts – Subdeacons Anastasios Davis & Alex Zarynow · Cantors – Reader Stephen Sudik and Mike Fallon · Altar Servers – Sbdn. Alex Zarynow, Aleksey Rogozin, Ben & Morgan Davis · Flower arrangements for Pascha – Alex & Melanie Krynitsky

Attendance/Communicants for March 01 March: 71/52 08 March: 63/46 15 March: 36/27

Coronavirus Protocols began on Wednesday evening 18 March “EVERY MAN SHALL GIVE AS HE IS ABLE, ACCORDING TO THE

BLESSINGS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD WHICH HE HAS GIVEN YOU.” Deuteronomy 16:17

NOTE: While we are in the situation where we are not able to meet, if you are able, please continue to make your regular tithe/offering to the parish. Even though we are not together, the bills continue to come in (electric, water, communications, etc.) Your continued support is necessary and appreciated. Your offering can simply be made through the PayPal button on our parish website homepage or by sending it in the mail to the church. «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»

The second Issue of SPF50 is available NOW!! It is a digital edition. If you didn’t start with us on March 1, consider joining now. Make a commitment to reading Scripture and Praying together with your family. Visit the Diocesan Website at acrod.org and look for the SPF50 section or go directly to the SPF50 web page at https://www.acrod.org/ministries/acrod-family/spf50 to find out more about SPF50 and how to help your family read Scripture and Pray together at home. Don’t forget to fill out the Commitment Card which is available in the SPF50 Section of the Diocesan Website, and return the Card to FrPeter. «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»

If you are truly interested in the welfare of your children, why do you not watch as strictly, but once a week, how they attend to their lessons in the study of the Law of God, as you do in some home-work, which the children seemed to be forced to have prepared within the next twelve hours for their public school? You must obey God, above the public and all other masters, or lose your souls for the responsibility which rests upon you for the present and future welfare of your children.

St Sebastian Dabovich, “On the Education of Children,”

Assembly of Bishops USA Announces COVID-19 Resource Center for Orthodox Christians NEW YORK – The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA announces a resource center for clergy and faithful during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Resource Center includes updated news from the various jurisdictions as well as practical guidelines and resources for families, ministry leaders, parish leadership, and everyone. The Center can be accessed at http://www.assemblyofbishops.org/covid19 and will be updated regularly with new materials and expanded selections.

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Third Paschal Sunday: Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women

About the beginning of His thirty-second year, when the Lord Jesus was going throughout Galilee, preaching and working miracles, many women who had received of His beneficence left their own homeland and from then on followed after Him. They ministered unto Him out of their own possessions, even until His crucifixion and entombment; and afterwards, neither losing faith in Him after His death, nor fearing the wrath of the Jewish rulers, they came to the sepulcher, bearing the myrrh-oils they had prepared to anoint His body. It is because of the myrrh-oils, that these God-loving women brought to the tomb of Jesus that they are called the Myrrh-bearers. Of those whose names are known are the following: first of all, the most holy Virgin Mary, who in Matthew 27:56 and Mark 15:40 is called "the mother of James and Joses" (these are the sons of Joseph by a previous marriage, and she was therefore their step-mother); Mary Magdalene (celebrated July 22); Mary, the wife of Clopas; Joanna, wife of Chouza, a steward of Herod Antipas; Salome, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus; and Susanna. As for the names of the rest of them, the evangelists have kept silence (Matt 27:55-56; 28:1-10. Mark 15:40-41. Luke 8:1-3; 23:55-24:11, 22-24. John 19:25; 20:11-18. Acts 1:14).

Together with them we celebrate also the secret disciples of the Saviour, Joseph and Nicodemus. Of these, Nicodemus was probably a Jerusalemite, a prominent leader among the Jews and of the order of the Pharisees, learned in the Law and instructed in the Holy Scriptures. He had believed in Christ when, at the beginning of our Saviour's preaching of salvation, he came to Him by night. Furthermore, he brought some one hundred pounds of myrrh-oils and an aromatic mixture of aloes and spices out of reverence and love for the divine Teacher (John 19:39). Joseph, who was from the city of Arimathea, was a wealthy and noble man, and one of the counsellors who were in Jerusalem. He went boldly unto Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, and together with Nicodemus he gave Him burial. Since time did not permit the preparation of another tomb, he placed the Lord's body in his own tomb which was hewn out of rock, as the Evangelist says (Matt. 27:60).

