Holy Week and Pascha at Twelve Apostles’ Church
Wednesday 16th April
6.30 pm, Holy Unction (Anointing)
Thursday 17th April
9 am, Vesperal Liturgy
6.30 pm, Matins of the Twelve Gospels
Friday 18th April
2 pm, Vespers
6.30 pm, Matins (Lamentations)
Saturday 19th April
9 am, Vesperal Liturgy
Sunday 20th April
9 am, Matins & Liturgy of Pascha
Please note: there will not be a nighttime service.
A joyful Pascha to you all.
Dear Friends
If Death has been defeated, why even do we die? Is not the existence of an Orthodox funeral service an acceptance that death will take us all? And if we will all die, does that mean Christ is not risen?
These questions come from a misunderstanding of what ‘death’ is. For some, to die means to cease existence. And even in paganism this was the understanding—while many believed in an Underworld governed by a god, often the existence was as a shade, existing while their descendants remembered them and offered sacrifices to the gods until they were forgotten and “ceased to be.” For us, death has two meanings. Firstly it is the separation of the body from its life, the soul. And this is the great tragedy of our world—we were created to be alive and not for this unnatural rending in two.
But secondly, “death” is the separation of humanity from God.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’
— Genesis 2:16–17
A more literal translation of “you shall surely die,” would be “dying you shall die.” It is clear from the narrative in Genesis that on the day they ate of the tree they did not suffer mortal death, but they did in that day suffer spiritual death, cut off from God Who is the Source of Life. And the spiritual death is infinitely more consequential, because to be cut off from God is to be cut off from Life. They became—we became!—as an underwater capsule cut off from its air supply: apparently alive for the time being but with an endpoint; or as a plant taken out from the soil, appearing alive for now but will soon start wilting.
Spiritual death leads to mortal death, the body and soul cannot hold together indefinitely without the grace of the Holy Spirit.
And into this world, Christ came. Yet He was not spiritually dead for He was not separated from the Father. And He gave us commandments of Salvation and showed to us that even when mortal Death comes preying for us, if we remain with Him and in Him our suffering can be for His glory and Death cannot hold us. Since Christ accepted freely mortal death yet because He is spiritually alive He was not subject to its power.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we prepare for the blessed Pascha let us be spiritually alive, for in our baptism we have taken on the Cross, taken on mortal death, and also taken on the Victory over Death of the Lord.
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death?
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
— Romans 6:3–4
We no longer fear mortal death because Death has been trampled down by death. We are not scandalised that we will die, we are accepting that it awaits us all, but that if we are spiritually alive then its bonds cannot bind us and we are free. Mortal death is no longer to be feared, rather we fear spiritual death and separation from the Lord. Let us, therefore, rejoice in the Lord in all that He has done for us and invite all the more to join in this victory.
Come and see!
I wish you all a joyful Pascha: may the Light of the Resurrection shine in our hearts.
We serve a meal following the Liturgy on Sundays. All are welcome.
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Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Over the last few weeks, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we have heard of our race being divided into two—publicans and pharisees, sheep and goats, righteous and unrighteous—and that we must repent, turn again to the living God and journey with Him with our own crosses: “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:35)
And having chosen to follow Him, having taken up this journey towards the Holy City, towards the Exodus out of the dominion of death, I come before the Lord and say to Him, “Teacher, I want You to do for me whatever I ask of You; Grant me to sit beside You in Your Glory.” This seems reasonable to me, I have chosen to follow Him, I have rejected the power of death, I know I must be as the publican, the sheep and the righteous. And the Lord looks upon me with compassion and love and says to me,
“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptised with the baptism with which I am baptised?”
He does not reject my request but asks me if I fully understand it. I have chosen to follow Him but I have not suffered for Him, I have walked the path without yet any consequences. I am as a parent of a new-born baby—fully a parent yet with only theoretical knowledge of the trials and sacrifices that would entail over the coming years—so in the same way is my Christian faithfulness: untested, inexperienced, untried; I have heard the Gospel, I have chosen to follow it, but I have as yet not done it.
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Read this Sermon, Desire and Determination.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 11th April
Discussion on the Prophecy of Isaiah, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 12th April
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 13th April
Matins and Divine Liturgy, 9 am
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Online session is via Google Meet: please get in contact for the details.
Please join us: all are welcome, come and see.
Attending Church
We meet at 3rd URC Scout HQ, Kings Rd, Chandlers Ford SO53 2EY. The Scout hall is behind and to the left of the URC Church. Come and See.
Can I help you?
I am here for you, you need only ask. Is there a way I can support your life of faith? Get in touch.
Can you help the parish?
Yes, absolutely. Offer yourselves to the Lord: pray! Make available to him all your talents and ask him how he would like you to use them — listen for his reply.
Your prayers!
With love in Christ
Fr Alexander
[email protected]