The period from Easter to the Day of the Holy Trinity is the most important from a liturgical point of view, because on these days the Church remembers such events of New Testament history that became fundamental in the work of our salvation: the Glorious Resurrection of Christ and the birth of the New Testament Church. The Sundays between these two holidays are dedicated to revealing the deepest dogmatic themes: victory over death, healing of human nature from sin, and the action of the Holy Spirit in the world. This book provides the Apostolic and Gospel readings read in church on Sundays between Easter and Trinity, in Church Slavonic and Russian with brief explanations, and also provides reflections on the theme of each Sunday Gospel reading.
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The given introductory fragment of the book From Easter to Trinity. Sunday Apostolic and Gospel readings with brief interpretations (N. S. Posadsky, 2017) provided by our book partner - the company liters.
IS R16-603-0090
Gospel
The word "gospel" in Greek means "good news." This gospel is addressed to all people. Initially, this word denoted Christian preaching itself: Go all over the world- Christ commands the apostles after His Glorious Resurrection, - and preach the gospel to every creature(Mark 16:15). Later, the first four Books of the 27 Books of the New Testament began to be called this, proclaiming the good and joyful news of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came in the flesh, suffered death on the cross, was resurrected and laid the foundation for the resurrection from the dead, preparing for us eternal bliss in heaven.
The origin of the Gospels dates back to the second half of the 1st century. It can be assumed that the Apostle Matthew wrote his Gospel around 50-60 AD, the Apostles Mark and Luke - several years later, but before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70, and the Apostle John the Theologian - at the end of the 1st century.
The three Gospels (Mark, Luke and John) were written in Greek, but not classical, but so-called Alexandrian, since this language was then the most widespread and most understandable to all the peoples who made up the Roman Empire.
The first three Gospels are called synoptic, since their content has much in common. The purpose of writing the fourth Gospel was to complement the first three evangelists. That this is so is evidenced by the very content of the Gospel of John.
First Gospel – Matthew
The earliest of the Gospels is considered to be the Gospel of Matthew, which its author wrote in Hebrew, since it was intended for preaching to fellow tribesmen, especially scribes. The Gospel proves to the converted Jews that Jesus is the Messiah for whom they were waiting. The Apostle Matthew explains every event in the earthly life of Christ with Old Testament prophecies, for which he often refers to the Old Testament. He has at least 65 such links.
The Gospel of Matthew sets out the genealogy of Christ from Abraham, and pagans are also mentioned among the ancestors of Christ. Thus, Saint Matthew shows that the light of the Gospel has shone for all nations, as King David, the prophet Isaiah and other prophets of the Old Testament proclaimed:
And it will come to pass in that day that the Gentiles will turn to the root of Jesse, which will stand as a banner for the nations, and its rest will be the glory.(Isa. 11, 10). Ask of Me, and I will give the nations for Your inheritance and the ends of the earth for Your possession.(Ps. 2:8). All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the tribes of the heathen will bow before You.(Ps. 21, 28).
The Gospel of Matthew is divided into 28 chapters and begins with a story about the genealogy of Jesus Christ and ends with the Savior’s conversation with the apostles before the Ascension.
Second Gospel – Mark
The Second Gospel was written by the Evangelist Mark, who in his youth bore the double name John-Mark, the latter name, being the most common among the Romans, subsequently replacing the first. The listeners of the Apostle Peter, pagans, wanted to receive a written presentation of his teaching. In response to this request, Mark outlined everything that he had heard from the Apostle Peter about the earthly life of Jesus Christ. It rarely makes reference to the Old Testament, but depicts the time of the solemn ministry of the Messiah, when He stood victoriously against the sin and wickedness of this world.
Only this Gospel tells about an unknown young man who, on the night of Christ’s capture by soldiers, ran out into the street wearing only a blanket, and when one of the soldiers grabbed him, he broke free and left the blanket in the hands of a soldier, and ran away completely naked: One young man, wrapped in a veil over his naked body, followed Him; and the soldiers seized him. But he, leaving the veil, ran away from them naked(Mark 14:51–52). According to legend, this young man was the Evangelist Mark himself.
The Gospel of Mark consists of 16 chapters, begins with the appearance of John the Baptist, and ends with the story of how the apostles went to preach the teachings of Christ after the Ascension of the Savior.
Third Gospel – Luke
The third Gospel was written by the evangelist Luke, a colleague of the Apostle Paul during his missionary travels. He intended his Gospel, in particular, for a certain Venerable Theophilus, who obviously enjoyed great respect in the Church and wanted to know solid foundation of the doctrine in which he was instructed(Luke 1:4). Since Theophilus, by assumption, was a pagan, the entire Gospel of Luke was written for pagan Christians. Therefore, the genealogy of Christ in it is not only from Abraham, as in the Gospel of Matthew, but from Adam as the ancestor of all people.
The life of Christ in this Gospel is presented mainly from the historical side, and the story is thorough.
The Gospel of Luke is divided into 24 chapters and ends with the Ascension of Christ.
Fourth Gospel – John
The Fourth Gospel was written in Ephesus by the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ - the Apostle John, who, due to the height of his vision of God, received the name Theologian.
Ephesus is a city that, after the fall of Jerusalem, for some time was the center of both the Christian Church and the mental life of the East in general. Many scientists flocked to this city and preached their teachings, as a result of which various deviations and distortions in the teachings of Christ could easily arise here. Thus, the first heresiarch Cerinthus distorted Christianity by introducing Hellenistic oriental elements into it. Therefore, local Christians turned to John as one of the closest witnesses and eyewitnesses of the “ministry of the Word” with a request to outline the earthly life of Christ. The books of the first three evangelists were brought to him, and he, having praised them for the truth and veracity of the narrative, nevertheless noticed that the Divinity of Jesus Christ was not clearly expressed in them. Therefore, the Gospel of John begins precisely with the indication that the incarnate Christ is the Primordial Word, the Logos through Whom everything that exists came into being. Blessed Theophylact writes that John the Theologian “thrilled about what none of the other evangelists taught us. Since they preach the gospel of the incarnation of Christ, but did not say anything quite clear and demonstrative about His eternal existence, there was a danger that people, attached to earthly things and unable to think about anything lofty, would think that Christ had only then begun His existence, when he was born of the Father before the ages. Therefore, the great John announces the birth on high, without failing, however, to mention the incarnation of the Word. For he says: And the Word became flesh(John 1:14)” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, p. 267).
John the Theologian writes a lot about the miracles of the Lord in Judea and Jerusalem: about the healing of the paralytic in Bethesda (see: John 5:2–9), about the healing of the man born blind (see: John 9:1–7), about the resurrection of Lazarus ( see: John 11, 11–44), about the transformation of water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee (see: John 2, 1-11). The Gospel of John contains doctrinal conversations with Jews about the Divinity of Christ and His consubstantiality with God the Father (see: John 6, 26–58; 8, 12–59), conversations of the Savior with the Samaritan woman (see: John 4, 5 -26) and with Nicodemus (see: John 3, 1-21).
The Gospel of John is divided into 21 chapters and ends with the words that true is his testimony(John 21, 24).
Evangelist symbols
Ancient Christian writers compared the Four Gospels to a river, which, leaving Eden to irrigate the paradise planted by God, divided into four rivers. An even more common symbol for the evangelists was the mysterious chariot that the prophet Ezekiel saw at the Chebar River and which consisted of four creatures resembling a man, a lion, a calf and an eagle: From the midst of it is like the light of a flame from the midst of fire; and from the middle of it the likeness of four animals was visible - and this was their appearance: their appearance was like that of a man... The likeness of their faces was the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right side of all four of them; and on the left side the face of a calf in all four and the face of an eagle in all four(Ezek. 1, 5, 10). These creatures, taken individually, became symbols of the evangelists: the Apostle Matthew is compared to a man, the Apostle Mark to a lion, the Apostle Luke to a calf, and the Apostle John to an eagle.
The reason for this comparison was the consideration that the Apostle Matthew in his Gospel puts forward the especially human and messianic character of Christ; the Apostle Mark depicts His omnipotence and royalty; the Apostle Luke speaks of His high priesthood, with which the sacrifice of calves was associated; The Apostle John, like an eagle, soars above the clouds of human weakness. However, the semantic center of each Gospel is the story of the death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
About celebrating Easter
The Hebrew word "passover" means "passing", "deliverance". In the Old Testament Church, this was the name of the holiday established in remembrance of the exodus of the sons of Israel from Egypt and at the same time their deliverance from slavery. In the New Testament Church, Easter is celebrated as a sign that the Son of God Himself, through the Resurrection from the dead, passed from this world to the Heavenly Father, from earth to heaven, freeing us from eternal death and slavery to the devil and giving us power to be children of God(John 1:12).
The holiday of Easter was established and celebrated already in the Apostolic Church. It originates from the very time of the Resurrection of Christ, when the apostles celebrated the victory of their Teacher over death. The disciples of Christ commanded all believers to celebrate this holiday every year.
In 325, at the First Ecumenical Council, a decision was made to celebrate Easter everywhere on the first Sunday of the Paschal full moon, so that the Christian Easter would always be celebrated after the Jewish one.
“The Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” says Saint Innocent of Kherson, “is the highest triumph of faith - for by Him our faith was confirmed, exalted, deified; the highest triumph of virtue - for in Him the purest virtue triumphed over the greatest temptation; the highest triumph of hope - for it serves as the surest guarantee of the most majestic promises” (Wednesday Sermon of Bright Week, p. 62).
Due to the importance of the benefits we received through the Resurrection of Christ, Easter is truly a holiday and a triumph of celebrations, which is why it is celebrated in a particularly bright and solemn way, and its worship is distinguished by special grandeur. The Easter service celebrates the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ over death and the granting of eternal life to us. All services of the holiday are imbued with a feeling of joy about the Risen One.
Easter of Christ expresses to us the great love of the Creator for us. He Himself entered into the struggle with Satan, defeated him with His holiness and obedience to the Heavenly Father. And the Lord Jesus Christ resurrected Himself, the Heavenly Father resurrected Him, and this resurrection is given to us. The great saint of God, Gregory Palamas, says that the incarnation - the appearance of God into the world, our Lord Jesus Christ - is a great mystery, an even greater act of God’s love than the creation of the world. When we are baptized, we experience the new birth of water and the Spirit. The Lord grants us repentance. We repent, and He forgives us our sins. The Lord unites with us in the sacrament of communion
Body and Blood of Christ. Therefore, in this one confession of ours, “Christ is Risen!” lies the whole essence of our holy faith, all the firmness and steadfastness of our hope and hope, all the fullness of eternal joy and bliss.
About the time of Easter celebration
In the celebration of Easter, the Orthodox Church observes the vernal equinox, the 14th day of the moon and the three-day period - Friday, Saturday, Sunday. If the 14th day of the moon happens before the equinox, says St. John Chrysostom, then we leave it and look for another one, which should be after the equinox; The 14th day of the moon is not taken before the spring equinox.
According to the Old Testament law, the Passover lamb was to be slaughtered on the 14th of Nisan after noon. The Lord celebrated the Old Passover a day earlier, preparing the apostles for the upcoming New Testament supper, the true Passover. The bread this evening was sour, not unleavened.
During the Last Supper the Lord said: One of you will betray Me(Matthew 26:21) and gave the bread to Judas. Thus, the Lord separated him and excommunicated him from his disciples. Previously, He curbed the anger of Judas and kept the time of death for Himself: What are you doing, do it(John 13:27), as if saying: “I leave you, do what you want.” When Judas left, the Lord said: I really wanted to eat this with you the last Old Testament Easter(Luke 22:15) and established the sacrament of Body and Blood. There was no traitor at the table with them.
Prokeimenon, Gospel reading
The sedate ones are followed by prayers and exclamations, which usually always occur before the reading of the Gospel and serve as preparation of believers for a worthy hearing of the Gospel. The deacon exclaims: Let us hear. Wisdom. And then he pronounces the Prokeimenon. This prokeimenon, in its content, always has a connection with the Gospel that will be read.
At the Sunday vigil, if the Lord's or the Twelfth Feast of the Theotokos does not coincide with this Sunday, the Sunday prokeimenon of the ordinary voice is pronounced and sung. There are only eight such prokeimnas, according to the number of voices, and they alternate every week. If Sunday coincides with the twelfth feast of the Lord or the Mother of God, then the prokeimenon of this holiday is pronounced and sung. At vigils for great holidays and in honor of saints, a special Prokeimenon of the holiday is always sung in the 4th tone, the content of which corresponds to the given holiday or the memory of the celebrated saint. These morning prokeimnas always have only one verse and are sung by the face 2 and a half times.
At the end of the prokeme, the deacon exclaims: Let us pray to the Lord: the face sings: Lord, have mercy. And the priest utters an exclamation: For art thou holy, our God, and restest among the saints, and to thee we send up glory, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Then the deacon proclaims: Let every breath praise the Lord. Lik repeats these words. The deacon recites the verse: Praise God in His saints, praise Him in establishing His power. The Face sings again: Let every breath praise the Lord. The deacon pronounces the first half: Every breath:, and the choir finishes the second half: Let him praise the Lord: (like a prokinnu). After this, the deacon arouses the attention of the worshipers to the upcoming reading of the Gospel with the words: And we pray that we may be worthy to hear the Holy Gospel of the Lord God. The face sings three times: Lord, have mercy. The deacon then proclaims that we will hear - Wisdom, and therefore we must stand: forgive, that is, directly, decorously, with deep reverence, for we will hear the Holy Gospel. The priest, continuing this exclamation of the deacon, teaches: Peace to all, and the face on behalf of those praying expresses the wish of the same peace to the priest: And to your spirit. The priest proclaims: From - the name - the Holy Gospel reading. The face glorifies the Lord: Glory to you, Lord, glory to you. The deacon calls everyone to attention with the exclamation: Let us hear, and the reading of the Gospel begins.
“The Gospel at Matins is read not by the deacon, as at the Liturgy, but by the priest, in order that he “first feed with the divine word those whom he will feed with the mystical bread at the Liturgy,” as Christ did and as He commanded the apostles to do (" Go and teach all tongues, baptizing"Matt. 28:19). A priest at the liturgy has higher functions than even reading the Gospel. In addition, at Sunday Matins the Gospel is more important than the liturgical one, because it directly relates to the event of the resurrection (the morning and liturgical Gospels of some other holidays, for example, the Birth of Christ; cf. Easter, stand in this relation). In view of this, the morning Gospel is read in the altar on the throne, while the liturgical Gospel is read in the middle church on the lectern (read by the deacon). This especially suits Sunday morning, because the throne marks the tomb of the Savior.” (See “Interpretations. Typikon”, Issue 2, pp. 246-247).