There are eight women who are generally identified as the myrrh-bearers. Each of the four Gospels gives a different aspect of the roles of these eight women at the cross and at the tomb on Easter morning, perhaps since the eight women arrived in different groups and at different times. The eight are: Mary Magdalene, Mary, the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary), Joanna, Salome, Mary the wife of Cleopas (or Alphaeus), Susanna, Mary of Bethany, Martha of Bethany. Of the eight, the first five are the more prominent and outspoken. The last three are included according to tradition. Five of these women were also very wealthy; the women of means were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and Mary and Martha of Bethany.

GRANDMA’S ICONS He was travelling to his grandma’s—as he had done in his childhood, by train on an upper berth—

but now without his parents and in very low spirits. Earlier at the mention alone of grandma he would be happy for a whole week, counting the days and hours before seeing her; and now he was lying, face to the wall, staring fixedly in front of himself, carried away with agonizing thoughts: If grandma doesn’t help him it will be the end of him. When he carelessly took out a high-interest loan to open what he believed to be a successful business, his life went topsy-turvy. First his partners deceived him—they took his money and left him responsible for everything; then his friends broke with him and eventually his wife deserted him, tired of his never-ending problems. When all the attempts at repaying the bank had been exhausted, he almost gave up but then suddenly remembered granny, who lived in a faraway Ural village. She loved her grandson above everyone else; and though she was poor (she didn’t even have a refrigerator and stored her food in an ice-box in the cellar), she owned some old icons that would cost a lot of money in the market. Earlier he wouldn’t have made up his mind to sell his granny’s beloved icons, but since he had an overwhelming loan that kept growing like a snowball, threatening to crush the remainder of what had been his very quiet life not long before, he simply had no alternative.

As far back as he could remember, grandma kept her icons in the most conspicuous place—in the holy corner of her house, where people usually put their TV. She would go to church on Sundays and Church festivals, and begin and finish every day with prayer. She would work in the kitchen garden, then milk her goat Manya, give her grandson warm milk with strawberries to drink, put on her red headscarf, light an icon lamp in front of her icons and say: “What a wonderful day the Lord has sent us! Let us give thanks to Him, my grandson!” While grandma was praying, he would be sitting on the bed, no longer thinking of his toys, gazing enchanted at the icon lamp twinkling like a semi-precious red stone, until he fell asleep happy.

When after the sixth grade he spent the whole summer at granny’s, she took him to church, had him baptized, and taught him to pray “Our Father” and “O Theotokos and Virgin, Rejoice”, and then gave him back to his parents with a light heart. Seeing a cross on her son’s chest, her daughter-in-law rebuked her: “The boy should first grow up and decide for himself which faith to choose! Don’t meddle in the lives of others!” Grandma sighed with remorse as she listened; and then she said simple-heartedly that in the city you can get lost before you’ve figured out what faith to choose, and she couldn’t allow this to happen. She loved her grandson more than her own life and used to say that he took after his granddad—he was as resolute and stubborn as her reposed husband. Grandpa was a miner and died young, and after his death, grandma lived the rest of her life alone and never left her village. And there was no need to leave it—the village provided her with all she needed. Her potato harvests were so abundant that she always had sufficient for herself and to share with all the neighbors; her goat Manya gave her milk every day; and her chickens laid eggs. And she didn’t want to leave her late husband buried by the church she loved so dearly. She would cut hay, dig up potatoes and look after the house herself.

She prayed to Christ to give her good health in her old age so that she might not be a burden to anybody and might die peacefully in her village; and she was never sick. She lived in the remotest depths of the Russian backwoods in an excellent environment, with the taiga [the swampy coniferous forest of high northern latitudes, especially in Russia’s Siberia. —Trans.] and a river close by, and with the last local factory closing as far back as the 1990s. The authorities even planned to show the beauty of local nature to foreigners.

Seeing her beloved grandson on her doorstep, granny shed a few tears of joy, stroke his hair for a long time (as she never tired of looking at him) and then ran to the shop to buy some Polish sausage, chocolates and his favorite ice-cream. He had not visited her since school, and now it astounded him to find her house so small and old, though it had once seemed huge to him. It had only one, spacious room with a Russian stove and plank bed,1 where as a boy he used to sleep; a tall-backed iron bedstead with pillows under cotton print curtains, a round table with an oilcloth on it, and a sofa by the window. There were old pictures in frames, along with a reproduction of the painting, “The Morning in a Pine Wood”, by Ivan Shishkin, on the wall. The icons were in their place—in the holy corner. At the first sight it was clear that all the icons were antique and absolutely intact. No wonder, since grandma “fussed over” them →

and cherished them as her most precious treasure. He remembered how granny used to tell him that they had inherited them from his great-grandfather. He fought in the First World War and returned home lame, but with a St. George’s Cross he had been awarded for bravery.

