For many of us, the English language Psalms in our heads, are those from Holy Trinity Monastery’s “Psalter According to the Seventy” – and for many years, the Boston translation was the standard one in our ROCOR services. Despite some enigmatic and opaque verses, the “Boston Psalter” is part of the spiritual consciousness of many Orthodox people. However, one great frustration was that it did not contain the traditional troparia and prayers of the Slavonic Psalter, for prayer in the home or monastic cell, especially for keeping solitary vigil, or with one or two companions in prayer.
The Monastery of the Transfiguration, in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, had a booklet of the kathisma hymns and prayers, but for those of us used to traditional liturgical English texts, the language was a challenge.
Zoom forward nearly four decades, and we are blessed with the “Psalter For Prayer”, based on the Coverdale translation, complete with the prayers before snd after reading the Psalms, the troparia of compunction, and Kathisma prayer at the end if each section.
Whilst the default wording for many of us remains the old HTM translation, the wonderful Jordanville Psalter is a massive blessing in giving the traditional materials for reading the Psalms prayerfully in the home or monastic cell, making it one of the most important spiritual texts for a believer to have together with tgeir Bible and prayerbook.
I have been so glad that parishioners – particularly young ones – are so receptive to praying the Psalter, particularly during Great Lent and Advent, when the prayer-team reads the Psalter in its entirety every day, and encourage everyone to buy the Psalter for Prayer, with the traditional hymns and prayers for the Cell Rule, and the rule of the Twelve Psalms referred to in today’s earlier blog post.
For those unfamiliar with the tradition, here are the prayers and hymn that follow the first kathisma of the Psalter: “Blessed is the man…”
After the First Kathisma, the Trisagion Prayers, and these troparia, in Tone I:
Conceived in iniquities, prodigal that I am, I dare not gaze upon the heights of heaven; yet, confident of Thy love for mankind, I cry: O God, cleanse me and save me, a sinner!
If the righteous man can hardly be saved, where shall I, a sinner, find myself? I have not borne the burdens and heat of the day; yet, number me among them that were hired at the eleventh hour, O God, and save me!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Make haste to open unto me Thy Fatherly embrace, for as the Prodigal I have wasted my life. In the unfailing wealth of Thy mercy, O Saviour, reject not my heart in its poverty, for with compunction I cry unto Thee, O Lord: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee.
Both now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O most holy Virgin, hope of Christians, with the heavenly hosts unceasingly entreat God, to Whom thou gavest birth in manner past understanding and recounting, that He grant remission of sins and amendment of life unto all of us who with faith and love ever honor thee.
Lord, have mercy. (40)
And this Prayer: O Master, Almighty, Unapproachable, Origin of light, and Power beyond comprehension, Who art the Father of the hypostatic Word, and from Whom came forth the Spirit Who is one with Thee in power; Who, for the sake of the mercy of Thy loving-kindness and Thine ineffable goodness, hast not scorned human nature, which is held fast in the darkness of sin, but hast illumined the world with the divine beacons of Thy sacred teachings, the Law and the Prophets; Who in latter times wast well pleased for Thine only-begotten Son to shine forth upon us in the flesh and guide us to the effulgence of Thy glorious light, may Thine ears be attentive unto the voice of our supplication; and grant, O Lord, that we may pass the whole night of this present life with a vigilant and watchful heart, awaiting the coming of Thy Son and our God, the Judge of all. And may we, without having lain down to sleep, but keeping vigil and upright, enter together into His joy, where the voice is unending of them that behold the ineffable beauty of Thy face. For Thou art a good God and the Lover of mankind, and unto Thee do we ascribe glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
There are different local traditions, with different texts, with the Cherubim Press having published the Psalter with the hymns and prayers according to the tradition of the Athonite monastery of Pantokrator. However, it’s not the greatest English for prayer purposes, though I may just find it jarring as a British man used to traditional liturgical English.
I hope that we might have some input here from brothers and sisters who use the St Tikhon’s Press Psalter, and share their experience. Please share with us!
Whichever texts we use, according to different local traditions and languages, the hymns and prayers greatly enrich our chanting of the Psalter, and its place in our spiritual journeys of prayer and repentance.
If we were able to transport ourselves to the ancient monastic thebaïd of Egypt, many of us would be surprised, if not shocked by the austerity and “bareness” of those primitive monastic services – so different from our expectations, shaped by the subsequent development of Byzantine Liturgy.
Our current practices are very much a result of the fusion of monastic and cathedral rites, with the psalmody and primitive features of prayer supplemented by the hymnographic riches that have developed in the ensuing centuries, with the development of troparia, kontakia, stichera and canons. But, before the centuries in which monastics were resistant to these “innovations”, there was a time when these riches did not even exist, and the sole hymnographic treasury was the Psalter.
It is odd to imagine vespers without the stichera we sing on “Lord, I have cried…” or matins without the canons, yet that was the reality.
When we look at compline or the hours, we can get a general idea of worship consisting almost solely of Psalms, with a minimum of supplementary hymnody. When we think about Great Compline, the ancient pattern is amplified in the stases of Psalms which are still more or less the totality of the service.
Whilst our Byzantine rite now has rich layers of hymnography, often interspersed with hymns, the Coptic rite still preserves a more primitive feamework, in which the Psalter – interspersed with hymns and prayers – IS the Horologion, with all 150 Psalms are chanted each day, more often than not in sets of twelve Psalms.
St John Cassian the Roman tells us that this order was revealed by an angel who appeared in the form of a venerable elder whilst monastics were disputing how many Psalms should be chanted during their synaxis of prayer. The “elder” started chanting Psalms and upon completing the twelfth, he chanted alleluia, and then vanished. The monks understood that this was a heavenly revelation, and twelve Psalm services became the pattern of celebration.
In Great Russian editions of both Old and New Rites we find a relic of this desert practice as a continued and approved part our living sacred tradition.
Towards the end of the Psalter, we find
“The Rite for Singing the Twelve Psalms, Which the venerable fathers of the desert were wont to sing day and night; concerning which, account is found in the books of the fathers and in the lives and sufferings of many saints. This rite was brought to Russia from the Holy Mountain by Dositheus, Archimandrite of the Kiev Caves.”
The said Dositheus was superior of the monastery from 1289 to 1292.
This ancient order, not mentioned in any liturgical typikon, still contained in the Psalter published by Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, and it is not some extinct, dusty relic, but an important part of the living tradition of Orthodox prayer.
Coptic tradition continues to vary the Psalms between the different services of the day, but have become fixed in our order of the Twelve Psalms.
However, this order is still considered a valid aspect of prayer in sketes and hermitages, where stress is upon silence and inner-prayer, as well as in its use by pious lay-people and here we should be clear that the Twelve Psalms are offered as LITURGICAL prayer, in place of horologion services. Though the stress is on the Psalter, there are also troparia and other prayers, with the order divided into three stases.