On Sundays the Gospel is supposed to be read in St. the altar (Typ. Chapter 2), from which, as if from the Holy Sepulcher, the joyful news of the Resurrection of Christ is heard. Therefore, the priest reads the Gospel on the throne. On holidays, the Gospel is read among the people, in the middle of the temple, in front of the icon of the holiday, lying on the analogy. The deacon brings the Gospel to the pulpit and there he proclaims the prokeimenon and then brings it to the priest and he reads it. But if the priest serves without a deacon, then after the magnification and litany, he proclaims the prokeimenon and goes to the altar and reads the Gospel on the pulpit, facing the people. At the Sunday vigil, after reading, the Gospel is taken out of the altar through the royal doors for kissing. At this time, the Resurrection of Christ is sung, and Psalm 50 is read. According to the Rules, the priest stands in the middle of the temple, “holding the Holy Gospel in front of his forehead,” and on his sides are two candlesticks with candlesticks, and holds the Gospel like this until everyone joins him, after which, “I will be filled with a kiss and the 50th psalm,” he applies The Holy Gospel was placed on the altar, overshadowing the coming people from the royal doors. In practice, it has become a custom to place the Holy Gospel, after it is carried out from the altar, on an analogy in the middle of the temple, where everyone venerates it a little later, precisely after reading the prayer Save your people, O God: and exclamation, and it lies there until then until everyone joins in, and some leave it even until the end of the Great Doxology. In the first case, the priest stands all the time near the Gospel on the left side of the analogy and, as is customary in many places, blesses with his hand those who are kissing the Gospel. In the second case, the priest goes to the altar and comes to take it at the end of the Great Doxology.
At Sunday all-night vigils, the Sunday Gospels are always read, except in cases where the Twelfth Feast of the Lord or even the Theotokos coincides with the Sunday. In this case, the Gospel of the holiday is read. In the same way, on temple holidays that fall on Sunday, the Gospel of the temple is read (see temple chapters of the Typikon 1, 5, 6, 8, 10, etc.). When the days of the saints' vigil coincide with the resurrection, the Sunday Gospel is read and the usual kissing of the Gospel takes place.
There are only 11 Sunday morning Gospels, and they make up the so-called “Gospel Pillar”. The series of these Sunday morning Gospels begins on the week of Pentecost, that is, on the week of All Saints. After reading all 11 Gospels in order, next week the 1st Sunday Gospel is read again and, thus, these pillars are repeated all the time throughout the year. The exception is the Sundays of the Colored Triodion period: the same Sunday Gospels are also indicated there, but not in the usual sequence. At the end of the liturgical altar Gospel there is a “Legend that every day should honor the Gospel of the weeks of the whole summer,” which indicates which Sunday morning Gospels are read in the weeks from Easter to the week of All Saints and then in the following 32 weeks. After the 32nd week through the 5th week of Great Lent inclusive, it is no longer indicated which morning Gospels should be read, and this is because, depending on the movement of the day of Easter, the earliest Easter is March 22, and the latest is April 25 , between the 32nd week of Pentecost and the week of the Publican and the Pharisee, there are different numbers of weeks in different years, as a result of which in these weeks in different years it is necessary to read not the same Gospels. In order to find which Gospels are read during these weeks in a certain year, one must use the so-called Sighted Paschal, which is located at the end of the Typikon and the Followed Psalter. In the Indiction you need to find the key letter of a given year, and with the key letter, along with an indication of the day of Easter and other holidays, on what days they fall, it is also indicated on what day of the month each pillar of the voices of the Octoechos begins and which Sunday morning Gospels should be read at the same time . We must remember that the counting of both the pillars of the voices of the Octoechos and the morning Sunday Gospels begins with the week of All Saints, and on the week of All Saints there is always the 8th tone and the 1st morning Gospel is read; in the 2nd week after Pentecost, the 1st tone occurs, and the morning Gospel is read as the 2nd, and so on in order. Therefore, until the week of All Saints, the pillars of the voices and Gospels must be sought under the key letter that relates to the previous year.
There are six pillars: the 1st begins in the first week of Peter's Lent, the 2nd on Elijah's Day, the 3rd on the Exaltation, the 4th on the Nativity of Christ, the 5th on the Baptism of the Lord and the 6th on Holy Great Lent. These pillars are always printed at the end of the Octoechos.
The Sunday Gospel, which is not read at the all-night vigil, due to the coincidence with the Sunday of the Twelfth Feast, is skipped completely and at the next Sunday vigil the next Sunday Gospel in order is read.
At the Sunday vigil, after reading the Gospel, a solemn hymn is sung, in which the Risen Christ is glorified: Having seen the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one, we worship your cross, O Christ, and we sing and glorify your holy resurrection, for you are our God, unless we know no other for you, we call your name, come, all faithful, let us worship the holy resurrection of Christ: behold, joy has come to the whole world through the cross, always blessing the Lord, we sing of His resurrection; having endured crucifixion, destroy death by death. During this singing, the deacon, or, if there is no deacon, then the priest himself, stands with the Gospel on the pulpit. After the end of the singing, the Gospel rests in the middle of the temple on an analogy. This song, in addition to Sunday vigils, is also sung at the vigil of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the Ascension of the Lord. At all Sunday vigils from Easter to Ascension, this chant is sung three times. But on the Lord’s feasts: Vaiy Sunday, Pentecost, Nativity of Christ, Epiphany and Transfiguration, even if they fell on a resurrection, “ Having seen the Resurrection of Christ..." not sung.
After this hymn, the fiftieth psalm is read: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy,” because, as read in the 10th morning prayer, from the reading of the Gospel we saw that the Lord our God, through repentance, has granted the abandonment of man to us as an example of knowledge sins and confession showed the prophet David's repentance to forgiveness.
After the fiftieth psalm on ordinary Sundays it is sung: Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit: - Through the prayers of the apostles, O Merciful One, cleanse the multitude of our sins. And further: now, and ever, and unto ages of ages, Amen. - Through the prayers of the Mother of God, O Merciful One, cleanse our many sins. Then the opening words of Psalm 50 are sung in the 6th tone: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy and according to the multitude of your compassions, cleanse my iniquity. And then the stichera, revealing the fruits of Christ’s Resurrection: Jesus has risen from the grave, as He prophesied, to give us eternal life and great mercy.
In the preparatory weeks for Great Lent: the tax collector and the Pharisee, the prodigal son, the meat and cheese fasts, and on the five Sundays of Great Lent until the week of Vai, after the 50th psalm on: Glory: the following touching stichera are sung in the 8th tone: - Repentance Open the doors, O Life-Giver, for my spirit will awaken to Your holy temple, the temple I wear is completely defiled, but as generous as it is, cleanse me with Your gracious mercy. And on: And now: - Instruct me on the path of salvation, Mother of God, because my soul has been frozen with cold sins and my entire life has been spent in laziness, but through Your prayers deliver me from all uncleanness. Then the first words of the 50th psalm are sung in the 6th tone: Have mercy on me, O God: and further in the same tone: Thinking of the many evil things I have done, I am wretched, trembling at the terrible day of judgment, but hoping for the mercy of your compassion, like David crying out to You: have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy.
The above chants, deeply touching in content, emphasize the feeling of sincere repentance, which we should strive for, especially during Lent. In addition, these prayers also express filial fear of being deprived of the Father’s love, for “the many cruel deeds,” but at the same time, they also feel a firm hope for the embrace of the Heavenly Father, which always awaits a repentant sinner.
At all-night vigils for the twelve feasts, after the reading of the 50th psalm, for “Glory” and “And now” special verses are sung, indicated along with the service for this holiday, then, without fail, the first words of the 50th psalm and then the stichera of the holiday. This stichera of the holiday is also sung if the twelfth feast, regardless of the Lord’s or the Theotokos, falls on a Sunday, instead of the Sunday stichera “Jesus is risen from the grave...” At the vigils of the Saints, the stichera to the saint is sung. On church holidays that occur on a Sunday, the stichera of the church is always sung instead of the Sunday stichera, with the exception of the 1st week of Great Lent, when the Sunday stichera is sung.
After the stichera, the deacon reads the first prayer of the litany: - Save, O God, your people: in response to which the face sings 12 times, Lord, have mercy: and the priest concludes it with the exclamation: By the mercy and generosity and love of thy Only Begotten Son:
After this, it was established by custom for all those praying to approach the Gospel on Sundays, and on the days of great holidays to the icon of the holiday, lying in the middle of the temple on a lectern, and if at the vigil there was the consecration of bread, wheat, wine and oil, the believers kissed the Gospel or icon feast, they are anointed by the priest with consecrated oil, for the sanctification of soul and body, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He also distributes to the believers a piece of bread consecrated at the end of Vespers. This anointing is performed instead of the anointing indicated in the Typikon after Matins from the kandil (lamp) of a holiday or saint.
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154. Sunday Gospel readings at Matins
Special mention should be made of the unique and rather short range of Gospel readings at Sunday Matins. If at the Liturgy on Sunday the Apostolic and Gospel readings, taken from various chapters of the Gospels and the Apostle, are not directly related in any way to the Easter theme of the Resurrection, then it is the Gospel readings at Sunday Matins (most often it is performed as part of the All-Night Vigil on Saturday evening before Sunday ) impart the Easter Sunday meaning to the service. The last chapters of the four Gospels (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20 - 21), which speak of the appearances to the disciples of the risen Lord, are divided into several complete episodes. They are read in turn during each regular Sunday Matins. Immediately after such reading, as if seeing again and again with my own eyes what is said in these stories, the Church sings a Sunday hymn:
“Having seen the Resurrection of Christ (that is, having seen the Resurrection of Christ), let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus...”
Since there is relatively little such evidence in the Gospels themselves (only one final chapter in the Synoptic Gospels and the last two in John), it is not surprising that the circle of Sunday Gospel readings at Matins is relatively small. It consists of eleven passages (conceived), the count of which begins at Pentecost and is repeated in a circle several times a year:
Gospel 1st Sunday: Matt. 28, 16-20;
2nd: Mk. 16, 1-8;
3rd: Mk. 16, 9-20;
4th: Luke. 24, 1-12;
5th: Luke. 24, 12-35;
6th: Luke. 24, 36-53;
7th: In. 20, 1-10;
8th: In. 20, 11-18;
9th: In. 20, 19-31;
10th: In. 21, 1-14;
11th: John 21, 15-25.
From the book Explanatory Typikon. Part II author Skaballanovich MikhailRinging for Matins Now begins the second and most important part of the vigil - Matins. Its beginning is marked by a ringing sound. “After reading the great Acts of St. The apostle (or epistles) comes from the paraecclesiarch and slanderes the Great and other campaigns.” It is not indicated that first in one great, and then in
From the book 1115 questions to a priest author section of the website OrthodoxyRuThe Great Litany at Matins of the Six Psalms is not so much a prayer as an outpouring of the believer’s feelings; the great litany that follows it, which generally stands at the beginning of all the most important services, is an already defined, precise prayer that embraces the most important needs
From the book Great Lent author Innocent of KhersonSunday troparions Replacing all other songs at some services, the troparion in a compressed form depicts the very essence of the celebrated event. This is also done on Sunday troparia, sung at God the Lord, hours and liturgy. But while some of them paint a more external picture
From the book Holy Week author St. Innocent of KhersonSunday hypakoi Most of the Sunday hypakoi, namely chapters 1–5 and 8, glorify the visit of the life-giving tomb by the myrrh-bearers, - according to the Immaculate Troparia, to which they are so directly adjacent, and the hour of the night when they are sung (therefore, except for Matins, they
From the book Days of Worship of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Church by the authorIts regular use at matins. Already under Basil the Great, 50 ps. constituted an essential, final part of Matins (Introductory chapter, 148). In the most ancient editions of the statute of the Great Church of Constantinople, this is the most important, and also the second, part of Matins (ibid.,
From the book On the Commemoration of the Dead according to the Charter of the Orthodox Church author Bishop Afanasy (Sakharov)The chanting of the canons at Sunday matins No matter how different the canon chanting is in each voice from the stichera and troparion, nevertheless, the general character of the voice is maintained in it (indicated above, p. 539), and since the canon at the entire vigil represents the longest series of songs ( given that,
From the author's bookA special litany at Matins The end of Matins has the same composition as Vespers, but this is quite only at weekday matins in comparison with the same Vespers. The end of the festive, and therefore Sunday, matins differs from the end of the same vespers in that the litany is intense and
From the author's bookLitany of Petition at Matins The exclamation of the litany of petition at Matins is no longer the same as at Vespers, just as in general the litany of petition is always used with a new exclamation. Her exclamation at Matins: “For you are the God of mercy, generosity and love for mankind” concludes the same thought as
From the author's bookIts relation to matins Falling at the very dawn (1st eastern hour = 7 o'clock at our equinox), the first hour is in the same relation to matins as the ninth is to vespers: both, coinciding in time, partly and in content, with these most important daily allowances
From the author's bookSunday liturgical readings Table of Sunday liturgical Apostles and Gospels (given in the introduction to the liturgical Apostles and Gospels) and their themes. Easter_Acts 1, 1–8: the appearance of the Risen One; In. 1, 1–17: teaching about the Word of God.2 according to P. Thomas_Acts. 5, 12–20: miracles of the apostles; In. 20,
From the author's bookRoman Catholic and Protestant Sunday liturgical readings The system of Sunday liturgical readings in the Roman Catholic Church: Week. Easter_1 Cor. 5, 6–8 (co-rebellion with Christ); Mk. 16, 1–8 (Sunday).Week. 2 after Easter_1 John. 5, 4–10 (faith that overcomes the world); In. 20, 19-31
From the author's bookWhy are the Gospel readings from the 17th week through Pentecost shifted? Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) The beginning of the cycle of readings of the weekly Gospels during the Liturgy is the day of Holy Easter. 50 privates conceived must be read. In different years, the number of days from one Easter to the next
From the author's bookWord on Holy Monday, at Matins The Great Week has finally arrived! The divine field of the Passion of Christ has opened! There is so much light here for the mind, the most inert, so much fire for the coldest heart, that we, the servants of the word, could already be silent, and together with
From the author's bookAt Matins, “The Lord is coming to free passion, the apostle said on the way: behold, we are ascending to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be given over, as it is written about Him. Come, then, we too, with purified meanings, will descend upon Him, and let us be crucified and put to death for His sake with worldly pleasures, yes and come to life with
From the author's bookSunday days. chapter missing
From the author's bookSUNDAYS The structure of the service on Sundays excludes any possibility of adding to it public funeral prayers and in any form of public commemoration of the deceased, as not corresponding to the festive celebration of the weekly Easter. Only
Peter, getting up, ran to the tomb and, bending down, saw only the linens lying, and went back, marveling at what had happened. That same day two of them went to a village sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, called Emmaus; and talked among themselves about all these events. And while they were talking and reasoning with each other, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept, so that they did not recognize Him. He said to them: What are you talking about as you walk, and why are you sad? One of them, named Cleopas, answered Him: Are You really one of those who came to Jerusalem and do not know about what has happened in it these days? And he said to them: about what? They said to Him: What happened to Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death and crucified Him. But we hoped that He was the One who was to deliver Israel; but with all that, it is now the third day since this happened. But some of our women also amazed us: they were early at the tomb and did not find His body, and when they came, they said that they had also seen the appearance of Angels, who said that He was alive. And some of our men went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Him. Then He said to them: O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Is this not how Christ had to suffer and enter into His glory? And beginning with Moses, he explained to them from all the prophets what was said about Him in all the Scriptures. And they approached the village to which they were going; and He showed them that He wanted to go further. But they restrained Him, saying: stay with us, because the day has already fallen towards evening. And He went in and stayed with them. And as He reclined with them, He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. But He became invisible to them. And they said to each other: Did not our heart burn within us when He spoke to us on the road and when He explained the Scripture to us? And, rising at that same hour, they returned to Jerusalem and found together the eleven Apostles and those who were with them, who said that the Lord had truly risen and appeared to Simon. And they told about what had happened on the way, and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of bread(Luke 24:12-35).