The villagers esteemed him and elected him as their church warden. When the Bolsheviks came to power and some Komsomol members came from town to close all the churches in the area, he drove them away, took out the icons from the church, hiding some and giving the others to his wife, telling her

to guard them like the apple of her eye. After that he left and never returned. Afterwards it was said that he became “an enemy of the Soviet Government” and was executed by firing squad.

At first the icons were kept in the attic; and when everything quieted down, grandma placed them in their proper place—in the holy corner. Granny prayed in front of them her entire life. Grandma’s icons always stood in their glass frames, adorned with covers sewn with colored pearls. As he was looking at the darkened images with their penetrating eyes, he made the sign of the cross as if involuntarily, feeling a vague excitement.

Grandma certainly had something to celebrate in that evening! She baked milk mushroom and cloudberry

pies and brought the raspberry liquor out of her cellar. She seated her grandson under the icons, poured some liquor into two shot glasses for both of them, and announced solemnly:

“My darling, my own flesh and blood, you are my only grandson and all my life I have prayed for you to God so that you would become a good person! And indeed, you have become so handsome, so intelligent, and you graduated from an institute… Your father wrote that you had opened your own, big company! If your late grandad could see you now, his joy would have been boundless!”

He was taken aback by these words. And grandma proceeded with a smile: “I have started growing weak recently, I feel dizzy most of the time… I easily get tired after

working just a little. I am advanced in years, and the Lord may take me any day now… I prayed to God that He would send you to your grandma, and now you are here! I have no fortune to bequeath to you, very little money, and my house is decrepit… The only thing I am going to bequeath to you, my dear, is your great-grandfather’s icons!”

And she told her dumbstruck grandson about each icon in length: “This is St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. He will be the first to help you in any work; with his

support the success of any undertaking will be assured! Here is St. Simeon, kind and hospitable… He would go from house to house, telling people about God and sow sheepskin jackets. Pray to him, and peace and love will reign in your home. When you decide to marry, be sure to take your chosen one to him in Verkhotourye—and he will bless your marriage. Your grandad and I went to his village of Merkushino2 for our church wedding and we were heart and soul with one another our whole life. Whenever you don’t know what to do, pray to Great-martyr Catherine—she will illumine you and guide you on the right path! Bear the Cross of Christ in your heart continuously and pray to it—it has been given us to protect us from enemies and misfortunes! And never take off the cross I put on you when you were baptized—keep in mind that whoever is without a cross is not Christ’s! And this is my favorite: an icon of the Holy Theotokos! It will protect you throughout your life! There is no greater Intercessor and Helper of ours on earth than the Mother of God!”

He travelled back on the same old train and was alone in his carriage. He took his grandma’s icons out his bag, placed them on the seat in front of him and looked at them silently for a long time. He tried to hold on as long as he could, but unable to keep the lid on it burst into tears. He fell on his knees before the icons and, tears spreading all over his face, kept whispering: “Forgive me!” He kept praying the prayers that he had forgotten since childhood and couldn’t stop praying.

As soon as he got back home, he hurried to his garage. He still had no idea how he would solve his numerous problems and sort out the situation, but what he did know is that he would start with a shelf for his grandma’s icons.

Denis Akhalashvili Translated by Dmitry Lapa

Pravoslavie.ru 4/28/2020

1 The traditional Russian stove (“pech”) was the center of the country’s pre-revolutionary houses, not least the peasants’ houses, called izba. It had a unique structure and was multifunctional, being used for domestic heating, and cooking, and had a platform to sleep on, especially in winter. The sleeping platform, or plank bed, stretched from the stove’s top to one of the walls just beneath the ceiling and was called “polati”.—Trans. 2 St. Simeon lived, reposed and was buried in Merkushino village. Later, in 1704, his holy relics were translated to St. Nicholas Cathedral in the town of Verkhotourye in what is now the Sverdlovsk region.—Trans.