Psalm 26, Psalm 31, Psalm 56
Psalm 33, Psalm 38, Psalm 40
Psalm 69, Psalm 70, Psalm 76
Psalm 101 Prayer of Manesseh, King of Judah Small Doxology and Prayer of St Eustratius
Each stasis is followed by the Trisagion prayers and penitential troparia on the Lord’s Prayer, before “Lord, have mercy” thirty times (or forty times in Lent), and in some places “More honourable than the cherubim…” and the lesser dismissal at the end of each stasis, before “O come, let us worship…” and the next cycle of Psalms.
During fasts, the prayer of St Ephrem follows ‘More honourable…’, and according to local practice this might be in each stasis, or just in the final one, before the dismissal.
According to ancient Russian tradition, the Twelve Psalms may replace matins and vespers (changing the Doxology to pray for a sinless evening rather than day), and in chanting this ancient liturgical synaxis, we engage with the ancient ways of monastic prayer and world of the desert fathers and mothers.
So… if you have a Slavonic Psalter, or the Jordanville English language Psalter, check the index and explore the ancient service of the Twelve Psalms, which might become a valuable addition to our home prayers, bringing greater structure and depth. Together with our prayer rule and readings, the Twelve Psalms can greatly enrich and strengthen our lives of prayer.
Thanks to those who contributed to our Sunday worship, coming together in a relatively small congregation, in rather a stark contrast to our planned Sunday, with the expected attendance of American pilgrims, who sadly were sent elsewhere (after our considerable planning of hospitality) by their US organiser. However, we were blessed by a deeply prayerful, quiet and contemplative Liturgy for the Sunday of All Saints who have shone forth in the lands of Rus’, and I am thankful to the Lord for such a prayerful celebration after having been blessed with an equally quiet and prayerful Liturgy the previous day, in Warminster. Thanks to our Wessex brothers and sisters.
Such services remind us that Faith is not about being flashy and impressive, and true parish life is not a numbers-game. Golden domes, fancy vestments and a fine choir do not make for authentic Orthodoxy, as modern history and the struggles of persecuted and catacomb Orthodoxy so clearly remind us.
Throughout the dark years of anti-religious oppression, our Russian Church Abroad felt deep a deep connection and brotherhood with those whose resistance to state-controlled Church life lead them to exchange the carefully monitored life of beautifully adorned temples and legal parishes for whispered Liturgies in cellars, thickly curtained domestic rooms, forest clearings and even prison settings.
“The Russian Orthodox Church Underground, 1917-1970” by William C. Fletcher, presents some admittedly dry but interesting details from KGB files describing raided settings for the prayer and worship of unofficial catacomb Orthodox communities, and I encourage the faithful to familiarise themselves with the stark reality of spiritual life for so many believers in the Soviet Union.
Equally, yesterday, I encouraged a spiritual child to familiarise herself with the life of St Sebastian of Optina and Karaganda, whose exile to Kazakhstan became the opportunity for apostolic labour and pastoral service to those also exiled to the Kazakh steppe.
Against all refusals, resistance and opposition, St Sebastian established a fervent, devout and spiritually-strong community, whose members made their parish and temple a bastion of Faith through their labours, sweat and tears.
This sacrifice, labour and self-giving is the basis on which we will build our own Orthodox presence as we move into our future temple in the coming months, and the hard work will then begin. The transformation and progress towards our completed vision may well be slow.
It will take time, money, labour and self-sacrifice, and in the intervening years we must not be ashamed of poverty or bareness, reflecting on the destitution of the confessing Church in the catacombs and gulag.
In God’s time, we will transform our building, knowing that adornments will be secondary to everything that goes in in our temple, which – in the Eucharistic Mystery – will be the place in which the Saviour, Himself, Who is both Priest and Sacrifice, will come to us and call us to Himself at those words, ‘With the fear of God and Faith, draw near.
This does not require fine icons, murals and a polyphonic choir, but a community united in Faith, and repentant hearts open to the love of God, manifested in the Holy Mysteries.
We can learn so much from the confessing Church, and today I am reflecting on the holy new-martyr, St Maxim of Serpukhov, the first catacomb bishop, to whom I referred in my homily.
He described Holy Week and Pascha in the gulag, and I hope that as the Cardiff ROCOR parish (NOT to be confused with the local parish of the Paris-based former Russian exarchate) looks forward to life in its own temple, as yet a promising but bare and empty building, we might contemplate how little we actually need for authentic Orthodoxy and life in Christ.
Having posted this extract before, I make no aplogies for doing so yet again, given the joyful, inspiring example of this memorial of poverty and externally imposed non-possession.
“At Solovki we had several secret Catacomb “churches,” but our “favorites” were two: the “Cathedral Church” of the Holy Trinity, and the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
“The first was a small clearing in the midst of a dense forest in the direction of the “Savvaty” Assignment Area. The dome of this church was the sky, The wails were the birch forest. The church of St. Nicholas was located in the deep forest towards the “Muksolm” Assignment Area, It was a thicket naturally formed by seven large spruces. Most frequently the secret services were conducted only in the summer, on great feasts and, with special solemnity, on the Day of Pentecost. But sometimes, depending on circumstances, doubly secret services were celebrated also in other places.
Thus, for example, on Great Thursday of 1929, the service of the reading of the Twelve Gospels was celebrated in our physicians’ cell in the 10th Company, Vladika Victor and Fr. Nicholas came to us as if for disinfection. Then, catacomb style, they served the church service with the door bolted.
On Great Friday an order was read in all Companies informing that for the next three days no one would be allowed to leave the Companies after 8 p.m. save in exceptional circumstances and by special written permit of the Camp Commandant.
At 7 p.m. on Friday, when we physicians had just returned to our cells after a 12-hour workday, Fr. Nicholas came to us and told us that a Plashchanitsa (burial shroud with the image of Christ) the size of one’s palm had been painted by the artist R. The service-the rite of burial–was to be held and would begin in an hour. “Where?” Vladika Maxim asked. “In the great box for drying fish which is closest to the forest, next to Camp N. The password: three knocks and then two. It’s better to come one at a time.”
In half an hour Vladika Maxim and I left our Company and started out for the indicated “address.” Twice patrols asked for our permits. We, as physicians, had them. But what about the others?–Vladika Victor, Vladika Ilarion, Vladika Nektary, and Fr. Nicholas? Vladika Victor worked as-a bookkeeper in the rope factory. Vladika Nektary was a fisherman; and the others weaved nets. Here was the edge of the forest. Here was the box, about nine yards long, without windows, the door scarcely noticeable.
Light twilight, the sky covered with dark clouds. We knock three times and then twice. Fr. Nicholas opens. Vladika Victor and Vladika Ilarion are already here… In a few minutes Vladika Nektary also comes. The interior of the box has been converted into a church. On the floor, on the wails, spruce branches. Several candles flickering. Small paper icons. The small Plashanitsa is buried in green branches. Ten people have come to pray. Later another four or five come, of whom two are monks. The service begins, in a whisper. It seemed that we had no bodies, but were only souls. Nothing distracted or interfered with prayer… I don’t remember how we went “home,” i.e., to our Companies. The Lord covered us!
The bright service of Pascha was assigned to our physicians’ cell. Towards midnight under various urgent pretexts arranged by the section, without any kind of written permit, all who intended to come gathered, about fifteen people in all. After the Matins and Liturgy, we sat down and broke the fast. On the table were Paschal cake and cheese, colored eggs, cold dishes, wine (liquid yeast with cranberry extract and sugar). About three o’clock we parted.
