Services for Holy Week and Pascha
Lazarus Saturday — 4th April
6.30 pm Great Vespers
Palm Sunday — 5th April
9 am Matins and Liturgy (followed by meal)
6.30 pm Bridegroom Matins
Great and Holy Monday — 6th April
6.30 pm Bridegroom Matins
Great and Holy Tuesday — 7th April
No services
Great and Holy Wednesday — 8th April
6.30 pm Holy Unction
Great and Holy Thursday — 9th April
9 am Vesperal Divine Liturgy
6.30 pm Matins
The Twelve Gospels
Great and Holy Friday — 10th April
9 am Royal Hours
2 pm Great Vespers
Taking down from the Cross
6.30 pm Matins
The Lamentations
Great and Holy Saturday — 11th April
9 am Vesperal Divine Liturgy
The Victory over Death
Great and Holy Pascha — 12th April
9 am The Resurrection Service, Matins and Divine Liturgy (followed by meal)
Please note that there will not be a midnight service for Pascha.
Dear Friends
Mission control could hardly be accused of understatement this morning,
The crew of Artemis II now bound for the moon; humanity’s next great voyage begins.
Our world is focused on grandeur, on making an impact, and today is our latest attempt towards greatness. Nasa’s mission will, almost certainly, produce data and expertise, it may lead to the first moon landings in half a century, it may ultimately enable manned missions deeper into space than ever before, but it does not deal with the ultimate question of our race, death. The world’s solution seems to be progress—while we will grow old and die, we will pass on a better humanity, and our children will pass on better, and so on—but that does not deal with my mortality, my end. Death is inevitable: for me, for everyone I know, and for their children, and for their children. And, in any case, for some people—perhaps many people—the progress narrative is failing as for a sizeable portion of society children have fewer opportunities to succeed and thrive than their parents and grandparents.
And the Lord enters the Holy City seated on a donkey. He comes not promising a better world, a fairer world, a world of progress and growing wealth, rather He comes to show us the way to Golgotha, to the Cross, to sacrifice. And our world is scandalised. Our world promises—yet fails to deliver!—a comfortable life followed by a comfortable death, Christ promises an uncomfortable life that leads to the Cross, but through the Cross, He leads us to Life, abundant Life, Life without end.
Please take part in as much of Holy Week as you can, please join our journey to Jerusalem, to arrest and crucifixion, to Life.
Come and see!
Our preparations for Pascha start with our usual weekend services, Great Vespers on Saturday (4th), Matins and Liturgy on Sunday (5th). There will be much in the services, particularly Vespers and Matins, of the significance of the Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, not as a conquering king but the King of Peace.
Sunday (5th) and Monday (6th) evenings we will have Bridegroom Matins. We see Christ coming at midnight as the Bridegroom (see Matthew 25:1–13) and we must watch and await with eagerness His arrival.
Wednesday (8th) we recognise that we are all sick and in need of God’s healing so we serve the Mystery of the Anointing, also called Holy Unction, which is available to us throughout the year. As this is a Mystery of the Church, only Orthodox Christians are anointed with the Unction, but I will anoint all others present with Holy Myrrh which is available to anyone who would like.
Thursday (9th) morning we commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Christ says to His disciples, “take, eat, this is My Body … drink of this, all of you, this is My Blood.” This is a commandment from God, this is the sacrifice in which we are called to participate, this is our worship which God has given to the faithful. Orthodox Christians who have prepared themselves are invited to receive the Eucharist.
In the evening, we commemorate the betrayal, the trial and the execution of our Lord: this is made present to us through the reading of Twelve Gospel passages. And the priest carries out the Cross on which Christ is crucified before us that we might be present with the defeat of death and the victory of love: this is not a terrible thing which is later undone by the Resurrection, this is the reconciliation of mankind with God through the Cross.
Friday (10th) morning, while our Lord hangs on the Tree, we contemplate again the full magnitude of what has occurred in the Royal Hours. Then, in the afternoon, we take down God from the Cross and prepare Him for burial. In the evening, we gather around His tomb and sing lamentations and dirges for the Life of the world as His Body is buried in the cave.
Saturday (11th) morning, we celebrate the defeat of death. Hades has taken as his own one of us, yet this is unlike any of our race who has died before. Christ descends into death but death cannot hold Him, the Satan has swallowed a man but encountered God in the depths of the earth. And we celebrate this victory over the tyranny of the Devil by offering the sacrifice and worship which our Lord has commanded of us. Orthodox Christians who have prepared themselves are invited to receive the Eucharist.
Sunday (12th) morning we come see the empty tomb. Christ is not a prisoner, Christ has arisen, and this joy permeates our lives. This is the confirmation to us of the defeat of death, the promise of resurrection and Life, the vanquishing of all powers who hold us unjustly. And on this most sacred of days, the Feast of feasts and the Festival of festivals, we serve again the Eucharist, our rational worship. Orthodox Christians who have prepared themselves are invited to receive the Eucharist.
Please join us for as much as you can of Great and Holy Week and Holy Pascha.
Confessions are available following any service or by appointment.
We serve a meal following the Liturgy on Sundays. All are welcome.
Do you, or someone you know, want to join our mailing list and receive our weekly email? Then let me know.
Sermon
Sermon of our Father in Christ, Metropolitan Silouan.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I am very glad to be among you, and I see that there are new faces in the Church.
Now we reach the end of Lent, it’s the last Sunday before Palm Sunday, which is next week. Until Saturday we complete the forty days of Lent, and after that we have Holy Week, this is also a fast for us.
A guy came to me asking, “Why are we fasting? I want to fast,” he said, and I thought in myself and I’m telling you, the goal for our spiritual life is not fasting, prayer and confession: our goal in our lives is to unite ourselves with God. Our goal in this life is to become one with the resurrected Jesus Christ.
So, in two weeks, Jesus Christ will rise from the dead, are you ready to be risen with Him? So, we are using tools to change, a little bit, our lives: by prayer, by fasting, by coming to the Church, by Communion: these are tools to be holy, to unite ourselves with God, are you ready to do this? Are you ready to unite yourself with God? Look, you cannot unite yourself with God if you are not trying to be good! If you don’t have love, how you can unite yourself with the Spring of Love—the Source of Love? He is the Spring and Source of everything. You have a little bit of love? Yes, please try your best, I know that we cannot have completely big love towards everyone, we are human, but we have to try. Try; maybe we have a little bit of love, but we are trying to make it bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, we have our whole life to make our love for everyone bigger and bigger.
I give you an example of love. So, you have to purify yourself from any sin: you and I, we have sin, we are human, we do—daily!—sins. We go to confession, to purify ourselves—we are purified, a little bit, we are pure, a little bit—but in our life we have to try our best to make this purity bigger and bigger and bigger.
…
Read this Sermon, Tools to get to Heaven.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 3rd April
Discussion on the Book of Job, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 4th April
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 5th April
Matins & Divine Liturgy, 9 am
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Online session is via Google Meet: please get in touch 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
webenquiry@orthodoxeastleigh.uk