Even at the end of the fourth Sunday Gospel, it was mentioned about the Apostle Peter that he - after the story of the myrrh-bearers about the empty Tomb and the appearance of angels who spoke about the Resurrection of Christ - ran to the coffin... And could this fiery student, after such a story from women, calmly remain among people who did not believe?! No way! Let others think what they want; but he doesn’t even think about them: he only thinks about Christ! The tomb is empty... Where did He go? Of course, he had no thoughts about any theft of a dead body. And why? To make sure once again that Christ is dead?.. But the fact remains undeniable: the tomb is empty! Could it be that the myrrh-bearers saw angels? Let their speeches about what they saw seem “empty” to others... But more importantly, the coffin is empty!.. Empty!.. What is this?! And the hot Peter jumps up and runs there... Beloved John follows him... And then thoughts still torment him... He denied... three times... with oaths... But this will be discussed in detail in the seventh Gospel.
And now we turn to the appearance of the Risen Lord to the Emmaus travelers.
Emmaus is a small village to the west of Jerusalem, at a distance of sixty stadia, that is, about twelve miles for a two to two and a half hour journey. The travelers obviously knew these places well if they indicated the distance: they probably lived near these places; and went home...
Then the miracle of the phenomenon takes place... But first we will think about the spiritual mood of the travelers... We cannot help but be perplexed by this very journey. Indeed. Let’s say Christ died... But they already knew perfectly well that some women... were early at the tomb; that they are there no body found Jesus; and it was as if they saw angels, and they say that He is alive(Luke 24, 22-23). And it was confirmed some of ours, that is, from the disciples of Christ... But they didn't see Him(Luke 24:24)... Of course, not from the twelve, but from the seventy - they are going home from Jerusalem, where such extraordinary events took place!
It seemed that they didn’t even have to think about anything, or about getting somewhere, but to find out: what happened? where did the body go? Yes, even women have a sound mind, and they say that they saw angels? And these travelers are heading towards Emmaus... How to explain this? why such indifference?.. Well, maybe not complete indifference: here they are walking and talking about Jesus... But it’s still strange that they left Jerusalem! Well, at least they went to the Tomb to make sure that He is not there... And they leave... Should they say: disappointment?.. But they talk...
And one can assume: was there fear here? After all, the eleven fled at night... And they sat with the doors closed and even locked, although they were all gathered (John 20:19)... And this is clear to us: Jesus was arrested and crucified... Now enemies can pursue and His disciples? After all, Caiaphas’s maid also said about Peter: ...and this one was with Jesus of Nazareth(Matt. 26:71).
The authorities know all the more... And Peter, Peter himself firmly renounced before everyone with an oath: ...I don’t know: what are you saying?(Matt. 26:70)... What then should we think about others? And at the evening he said: I am ready to go to prison, and even to die for Him (Matthew 26:35). That's what others said too.
And when the women came and told about what they had seen, they not only did not believe them, but did not even move... This is also surprising. What can you demand from the seventy, if the main ones, the eleven, sit in fear with their doors locked?
Only two could not stand it—Peter and John—immediately let's run to the Sepulcher... And these went from Jerusalem. Where? Unknown... Towards Emmaus. Away from the now dangerous city... Who are they? Who are these two?
One of them is a certain Cleopas... He is named by name... Let's not figure it out: which Cleopas? Who is he? Really, this is not important for us. But why was it mentioned? In such cases, witnesses to the event, eyewitnesses, are always called. And the other, so firmly holds the tradition, was the Evangelist Luke himself. Yes, he didn’t need to talk about himself: who could know all the details of this phenomenon, except for the two of them? Nobody! True, they later they told about what happened on the way, and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of bread(Luke 24:35) – to the ten apostles (Thomas was not there then); but neither Matthew nor John wrote down this story of theirs: obviously, they left it to the eyewitnesses themselves... And Luke, out of humility, did not give his name... He does not mention himself in Acts, although he says : We.
Perhaps someone is interested: why did the Risen One appear first - not to the eleven apostles, but to the women, the Emmaus travelers? Women were worthy of this: they go to the Tomb at night; they have prepared spices for the anointing; Magdalene weeps at the tomb; This is ardent love! The main thing: they had to prepare the apostles with their stories...
Why did he appear to the Emmausians? They didn’t believe the myrrh-bearers: women! Gullible! And here are men, doubting them: you can trust them! New preparation.
Now let's return to the phenomenon. Two people are walking... Christ is catching up with them... They don’t recognize Him. How is this possible? Another world exists according to other laws: that is why it is called “other”, “different”; we say: “that world”, “supernatural”, “heavenly”... Therefore, an intelligent person does not even need to ask... “There” everything is different...
It is important that the Risen One wished to hide Himself first... Otherwise, they would have been afraid... It is necessary to prepare them too... Having approached, he went with them... Caught up... Probably two walked slowly; so that the Companion could catch up with them... And, catching up, Jesus could hear: what are they talking about? and their voice is sad.
On the way, some often pester others and start talking. About what?- He asks. About Jesus of Nazareth!- They do not call Him Christ, that is, the Anointed One of God: before, before death, they could have called Him that; and now all messianic hopes for Him have collapsed: crucified! died! They are surprised that He, like an alien, does not know about what happened in the last three days... Everyone knows...
And they - two and many others - they hoped that He was Deliverer of Israel... But here It's already the third day since this happened, that is, His death... Vain expectations... That's just some women And some of our... In these words there is still some hope... for something... And the Lord speaks to them.
There is no point in talking to others if they do not want the truth, do not seek it sincerely... The Lord Himself taught: Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine...(Matt. 7:6). But here the ground was still soft: they didn’t believe it, and they were waiting for something! You should talk to these people...
What about the resurrected Sputnik? First, he reproaches those walking!.. O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
And indeed: such people are unreasonable! And then the Lord reproached Thomas for the same thing... And we are the same... Once something is said in Scripture, it should be immediately accepted; and we are “procrastinating.”
This is not commendable... Here is John - he was different: saw and believed(John 20:8). And Peter left, only marveling(Luke 24:12). ...And the Risen One began to bring them the Scriptures, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, that this was how Christ had to suffer, and then enter into His glory(Luke 24, 26 – 27).
What glory? Where did He come from? deliver Israel? Jews generally expected political liberation, not spiritual liberation; The apostles also held this opinion; for example, Salome, the mother of James and John, asked Christ: sit down... one on the right side, and the other on the left, in Thy glory(Mark 10:35; Matthew 20:21). And in general, as we saw before, they did not understand: what does it mean to be resurrected? Therefore, Christ now speaks not about the resurrection, but in general about His glory.
And besides, He calls Himself Christ (the anointed one, the Messiah); and the travelers only by Jesus the Nazarene. These conversations took a lot of time.
At this time they quietly approached Emmaus. ...The day has already turned to evening,– for example, around four o’clock. This means that we left Jerusalem at about eleven or twelve o’clock, and we were on the road for two or two and a half hours... The traveler showed them that he wanted to go further.
But, when He spoke them on the road and when I explained them Scripture, - they already have the heart was burning; and they, naturally, wanted to spend the evening with Him, and talk - or rather, listen to Him - even the whole night! But they didn’t tell Him the true reason, but said: it’s too late, evening! - We were shy!
Dinner was served... Apparently, this house was a rural inn, and did not belong to any of them...
And then an incomprehensible miracle happened. According to Jewish customs, the elder takes the bread, blesses it, and then breaks it and gives it to others... This is what Christ did with the apostles... This is what he did now... It seemed that He did nothing special and did not say anything. But then their eyes were opened. And all this time, from the very first meeting , their eyes were held, so that they did not recognize Him. Like this? What does it mean: held, opened? Everything in the world (even the natural, and even more so the supernatural) is known by experience. And whoever of us has not had this experience, no words will help him... Let us not be curious in vain. But it was like that! Spiritual things are known spiritually (1 Cor. 2:13-15). ...They recognized Him; but He became invisible to them! A miracle is a miracle! The appearance of the Risen One took place!
What's next? – we want to ask. Struck by the phenomenon, they forgot everything: dinner, Emmaus itself, where they were going, and dangerous Jerusalem, if only they were afraid of it, and the late hour, and fatigue. AND, got up immediately, immediately they went - no, they didn’t go, but almost ran - back; And found eleven together, – actually, it’s already ten: Foma was not there; and those who were with them. Who is this? It’s not written in the Gospel... Maybe even the myrrh-bearing women? Maybe someone else? But they already They themselves said that the Lord has truly risen! And that He appeared to Simon. And the Emmausians told about the appearance of Christ to them.
The appearance to Simon Peter is not mentioned anywhere else except by the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 15:5). One must think: the Lord wanted to console him in his renunciation. But he, out of humility, did not want to be mentioned; and only John, after his death, reported about fishing on the Sea of Tiberias, after which Simon was returned to the ranks of the apostles.
"CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY IS RISEN!”
About Gospel readings that are rarely paid attention to
Before each Sunday, we will publish one of the 11 Sunday Gospel passages (about the resurrection of Jesus Christ), which is read at the All-Night Vigil before Sunday
Priest Theodore Ludogovsky
Many preachers and commentators pay close attention to the Gospel readings that we hear at Sunday liturgy. And this is absolutely fair, since the most striking texts were selected for reading in the Sunday assembly, during the Liturgy of the Word (or, as we more often say, the Liturgy of the Catechumens). On this background somewhat pale(and completely undeservedly) Gospel fragments read the day before, during the all-night vigil, namely at Matins.
These readings are repeated several times a year, we quickly learn them by heart, and having learned them, we cease to perceive them as something important, like the word of Christ and His disciples addressed to us.
In the proposed series of publications, I would like to draw attention, firstly, to the Sunday gospels themselves, and secondly, to their place in worship.
As you know, the total number of Gospel episodes read at the Sunday all-night vigil is eleven. The number, it must be admitted, is not very beautiful or famous. The numbers 3, 7, 9, 12, 40, 70 are much more familiar to us... But that is exactly how many - eleven - the apostles remained after the betrayal of Judas and before the election of Matthias.
(However, not everything is simple here either - we will return to these calculations in due course.) For the first time the Sunday Gospels begin to be read right after Easter - literally on her very first day(and even a little earlier, as you can see if you are careful).
But from Easter to Pentecost there are only 8 weeks (weeks), so 11 Gospel readings at all-night vigils cannot possibly fit here.
i.e. from All Saints' Day. On this day we hear the first Sunday gospel, next week - the second, and so on, until the last - the eleventh. After this, the cycle resumes. This continues even during Great Lent - right up to the Sunday preceding the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem - the 6th Sunday of Great Lent. The Sunday Gospel reading at Matins can be canceled only if the Twelfth Feast coincides with Sunday.So, what exactly are the gospel stories that we hear on Sundays?
1) Matthew 28:16–20 (chapter 116) - Christ sends his disciples to preach;
2) Mark 16:1–8 (chapter 70) - an angel appears to students;
3) Mark 16:9–20 (chapter 71) - a summary of the various appearances of the risen Savior to the disciples, the ascension;
4) Luke 24: 1–12 (chapter 112) - an angel appears to students; Peter runs to the empty tomb;
5) Luke 24:12–35 (chapter 113) - Christ appears to Luke and Cleopas going to Emmaus;
6) Luke 24: 36–53 (chapter 114) - Christ's appearance to the disciples and ascension;
7) John 20:1–10 (chapter 63) - students and disciples come to the tomb of the Teacher;
8) John 20:11–18 (chapter 64) - the appearance of Christ to Magdalene;
9) John 20:19–31 (chapter 65) - disbelief and faith of Thomas;
10) John 21:1–14 (chapter 66) - a wonderful catch of fish;
11) John 21:15–25 (chapter 67) - dialogue between Jesus and Peter; prediction about the fate of John.
As we can see, there is only one fragment for the Gospel of Matthew, two for the Gospel of Mark, three for the Gospel of Luke, and the remaining five for the Gospel of John. This disproportion is almost entirely explained by completely natural reasons:
John devotes two chapters to events after the Resurrection versus one in the other evangelists;
in Luke chapter 24 there are really three episodes that stand out;
in Mark, the last chapter obviously breaks down into two parts (not only plot-wise, but also from the point of view of textual criticism).
But with Matthew the picture is somewhat more complicated. What we read as the first Sunday gospel is just five verses at the very end of chapter 28. But the first 15 verses of this chapter form two more episodes (vv. 1–8, 9–15) of quite festive content - Why weren’t they included in the Sunday Gospel readings? Is it really just to be faithful to the number 11? Partly, no doubt, for this reason. But these 15 verses are not offensive at all: they (and the ending of chapter 28 as well) are read at the most solemn service of the entire church year. We know it as the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great on Holy Saturday. This service, which according to the charter should be performed in the evening (and not at all in the morning, as is our custom, so that later the whole day you can bless the Easter cakes), in fact, the first liturgy of Easter. And at this service, for the first time since Holy Week, we hear the news of the Resurrection of Christ.