THE HOLY GREAT-MARTYR GEORGE Commemorated 23 April/06 May

This glorious and victorious saint was born in Cappadocia, the son of wealthy and virtuous parents. His father suffered for Christ, and his mother then moved to Palestine. When George grew up he entered the military, where he attained, in his twentieth year, the rank of tribune, and as such he was in the service of the Emperor Diocletian. When Diocletian began his terrible persecution of Christians, George came before him and courageously confessed that he was a Christian. The emperor had him thrown into prison and ordered that his feet be placed in stocks and that a heavy stone be placed on his chest. After that, the emperor commanded that George be tied to a wheel, under which was a board with large nails, and he was to be rotated until his whole body became as one bloody wound. After that, they buried him in a pit with only his head showing above the ground, and there they left him for three days and three nights. Then George was given a deadly poison to drink by a magician. But through all of these sufferings, George continuously prayed to God, and God healed him instantly and saved him from death, to the great astonishment of the people. When he also resurrected a dead man through his prayers, many accepted the Christian Faith. Among these were Alexandra, the wife of the Emperor Diocletian; the chief pagan priest; the farmer Glycerius; and Valerius, Donatus and Therinus. Finally, the emperor commanded that George and his own wife Alexandra be beheaded. Blessed Alexandra died on the scaffold before being beheaded, and St. George was beheaded in the year 303 A.D. The miracles which have occurred over the grave of St. George are countless. Numerous are his appearances, both in dreams and openly, to those who, from that time to today, have invoked him and implored his help. Inflamed with love for Christ the Lord, it was not difficult for this saintly George, for the sake of this love, to leave all: rank, wealth, imperial honor, his friends and the entire world. For this love, the Lord rewarded him with a wealth of unfading glory in heaven and on earth, and with eternal life in His kingdom. In addition, the Lord bestowed upon him the power and authority to assist all those in afflictions and difficulties who honor him and call upon his name. ※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

“We should see God in the faces of children and we should give them His love. Children, too, should learn how to pray. If they are to pray, children need to have the blood of prayerful parents.” St Porfyrios Kavsolkalyvitis

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“Even if we are entirely despised in the eyes of men, let us rejoice that we are honored in the sight of God.” St. John the Dwarf

Commemorations The Theotokos; Mary Magdalene; Mary wife of Cleopas; Joanna; Susanna; Salome, mother of James & John; Mary & Martha, sisters of Lazarus; Joseph of Arimathea &

Nicodemus

The Bearing of Myrrh The Unnaturality Of Death

When Jesus died on the Cross, He experienced something profoundly “unnatural.” Because He is the Son of God, and because the Spirit completely deified His human nature — that is, His body and His human soul — He would never have died a “natural death.” In other words, He would never have died of old age or even of sickness. He got hungry and tired, yes: but disease and old age are legacies of the Fall, and that did not apply to the Son of God.

So, for Jesus to die, He had to be murdered, the most unnatural death of all — which is exactly what the Cross is. The Cross is a symbol for humanity’s entire rejection of God. God, however, turned the Cross into a symbol of His overwhelming Love.

But there is another reason why His death was “unnatural.” And this unnaturality is something shared with the entire human race. It is the reason why Jesus voluntarily accepted death.

That “unnaturality” is the separation of the soul from the body. Death was never meant to be part of the order of things. But because of the Fall of humanity into sin and rejection of God (and His love, which is everything that God is and stands for), humans brought death upon themselves … because the rejection of God and His love is a profound rejection of what life is.

So, if life is rejected, it falls apart. That is exactly what death is: a “falling apart,” or separation, of the soul from the body. Human death — at least, and maybe all death in biological life — was never meant to be the order of things. And this is what Jesus voluntarily took upon Himself, so that He could overturn all the consequences and aftermath of the Fall — even death itself.

The Descent Both body and soul of Christ’s were human. His spirit is divine. His body remained in the Tomb, but His human soul (His “psyche”) and His divine spirit descended into the non-physical realm of death called Hell.

Hell is the source of all the signs of death. All the passions, all despair, all hatred and violence and domination, come from and are rooted in Hell.

Hell is the destiny, the endpoint, of all rejected of God’s love. It is where every human soul that has rejected its own essence — which is to reflect divine Love and to participate in the beauty of its Being — ends up, because it is the bottom of the Abyss.

It may be said that Hell is the dark domain of broken mirrors.

Jesus, after and because of the Cross and Gethsemane, descended into this Hell to rescue humanity from this prison locked “by gates of brass,” as verses from Saturday evening Vespers repeatedly reminds us.

He announced to all this glorious invitation, as His hidden divinity is now revealed at the bottom of all existence, at the darkest point of death … the divinity that obliterates the authority of sin and death, and destroys Hell’s gates: “Come unto Me, all ye that are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (from Matthew 11.28-30).