Control rounds of our Company were made by the Camp Commandant before and after the services, at 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. Finding us four physicians headed by Vladika Maxim, on his last round, the Commandant said: “What doctors, you’re not sleeping?” And immediately he added: “Such a night…and one doesn’t want to sleep!” And he left.
“Lord Jesus Christ! We thank Thee for the miracle of Thy mercy and power,” pronounced Vladika Maxim movingly, expressing our common feelings.
The white night of Solovki was nearing its end. The delicate, rose-colored Paschal morning of Solovki, the sun playing for joy, greeted the monastery-concentration camp, converting it into the invisible city of Kitezh and filling our free Souls with a quiet, unearthly joy.”
Let us all be encouraged by such an example of determined Orthodoxy, striving for Faith against all odds, and despite every obstacle!
News
Today, Panagiotis has departed for the summer in Greece and we pray for a safe journey, and an enjoyable vacation.
We will chant Small Compline in Nazareth House on Thursday at 18:00, with the litia for the departed after our evening office.
At our Friday service, in the Oratory Church at 15:00, we will chant the akathist to the Life-Giving Cross.
Saturday: Our Gloucester Mission Liturgy will be celebrated in Prestbury United Reformed Church at 10:00, and will be followed by our usual bring-and-share lunch. Given that this week we will celebrate the feast of Saints Mary and Martha, the sisters of St Lazarus of the Four Days, and devoted female disciples of the Lord, we will honour them in our Cheltenham Liturgy, given the devotion, generosity and love of our wonderful sisters.
Our Sunday service in Cardiff returns to the normal time of 09:00, and we will celebrate the Synaxis of all the Saints who have shone forth in the British Isles, with a litia to the saints at the end of Liturgy.
I will depart for Glastonbury after our service, and look forward to extending our Synaxis of the Saints of the British Isles with the celebration of the Hours and Divine Liturgy next Monday morning in the Heavenly Path Art Gallery and Glastonbury School of Art (46A High St. Glastonbury, BA6 9DX). Bishop Irenei has blessed the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the small sanctuary that has been created there, so that the Liturgy can be offered in an Orthodox setting, in a place of not only great sacred-significance, but also of spiritual darkness, given the pagan and occult significance of modern-day Glastonbury.
Later, in our Monday evening service in the Chapel of St Lawrence, in Warminter, we will chant the canon of the Synaxis of the Saints of the British Isle’s in Small Compline.
The morning Liturgy will be celebrated at 10:00 and the evening service at 18:30. After such a wonderful Warminster Liturgy last weekend, it will be wonderful to end the month will a double celebration in Wessex!
July sees a group of parishioners make a pilgrimage to the parish of St Elizabeth, in Wallasey, with car-shares taking the faithful to Wallasey on Friday 3 July. We greatly look forward to celebrating the feast of St John the Wonderworker on Saturday 4 July with Father Paul and his lovely community.
Friday 17 July is the feast of the Holy Royal-Martyrs – the altar-feast of the lower cathedral sanctuary and the second anniversary of Father Mark’s priestly ordination. A group of us will head to Chiswick to celebrate this important feast with our bishop and brothers and sisters from different parts of the diocese.
I very much hope that as many parishioners as possible can work together to car-share and be part of the celebration.
Finally, let’s keep up our fundraising momentum and spread the word! Unlike others, we haven’t had a benefactor stump up the money and buy us a church. We’ve raised everything through effort and the wonderful generosity and kindness of individual donors. Let’s keep things moving!
Dear brothers and sisters, happy feast and again, happy nameday to our Alexanders! S prazdnikom!
By now Nataliya and Sveta are back from Georgia, having had a few extra days of blessing after Joanna and I returned for our Sunday service.
Georgia made an immense impression on us, with its unique Orthodox culture and history of ancient Christianity.
We visited so many – perhaps even an initial “too many” holy places… with Samtavro repeatedly calling us back, unexpectedly, during our blessed days of pilgrimage.
We return feeling not only the blessing of St Nino and St Gabriel, but also of the the thirteen Assyrian holy fathers who preached the faith across the Georgian lands, having been blessed with the opportunity to venerate the relics of a number of them.
It was our great joy and honour to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the St Alexander Nevsky Church in Tbilisi (a real home-from-home) and ancient monastery churches, and to chant services of supplication and Paschal hymns in each holy place.
As we look forward to our new church, we asked the intercessions of the Mother of God, of the Holy Great-Martyr George, and all of the saints of the Georgian lands.
We have returned deeply touched by the depth of love and generosity shown by the Georgian people, the wonderful welcome of clergy and monastics, and the spiritual joy even of passersby in the street… and – unexpectedly- with the blessing of His Holiness, Catholicos-Patriarch Shio III, elected on our first day.
We entrust our parishioners and friends to the intercession of the Georgian saints, especially our exam-laden students, those who are unwell, and our young people preparing for marriage in July.
May St Nino, St Gabriel, and all the Georgian God-pleasers pray for them before the Lord’s throne of glory.
Despite missing being in Georgia, it was a joy to return to our Cardiff flock and share the celebration of the Divine Mysteries, even if the bank holiday made for another quiet week, with the much felt absence of Father Mark, matushka and the ever-energetic Yurchik!
After a couple of weeks of celebrating the Divine Liturgy in ancient Georgian churches, yesterday’s Liturgy back in Cardiff was quite a constrast.
Having only having to unfold vestments, vest and make proskomedia commemorations, we once again had the task of setting up from scratch, and packing everything away again. We very much look forward to this being a thing of the past.
Though we were rather thin on the kliros, we appreciated having four adult servers, and it was a blessing to bring the newly-gifted carved icon of the Kazan Mother of God, so kindly and unexpectedly given to us on our first visit of the first day.
Having prayed for the repose of the soul of our sister, Lyudmila at this time of the anniversary of her repose, we ask you to keep her in your prayers.
We look forward to this week’s Thursday service at 18:00 in Nazareth House, and Friday service at 15:00 in the Oratory Church, before my brief visit to Lazarica to see Father Nenad and his wonderful flock, and give them a Bible study session about the day of Pentecost.
Having returned for Trinity-Pentecost, we look forward to not only the Divine Liturgy, but also vespers with the kneeling prayers, so think about something on which to kneel!
Given the double service, we will await Branka’s instruction as to whether we will limit refreshments to beverages and cake.
Though I am the last one to proffer any health advice, I hope that we will all be careful and cautious during the current heatwave… which may test our endurance in Nazareth House on Thursday.
Dear brothers and sisters, Christ is Risen! Христос Воскресе! Hristos a înviat! Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
Many thanks to all who laboured for the Lord, not only in Sunday’s Liturgy, but also for our weekday services.
Particular thanks to our first-time servers who stepped up despite never having done so before, and to Yuriy, for being extremely industrious and preemptive in his serving, despite his tender years. Most impressive!