Many people probably have an idea of liturgical circles (cycles):
the annual fixed circle, which is reflected in the Menaion;
annual moving circle - Lenten and Colored Triodion;
circle of Octoechos; sedemic (weekly) circle;
finally - the daily cycle of worship.
However, it is usually not customary to talk about the gospel cycle.
Meanwhile, the Sunday gospels at Matins have a certain influence on the composition of the hymns heard at a particular service.
After the execution of the canon (more precisely, after the small litany and the proclamation “Holy is the Lord our God”) we hear Sunday exapostilary and his Theotokos, and before “Blessed are you, O Virgin Mother of God...” (sometimes just before the first hour)- Gospel stichera.
All these three texts (exapostilary, theotokos and stichera) depend on the Gospel reading (and not on the voice) and are found in the appendix of the Octoechos (and not in its main part).
In further publications, along with the text of the Gospel, we will present these texts - in the traditional Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hieronymus. Ambrose (Timroth).
1st Sunday Gospel at Matins
Matthew chapter 28
16 So the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus commanded them,
17 And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but others doubted.
18 And Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
19 Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.
These are extremely important words that we - laity, priests, bishops - would do well to remember more often. In Protestant literature there is even a special term for this phrase: the great commission. Here it is, this commission given to the Saviors, the apostles and all of us: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you.
The Gospel readings at Sunday morning are arranged in the same order as they are in the Four Gospels: first from the Gospel of Matthew, then from Mark, Luke and John. It would seem that this is obvious - but the liturgical readings have a different order: from Easter to Pentecost - John, then Matthew, Mark, Luke and Mark again (others conceived).
As stated in the introductory post, the 28th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew is read in its entirety at the Holy Saturday liturgy. Let us remember that Holy Saturday is one of the days when the baptism of catechumens was performed in the ancient Church. Much in the service of this day - both in its composition and content - is connected with the sacrament of baptism. One of the most striking and obvious reminders of this connection is the replacement in the liturgy of the usual Trisagion before the reading of Scripture with “Those who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Hallelujah."
Why are we talking about the Holy Saturday service when our topic is the Sunday Gospels? Firstly, because this service is in many ways a Sunday service: at Matins, usually performed on the evening of Good Friday, we hear the Sunday troparia “The Council of Angels...” and Ezekiel’s prophecy about the general resurrection; Vespers on Great Saturday is Vespers on the eve of Easter (there will be no other Vespers on this day - then only Midnight Office and Easter Matins). Secondly, Holy Saturday, as we have just noted, is closely connected with baptism; but in our time, baptism is performed on the most different days of the year - and at the same time, every time we hear the same words from the Gospel, namely, the very first Sunday Gospel reading at Matins, which we are talking about today.
So what is the content of these five verses that conclude the first of the four Gospels? The Evangelist Matthew describes the one and only appearance of Christ to the apostles; Thus, according to his plan, according to the composition of his Gospel (and Matthew’s composition is thought out quite carefully), we have before us a meeting - and at the same time a farewell. The more important and significant is every word of the Teacher.
Poem. 16. Eleven disciples go to Galilee, that is, to the homeland of most of them. As we know, Christ himself was called a Galilean as a resident of Nazareth (few people knew about His birth in Bethlehem). Why are they going there? In the hope of seeing the risen Teacher, since before his suffering Jesus said to the apostles: after My resurrection I will go before you to Galilee(see Matthew 26:32). The myrrh-bearers (and they the apostles) were reminded of this by the angel who rolled away the stone from the entrance to the tomb: He has risen from the dead and is going before you into Galilee; you will see Him there(Matthew 28:7).
Poem. 17: and when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but others doubted. Of course, it was not the closest disciples who doubted, but some of those who saw the risen Jesus with them. Their doubt is quite understandable: after all, even one of the Twelve, Thomas, was in no hurry at first to believe the testimony of his brothers about the appearance of the risen Christ to them (John 20:24-25).
Poem. 18: And Jesus approached and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” It would seem, what is new and unexpected here? We, living two thousand years after the events described, know all too well that Jesus is God. It is quite natural to think that He, as God and the Son of God, really does have dominion over the whole world. This is true, but the semantic emphasis here, of course, is different. The coming of Christ to earth - this thought permeates the entire Gospel - was not in glory and not in external power. The King of the Jews, to the disappointment of the Jewish revolutionary party, did not compete with Herod, did not throw off the yoke of the Romans, and did not sit on the throne of David. Instead, He chose to die. But now, after the Cross, “God... glorified His Son Jesus” (Acts 3:13) - the time of humiliation has passed, the time of glory has come, the time of joy.
And then there are extremely important words that we - laity, priests, bishops - would do well to remember more often. In Protestant literature there is even a special term for this phrase: the great commission. Here it is, this is the commission given to the Saviors, the apostles and to all of us:
Sihi. 19-20: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you.
The news - perhaps somewhat unpleasant and confusing - for the apostles here was that it was not only the believing representatives of the chosen people who needed to be baptized (remember that Jesus himself preached only among his fellow tribesmen, and even sent disciples only to the cities of Judea - see Matthew 10 :5–6, 15:24), but also strangers, pagans - “goyim.” Time will pass - and preaching among the pagans will become something obvious (this will begin, as we know, with the Apostle Peter - see Acts 10). And even later everything will turn upside down: Christians - yesterday's pagans, idolaters - will look with exaltation and contempt at the people chosen and created by God himself - yes, a people who have departed from their Creator, but not completely rejected by Him and are still called to salvation (Apostle Paul speaks about this in detail in the 11th chapter of his letter to the Romans). But that's a completely different story...
In Christ’s command there is, I think, news for us too. Let us pay attention to the context in which the command to baptize is given: teach... baptizing... teaching. Baptism in itself is completely insufficient; Yes, and that’s not where we should start. The Apostle Paul, as we remember, almost said with offense: Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel (1 Cor 1:17; in Church Slavonic, perhaps even more expressively: Christ did not send... me to baptize, but to evangelize) Unfortunately, neither Church Slavonic nor Russian translations are able to accurately convey the meaning of the words of the original Greek Gospel of Matthew. The first of the two words, “teach,” literally means “to make a disciple.” Apprenticeship presupposes a certain stability of relationships, their duration and constancy. First a person must become a disciple of the apostles and their successors, and then he will be taught for quite a long time. And only then will baptism take place. For, as the blessed one says so beautifully. Jerome of Stridon, “the body is not capable of receiving the sacrament of baptism until the soul has accepted the truth of faith.” Needless to say, for most of Church history this was not the case. The result is obvious.
Poem. 20.: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. These words of the Savior, of course, cannot leave a Christian indifferent: Christ is with us, with every person! Every minute and second of our life - He is nearby! But if we read more carefully, we will see here a reference to the very beginning of the Gospel story, told to us by the Evangelist Matthew. Having described the events that followed Mary’s conception of the Son of God, the evangelist summarizes: And all this happened, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying: Behold, a virgin is with child and will give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel, which means: God is with us. During his earthly life, Jesus of Nazareth was not called Immanuel. But now Jesus promises to be with us always. And if we, together with the apostles, believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and God, then it means that God is truly with us, as Isaiah said (Isaiah 8:10).
The final Amen (“truly”, “so”) is not found in all manuscripts of the New Testament. Perhaps this word was added later - as the Church’s response to its Teacher, as the Christians’ response to the Good News announced by the Evangelist Matthew.
As an appendix, we present those liturgical texts that depend on the Gospel reading at Matins. This is the exapostilary, his Theotokos and the Gospel stichera. These chants reveal and complement the content of the read episode from the Gospel.
My disciples and I will ascend Mount Galilee,
By the faith of Christ we see the declaring power of receiving those above and those below, let us learn:
as he teaches to baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all tongues,
and abide with the secret places, as promised, until the end of time.
Translation: ,
We will gather with the disciples on Mount Galilee,
to see Christ by faith,
proclaiming that He has received power over things above and below;
let us learn how He teaches to baptize all nations
in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
and as he promised to remain with those initiated into His mysteries
until the end of time.
Theotokos:
You and your disciples rejoiced, O Virgin Mary,
for you saw Christ risen from the tomb on the third day, as he said:
in which he appeared, teaching and demonstrating the best,
and commanding to baptize in the Father, and the Son, and the Dus,
Let us believe in His rise, and glorify You, O Youth.
Translation:
You rejoiced with your disciples, Virgin Mary,
for I saw Christ risen from the tomb
on the third day, as He said.
He appeared to them, teaching and revealing the highest secrets,
and commanding to baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
so that we may believe in His resurrection and glorify You, O Young Lady.
Morning stichera:
To the mountain as a disciple going for earthly ascension,
The Lord appeared, and having worshiped Him, and having learned everywhere from the given authorities, He was sent into the heavenly places to preach the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension to heaven: to whom Christ God promised to abide forever, unfaithfully,
and Savior of our souls.
Translation:
To the disciples who climbed the mountain,
The Lord appeared before His ascension from the earth.
And they, having bowed to Him and learned about the power given to Him everywhere,
were sent into heaven to proclaim
about His resurrection from the dead and His ascension into heaven.
He promised to remain with them forever
Christ God, alien to lies
and Savior of our souls.
Priest Theodore Ludogovsky
2nd Sunday Gospel at Matins
Mark chapter 16
1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary of James and Salome bought spices so that they could go and anoint Him.
2 And very early, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb, at sunrise,
3 And they say among themselves, Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?
4 And they looked and saw that the stone had been rolled away; and he was very big.
5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe; and were horrified.
6 He says to them: Do not be dismayed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, crucified; He has risen, He is not here. This is the place where He was laid.
7 But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.
8 And they went out and ran from the tomb; They were seized with trepidation and horror, and they did not say anything to anyone, because they were afraid.
For the first time after Easter, we hear these lines as part of the liturgical reading on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women (we talked about this Gospel reading six months ago), which combines the 10th Passion Gospel (Mark 15:43-47) and the second Sunday Gospel; at matins on this day the third Sunday Gospel is read (Mark 16:9-20), which we will talk about next week.
In the current Gospel fragment - about the coming of the myrrh-bearing women to the empty tomb and the appearance of an angel to them - we read approximately the same as in parallel passages from other evangelists (Matthew 28:1-8; Luke 24:1-11; John 20 :1–2). However, there is one detail here that I would like to draw attention to. These are the words of an angel. He says to the women: “Tell his disciples and Peter...”
As we see, Peter finds himself singled out here, opposed to the rest of the disciples and apostles. Why is that? Apparently, there can be two answers here. Either Peter is placed as an angel above the disciples (but then it would be logical to name him first, as is always done when listing the apostles - see, for example, Mark 3:13–19); or, on the contrary, Peter is placed below, outside the number of disciples.
Obviously, the latter assumption is more reasonable.
First, we know that Peter denied the Teacher (Mt 26:69–75; Mk 14:66–72; Lk 22:54–62; Jn 18:15–27) - and therefore could no longer be called His disciple, although he did not act like Judas, but, on the contrary, having repented, found the strength to remain together with the other apostles.
Secondly, it is characteristic that the angel speaks specifically about Peter only in the Gospel of Mark - and this Gospel was often called Peter's Gospel, since, according to legend, Mark recorded Peter's oral sermon (in Mark's compressed, energetic style we can sense the ardent and impetuous nature Peter). Presumably, Peter considered it necessary not only to talk about his fall, which other evangelists also did, but also to emphasize his separation from the disciples, which was overcome only by Christ himself, which we will hear about in the last, 11th Sunday Gospel.
As a matter of fact, this is where the Gospel of Mark ends - or, more correctly, breaks off: in the Greek text in verse 8 the last particle is that which usually occupies the second (but not the last!) place in a subordinate clause. Yes, next Sunday we will hear another conception from this Gospel, but verses 9–20 almost certainly do not belong to the evangelist himself: both textual criticism and stylistics testify to this; in addition, in addition to Mark (16:9–20), another, short, ending of the book is known - but it is almost incredible that it belongs to Mark.
Some commentators suggest that such a sudden ending was part of the author's intention - we find a similar technique in the literature of the New Age: we can recall, for example, “The Sentimental Journey...” by L. Stern. But this is still unlikely to be the case. Let me quote N. T. Wright (b. 1945) - an Anglican bishop, a leading expert on the New Testament: “it is much more likely that he (Mark - F. L.) nevertheless wrote a conclusion - about how the women told all the disciples, and they went to the tomb, and then (judging by verses 14:28 and 16:7, in Galilee) they met Jesus again. I think at the end of the book, Jesus assured the disciples that He was again living, albeit a renewed, but bodily life, and also entrusted them with the mission that they would henceforth fulfill (13:10, 14:9). The ending of the book may be quite short, but it is very significant, since the conclusion always brings together all the themes outlined in the book.”
Below are the Sunday exapostilary related to the Gospel reading, its Theotokion and stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth):
Exapostilary
Having seen the stone, it was rolled away, the myrrh-bearers rejoiced,
I saw a young man sitting in a tomb,
and to that speech: behold, Christ has arisen,
chant with Peter the disciple:
Go to the mountain of Galilee, there he will appear to you,
as predicted by a friend.
Translation:
Seeing the stone rolled away,
the myrrh-bearers rejoiced,
for they saw a young man sitting in the tomb,
and he announced to them:
“Behold, Christ has risen; Tell Peter and all the disciples:
Hurry to Mount Galilee,
there He will appear to you,
as He predicted to His friends.”
Theotokos:
Bring the angel to the Virgin, rejoice,
before Your conception, Christ,
Angel, roll away the stone of Your tomb,
instead of sorrow and joy there are unspeakable signs,
But in death the place of the giver of life is preached and magnified,
and saying resurrection to women, and to the secret place.
Translation:
The angel brought the greeting “Rejoice” to the Virgin before Your, O Christ, conception;
The angel even rolled away the stone from Your tomb.
The first - instead of sadness, showing signs of unspeakable joy,
the second - instead of death
about You, the Giver of life, shouting,
and magnifying You, and proclaiming the resurrection
wives and initiates into Your secrets.