Immediately after this moment, as St Paul describes in his letter to the Ephesians, “Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.” In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is He who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things (4.8-9).

Whether all of humanity left with Him remains a mystery. But who would ever stay behind in Hell when Jesus Himself opened a way out?

The Body That Remained This descent takes place during the mysterious and dark Three Days, the Triduum, the interval between

Good Friday and the Sunday of Pascha. The mystery of these Three Days is veiled in holy mysticism, analogous to the mysterious Ten Days between the Ascension and Pentecost.

During these Three Days, the Body of Jesus Christ remained in the Tomb. Here is where things become radically different from the usual process of death. Here is where a radical

change occurs within human history, within our time and space: The Body of Jesus does not decay. It does not even begin to decay. It remains whole, unbroken (remember that His legs were not broken to hasten His death on the Cross, as were the legs of the two thieves). It remains undefiled, uncorrupted. →

This is important, because Jesus’ humanity — while vulnerable to the “sinless passions” of hunger, thirst, sorrow, and fatigue — was never “Fallen” humanity. It never participated in the sinful passions of Hell, the signs of death.

St Gregory of Nyssa writes that the human soul and divine spirit of Jesus never broke the connection it had with the body of Jesus. As every human soul in death “remembers” its body, even more so the soul of Jesus maintained the wholeness of His body, even in these Three Days of death.

The wholeness of Jesus’ Body in His tomb, His remaining “incorrupt” and never decaying, is an exceedingly important Sign of Jesus’ divinity and His divinized, resurrected humanity.

His incorrupt Body is the Sign that Jesus destroyed the power of death. That is why we remember this Sign at every Divine Liturgy. Following the Epiclesis, the celebrant lifts

up the cubical Bread that is now the Body of Christ. He breaks it into four portions. And the portion labeled IC (of ICXC NIKA) he places into the chalice of the Blood of Christ.

And after this, the celebrant (or deacon) pours warm water into the chalice, saying “The fervor of faith, full of the Holy Spirit.”

This pouring of warm water is the potent Sign that Christ destroyed death even and especially in the act of suffering death, and that His Body did not suffer corruption even and especially as Christ suffered sinless passions, just as Scripture prophesied.

This is a correction of the teachings of the Sixth Century Aphthartodocetics and Phantasiasts, who insisted that Christ did not suffer hunger, thirst, sorrow, and fatigue. They taught that if He did, then His body would have to decay. The Orthodox Church though said, faithfully, that Christ took upon Himself all humanity in its reality and in its descent, as the Epistle to the Hebrews says: “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One Who in every respected as been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (4.15).

The Myrrh-bearers It is heartbreaking that the decay of death was so ingrained, so customary, that Joseph of Arimathea,

Nicodemus (who secretly visited Jesus at night in John 3), and the Holy Myrrh-bearers took enormous risk in preparing the Body of Jesus. After taking the Body down from the Cross, Joseph and Nicodemus wrapped it in a shroud, along with one hundred pounds of burial spices — a blend of aloes and myrrh (reminiscent of the myrrh brought by the Magi at the Nativity). They had to work quickly, as the Sabbath of Passover was drawing nigh (John 19.38-42).

No work — even the necessary work of burial — could be done on the Sabbath, especially this Sabbath, as it was a “high holy day” So the women who would do the final preparations of Jesus’ Body had to skip a day.

The women came — including, according to Holy Tradition, the Mother of God, Mary the Theotokos — on Sunday, the first day of the week. They brought even more spices to anoint the Body, and to prepare it against corruption and decay the best they could.

It is poignant that this was the loving human way to hold off decay, as long as might be possible.

But death always had its way. Until this day. It just seems right that these brave, heartbroken

women who stayed faithfully with Jesus on the Cross, closer to Him than His Apostles, would be the first to hear the Angels (very much like the angelic choir at the Nativity), sing “Rejoice, O pure Virgin, again I say rejoice. Your Son is risen from His three days in the tomb, and He has raised all the dead. Let all people rejoice.”

They were the first to see the empty sepulcher, and the linen cloths that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had wrapped around the Body of Jesus — now lying empty and neatly folded.

The Myrrh-bearers who were going, faithfully, to do their last ministry of love, were the first to receive the greatest reward, the greatest news that Christ is Risen, and that He is Risen indeed!

Very Rev Jonathan Tobias

Christ is Risen!! Indeed He is Risen!! Christos Voskrese! Voistinu Voskrese!

Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!