The Holy Fire in Jerusalem

Very few Christians in the west are familiar with the Holy Fire and the faith and hope that is attached to it. I think that whether ones believes in this miracle or not, it is a hopeful and life-giving tradition that can provide optimism and uplift to our best sides. I have pasted in a translation of part of an account from Jerusalem

When they asked Pope Thauphilos III (and he is the only patriarch who enters the holy grave and comes out the bearer of holy light) what he feels about when he sees the holy light out of the grave and what happens in detail before the light comes out he says:

"Sit in front of the stone on which the body of Christ is placed by the Holy Peter Strong, and continue to pray with fear and strength, and it is Prayer was and is still praying, and when the miracle of the emergence of the holy light (holy fire) occurred from inside the holy stone on which the body of Christ was placed.

And this holy light is blue and then changes into several colors, which cannot be explained within the boundaries of human science, because its gloom is like the cloud coming out of the lake, and it appears as a wet cloud but is a holy light.

The appearance of the holy light comes annually in different forms, it repeatedly fills the room where the tomb of Christ is located. And the most important characteristics of the holy light is that it does not burn, and I have received this holy light for sixteen years, and my beard has not burned. And he appears as a pillar of light, and from him the lighting of the candles that I carry, and then go out and give the holy light to the Armenian Patriarch and the Coptic, and all those present.

And the Holy Light lights some candles of the self-righteous believers, and illuminates the high lampshades in front of all those present."

Flower of the Week of Pain

This is Holy Friday for Orthodox Christians. For Orthodox Christians In the holy lands of the Mideast today and Holy Week signify particularly hard spiritual (and sometimes political) struggles. Time can be forgotten in the fasting and spiritual work of this week. I have included a clip from an icon of the crucifixion as a reminder. The following note and photo came from Palestine; Every year in the holy lands sprouted in the season of the Week of Pain and it is a red flower symbolizing the blood of the Lord Jesus crucified for us inside it a black cross symbolizing the mother of the Lord Jesus for us and this cross is surrounded by a small thorn symbolizing the thorn crown and this flower withers after resurrection in the fifty period.

The special beauty and poetry of Great Thursday for Orthodox Christians...

It's Holy Week for Orthodox Christians. Below are two photos and messages from Palestine. I seldom edit these posts because I like their poetry and I think that they can be understood and appreciated as they are. 

Thursday Evening

As the evening we enter from the light of the Great Thursday to the pain of Friday, the day of Christ's pains and death and burial, when the Liturgy Friday evening begins with the service of the Gospel of Pain, which is the Friday magic prayer. As Jesus followed us on the Great Thursday to the High, we follow him on Great Friday to the Glorious Glorious.

Today's service is very old, its notes go back to early Christian times, to the prayers of the Church of Orchlem and three elements included:

- The first consists of sailing, readings and night eviction from the Mount of Olives to the Church of the Resurrection where the grave of Christ is;
- The second includes prostration for the remains of the Holy Cross;
- The third includes prayers and recitations in the same place of iron.

This day is not just a symbol of copper and a symbol of it, it does not stop when it comes to past. It is a day when evil shall prevail, but it shall be defeated at the feet of the Lord Jesus.

Ahead of this redemption event that the Lord Jesus Christ hoped for by his voluntary sacrifice on the cross raises the following question: We who call ourselves Christians, should we not often make our own logic as the logic of this world that ruled Jesus by death?

Which side would we stand if we were living in the Oracle of Pilates Days? This is the question that addresses us with every word from Great Friday service.

Today is the Day of the Decoration of this real world, not the Symbolic, and the Day of our true Religion, not the weather.

It is a revelation of the nature of this world that favored and still favors darkness over light, evil over good and death over life. This is the world that Christ condemned to death has condemned himself to death. And we are as much as we accept his spirit, sin and betrayal to God as we are condemned.
And this day remains the day of redemption with excellence, for the death of the saviour has appeared a death to save us. Christ's death is the peak of revelation of His mercy and love. And in the end he is my salvation because he breaks down the very fountain of death itself: evil. Through all his pains, Christ alone was victorious because evil cannot do anything against him

We also received this:

Great Thursday

1- Thursday morning
Great Thursday enters us into the secret secret of the Great.
Today's prayers are defined by four events:
1- The Lord's Last Supper with His disciples.
1- Washing the feet of the pupils.
1- The Lord's prayer in the body.
1- The betrayal of Judah.

The first two events reveal the love of God in the world. The third event reveals the obedience of Jesus to God the Father until death. While the fourth event, the betrayal of Judas, reveals the secret of sin which is the deviation of love and distorting it towards something not worthy of love. This is the secret of sin that pushed Christ to the cross.

Thursday as we remember Jesus' final hours with his disciples, handed over and judged by Jewish and Romanian authorities. Therefore, the main topic of this day is "Loving to the End":

“Jesus knew that the hour had come to pass from this world to his Father, he loved his own, whom in the world, loved them to the end” (John 13:21). Love to the end extends to death, to the broken body and bloodshed, this is the truth that Jesus announced at the secret dinner with his disciples where the secret of the pride founded a secret counselor advising them to eat his body and drink his blood and make remembrance of what He did on this last dinner.