Gospel stichera:
From the world to the wives who came with Mary,
and perplexed
how will they satisfy their desire,
when the stone appears, it is taken,
and the Divine youth quenching the rebellion of their souls,
“Rise up,” he says, “Jesus is Lord.”
Therefore preach as His preacher,
disciple to mother-in-law's Galilee,
and see Him risen from the dead,
as the Giver of Life and the Lord.
Translation:
To the wives who were with Maria,
who came with incense
and wondering how to achieve what they want,
the stone appeared
and the Divine youth, calming the confusion of their souls;
“After all,” he said, “Jesus the Lord has risen;
therefore tell the messengers, His disciples,
so that they hurry to Galilee
and they saw Him risen from the dead,
as the life of the Giver and Lord."
Priest Theodore Ludogovsky
3rd Sunday Gospel at Matins
Mark chapter 16
9 Having risen early on the first day of the week, Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom he cast out seven demons.
10 She went and told those who were with Him, weeping and lamenting;
11 But when they heard that He was alive and that she had seen Him, they did not believe.
12 After this he appeared in another form to two of them on the road, as they were going into the village.
13 And they returned and told the others; but they didn’t believe them either.
14 Finally, he appeared to the eleven themselves, who were reclining at supper, and reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw Him risen.
15 And he said to them, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; and whoever does not believe will be condemned.
17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
18 They will take up snakes; and if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
19 And so the Lord, after speaking with them, ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
20 And they went and preached everywhere, with the Lord working together and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
As mentioned last time, the long (and also short) ending of the Gospel of Mark that we know was written anew after the original ending of the book was lost. The fact, of course, is extremely annoying, but still there is no big problem in this: Holy Scripture is part of Holy Tradition, and today’s fragment also reflects the Tradition of the Church, even if these lines do not belong to the Evangelist Mark.
At the same time, we see that a good half of today’s Sunday morning reading is a rather dry retelling of stories, mostly known from other Gospels. Thus, we read about the appearance of the risen Savior to Mary Magdalene in John the Theologian (John 20: 11–18 - 7th Sunday Gospel), about the apostles’ disbelief in her words and the words of other myrrh-bearing women - in Luke (24:11), in him and about the appearance of Jesus “to two of them on the road” (Luke 24:12–35 - 5th Gospel) and about the Ascension (Luke 24:50–51), etc.
It is noteworthy that the anonymous author of the last verses of the Gospel of Mark puts into the mouth of Christ a prediction about the signs that will accompany those who believe. It must be admitted that these words clearly contrast with other statements of Jesus about miracles - cf., for example: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign; and no sign will be given to him except the sign of the prophet Jonah; For just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:39-40).
On the contrary, signs and wonders, according to the word of the Savior, are integral attributes of false Christs and false prophets: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). But if we pay attention to what kind of miracles we are talking about in today’s reading, we will notice that for the most part these are either those gifts that Christ Himself already gave to the apostles - the first of those who believed: healing of the sick, casting out demons, etc.; or these are the gifts that the apostles and other disciples received after Pentecost - first of all, the gift of tongues.
The words about snakes are reminiscent of the famous episode with Paul in the last chapter of Acts: “When Paul had gathered a lot of sticks and was putting them on the fire, then a viper came out from the heat and hung on his hand. The foreigners, when they saw the snake hanging on his hand, said to each other: surely this man is a murderer, when the judgment [of God] does not allow him to live, having escaped from the sea. But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm” (Acts 28:3-5). It is possible that the author of the ending had this particular story in mind.
You should also pay attention to the words of the Savior: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (v. 15). In Matthew we heard the command to “teach all nations” (see Matthew 28:19), but here we are talking about “all creation,” the entire creation - that is, literally understood, about rational and irrational creatures, living and nonliving nature. Should the interpretation really be exactly like this? It is unlikely that there is an exhaustive and unambiguous answer here. However, it is known that in other cases a question turns out to be more valuable than an answer, since it gives reason for reflection - but a ready-made answer deprives us of such an opportunity. Therefore, we will limit ourselves to recalling the words of the Apostle Paul from the Epistle to the Romans: “... the creation waits with hope for the revelation of the sons of God, because the creation was subjected to vanity, not voluntarily, but according to the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope that the creation itself will be freed from slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now…” (Rom 8:19-22).
Nowadays, we very well see and understand the connection between our sins and passions (greed, cruelty, stupidity) and the torment of the creature - at least on the scale of our planet. However, one can hope that if at least part of creation - people - accept the Good News, then the rest of creation will not be far from deliverance and freedom.
Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)
Because Christ is risen, let no one believe: having appeared to Mary, he was then seen walking into the village, and then appeared in secret to the one and ten reclining, having sent them to baptize, and ascended into heaven, from nowhere and from below, confirming the preaching of many signs.
Translation:
No one should doubt that Christ has risen; for He appeared to Mary, then those who went to the village saw Him, and again appeared to those initiated into the mysteries, the eleven who were reclining; having sent them to baptize, He ascended into heaven, from where He descended, and confirmed their preaching with many signs.
Theotokos:
The Sun that has risen, like a bridegroom from the palace, has come out of the grave today, having captured hell and abolished death, Who was born through prayers and sent down light to us: light, enlightening hearts and souls: light, teaching everyone to walk in the paths of Your commandments, and on the path of peace.
Translation:
The sun, who rose on this day from the grave, like a bridegroom from the bridal chamber, and who captured hell and destroyed death! Through the intercessions of You who gave birth to You, light was sent down to us, a light that enlightens hearts and souls, a light that instructs everyone to walk in the paths of Your commandments and the ways of the world.
Morning stichera:
Magdalene Mary, who preached the good news from the dead from the dead, the Resurrection and the Appearance, but the non-believing disciples were reproached for being hard-hearted: but armed with signs, they sent miracles for preaching, and you, Lord, ascended to the initial light of the Father, and they preached the word everywhere, assuring miracles Having been enlightened by those, we glorify Your resurrection from the dead, O Lord who loves mankind.
Translation:
The disciples who did not believe Mary Magdalene, who preached the gospel of the resurrection from the dead and the appearance of the Savior, were reproached for their hardness of heart; but, armed with signs and wonders, they were sent to preach. And You, Lord, ascended to the Beginning of the World - the Father, and they proclaimed the word everywhere , confirming it with miracles. Therefore, we, enlightened by them, glorify Your resurrection from the dead, O philanthropic Lord!
Priest Theodore Ludogovsky
4th Sunday Gospel at Matins
Luke chapter 24
1 On the very first day of the week, very early, bringing the spices that had been prepared, they came to the tomb, and with them some others;
2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
3 And when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 When they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men appeared before them in shining clothes.
5 And when they were afraid and bowed their faces to the ground, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
6 He is not here: He has risen; remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,
7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.
8 And they remembered His words;
9 And returning from the tomb, they announced all this to the eleven and to all the rest.
10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and others with them, who told the apostles about this.
11 And their words seemed empty to them, and they did not believe them.
12 But Peter stood up and ran to the tomb and, bending down, saw only the linens lying there, and he went back, marveling at what had happened.
Today's Gospel reading represents one of three episodes in the Gospel of Luke relating to the Resurrection of Christ.
In the first of them, which we are talking about today, we do not yet see the risen Jesus - we only discover, together with the myrrh-bearers and Peter, that the tomb is empty, and we hear angels talking about the rising of the Son of God from the dead.
In the second (this is the fifth Sunday reading, Luke 24:12-35) Jesus appears to two disciples, but in such a way that they do not recognize Him at first.
Finally, in the third episode (sixth gospel, Luke 24: 36–53), which ends the first part of Luke’s dilogy, Jesus openly appears to the eleven apostles and those who were with them at that moment (including, as is commonly believed, Luke himself).
It is very important when reading the Gospel (and most of us read it not for the first time) to maintain freshness of perception. The easiest way to achieve this is to look at the events described through the eyes of the characters in the gospel story. We know that Christ has risen - for us this is one of the tenets of our faith, something obvious and almost ordinary. But, of course, this was not at all the case for the myrrh-bearers.
Let's take a closer look and think about this picture.
Here are the women who followed Jesus throughout Palestine, provided Him with material and technical assistance, the women who were His disciples (and, moreover, no less devoted than the men called apostles) - they come to the tomb of the Teacher. For what? In order to say: “Well, well, it’s already the third day - it’s time! Now it’s already resurrected - shouldn’t we miss it?” No, nothing like that.
They come to properly prepare for burial the body of Jesus, who was condemned to death as a criminal - and actually died: some of them saw it with their own eyes. They come to the tomb (and, as we recently read from Mark, on the way they think who will roll away the huge stone from the entrance to the tomb), they come and see: the stone has been rolled away, there is no body. They are at a loss: what happened?
If they had any idea that Jesus had risen, this was the very last thing that came to their minds. The first thoughts, obviously, were: the body was taken away - but who did it and why?
And at this moment, when they were in confusion and confusion, “two men in shining clothes” appeared to them. We identify them with calm confidence as angels (one might think that angels appear to us every day), but the myrrh-bearers hardly thought: “Oh, these are angels. Now they will tell us something important.” At that moment, most likely, they did not think so much as they felt - and they felt, as Luke says, fear.
But instead of fear - joy! A joy that is not so easy to realize, not easy to believe in. The men (yes, these were angels, of course) turn to the women - and one cannot help but see some irony in their words. No, this is not evil irony, for it would be cruel and unfair to mock weak creatures who, overcoming natural fear, came to show love to their Teacher. But still, the angels know and understand Who Jesus of Nazareth was and is - and it seems strange to them that someone could think of looking for the Living God among the dead.
But, condescending to the limitations of human nature, they explain to the disciples of the Son of God what happened here: “He is not here - He has risen. Remember how He told you...” And they will understand! This is amazing: is it possible to forget this? Is it possible to forget when your loved one, the person whom you love and respect, to whom you are devoted, whom you value and for whom, perhaps, you would not regret giving your life - is it possible to forget when he tells you: I will soon die. And moreover: I will rise again.
It’s easy to dismiss the phrase “I’ll die soon”: yes, we will all die someday, that’s understandable, but it’s not yet - and you’ll live too, you’re still young, never mind, it’s too early for you to think about death. But when they say: I will rise again, consciousness simply refuses to accept these words.
And when something happened that the disciples and disciples of Jesus did not want to think about (too painful!) and which they refused to believe, then they did not dare to extract from their memory what was undoubtedly stored there: the second part of the prophecy - about the Resurrection.
But now everything comes together: there is no body, men in shining clothes say that He is alive, the myrrh-bearers themselves remember that this is exactly what He said, this is exactly what He predicted - and they go, run to the apostles to tell them this joyful news.
However, their joy is met by a wall of misunderstanding: the apostles decided to grieve seriously, and nothing should distract them from this. And then these women come running and talk nonsense! How is it - resurrected? People die, we know that; but to be resurrected - no, we won’t believe women’s fables. And only Peter responds with his heart to the words of the women and, although he was not the youngest and probably not the most athletic of the apostles, runs to the tomb - and sees that the women are right in at least one thing: that the tomb is empty.
Peter goes back - in surprise. No, he has not yet believed in the resurrection of the Teacher; he must not yet allow himself to even think about it, let alone hope - and at the same time he cannot help but think. Here we, together with the author, leave Peter, and the other apostles, and the myrrh-bearers - and go together with the two disciples to Emmaus. But more on that next time.
As usual, we present liturgical texts related to the Gospel reading: the Sunday exapostilary, its Theotokos and the Gospel stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth).
Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)
Shining with virtues,
we see that she is in the life-giving tomb
husband in shining robes:
to the myrrh-bearers who bowed their faces to the ground,
let us learn the Lord's resurrection heavens,
and to the Belly Sepulcher with Peter the Father,
and being amazed at what we have done, we will continue to see Christ.
Translation:
Shining with virtues,
we will see in the life-giving tomb
men in shining clothes,
presented to the myrrh-bearers,
with their faces bowed to the ground;
let us be convinced of the resurrection of the Lord of the heavens,
and let us hasten with Peter to Life in the tomb,
and, marveling at what has happened, we will remain to see Christ
Theotokos:
Rejoice, O prophet of prophecy, thou hast accomplished
the sorrow of the ancestors, Lord,
bringing joy to Your rising in the world:
because the Life-Giver, Who gave birth to Thee,
light enlightening the hearts,
send down the light of Your bounties,
cry out to you:
more loving than God-man,
glory to Your rising.
Translation:
"Rejoice" shouting
You changed the sorrow of the forefathers, O Lord,
instead introducing joy into the world
about Your resurrection.
Send down his light, Giver of life,
for the sake of She who bore You in her womb,
the light of Your mercy, illuminating hearts,
so that we may cry out to You:
"Lover of mankind, God-man,
glory to your resurrection!”
Priest Theodore Ludogovsky
5th Sunday Gospel at Matins
Luke chapter 24
12 But Peter stood up and ran to the tomb and, bending down, saw only the linens lying there, and he went back, marveling at what had happened.
13 That same day two of them went to a village sixty furlongs from Jerusalem, called Emmaus;
14 And they talked among themselves about all these events.
15 And while they were talking and reasoning with one another, Jesus himself came near and went with them.
16 But their eyes were kept, so that they did not recognize Him.
17 And he said to them, “What is it that you talk about among yourself as you walk, and why are you sad?”
18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only one who came to Jerusalem who does not know what has happened in it these days?”
19 And he said to them, “About what?” They said to Him: What happened to Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;
20 How the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death and crucified Him.
21 But we hoped that He was the One who was to deliver Israel; but with all that, it is now the third day since this happened.
22 But some of our women astonished us: they were early at the tomb
23 And they did not find His body, and they came and said that they had also seen the appearance of angels, who said that He was alive.
24 And some of our men went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Him.
25 Then He said to them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
26 Was this not the way Christ had to suffer and enter into His glory?
27 And beginning at Moses, he expounded to them from all the prophets what was spoken about him in all the Scriptures.
28 And they approached the village to which they were going; and He showed them that He wanted to go further.
29 But they restrained Him, saying: Stay with us, because the day has already fallen to evening. And He went in and stayed with them.
30 And as He reclined with them, He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.
31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him. But He became invisible to them.
32 And they said to one another, “Didn’t our heart burn within us when He spoke to us on the road and when He explained the Scripture to us?”
33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven apostles together and those who were with them,
34 who said that the Lord had truly risen and appeared to Simon.