Unfortunately, parishioners were less proactive than our servers when it was time to roll up their sleeves and chip in to pack away after Liturgy. The time for us to sit down or to chat is AFTER we’ve cleared and tidied the church and are ready to eat. Again… please do not wait to be asked, but show some resourcefulness and willingness, so that we can pack away as quickly and efficiently as possible. By the autumn, this will be a thing of the past, but for now, we still have labours before and after Liturgy.
Though our Sunday Liturgy was dented by the Bank Holiday weekend, our Thursday services have seen increased attendance in addition to our usual students and parish youth, who have continued to form the core of our Cathays services that grew out of our Orthodox chaplaincy presence, when I was very happily ensconced in Newman Hall. Despite the moves and changes over the past four or five years, it is a joy and blessing that our presence in the convent chapel in Column Road continues.
Though the academic year draws to an end for our university students, there are busy and challenging weeks ahead for our younger students, with school and college exams on the horizon. We ask your prayers for Tara, Stefan, Panagiotis and Jovana, as they revise and prepare for exams.
This week will see our usual Thursday evening service in Nazareth House, at 18:00, when we will chant Small Compline, followed by a litia for the newly departed Dochița.
Our 15:00 service, in the Oratory Church on Friday, will be a moleben to St Mark the Evangelist as it will be his feast day: the name day of Father Mark the younger.
Given that I have to travel to Wiltshire after the service, it will be appreciated if confessions can be made on Thursday, and BEFORE the Friday moleben, if possible.
On Saturday, we shall belatedly mark St George’s Day (feast on Wednesday) with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the Chapel of St Lawrence, at the usual time of 10:30.
After next Sunday’s Liturgy, a small group of us will be departing for our Georgian pilgrimage with Father Paul and Wallasey parishioners, so please try to make your confession if you are to commune in the next few weeks.
Father Mark will be the only priest serving on Sunday 17th May, and I will be serving without him on Sunday 24th May. We will endeavour to celebrate the proskomedia early, to allow for maximum confessions.
We congratulate David, who was admitted to the catechumenate, yesterday, after four months of solid attendance, during which he has been Joanna’s chief help in setting up St Philip’s for worship, week-in, week-out.
We ask your prayers for all who will be travelling to Georgia, and for Lilia, as she travels to Moldova.
Please make lists of intercessions for commemorations in Georgia.
*To be prayed continually for someone or for yourself in order to obtain repentance and conversion to Christ before you or that person dies. Also to be prayed for souls who departed this world without being part of Christ’s True Church or people who died without repentance in sins so that they may eventually be spared from Hell.*
Kontakion 1: God the Father was pleased to have thee nailed to the cross on the right hand of the Saviour, Who didst bring down enmity, didst strengthen peace, and didst open the treasury of countless blessings; and coming to a true knowledge of sin, humility, and mercy, O Holy Dismas, thou wast reconciled with Him and from being a stranger to His Kingdom thou didst become a friend of eternal joys. For this reason, as one sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, hear these words of prayer and intercede for us who honour thee: Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Ikos 1: Where there is the Cross, there is sacrifice, and where there is sacrifice, there is the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with the Lord, celebration, and joy. And thou, O Holy Dismas, didst ascend the cross in pain and iniquity, but although thy body didst descend afterwards, thy soul didst ascend first into Heaven, where the cherubim sang to thee thus:
Rejoice, thou who wast crucified for sins and saved because of faith;
Rejoice, good and wise thief.
Rejoice, for the sword of the cherubim didst not touch thee in Heaven;
Rejoice, for at the command of the Lord, it bowed down before thee.
Rejoice, for the Kingdom of God was thy salvation;
Rejoice, for death lost its sting through thy repentance.
Rejoice, Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 2: Thou wast a man of iniquity, O Holy Dismas, living thy whole life alongside thieves and robbers, despising honest work and family, being a loner of evil deeds, living at a time when our Lord Jesus Christ was preaching the Word of the Father in Jerusalem: Alleluia!
Ikos 2: But the Heavenly Father didst ordain that thou shouldst be judged in the same days as His Son Jesus Christ, and being condemned to death by crucifixion, thou wast nailed to a cross on the right hand of the Saviour, and thus we pray with tears:
Rejoice, for thou hath received the good part of life;
Rejoice, for thus the prophecy of the Holy Prophet Jeremiah wast fulfilled.
Rejoice, for he said that “Jesus was counted among the lawless”;
Rejoice, for thoue bringest the fulfillment of the times.
Rejoice, for thou hath known the True Way;
Rejoice, for thine erroneous journey through the world hath come to an end;
Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 3: Christ didst sacrifice Himself for us on the high Cross, upon the new altar, just as the sacrifice is new and glorious, and we no longer dwell outside the King’s courts because we have found the Door; we no longer fear the devil because we have found the Source of Victory; we no longer fear the wolf because we have the Good Shepherd, and we are no longer alone because we have found the Bridegroom: Alleluia!
Ikos 3: When Jesus Christ didst come to earth, He didst plant in the arid fields of our hearts the seed of divine grace that bearest fruit even in the driest depths, boldly digging into the rock of our hardened hearts and making room for the King of Life, the King whom thou didst adore on the cross, O Holy Dismas:
Rejoice, for through the cross thou hath known the Power of the Lord;
Rejoice, for on the cross He hath shown His Lordship;
Rejoice, for thine evil mind hath been changed by the One who is full of goodness;
Rejoice, for the sword of the Holy Spirit hath penetrated thy conscience;
Rejoice, for He hath broken sin from thee and given birth to repentance;
Rejoice, for the enemy, the devil, hath been put to shame, having lost his servant;
Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 4: Upon the high Cross, the Lamb wast slain, not covered over, so that He might cleanse the air, being under the open sky, and cleansing also the earth, for His Blood didst fall upon it, becoming a common Sacrifice for all nations, that every place on earth might become a place of prayer and worship: Alleluia!
Ikos 4: The greater the sacrifice, so greater the holiness, for behold! from lawlessness didst the Lord save thee, O Holy Dismas, and from being crucified and nailed with spikes, He had mercy upon thee, and didst take thee out of the sorrow of suffering and didst make thee to know the nature of the Cross, not as wood of condemnation but as the Power of Him, the Crucified One, Who upon the Cross performed the miracle that we all praise:
Rejoice, for Heaven hath been honoured with such a Master;
Rejoice, for He hath brought thee with Him, the thief on the cross.
Rejoice, for He hath shown thee worthy of the delight of eternity;
Rejoice, for He healsest incurable wounds.
Rejoice, for thou hast made thyself worthy of the feast in heaven;
Rejoice, for thou teachest us to bow our hearts to Him with humility.
Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 5: Jesus didst not raise any dead man on the Cross, nor didst He rebuke the sea and the winds, nor didst He cast out His beloved ones, but being crucified, nailed, reviled, and mocked, He was able to change thy mind, O Holy Dismas, who wast shrouded in sins and thieving thoughts, so that thoue mightest see His Power on both sides: Alleluia!
Ikos 5: The Saviour didst shake all creation, splitting the rocks and drawing thy soul, which was more insensitive than stone, unto Him and elevating thee, O Saint, saying, “Today, thou wilt be with Me in Paradise,” and we rejoice and sing:
Rejoice, for tho art our teacher, O Saint;
Rejoice, for thou teachest us to cry out loudly.