This is how we are, in every holy place, fulfilling what Jesus commanded us to do. So on this day Jesus presented his body and blood as a lie, and he entered into his pain. It remains that the secret meaning of dinner is that "It is not by bread alone that man lives", but by the bread that comes down to us from above that is full. May God give us food and drink in Christ Jesus.

Interfaith Greetings this Holy Week

 

Encouragement and support for those who celebrate Easter on April 24 with a message from Palestine

 

We buried him with the grace of death, even as Christ raised from the dead, by the grace of the Father, so shall we ask you to be alive? Romans 6:4.

There is an interesting phenomenon among many Christian traditions today which are performing religious duties during special holidays while neglecting their spiritual lives throughout the rest of the year. But God never intended for worship to be limited to certain times of the year. While Easter is a great time to remember Christ's death and resurrection in particular, let this truth become your life. Let us celebrate the resurrection of Christ, and the completion of the new life He has given us every day! Pray that God deepens your daily walk with him by reminding you of the new life He has given you.

Easter...

 

In the interests of Biblical accuracy

 

Nice thoughts that I think apply to Lent

"There have been so many difficulties along this path," said Tiny Dragon.

"There have," agreed Big Panda, "but we have learned something from each one. And imagine how good the view will be when we reach the top."

"Sometimes the smallest things take the most room in your heart."

An Easter/Holy Week Reminder...

 

On Holy Saturday...

 

Rabbits (and chicks) are not cuddly Easter toys

 

Blessed are You, Lord God,

maker of all living creatures.

On the fifth and sixth days of creation,

You called forth fish in the sea,

birds in the air, and animals on the land.

You inspired St. Francis to call all animals

his brothers and sisters

and You granted St. Seraphim

the holiness to converse and find friendship

with a bear.

We ask You to bless and protect the animals

and not allow us to to descend

into hypocrisy by sinning against Your creation

in the days 

when we mark Jesus' death

and celebrate His glorious resurrection

and are renewed in Your image.

By the power of Your love,

bless, protect, renew, restore, and sanctify

the work of Your hands,
Your marvelous creation

that You have placed us in

and that we share with other creatures

who You also love.  

May we always praise You

for the beauty of Your creation.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, in all Your creatures!

Amen.

Did Jesus descend into hell or to the dead?---By Heather Hahn (UM News)

Did Jesus descend into hell or to the dead?

By Heather Hahn
April 22, 2011 | UMNS

 "He descended into hell."

That's one possible explanation of what Jesus did between Good Friday and Easter.

For more than a millennium, Christians have uttered some version of that phrase as part of the Apostles' Creed. And for nearly just as long, theologians have wrestled with what the phrase means or whether it should be included in the creed at all.

Early Methodist hymnals omitted the phrase altogether. The 1989 United Methodist Hymnal includes the likely more accurate translation, "He descended to the dead," and mentions "descended into hell" only as a footnote.

But including any mention of descent in the creed says something about how Christians over the ages have come to understand God's saving work, say church scholars.

"It means there is no part of human existence to which Christ did not 'descend,'" said the Rev. J. Warren Smith, associate professor of historical theology at United Methodist-related Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C.

"It's what it means for Christ to take upon himself ... the punishment of sin, which is death. If Christ really dies, then that means he (journeys) all the way to the place of dead."

Read the rest of the article here.

Holy Week Message from Rev Terri Hord Owens

 

It was God's blood which was shed upon the cross...

 

Looking inward to see who we are in Christ...

You can connect with the Holston Primitive Baptist Universalist community on Facebook and Youtube, participate in study sessions with them wherever you are over the Web, or visit with them in Holston, Tennessee and in their other affiliated churches.

Good Friday, the Firing Squad, and the Gas Chamber

From the Catholic Mobilizing Network...


Good Friday is a time to contemplate capital punishment.

Today we remember that Jesus suffered and died for us in an execution at the hands of the state.

At the same time, we remember that thousands of our brothers and sisters in the U.S. face the same gruesome fate — and that we, as Christians, have a responsibility to advocate against these attacks on human dignity.

On this particular Good Friday, this responsibility looms larger than ever. Two states — South Carolina and Arizona — have recently announced plans to restart executions in the coming weeks.

(This is very important. Please read more here.)

Today, Good Friday, we weep over the execution by a state of a convicted criminal who carried the message of our salvation. That message of salvation tells us to see Christ in others. If we are about that project, can we allow state-sanctioned executions to take others? 

Pray For Light And Offer The Light...

Our Prayer To The Holy Spirit

O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth and Light, Who are everywhere present and fill all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come to us and dwell within us, and cleanse us from every stain and every blemish, and save our souls, O Most Gracious Holy Spirit!

Easter...

 

The question that is posed on Holy Thursday...

 

Tenebrae Service 2022