35 And they related what had happened on the way, and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of bread.
This gospel episode is usually called the story of Luke and Cleopas. The name of Cleopas is indeed mentioned here (v. 18), but Luke does not explicitly speak about himself. However, it is often believed that the second traveler heading to Emmaus was the evangelist himself. What are the reasons for this? First, the text (v. 13) indicates that these were “two of them,” that is, from the disciples of Jesus. Moreover (secondly) these two were not from among the Twelve (now the Eleven) - see Art. 33. Finally (thirdly), this plot is found only in Luke. It is clear that such reasoning cannot serve as a strict proof, but with their help it is possible to substantiate the above hypothesis. But this is not the only solution: Cleopas’ companion (more precisely, companion) could well have been his wife Mary (we know her by just that name: Mary Cleopas - see John 19:25).
Today's fragment of the Gospel of Luke is read not only at Sunday morning once every eleven weeks, but also represents the liturgical reading of Tuesday of Bright Week. And this is quite strange, since, with very rare exceptions (one of two such exceptions is the Ascension, but the reasons there are quite clear), during the period from Easter to Pentecost the Gospel of John is read at the liturgy. It is difficult to say what dictated the choice of this particular reading for Bright Tuesday. Perhaps this is due to the expression “third day” used by the disciples (v. 21) - and Tuesday is precisely the third day, if Sunday is considered the first day. But it is obvious that in Luke the countdown is not from the day of the resurrection of Christ (the disciples do not yet know about the resurrection), but from the day of the crucifixion; and the disciples go to Emmaus precisely on the very first day after the resurrection of the Teacher.
The story of the two disciples walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus is one of the most striking pages in the Gospel of Luke, not only in theological terms, but also in terms of the author’s literary skill. A lot has been written about this plot over twenty centuries. I would like to draw attention to only one side of it.
The two go to a village located 10–12 kilometers from the capital. The evangelist does not tell us why they are going there, but we can guess that the goal was quite mundane, not directly related to the dramatic events that took place just a couple of days ago. Jesus died on the cross - and these two are in sorrow, but, as they say, life goes on, and for some of their business they go to Emmaus.
And so - we skip the whole middle of the story - in the breaking of bread (being prepared by a conversation with their companions along the way and witnessing to each other in hindsight that during this conversation their hearts were on fire) they recognize the Teacher. They, as can be concluded from the evangelist’s story, had just reached their destination. But, realizing that Jesus had just really appeared to them, that the women who followed them were telling the truth, that something had happened that could not happen, and that their lives would never be the same - as soon as they realized all this, they forget about all those matters (important, perhaps, not only for them) that led them to this small village, and they rush back to Jerusalem, neglecting fatigue and their own arguments that it is already dark and they need an overnight stay.
Resurrection of Christ completely changes priorities, it enters - bursts in! - into our lives and forces us to put aside at least for a while everything boring, important and serious, since the one on whom the reflection of the Resurrection fell will no longer be able to pretend that nothing happened. Resurrection is victory over death, it is sparkling, boiling and overflowing life, it is rejoicing, joy and fun, and this is the kind of joy that you will not accumulate in yourself - no, it must be shared with other people, because that’s the only way to and can be saved.
And indeed: in Jerusalem (in the middle of the night!) there is the joy of meeting other disciples and the multiplication of this joy: the Son of God has truly risen and has already appeared to Simon Peter. And moreover: to all those gathered - the Eleven, those who were then with them, the newly arrived Cleopas and his companion - Jesus himself again appears.
But more on that next time.
As an appendix, we present the hymns of Octoechos, which correlate with the current Gospel reading: the Sunday Exapostilary, his Theotokos and the Gospel stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth).
Exapostilary (the text is read immediately after reading the canon)
The life and the way, Christ has risen from the dead, Cleopas and Lutsa traveled, having been known and known at Emmaus, breaking bread: with her souls and hearts burning by the way, when the topic was spoken on the way, and the scriptures you said, even endured. With him, we rise, we call, and appeared to Petrov.
Translation:
Life and path - Christ, having risen from the dead, accompanied Cleopas and Luke, and was recognized by them at Emmaus in the breaking of bread. Their souls and hearts burned when He spoke to them on the way and explained in the scriptures what He suffered. Let us exclaim with them: “He rebelled and also appeared to Peter!”
Theotokos:
I sing of Thy innumerable mercy, my Creator, as Thou hast exhausted Thyself, to bear and save embittered human nature: and this God, Thou hast deigned, from the pure Virgin Mary, to be after me, and to descend even to hell, although I may be saved, through the prayers of Who gave birth to Thee, O Lord All-generous.
Translation:
I sing of Your immeasurable mercy, my Creator; for You humbled Yourself in order to come down from heaven and save the broken nature of mortals; and, being God, deigned, having been born from the pure Mother of God, to become like me and descend to hell, wanting to save me, the Word, according to intercessions of the One who gave birth to You, All-merciful Lord.
Morning stichera:
About your wise destinies, Christ! How did you allow Peter to understand your resurrection with one shroud, and when you traveled to Luca and Cleopas, you talked, and did not reveal yourself while talking? In the same way, you were reviled, because you alone came to Jerusalem, and did not take communion in the end of their advice. But who was all for the creation of the benefit of the system, and who opened prophecies about You, and who never blessed the bread, was known to them, and even before that, their hearts fell apart for the knowledge of You, and the disciples gathered already clearly preached Your resurrection, to whom have mercy us.
Translation:
Oh, how wise are Your judgments, Christ! How You allowed Peter to comprehend Your resurrection with only swaddling clothes! While traveling, You talk with Luke and Cleopas, and while talking, you do not immediately reveal Yourself. Therefore, You also accept the reproach from them that You are one of those who came in Jerusalem and was indifferent to the outcome of his plans. But, as one who arranges everything for the benefit of creation, You also revealed the prophecies that were about You, and at the blessing of the bread you were recognized by those whose hearts had already burned to know You. They already clearly proclaimed to the assembled disciples Thy resurrection, whereby have mercy on us.
6th Sunday Gospel at Matins
Luke chapter 24
36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were confused and afraid, and thought they saw a spirit.
38 But He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do such thoughts enter your hearts?
39 Look at My hands and My feet; it is I Myself; touch Me and look at Me; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.
40 And having said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
41 While they still did not believe for joy and were amazed, He said to them, “Do you have any food here?”
42 They gave Him some of the baked fish and honeycomb.
43 And he took it and ate before them.
44 And he said to them, “This is what I spoke to you about while I was still with you, that everything that was written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.
45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
46 And he said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,
47 And repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses to this.
49 And I will send the promise of My Father upon you; But stay in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.
50 And he led them out of the city as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.
51 And when he blessed them, he began to move away from them and ascend into heaven.
52 They worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
53 And they remained always in the temple, glorifying and blessing God. Amen.
This Gospel reading is heard at Sunday mornings once every 11 weeks, as well as at the liturgy on Ascension Day. We will return to the topic of the Ascension, but for now I would like to draw attention to what resurrection is.
It would be interesting to conduct a survey among Orthodox Christians: how do you understand the resurrection from the dead? What is this from your point of view? At least try to explain it in your fingers if you can’t give a clear formulation. I suspect that a significant part of the answers will be something like this: “Well, that’s when we live in heaven.” And to the clarifying question: “Will we be there with the body or without the body?” – not everyone will choose the first answer.
And this is understandable: we constantly hear that the body is a burden for our salvation, that we need to take care of the soul, that the body decays, but the soul is eternal, etc. And all this is largely true - and yet the truth remains unchanged: the general resurrection presupposes connection of soul and body. Those people who come to church not only to bless Easter cakes on the eve of Easter, but also take the trouble to attend at least some of the services of Holy Week, undoubtedly remember the reading from the prophet Ezekiel (37:1-14), which we usually hear on Friday evening (this is the end of Matins on Holy Saturday). Here is a fragment of this proverb:
“The hand of the Lord was upon me, and the Lord brought me out in the spirit and set me in the middle of a field, and it was full of bones, and he led me around around them, and behold there were very many of them on the surface of the field, and behold they were very dry.<…>And I saw: and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew, and skin covered them from above.<…>and the spirit entered into them, and they lived and stood on their feet—a very, very great army.”
Although the prophet speaks of Israel, in the Christian tradition this vision of Ezekiel has always been understood as a prophecy of the general resurrection.
And so - we return to the Gospel reading - Christ was resurrected and appeared to the disciples. And what is the first thing He does (after greeting them)? Is he trying to convince them of his greatness, of his otherworldliness? No, it is very important for Him to show and prove to them that He is not a ghost, not a ghost, but a man of bones and flesh, a man who eats and drinks - and therefore is completely material. No oppression of the flesh, no humiliation of the bodily component of our nature! And, moving on to the topic of the Ascension, we note: Christ not only regained his body after the resurrection - He ascended with this body (in this body, if you like) and sat down at the right hand of the Father. Christ is true God, but also true man; and as a man He henceforth dwells in the Kingdom of Heaven next to God himself.
As for the Ascension (more precisely, the time of this event), an attentive reader of the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Luke (these are the 4th, 5th and 6th Sunday Gospels) could not help but notice that everything described in this chapter happens on one day. Commentators are trying to insert between the neighboring replicas of Jesus in today's reading where there are 7 and where there are 40 days - but such attempts look like a stretch. Luke writes well enough and confidently enough, and if he composed this chapter in such a way that the reader is left with a feeling of the swiftness of all the events of this one single day - the Resurrection, the appearance to the two disciples going to Emmaus, the appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem, the Ascension - if the author described all this is exactly so, then he probably knew what he was doing.
But maybe there is no problem here? How, exactly, do we know that Jesus ascended on the 40th day after the Resurrection? The whole point is that we really know this - and, moreover, all from the same Luke. But already from his second book - the Acts of the Apostles: “I wrote the first book to you, Theophilus, about everything that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day on which He ascended, giving commands by the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom He chose, to whom also He revealed Himself alive, after His suffering, with many true proofs, appearing to them for forty days and speaking about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:1-3). The third verse that interests us does not contain any significant discrepancies in ancient manuscripts - the authenticity of the expression “forty days” is beyond doubt.
So, it should be recognized that the same author wrote differently about one event in his two books. Perhaps in his Gospel it was more important for Luke to show the internal logic of events, while in Acts precise chronology is important (especially given the further description of Pentecost).
Exapostilary (the text is read immediately after reading the canon)
Showing that man You are the Savior, in essence, after becoming resurrected from the grave, and You partook of the waste, You taught the baptism of repentance. You ascended to the Heavenly Father, and You promised to send the Comforter as a disciple, O Most Divine God-man. Glory to Your rise.
Translation:
Showing that You are a man by nature, Savior, after resurrection from the grave You ate food with the disciples, and standing among them, taught them to proclaim repentance, and ascended directly to the Heavenly Father, and promised to send the Comforter to the disciples. Divine God-man, glory to Thy Resurrection!
Theotokos:
The Creator of creation, and the God of all, received human flesh from Thy most pure blood, All-Holy Virgin, and my whole, decayed nature was reborn, just as before Christmas, I left it after Christmas. In the same way, we all truly praise You, calling: Rejoice, Lady of the world.
Translation:
The Creator of creation and the God of all, He took mortal flesh from Your pure blood, O All-Holy Virgin, and, truly, He renewed all our lost nature, preserving You after childbirth, as before childbirth, as a Virgin. Therefore, we all glorify You with faith, exclaiming: “ Rejoice, Lady of the World!
Morning stichera:
You, Christ, are the true peace of the man of God, giving Thy peace, upon rising as a disciple, Thou didst show fear to those who fear the spirit to see: but Thou didst calm the rebellion of their souls, showing Thy hand and nose. by remembrance, you opened their minds to understand the Scriptures: having promised them the Father’s promise, and having blessed them, you retreated into heaven. And with them we worship You, Lord, glory to You.
Translation:
Truly You, Christ, are the peace of God with people! Giving Your peace to the disciples after the resurrection, You led them into fear: they thought that they saw a spirit; but You calmed their emotional excitement by showing them Your hands and feet. Meanwhile, they still did not believe, You, by eating food and reminding the teachings, opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And, having confirmed the Father’s promise to them, having blessed them, you went to heaven. Therefore, we worship You together with them. Lord, glory to You!
Priest Theodore Ludogovsky
7th Sunday Gospel at Matins
John chapter 20
1 On the very first day of the week, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb early, when it was still dark, and sees that the stone has been rolled away from the tomb.
2 So he runs and comes to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and says to them, “They have taken the Lord away from the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
3 Immediately Peter and the other disciple came out and went to the tomb.
4 They both ran together; but the other disciple ran faster than Peter, and came to the tomb first.
5 And stooping down, he saw the linens lying there; but did not enter the tomb.
6 Simon Peter came after him, and entered the tomb, and saw only the linens lying there,
7 And the cloth that was on His head, not lying with swaddling clothes, but especially rolled up in another place.
8 Then the other disciple, who had come first to the tomb, also entered and saw and believed.
9 For they did not yet know from the Scripture that He had to rise from the dead.
10 So the disciples returned to themselves again.
"They took the Lord from the grave"
With the seventh Sunday Gospel, readings from the Gospel of John begin, which make up almost half of the Sunday readings at Matins - five out of eleven.
Like the weather forecasters (Matthew, Mark, Luke), John does not try to describe the Resurrection itself - that is, what he himself (and no one) saw. There is no appearance of the risen Christ to the myrrh-bearers and apostles here yet. In today's passage, John describes how Christ's disciples discover the disappearance of the Master's body and what they think and say about it - and what they do.
What are they doing? They - at least as John describes it - mostly run. Magdalene runs to Peter (obviously, as the eldest among the apostles): the body of Jesus has disappeared, it was probably taken away. Whether this is someone’s cruel joke, or some kind of mistake is unclear, but something needs to be done. And now Peter and “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (this is John himself) are running almost in a race to the tomb. John - he is younger - is the first to come running, but does not dare to go inside. He just looks in and sees the shrouds (bandages) in which the body of the deceased was wrapped. A strange picture: for some reason, before taking the body away, someone removed all these shrouds soaked in incense. And the headscarf is also removed - and lies separately, neatly folded.
And after this, John (now as a narrator) makes the following remark: Then the other disciple, who had first come to the tomb, also entered and saw and believed. For they did not yet know from the Scriptures that He had to rise from the dead. Interpreters differ on what exactly John believed. The most straightforward interpretation is this: since we are talking about faith, then, of course, it means faith in the Resurrection. Then the next phrase (they didn’t know from Scripture...), obviously, has to be attributed to the minutes and hours preceding the moment when Christ’s beloved disciple believed that the Teacher had risen. This version is reflected in the Gospel stichera for Matins below.