Rejoice, for at the last moment, our cry is heard;
Rejoice, for thou makest the truth to shine forth.
Rejoice, for thou helpest us to grow despite all obstacles;
Rejoice, ladder to the Kingdom of heavenly blessings.
Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 6: The whole world is divided between one thief and the other thief, both standing on the cross, both living a robber’s life, both comitting evil, sinning, and indulging in the passions, but only one has thee, O Holy Dismas, for thou placest him on the right side of the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and, breaking the stone of the spiritual conscience, thou showest him repentance in his last hour, that he may inherit Heaven: Alleluia!
Ikos 6: All of humanity gathered at the foot of the Cross, for one criminal reviled, the other worshipped, one blasphemed, the other blessed and rebuked the lost one: “Dost thou not fear God?… for we receive what we deserve according to our deeds.” and we, appropriating for ourselves thy boldness, O Holy Dismas, honour thee thus:
Rejoice, for thou didst take heed of thyself;
Rejoice, for thou didst didst leave thine own, even though thou wast dying in agony.
Rejoice, for thou didst care for the Saviour;
Rejoice, for thou knewest that He suffered without sin.
Rejoice, for thou didst no longer feel thine own pain, but His;
Rejoice, for thy mind wast enlightened;
Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 7: Thy salvation, O Holy Dismas, was a manifestation of the glory of God revealed in the very crucifixion of the Lord, for His sacrifice meant first of all thy salvation and then the deliverance of the whole world, for on the cross thou didst know Him, and the injustice done to Him moved thy heart to redemption, being the first man to enter Paradise: Alleluia!
Ikos 7: Thou didst cry out from the cross for heaven and earth to hear: “This man hath done no wrong!”, testifying that Jesus Christ was the sinless Man Who didst receive the nails of the Cross as seals of forgiveness for our sins, and fearing God, thou didst weep under the condemnation of human judgment, but thou wast then comforted by the mercy of God’s judgment, thus ascending to the heights:
Rejoice, for thou didst not judge and wast not judged;
Rejoice, for from the Cross thou didst leap into Heaven.
Rejoice, for thy mercy for the Lord cleansed thee of all iniquity;
Rejoice, for thou didst weep for Him and not for thyself.
Rejoice, for thou didst find justice in thy condemnation;
Rejoice, for the injustice of His death was thy greatest pain;
Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 8: Thou didst hear Jesus Christ speaking from the Cross all His words of farewell to those who didst crucify Him, O Holy Dismas, beseeching the Father for forgiveness because the Romans knew not what they did, with the Holy Longinus the Centurion as a witness, who also watched with sorrow as Life was put to death, but who wast later deemed worthy to be the first witness of the Lord’s Resurrection: Alleluia!
Ikos 8: On that day of the terrible Cross, thou wast among the three who brought comfort to the Lord on the Way of the Cross, O Holy Dismas, for Saint Simon of Cyrene carried His Cross for a while, Saint Veronica wiped His face of blood and sweat, and thou, O Holy Dismas, didst comfort the One who comfortest all souls, saying words of comfort and justification of His innocence, and we praise thee thus:
Rejoice, because for this the Lord hath shown thee mercy;
Rejoice, for thy love hath opened Heaven.
Rejoice, for thy care for Him hath lifted thee above iniquity;
Rejoice, for thou hast gladdened the King of Joy.
Rejoice, for thou art our way to Heaven;
Rejoice, for thou openst the doors of the soul to confession.
Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 9: No one didst teach thee repentance, O Holy Dismas, and no one hath shown thee what sin means, but just as a sheep knows its Shepherd and recognises His Voice calling it from wherever it may be, so thou didst awake as if from a deep sleep and, hanging on the cross with thy body, thou didst find thy soul in the flock of the Lord God: Alleluia!
Ikos 9: Our Shepherd is good, loving, and forgiving, and doth constantly seek a shred of repentance in us, that He may have the opportunity to join us with those already saved, and thou, O Holy Dismas, art a skilled teacher in the mystery of confession, for thou showest us what and how to confess, that, freed from the weight of our hearts, we may call thee thus:
Rejoice, for on the cross thou didst strip thyself of sins;
Rejoice, for thou didst see thyself void of any good deed.
Rejoice, for thou didst confess as thou wast;
Rejoice, for thou didst reveal thyself in thy whole being.
Rejoice, for no one didst force thee, nor urge thee;
Rejoice, for sin hath lost its power.
Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 10: Through thy confession, didst thou open Heaven, O Holy Dismas, and with the boldness of thy confession, thou didst directly beseech the Kingdom, for though the nails and the cross are visible, the Cross itself is the sign of the Kingdom, wherewith Jesus Christ is called “King” because we see Him crucified as a Master Who didst give His life for His subjects, Who descended into hell from whence He didst raise souls to Heaven and didst then appear risen on the third day: Alleluia!
Ikos 10: The Cross is the reflection of the Kingdom of God, for the Saviour didst not leave it on earth but didst take it and raise it up to Heaven, for with it He will come at His second and glorious coming, so that those who crucified Him may know their sin. Leave us not prey unto deception, O Holy Dismas, that we may know the times and bear fruits of humility and meekness, lest the Saviour say to us, “I know thee not,” but that we may also be chosen among those who will stand at the right hand of the Lord:
Rejoice, and help us to grow in prayer;
Rejoice, putting the voice of the seraphim in us.
Rejoice, for thou bringest us the joy of glorifying God;
Rejoice, for thou showest us what meanest it to love our enemies.
Rejoice, for thou deliverest us from the agony of suffering;
Rejoice, for thou stoppest pain, bringing heavenly comfort.
Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 11: From robbery and wickedness hast thou passed in an instant to humility, O Holy Dismas, and praying to the One on thy left, “Remember me, O Lord, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom,” the heavens shook, the angels sang, the earth quaked, for the first of the wicked didst become the first of those who entered the realm of Heaven: Alleluia!
Ikos 11: And the Lord, accepting the repentance of the one who, though he had been foolish all his life, didst become wise in an instant, said unto him: “Truly, I say to thee, today, thou wilt be with Me in Paradise!” And Heaven opened, Light flashed, Love conquered, and shaken by all this, we pray:
Rejoice, thou who didst proclaim to us the joy of salvation;
Rejoice, thou who runnest after the lost sheep.
Rejoice, thou who bringest stray souls into the fold;
Rejoice, thou who awakenest in us mercy and righteous judgment.
Rejoice, for on the cross the dominion of the enemy was destroyed;
Rejoice, thou who conquerest the oppression of the devil even also for us.
Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 12: Through food wast Adam cast out of Paradise, but through the wood of the Cross wast thou saved, O Holy Dismas, for Adam didst taste and didst reject the commandment of the One who created him, but thou, crucified together with the Lord, didst confess Him who wast hidden: Alleluia!
Ikos 12: He who didst willingly ascend the Cross and didst destroy the power of death, erasing the record that was against us, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, didst erase the tablet of thy sins and, destroying the enemy’s plot, didst open Heaven to thee, and we pray to thee thus:
Rejoice, thou who, though tormented, wast able to show compassion;
Rejoice, thou who, though living in sin, knew how to repent.
Rejoice, protector of those who seek the forgiveness of the Lord;
Rejoice, for thou givest us the remembrance of our transgressions;
Rejoice, thou who guidest the lost to confession;
Rejoice, for thou breakest the past from us, for the eternal joys of Heaven;
Rejoice, Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 13: Thou who didst see the Lord Jesus Christ preaching the mystery of love, obedience, and patience on the Way of the Cross, Who then, being crucified on the Cross, changed thy heart into a burning fire for God, O Holy Dismas, look with mercy upon us sinners and sow repentance in us, that we may be received at the right hand of the Lord in the Kingdom of Heaven, where thou, O Saint, wast the first to enter among men: Alleluia!
(This Kontakion is said 3 times)
Ikos 1: Where there is the Cross, there is sacrifice, and where there is sacrifice, there is the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with the Lord, celebration, and joy. And thou, O Holy Dismas, didst ascend the cross in pain and iniquity, but though thy body didst descend afterwards, thy soul didst ascend first into Heaven, where the cherubim sang to thee thus:
Rejoice, thou who wast crucified for sins and saved because of faith;
Rejoice, good and wise thief.
Rejoice, for the sword of the cherubim didst not touch thee in Heaven;
Rejoice, for at the command of the Lord, it bowed down before thee.
Rejoice, for the Kingdom of God was thy salvation;
Rejoice, for death lost its sting through thy repentance.
Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Kontakion 1: God the Father was pleased to have thee nailed to the cross on the right hand of the Saviour, Who didst bring down enmity, didst strengthen peace, and didst open the treasury of countless blessings; and coming to a true knowledge of sin, humility, and mercy, O Holy Dismas, thou wast reconciled with Him and from being a stranger to His Kingdom thou didst become a friend of eternal joys. For this reason, as one sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, hear these words of prayer and intercede for us who honour thee: Rejoice, O Holy Dismas, for thou givest us the gift of repentance and faith in God!
Prayer to Saint Dismas the Good Thief on the Cross: O Holy Dismas, thou wast crucified next to the Lord; thou didst see Him telling the women not to weep for Him, but for themselves; thou didst hear Him asking His Father to forgive His tormentors because they knew not what they were doing, and from His lips thou didst read the entire Gospel. Standing at His right hand on the cross, thou didst understand the whole mystery of salvation, and His blessed Face did penetrate thee beyond all thy transgressions, for He looked deeply into thy being with sadness and love, gentleness and determination, and with infinite compassion for thy lost soul.
And then, O Saint, dawn broke in thy heart, for the Sun had risen from the Cross and His rays were so powerful that no shadow had power over thee, and from a thief thou didst be come a disciple of the Master of Light, comforting Him who comforts all living things, and He, for thy kindness, didst promise thee: “Thou wilt be with Me in Paradise!”
We also pray unto thee, O Holy Dismas, O thief who wast crucified and believed in Christ-crucified, to give us thy faith from the cross, for thou didst believed in eternal life, knowing at once that the soul is indebted to climb the ladder to Heaven. We are so burdened with sins that we cannot look up, but ask thee to intercede with God to forgive us. We pray thee, grant us repentance and thy love for Christ, open for us the way to Holy Confession, and once we arrive there, clear thou our minds and hearts, that we may confess purely, and make a good beginning.
Help us to be reconciled with God, O thou who wast like the prodigal son, beseech Him to accept our tears, to give us the awareness of sin, to set us aright, that we may bear the fruits of good deeds, and to grant us to call upon Him with clean lips and with the hope of salvation: “Remember us, O Lord, when Thou comest with thy Kingdom!” that we too may enter into Heaven full of joy, now and forever. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, Christ is Risen! Христос Воскресе! Hristos a înviat! Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
We now enter the third week of Pascha, having not only celebrated the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, but also Radonitsa with a week of prayerful commemoration of the departed.
Many thanks to all who have contributed to our services.
Reiterating the words of our younger Father Mark, we must not forget to pray for the unbaptised departed, but commend them to the prayers of the Holy Great-Martyr Varus (Uar), to whom has been given the grace to intercede for those who have died without holy baptism and outside the fold of the Church.
As we have related before, devotion to the saint became a firm part of our spiritual identity and praxis in the 16th century.
To commemorate the birth of the younger son of Ivan IV, Tsarevich Dmitri, on 19 October 1582, the feast of St Varus, a chapel dedicated to the Great-Martyr was added to the Church of the Nativity of St John the Baptist in the Moscow Kremlin, with enshrined relics of the saint.
The faithful turned to St Varus to pray for sick and suffering children, and in the early 17th century, when the chaos of civil war and foreign invasion resulted in many children dying without the grace of Holy Baptism, the holy patriarch, Hieromartyr Germogen, instructed the faithful to prayerfully turn to St Varus to intercede for them.
In addition to the festal canon (and akathist) to the Great-Martyr, there is also a supplicatory canon for the departed, though this clearly presumes the departed as not having been people of Faith, making parts of the canon less appropriate for those who though not Orthodox, were nevertheless Christians.
Some parishioners may be unaware that we pray to St Paisius the Great for those who died without repentance.
This Thursday, we will offer a moleben to St Varus as well as a litia for the departed at 18:00 in Nazareth House. Confessions will be heard before and after the service.
On Friday we will chant the akathist hymn to the Resurrection of Christ in the Oratory Church, in Swinton Street, at 15:00. I will be available to hear confessions, as usual.
We will also add a litia for the departed to our Sunday Liturgy.
Further to Joanna’s message on WhatsApp, may I remind you that we are looking forward to making a short pilgrimage to visit Father Paul and the Wallasey parish, travelling to the Wirral on Friday 3 July, by car-share, staying locally and celebrating the Divine Liturgy on Saturday 4 July, the feast of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, the Wonderworker. As per Joanna’s request would those interested please let Joanna know by FRIDAY.
To give advance notice, our next Warminster Liturgy will be on Saturday 9th May, and will be celebrated, as usual, in the Chapel of St Lawrence at 10:00.
I will be in Georgia, leading a ROCOR pilgrimage, with Fr Paul from 10th to 22nd July, during which time Fr Mark the younger will ably oversee parish life.
With the exciting developments regarding the new church building, we ask everyone to keep up the fundraising momentum, spreading the word and encouraging others to get involved. Importantly, we must continue to pray for our plans to come to fruition!
We also ask your prayers for the sick and infirm Pavel, Brigid, Euthalia and Natayla; for the newly departed handmaiden of God, Doina; for Piran on his travels; and for our students as they complete assignments, revise and prepare for exams.
The same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side… But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son of the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have observed so many times before, how harsh a judgement Thomas often receives for his refusal to believe in the Saviour’s resurrection, and insisting that he should not only see, but also physically, and tangibly encounter the Sacred Wounds of the Risen Lord.
But whilst his reputation as “Doubting Thomas” has entered everyday speech as the epitome of doubt, the Church Fathers and the mind of the Church have been far from condemnatory regarding Thomas’s skepticism.