However, these words of the evangelist can be understood differently. Peter and John were convinced that Mary Magdalene was right: there was no body, and, at that time, they believed that someone had actually taken the body - although it was still unclear who exactly did it and for what purpose. In this case, the second phrase seems completely natural: they believed that the body was taken away because they did not yet properly understand the prophecies of Scripture about the resurrection of Jesus. In favor of this interpretation, we can cite the already familiar words of the Evangelist Luke, perhaps referring exactly to this episode of the first day of the week: Peter, getting up, ran to the tomb and, bending down, saw only the linens lying there, and went back, marveling at what had happened to himself (Luke 24:12).
So, writes the Apostle John, the disciples (that is, himself and Peter) returned to themselves. And Magdalene, fearing nothing, but being filled with vague hope, walks again - or runs? - to the tomb of Jesus. And her hope was not disgraced: the resurrected Teacher appears to her - appears before he appeared to the apostles. But more on that next time.
Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)
For having taken the Lord, Mary rejoiced,
on the tomb of the Techasta, Simon Peter,
and another secret place of Christ, whom he loves:
now both are present, and the acquisition of the shroud is one, lying inside,
and the main one is the sir besides them.
Moreover, he kept silent again,
until Christ was seen.
Translation:
When Mary said that they had taken the Lord,
Simon Peter ran to the tomb
and another, initiated into the mysteries of Christ, whom He loved;
the two of them ran away and found inside
only swaddling clothes lying,
and the cloth from His head was separate from them.
So they calmed down again
until they saw Christ.
Theotokos:
Great and glorious have you done for me,
My most merciful Christ:
You were born from a virgin, unspeakably,
and you lifted the cross and endured death,
You have risen in glory,
and you freed our nature from death.
Glory, Christ, Thy glory,
glory to Your power.
Translation:
Great and unheard of for me
You have done, O my most merciful Christ:
for from the Virgin Mary You were born inexplicably,
and accepted the Cross and suffered death,
rose in glory and freed our nature from death.
Glory, Christ, Thy glory,
glory to Your power!
Morning stichera:
Behold the darkness, and early, and standing at the tomb, Mary,
having much darkness in their minds,
in this place, where should you quickly ask, Jesus?
But see the students meet,
how the shrouds and sir gained resurrection,
and I will also remember these Scriptures.
With them and in the same image we also believed,
We praise You, the life-giver of Christ.
Translation:
Here it is darkness and early morning.
And why are you standing at the grave, Mary,
with deep darkness in your mind?
Because of this, you are looking for where Jesus was laid;
but look at the disciples running together,
how the shrouds and platomoni confirmed the resurrection
and they remembered the scriptures about that.
We are with them, having believed through them,
We sing praises to You, the Giver of Christ.
Priest Theodore Ludogovsky
8th Sunday Gospel at Matins
John chapter 20
11 And Mary stood at the tomb and wept. And when she cried, she leaned into the coffin,
12 and sees two angels, dressed in white, sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus lay.
13 And they say to her: wife! Why are you crying? He says to them: They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.
14 Having said this, she turned back and saw Jesus standing; but did not recognize that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus says to her: Woman! Why are you crying? who are you looking for? She, thinking that it is the gardener, says to Him: Master! if you have brought Him out, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him.
16 Jesus says to her: Mary! She turned and said to Him: Rabbi! - which means: Teacher!
17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; But go to My brothers and say to them: I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.
18 Mary Magdalene goes and tells the disciples that she saw the Lord and that He told her this.
Last week we heard the story of the Evangelist John about how Mary Magdalene ran to Peter to report that someone had taken the Teacher’s body from the tomb. Peter, and with him John, run to the tomb - and indeed do not find the body. After that they go home.
Maria, apparently, having come running with them (or arriving later, separately), did not go anywhere, but remained to wait for something. She stood and cried - and at some moment (not for the first time, of course) she looked into the tomb. It would seem that what could be new here? It is unlikely that the body could reappear on its own. And if someone walked past her, she would notice. But then she looks inside the coffin and suddenly sees two sitting angels. In response to their question, she utters the same words with which she ran to Peter in the morning of that day: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” At that moment, something makes her turn around.
And here we are faced with a situation for the second time when a disciple or disciple does not recognize Jesus (the first time we saw this in the Evangelist Luke, when two people went to Emmaus). Cleopas and his companion did not recognize Jesus, despite the fact that they walked with Him along the road for many hours, talked with Him - that is, they saw and heard Him, but, despite all this, they did not recognize Him. Why did this happen? - the evangelist gives the answer: “their eyes were held back, so that they did not recognize Him.” The answer, of course, is not entirely exhaustive, but one thing is clear: this was not accidental - and was probably part of Jesus’ intentions.
Here, in the case of Magdalene, the reasons could be different. Firstly, she did not expect to see the Teacher, although this is precisely why she must have stayed at the tomb. In addition, she was crying - tears covered her eyes. Maybe she had to look at Jesus against the sun. But at the same time, it is obvious that Jesus has changed. He was the same - and at the same time He was different.
But then He addresses Mary by name - and at that moment she recognizes Him! However, what does the Teacher say to her in response to her joyful exclamation “Rabbi!” and, apparently, to try to grab His feet by throwing himself to the ground? “Don't touch Me!” says Jesus. One might think that He is pushing away His devoted disciple. No, of course not. “Touch Me not” (a possible translation is “do not hold Me back”) - by saying this, Christ makes it clear to Mary that His death and resurrection are not just a tragic story with an unexpectedly happy ending, after which life will again go as usual. No, now everything will be different, and Jesus’ relationship with Mary – and with all people – will be different. “Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father.” Jesus must ascend to Heaven, send down the Spirit to the disciples - and then He will finally fulfill his mission, which applies not only to the apostles and myrrh-bearers, and not even to the chosen people alone - but to the entire universe; and then His communication with Mary will resume, although it will be different. And now Mary should not hold Him back, should not prolong this meeting - on the contrary, she should run to proclaim to the brothers (note - brothers!) Jesus His words: “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” .
These are very important words, but we seem to pay too little attention to them. But here Jesus puts Himself on the same level with all those who believed in Him. Yes, the Most High, the Creator of heaven and earth, is our God; but Jesus, being the Son of God and God, calls Him also his God. Yes, the Lord is the Father of Jesus; but He is also our Father. Jesus calls the apostles, and through them all Christians who fulfill His commandments, brothers and friends (John 15:14).
I think it would be right if we do not indulge in long-winded discussions here, but let the reader think for himself about the words of the Savior. To find a brother like Jesus, to be worthy of the friendship of the Son of God - there is something to think about, isn’t it? And there is something to be happy about!
Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)
Seeing two Angels inside the tomb, Mary was surprised,
and they do not know Christ, as if they asked a heli-technician:
Lord, where did you place the body of my Jesus? Having known by His name the existence of the Savior Himself,
hearing: Do not touch Me, I am going to the Father,
rtsy of my brethren.
Translation:
Seeing two angels inside the coffin, Mary was amazed
and, not recognizing Christ, she asked Him as a gardener:
“Sir, where have you laid the body of my Jesus?” But when He heard His cry, recognizing that it was the Savior Himself,
heard: “Don’t touch Me,
As I am leaving the Father, tell My brothers about this!”
Theotokos
From the Trinity you gave birth, O Trokovitsa,
one ineffably, existing in two natures,
and purely by action and one hypostasis.
Pray to him always, for those who worship with faith,
get rid of every slander of the enemy:
as we all now resort to You, Lady Theotokos.
Translation:
You gave birth to one of the Trinity, unspeakably, O Youth,
dual in nature, dual in action,
but one according to Hypostasis.
Pray to Him always for those who worship You with faith, so that they may be freed from all the deceit of the enemy,
for we all now resort to You, Lady Theotokos.
Morning stichera:
Mary’s tears are not shed in vain warmly,
Behold, you have been deemed worthy of teaching Angels,
and visions of Jesus Himself.
But the earthly woman still philosophizes, like a weak woman:
Likewise, it is sent not to touch Christ.
But in both cases the preacher is sent by Your disciple,
who bear the gospel,
heralding the sunrise to the Father's lot.
From now on, grant us also Thy appearance, Master Lord.
Translation:
Maria's hot tears
they are not shed in vain;
for behold, she was worthy of the instruction of Angels,
and beholding You, O Jesus!
But she also thinks about earthly things like a weak woman,
and therefore it is not allowed to touch You, Christ;
however, as a messenger she is sent to Your disciples,
to whom I gave the good news,
announcing Your ascent to the Fatherly inheritance.
With her, honor us also with Your appearance, O Master Lord!
Priest Theodore Ludogovsky
9th Sunday Gospel at Matins
John chapter 20
19 On that same first day of the week in the evening, when the doors of the house where His disciples were meeting were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, “Peace be with you!”
20 Having said this, He showed them His hands and feet and His side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus said to them a second time, “Peace be with you!” just as the Father sent Me, so I send you.
22 Having said this, he blew and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
23 Whose sins you forgive, their sins will be forgiven; On whomever you leave it, it will stay on it.
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not here with them when Jesus came.
25 The other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the marks of the nails, and put my finger into the marks of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
26 After eight days His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas with them. Jesus came when the doors were locked, stood in the midst of them and said: Peace be with you!
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands; give me your hand and place it in my side; and do not be an unbeliever, but a believer.
28 Thomas answered Him: My Lord and my God!
29 Jesus saith unto him, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
30 Jesus did many other miracles before His disciples, which are not written in this book.
31 These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.
Today's reading is perhaps one of the most liturgically interesting among all 11 morning gospels: we hear verses from the second half of the Gospel of John at very important services of the church year. Verses 19–25, which tell of Jesus' appearance to the disciples and Thomas' distrust of the words of the other apostles, are read at Vespers on the first day of Easter. Further, in accordance with the Gospel chronology, on the eighth day after the first day of Easter (i.e., on the Week of Antipascha, or the Sunday of St. Thomas, or the New Week - on the Feast of the Assurance of Thomas, which in its liturgical features is close to the twelfth feasts) at the liturgy again the same lines are read, but with a continuation - about how Thomas saw the Teacher and believed (i.e. verses 19-31). In addition, verses 19–23 form the Gospel reading for the matins of Pentecost, the day when we celebrate the birth of the Church. Finally, this entire fragment (verses 19–31) is read at the liturgy on the day of the Menaion of the Apostle Thomas (October 6/19).
Thomas’s unbelief is called beautiful in church hymns: “O good unbelief of Fomino, bring the faithful hearts into knowledge...” - Russian. translation: “Oh, the beautiful unbelief of Thomas! He led the faithful of heart to the fullness of knowledge...” But it is wonderful not only in its consequences, which are spoken of in this beautiful stichera - it is wonderful in itself.
Yes, Thomas was probably a skeptic and a pessimist. It is enough to recall his remark, which is quoted by the Evangelist John: when Jesus decided to go to Lazarus in order to “wake him up”, and the disciples began to dissuade Him (as we know, unsuccessfully), Thomas said with gloomy determination: “let us go and die with him.” (John 11:16). He was not an indifferent and cynical person - no, he, one might think, was a very thorough person. Thomas was not one of those who base themselves on emotions; he was afraid to be deceived, afraid to believe in emptiness. He preferred disbelief to gullibility. And when he saw Jesus, when he was convinced of the truth of the resurrection of his Teacher, then he utters words that we do not see anywhere else in the Gospel - neither in John nor in the weather forecasters: “My Lord and my God!” The apostles and other people who believed in Jesus as the Messiah called Him Lord, the Son of God, Christ (i.e., the Anointed One, the Messiah) - but only Thomas directly confessed the Divinity of his Teacher.
Truly wonderful is such unbelief, which reveals both to Thomas himself and to us the divinity of Jesus! In response to this confession, to this confession of faith, the Savior utters the following words (they have become a proverb): “You believed because you saw Me; Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Here they usually see a slight reproach against Thomas from Jesus. But the other disciples are no higher or better than Thomas in this regard: they saw the same thing - and believed.
In the words of Christ one can rather see encouragement for us - those who did not see, but believed. Encouragement and at the same time a warning. How can a person believe who has not seen Christ? Ask your friends - everyone will tell their own story. It happens that God himself brings a person to Himself - through thoughtful reading of Scripture, through the search for answers to questions about the meaning of life, about the purpose of man. But an important role here is played by Christians whom a person seeking God meets on his way. And therefore, we have a considerable responsibility: our unbelieving friends and relatives, people close and distant from us - they cannot see Christ with their own eyes, but they can see us. And seeing us, they should see Christ. This is our task, this is our mission: not to turn a person away from God with our malice and depravity, but to reveal Christ to him with our very life. With God's help, this mission is completely feasible, and it does not require any money, no meetings, or planning five years in advance. Let us live holy - and let us shine for our neighbors!
Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)
Imprisoned by the Lord's door, as you entered,
You filled the Apostles with the Holy Spirit,
blowing peacefully, then you can knit and solve sins:
and after these days you showed your ribs to Thomas and your hand.
With him we cry: You are Lord and God.
Translation:
When You entered, Lord, with the doors locked,
filled the apostles with the All-Holy Spirit:
having given them peace with a breath, he commanded them to bind and loose their sins;
and after eight days He showed His ribs and hands to Thomas,
with which we cry: “You are Lord and God!”
Theotokos
As you saw your Son from the grave, having risen for three days,
God-blessed Most Holy Virgin, you have put aside all sorrow,
You rose to the south, like Mother, when you saw you suffering,
and being filled with joy, you and His disciples, who worship Him, eat.
Likewise, save the Mother of God who now confesses Thee.
Translation:
When You saw Your Son risen from the grave on the third day,
God's Bride, the all-holy Virgin, then put aside all sorrow,
which, like a Mother, she endured, looking at Him suffering;
and, filled with joy, together with His disciples, triumphantly sang His praises.
Therefore, even now, save those who confess You through the Mother of God.
Morning stichera
Like in the last summer, I exist late from Saturdays,
You appeared as a friend of Christ, and you know miracles by miracles,
enclosed by the doorway, Your resurrection from the dead.
But you filled the disciples with joy, and you taught them the Holy Spirit,
and you have given the power to forgive sins
and you did not leave Thomas to plunge into the storm of unbelief.
Likewise, grant us true reason and forgiveness of sins, O most gracious Lord.
Translation:
As if at the end of time, at the late hour of the first day on Saturday,
You have appeared to Your friends, Christ, and you confirm the miracle by a miracle,
arriving with the doors locked -
Your resurrection from the dead.
And behold, You filled the disciples with joy and taught them the Holy Spirit,
and granted the power to forgive sins,
and did not leave Thomas to sink in the waves of unbelief.
Therefore, give us true knowledge and forgiveness of sins, merciful Lord!
Priest Theodore Ludogovsky
4 And when morning had already come, Jesus stood on the shore; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
5 Jesus says to them: Children! do you have any food? They answered Him: no.
6 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will catch it.” They cast, and could no longer pull out the nets from the multitude of fish.
7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “This is the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girded himself with his robe, for he was naked, and threw himself into the sea.
8 And the other disciples came in a boat, for they were not far from the land, about two hundred cubits, dragging a net with fish.
9 When they came to the ground, they saw a fire laid out and fish and bread lying on it.
10 Jesus says to them, Bring the fish that you have now caught.
11 Simon Peter went and brought down to the ground a net filled with great fish, which were one hundred and fifty-three; and with such a multitude the network did not break through.
12 Jesus says to them, Come and have dinner. None of the disciples dared to ask Him: Who are you? knowing that it is the Lord.
13 Jesus comes and takes the bread and gives them fish also.
14 This was the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection from the dead.
In the 10th and 11th morning gospels we witness the third and final appearance of Jesus to the disciples - one of those appearances described in John. Concluding words of chapter 20 (“Jesus did many other miracles in the sight of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these were written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in the name of His") sound like the ending of the entire book. Therefore, it is assumed that chapter 21 was not originally part of the Gospel and was written later (but probably by John himself); the very last verses of the last chapter - we will hear them in a week - perhaps belong not to the apostle himself, but to one of his disciples.
Today's gospel episode is about everyday life and how Jesus enters this life, changing and transforming it, providing help to the disciples, but (in the 11th gospel) at the same time demanding service from them.
The first two encounters we read about in John took place in Jerusalem. Now the disciples went back to Galilee - home. It is hardly fair to assume that they wanted to live again as if nothing had happened. As if they had not met this Man - and they had not walked with him for three years in Palestine, and they had not lived a completely special life, and had not witnessed amazing events. As if they had not crucified Him. As if He had not risen.
No, they did not want to brush aside their Teacher. But they had the need to think everything over, to realize - to accommodate within themselves what is difficult to fit into the mind and heart of an ordinary person. And besides, everyone had families to feed.
And so they return to Lake Tiberias and cast their nets. But there are no fish. After a long night of work, they see a man on the shore - but they don’t recognize, they don’t understand who it is. And this man, for some reason calling them - mostly adult men - children (and even children), advises them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat. The fish is caught and Jesus is recognized.
For Magdalene, it was necessary for the Teacher to call her by name; Cleopas and his companion recognized the Savior in the breaking of bread; The fishermen apostles probably remembered another wonderful fish catch that happened three years ago.
And then - a very interesting scene, a very interesting dialogue (we will hear its continuation next Saturday). Everyone - some earlier, some later - ended up on the shore. What does Jesus say? “Well, slackers and losers, I told you how to catch fish, now quickly organize Me lunch. And so that it’s no worse than others! Come on, turn around, slaves, turn around, sloths! I don’t like to wait!” Agree, it would be strange to hear this from the Savior (but for some reason it is not at all strange to hear such speeches from those who centuries later called themselves His disciples).
What is Jesus really saying? He says: come, eat - I have everything ready for you: here is the bread, here is the fish; And give your fish here too - it will come in handy too.
We remember that John has already described a similar scene - but there is still something deliberate there: this is undisguised pedagogy, instruction. I mean washing the feet (John 13:1-15). And here, in chapter 21, is a real life situation. And Jesus turns out to be true to Himself, His word does not diverge from deeds: as He taught them (by His own example) then, before the crucifixion, so - without any pretentiousness, with complete naturalness - He acts now.
There are many more things to say about the 10th Sunday Gospel. Something lies on the surface, something sounds mysterious and requires careful and thoughtful interpretation. But I would like to draw attention to this completely everyday moment. How we lack this simplicity in our “church,” “spiritual,” “Christian” life! How lacking is this readiness to serve those below you on the social ladder! And these are not entirely rhetorical questions. One can indeed pose the question: how - how exactly do we lack all this? And we understand very well how: like oxygen, like air - like the life-giving Spirit!
We are all baptized - but does the Holy Spirit live in us? Could it be that He left us long ago? Are we deceiving ourselves when we call ourselves Christians? Is it possible to be a Christian, shamelessly trampling on the commandments of Christ, renouncing Christ every day with your deeds? We hear words about values, but we don’t appreciate or love a person; we talk about spirituality - but we didn’t notice how we became impoverished in spirit; we worship shrines - but we turn away from the One Saint, who ascended for us (in our place!) on the cross.
The Lord still feeds and waters us, clothes us and warms us. He still tolerates us, tolerates our iniquities, tolerates the sins of those who have the audacity to bear His name - bishops, elders, laity.
“How long, Lord?” - asks Isaiah. And he hears: “Until the cities are desolate, and there are no inhabitants, and the houses are left without people, and until this land is completely desolate. And the Lord will remove the people, and there will be great desolation on this land.”
Hey, come, Lord Jesus!
As an appendix, we present hymns that correlate with the Gospel reading at Matins: the Sunday Exapostilary, its Theotokos and the Gospel stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth).
Exapostilary (the text is read immediately after reading the canon)
The sea of Tiberias with the children of Zebedee, Nathanael with Peter and with the other two of ancient times, and Thomas, who was named in the fishing, cast down to the right hand of Christ, and brought out a multitude of fish: Peter, having known Him, wandered to Him, to whom the third appeared, and the bread of the show, and the fish on coal.
Translation:
On the Sea of Tiberias, with the sons of Zebedee, Nathanael and Peter with two others, and Thomas were once fishing. They, at the command of Christ, cast their nets to the right and pulled out many fish. Peter, recognizing Him, swam to Him. Appearing to them for the third time, He offered bread them, and fish on coals.
Theotokos:
For the resurrected Lord, three days from the grave, Virgin, pray for those who praise Thee, and the blessed ones with love: For the imams are all a saving refuge, and an intercessor to Him: for the inheritance is Thine, and we are servants, Mother of God, and we all look to Thy intercession.
Translation:
The Lord, who rose from the grave on the third day, beg, O Virgin, to praise You and call You blessed with love, for we all have refuge in You as a saving mediator before Him; for we are Your heritage and Your servants, Mother of God, and we all turn to Your intercession glances.
Morning stichera:
After the hedgehog's descent into hell, and the hedgehog's resurrection from the dead, sorrowfully as it was worthy of Thy separation, O Christ, the disciples turned to work, and again ships and seas, and fisheries nowhere. But You, Savior, having appeared as the Lord of all, at the right hand of the seas you commanded speak, and the word will soon be done, and a multitude of fish will be in abundance, and a strange supper will be ready on the earth: even with your disciples who took communion then, grant us now in our thoughts to enjoy, O Lord who loves mankind.
John chapter 21
15 While they were dining, Jesus said to Simon Peter: Simon the Jonah! Do you love Me more than they? Peter says to Him: Yes, Lord! You know I love you. Jesus says to him: Feed my lambs.
16 Another time he said to him: Simon the Jonah! do you love me? Peter says to Him: Yes, Lord! You know I love you. Jesus says to him: Feed My sheep.
17 He said to him the third time: Simon the Jonah! do you love me? Peter was saddened that he asked him for the third time: Do you love Me? and said to Him: Lord! You know everything; You know I love you. Jesus says to him: Feed My sheep.
18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and went where you wanted; and when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and lead you where you do not want to go.
19 He said this, indicating by what death Peter would glorify God. And having said this, he said to him: follow me.
20 Peter, turning, sees the disciple, whom Jesus loved, following him, and who at the supper, bowing to His chest, said: Lord! who will betray you?
21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus: Lord! what about him?
22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? you follow Me.
23 And this word spread among the brethren, that that disciple would not die. But Jesus did not tell him that he would not die, but: if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? -
24 This disciple testifies to this, and wrote this; and we know that his testimony is true.
25 Jesus did many other things; but if we were to write about it in detail, then I think the world itself would not be able to contain the books written. Amen.
Today we read the last of the eleven gospels at Sunday morning. At the same time, this is the end of the Gospel of John and the entire Four Gospels. We hear the current fragment not only at the all-night vigil on Sunday several times a year: it is also read as an ordinary reading at the liturgy of Trinity Parental Saturday, at matins on the days of remembrance of the Apostle John the Theologian (May 8/21 and September 26/October 9) and at the liturgy on the day of worship of the chains of the Apostle Peter (January 16/29). The last two verses of the Gospel of John are part of the liturgical reading in the days of memory of this evangelist.
The main content of the final scene of the fourth Gospel is the dialogue between Jesus and Peter, the restoration of the eldest of the disciples to his apostleship and - immediately! - new orders, new obligations assigned to Peter. And besides, there is a prediction about the fate of Peter, about his martyrdom. But Peter cannot help but inquire about the fate of his fellow disciple - “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” i.e. John: “Lord! What is he?
In response, Christ utters a phrase that has become the subject of reflection and debate for many generations of Christians. And the bewilderment that Jesus’ answer generated is already recorded in the Gospel itself (v. 23). As one possible solution, I would like to quote N. T. Wright: “Jesus never said anything specific about the fate of John. He wanted to say and said one thing: whatever happened to John, it had nothing to do with Peter. Suppose I called a girl: “Come, help me in the garden.” The girl hesitates, looks back at her brother: “What will he do?” And I will answer: “Suppose I ask him to fly to the moon, what do you care?” This doesn't mean that I will actually send her brother to the moon. Jesus did not say that John would live until His return. He said simply and clearly: this does not concern Peter” (N. T. Wright. John. The Gospel. Popular commentary. M.: BBI, 2009. - P. 278).
The guess is witty, but the solution, you see, is rather prosaic. I do not insist on this exact explanation, but I suggest that we not embark on further research for now. One way or another, the essence of the answer is precisely this - in its ending: “...what do you care about that? You follow Me." This answer is repeated in aphoristic form in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia: "I tell everyone only his own story," says Aslan, when one or another character tries to ask him about his friend: "What is he?"
This answer is, of course, disappointing. And it cannot be said that the question was asked out of mere idle curiosity: John is a friend of Peter, Shasta (the hero of the story “The Horse and His Boy”) is a friend of Aravita. It is quite natural to be interested in the fate of friends, their past and future. However, the answer was refusal. But, having swallowed the bitterness of this refusal, after some reflection you understand that the veil of secrecy that hides the lives of even the closest people is, in its own way, correct. This is even good, this is simply wonderful! This means that God builds a personal relationship with each person. This means that He tactfully recognizes our right not to put our lives on public display, encouraging us, on the other hand, to delve deeper into our own - and not someone else's - life. This means that God, although He is immeasurably higher, better, kinder, wiser than us, is nevertheless ready to become a helper and friend for anyone who wants it. It is precisely a friend, and not a ruler, who from the height of his throne examines the masses of people under his control, without giving himself the trouble to peer into the face and soul of an individual person. But friendship is mutual; and therefore God expects cooperation from us, expects us to follow Him - following not among the crowd, but according to our personal, conscious choice, out of friendship, out of love for Him.
When I read these lines of the Gospel (Peter’s question and Jesus’ answer), for some reason I always imagine a road stretching into the distance, with no end. Jesus is walking along the road, Peter is a little behind, and John is not far from them. They walk - simultaneously together and separately. Each has its own destiny: Jesus will ascend to the Father in a few weeks or days; Peter, three decades later, will be crucified on the cross; John will outlive his friend by thirty to forty years. And yet this road has no end: the path to God, as well as to oneself, is endless. But we do not lack time, because we were born for eternal life. And may our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ vouchsafe us this life in the Kingdom of the Father - through the prayers of the apostles Peter and John and all the saints. Amen. As an appendix, we present hymns that correlate with the Gospel reading at Matins: the Sunday Exapostilary, its Theotokos and the Gospel stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth).
As an appendix, we present hymns that correlate with the Gospel reading at Matins: the Sunday Exapostilary, its Theotokos and the Gospel stichera - in the Church Slavonic translation and in the Russian translation by Hierom. Ambrose (Timroth).
Exapostilary (text read immediately after reading the canon)
By Divine Rebellion,
Peter three times, do you love Me, asking the Lord
The chief shepherd offers his sheep:
Whom Jesus has seen, whom Jesus loves, follows the coming one,
asked the Lord: what is this?
If I want, I say, this to remain,
I’ll come again and again, what about you, friend Petra?
Translation:
After His Divine Resurrection, the Lord asked Peter three times: “Do you love Me?”
appoints him as the shepherd of His sheep.
He, seeing the one whom Jesus loved following,
asked the Vladyka: “What is he?” –
“Even if I want,” said the Lord, “
so that he may remain until I come again,
What is that to you, friend Peter?”
Theotokos:
O terrible mystery, oh glorious miracle!
Death is ultimately destroyed by death.
Whoever does not sing; and whoever does not worship Your resurrection,
The Word, and the Mother of God who purely gave birth to You in flesh?
Through your prayers, deliver all from Gehenna.
Translation:
O terrible mystery!
O extraordinary miracle!
Death is completely destroyed by death.
Who will not sing to You,
and whoever does not worship Your resurrection, Word,
and the Mother of God, who gave birth to you without blemish in the flesh?
Through her intercessions, deliver everyone from Gehenna.
Morning stichera:
Appearing to be Your disciple, O Savior,
after the resurrection you gave Simon sheep to pasture,
reward for love,
even looking for care for the flock.
This is also what you said:
If you love Me, Peter, feed My lambs,
feed my sheep.
He is abiy showing friendliness,
You asked about a friend’s student.
Through their prayers, Christ, preserve Your flock,
from the wolves that destroy e.
Revealing Himself to His disciples after the resurrection, the Savior,
You are Simon, in recompense for his love,
He handed over a flock of sheep, demanding to feed them with care.
That's why you said:
"If you love Me, Peter,
feed my lambs, feed my sheep.”
He, immediately showing ardent love,
I asked about another student.
Through their intercessions, O Christ, preserve Thy flock
from the wolves that plunder her.
Priest Theodore Ludogovsky