The great Alexandrian Church Father, St Cyril, warns us not to idealise the reaction of the other disciples, as though it was somehow solid and blameless. For St Cyril, Thomas represented the uncertainty of the whole company of the Apostles, but he was the only one with the courage to actually express their confusion and doubt:
“For though of Thomas alone is recorded the saying: Except I shall put my hands and see the prints of the nails, and put my hand into His Side, I will not believe, yet was the charge of lack of faith common to them all; and we shall find that the minds of the other disciples were not free from perplexity, though they said unto the holy Thomas: We have seen the Lord.”
To repeat, “…yet was the charge of lack of faith common to them all; and we shall find that the minds of the other disciples were not free from perplexity…”
The Church has recognised Thomas’s voice as not only the unexpressed doubt of the other disciples, but rather as a doubting and questioning voice on behalf of the whole of humanity, of which future generations in the centuries of growing skepticism and declining faith would demand the ‘scientific’ and empirical knowledge that Thomas demanded: “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
At vespers, in the hymns on “Lord, I have cried…” the Church expresses the Saviour’s welcoming of Thomas’s doubt, hearing Him welcome the investigation of His life-giving wounds, saying, “because thou hast disbelieved, all have learned of My Passion and resurrection…”
At the very time of His resurrection, the All-Knowing Lord knew the doubt and denial of generations to come, and how Christian orthodoxy would give way to liberal falsehood that, even as it masquerades as Christianity, denies the reality of the empty Tomb, and the physicality of His Third-Day Rising from the dead, resulting in heretical and perverted neo-gnostic attacks on the physical reality of the incarnation and of the Saviour’s Third-Day resurrection.
The Saviour’s answer was the blessed GIFT of Thomas’s doubt, and the disciple’s courage in demanding to touch the Wounds on the Lord’s Divine-Human Body.
Thus, we are all blessed, confirmed in Faith and are beneficiaries through Thomas’s skepticism and caution, as reflected in St John of Damascus’s seventh ode of the canon of the feast, in which he wrote,
“Thomas the Twin, who alone was bold, and who by his unbelieving belief hath brought us benefactions, doth by his believing unbelief dispel gloomy ignorance from all the ends of the earth.”
(Еди́н дерзну́вый, неве́рною же ве́рою /облагоде́тельствовавый нас Фома́ Близне́ц, /реши́т у́бо мра́чное неве́дение всех конце́в,ве́рным неве́рствием…)
In the fourth ode of the same canon, St John expresses His firm belief that the Saviour rejoiced in Thomas’s doubtful exploration of the Sacred Wounds,
“Thou didst rejoice when Thou wast examined. Wherefore, O Lover of mankind, Thou didst encourage Thomas in this (Ра́дуешися испыта́емь, / те́мже,Человеколю́бче, на сие́ повелева́еши Фоме́…) and didst show Thy side unto the disbelieving one, thereby assuring the world of Thine arising on the third day, O Christ.” (Fourth Ode)
Wheras the Risen Saviour warned St Mary Magdalene, “Touch me not.” He actively invites the apostle to do so: “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
The Church Fathers are approving and affirmative in their assessment of Thomas’ doubt.
St. Gregory the Great says that, “Thomas’s unbelief has been more useful than the faith of the other apostles because by believing through touching the wounds, he strengthened faith and banished all doubt”, and St John Damascene represents Thomas’s unbelief as “the mother of belief for us” (ве́ры роди́тельное нам показа́л еси́… ) and touching on the question of the Faith of future generations, St Cyril of Alexandria wrote,
“I think that the disciple’s want of faith was extremely opportune and well-timed, in order that, through the satisfaction of his mind, we also who come after him might be unshaken in our faith that the very Body that hung upon the Cross and suffered death was quickened by the Father through the Son.”
What incredibly important words.
St Cyril also says, “We… are taught, through the slight want of faith shown by the blessed Thomas, that the mystery of the Resurrection is effected upon our earthly bodies, and in Christ as the Firstfruits of the race; and that He was no phantom or ghost, fashioned in human shape, and simulating the features of humanity, nor yet, as others have foolishly surmised, a spiritual body that is compounded of a subtle and ethereal substance different from the flesh.”
Thomas’s doubt is a blessing and a gift to the Church of all future generations, to say that not only was the Saviour truly God and truly Man, but that His humanity was not a temporary incarnational instrument, to suffer on the Cross, to lie in the Tomb, but then to be cast aside because redemption was completed.
Rather, His rising confirmed that Christ remains Incarnate, the Theanthropos (the God-Man), and that even though He established a New Passover – the Pascha of the Lord – in the resurrection He would not even abandon the wounds upon His Body, but on the contrary would take these supreme marks and wounds of love into the Heavenly Kingdom in His Ascension, and that in this, He would call humanity to follow Him into the Heavenly Kingdom, as the destination of the resurrection.
St Cyril teaches us that Thomas’s blessed doubt reminds us that not only was the Risen Saviour “…no phantom or ghost, fashioned in human shape, and simulating the features of humanity, nor yet, as others have foolishly surmised, a spiritual body that is compounded of a subtle and ethereal substance different from the flesh..”
St Thomas is the apostolic voice that removes ambiguity, doubt and uncertainty, and with him we can say, “I believe in the resurrection of the body”: in both the spiritual and physical resurrection of the Saviour – the God-Man – as with the apostle we look to the Risen Saviour and say, “My Lord and my God.”
Confirmed by his doubt, his questioning, his exploring hand, we have no need to look upon the wounds of the Saviour, to inspect the marks of the nails, to place our fingers in His wounds, or our hand in His wounded side.
Because of Thomas’s witness to the reality of the Risen Lord, we have no need for scientific and empirical proof, realising and understanding that spiritual knowledge is just as potent, real and powerful as scientifically quantifiable fact.
In the Beatitudes we chant, “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God…” and the heart of the believer, as the centre of our spiritual being, is the noetic organ and means by which we attain to the spiritual knowledge that does not need to prod, poke, inspect and investigate, placing spiritual reality under the magnifying glass.
When we encounter the Lord meeting the disciples on the road to Emmaus, it will not be through speech, conversation, or even vision that they will recognise the Risen Lord, but it will be through the spiritual movement of their hearts in the breaking of bread that their bodily eyes are opened to the reality that Christ is Risen.
As we hear in Luke’s Gospel, “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Through drawing near to the Risen Lord, day by day, in this Paschal season, praying to Him in the power of the resurrection, constantly chanting the Paschal Canon and Hymns, the power of the resurrection must fill our hearts with light and spiritual warmth so that we too will know – purely by faith – that Christ is risen from the dead; trampling down death by death; and bestowing life upon those in the Tombs. And, we believe not only in the Lord’s Third-Day Rising, but crucially in the future physical as well as spiritual resurrection of everyone who has come into this world, throughout every century and generation, “…they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” (John 5:29).
And… as we look for the resurrection of the life of the age to come, let us rejoice in Thomas’s blessed doubt, joining our voices with the voice of the Church in praising God for the truth that Thomas has daringly confirmed:
“O how praiseworthy and truly awesome is Thomas’ undertaking (Canon, Ode 5.) For daringly he touched the side that doth flash forth with the lightning of the divine fire (Canon, Ode 8). The Twin doth fill the world with wisdom and knowledge (Canon, Ode 4).”
О вои́стинну похваля́емаго Фомы́ стра́шнаго начина́ния! Твое́ неудо́бное сокро́вище, утае́ное нам отве́рзе Фома́…(Canon, прему́дрости и ра́зума наполня́ет мир Близне́ц.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
On such a beautiful day, under blue Welsh skies, bathed in sunlight and surrounded by the new green leaves of spring, by blossom and birdsong, it is so easy to forget that in some parts of the world, our brothers and sisters are celebrating this feast of the Annunciation not to the sound of nesting birds and neighbours mowing their lawns, but rather to the sounds of sirens, gunfire and explosions. Yet, wherever there are Orthodox parishes and people, the feast will be celebrated, bringing light and hope to the suffering faithful as they celebrate the conception of the Saviour as the hope of the nations, Who brings light in the darkness, and to Whom we pray for “the peace from above.”
In the Imperial City, the Emperor and Equal to the Apostles, Saint Constantine built the temple of ‘Agia Irini, the Church of the Holy Peace, dedicated not to the Holy Martyr, but to the Divine Peace, for which we pray in every Liturgy.
This feast of the Annunciation inaugurates that Divine Peace, in the reconciliation between fallen humanity and God, and not only between heaven and earth, but even between the heavenly heights and the depths of Hades holding the righteous dead of the Old Covenant, who were held captive there.
In his verse homily on ‘The Descent of the Angel’, the great Syrian Father, Jacob of Sarugh celebrates the Annunciation as the peace treaty made between God and humanity, and between heaven and earth.
In the conversation between God’s ambassador, the Taxiarch Gabriel and the Theotokos as the representative of the entire human race, Mar Jacob sees the restoration of “the peace from above”, that will become Incarnate in the Person of the Saviour, the God-Man, the Theanthropos, who will be the living sign of this reconciliation and the peace treaty that will be signed with His Blood, sealed by His last breath, with the words “It is done!” The earthquake and eclipse of Great Friday, and the tearing of the Veil of the Temple will be the heralds of this peace like no other, even as He descends into Hades and shatters its gates, and the chains and shackles of death, bringing light to those in darkness and raising his ancestors-according-to-the-flesh in his own resurrection.
This peace treaty begins today, as the Theotokos, after listening to the message of the Archangel, gives her consent to the plan and will of God, as she humbly says, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”
Hidden from the eyes of the world, the Prince of Peace came to dwell within her Ever-Virgin womb, and though the Cross, the Invincible Trophy and Weapon of Peace (Kontakion of the Cross) was far off, the new Life hidden within womb of the Mother of God was already the Bridegroom going to His voluntary Passion, as we describe Him in the services of this Holy and Great Week, and the meaning of this Passion, of the Cross, the nails, the spear and death was to establish “the peace from above, and the union of all”, for which we pray in the Litany of Peace.
This “peace from above” is not the cessation of earthly conflict, be it war in Europe, Palestine, the Middle East, or any corner of the world. It is realised in the end of the enmity caused by the rebellion of man against God, the conquest and vanquishing of hell and death, the reconciliation of creation with the Creator, of man with God, and of children with their Heavenly Father.
Though man may fight against man, regime against regime, nation against nation, the reality of this Divine Peace cannot be changed, and when the Risen Saviour appeared to the Apostles, His first words (the deeper meaning perhaps not apparent or obvious) were, “Peace, be with you!”
Even now, as we pray for earthly peace, and for those (including the relatives of our own parishioners) who suffer the losses, pains and vicissitudes of war, let us celebrate the Divine peace-treaty made this day, and contemplate the words of the divinely inspired, Jacob of Sarugh.
The Descent of the Angel
The Watcher had descended while Mary was standing in prayer;
he gave her the greeting which was sent to her from the Most High:
‘Peace to you Mary, blessed one, our Lord is with you;
Blessed are you and blessed is the fruit of your virginity.’
Then when she heard it, she was prudently reflecting
On what might be the cause of this unusual greeting.
The Watcher said: ‘Do not be afraid, O full of mercy,
The Lord has chosen you that in your virginity you might be his Mother.
‘Behold from this time you will solemnly conceive;
you will give birth to the great One whose Kingdom is without end.’
Mary said: ‘How then will what you say happen
Since man has never been known to me, how will I bring forth?’
‘You have announced a Son to me but I am not conscious of marital union;
I have heard of nativity but I see no marriage.’
That moment was full of wonder when Mary was standing,
Conversing in argument with Gabriel.
One humble daughter of poor folk and one angel
Met each other and spoke of a wonderful tale.
A pure virgin and fiery Watcher spoke with wonder:
a discourse which reconciled dwellers of earth and heaven.
One women and the prince of all the hosts
Had made an agreement for the reconciliation of the whole world.
The two had sat between heavenly beings and earthly ones;
they spoke, attended to and made peace for those who were wroth.
Maiden and Watcher met each other and conversed in argument on the matter
Until they abolished the conflict between the Lord and Adam.
That great strife which occurred amidst the trees
came up for discussion, and it all came to an end; there was peace.
An earthly being and heavenly one spoke with love;
the struggle between the two sides ceased, and they were at peace.
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Surrounded by the violence, the madness, and the conflict of the world, may the Divine Peace make its home within our hearts and minds, as we abandon ourselves into the embrace of God’s love, Love which become a Person and was Incarnate in the womb of the Virgin-Mother on this Great Feast, as “the crown of our salvation, and the manifestation of the mystery that was before the ages.”
This mystery is the pre-eternal wonder of God’s ineffable, immeasurable, and sacrificial love: the love that came like the father of the prodigal son, to search for us when we were lost and estranged in spiritual exile, and took on human flesh when a young mother in Nazareth surrendered herself to God’s will, and said “yes” to becoming His instrument of reconciliation and the peace between heaven and earth.
Let us try to forget disagreements, arguments, conflicts, the negative memories of the past, and struggle to love and forgive, however hard that may be, so that we may aspire to “the peace from above”, however difficult our struggle may be.
We must pray continually, seeking to continually forgive, continually asking for forgiveness, confessing our weakness and insufficiency, and creating (by humility) a place within our hearts for that peace to make its sacred home.
Unless we at least try to do this, this feast and all it represents will have no meaning, resonance or spiritual significance in our lives.
After the First Kathisma, the Trisagion Prayers, and these troparia, in Tone I:
If we were able to transport ourselves to the ancient monastic thebaïd of Egypt, many of us would be surprised, if not shocked by the austerity and “bareness” of those primitive monastic services – so different from our expectations, shaped by the subsequent development of Byzantine Liturgy.
Dear brothers and sisters, happy feast and again, happy nameday to our Alexanders! S prazdnikom! 
Dear brothers and sisters, Christ is Risen! Христос Воскресе! Hristos a înviat! Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!
We look to celebrating the Bright Resurrection, the Pascha of the Lord, in St Philip’s Church, Tweedsmuir Rd, CARDIFF CF24 2QZ.