HOLY WEEK: THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST

[note: I'm saying good-by to the blogopshere for about a week. If you are a Catholic or Protestant Christian, I realize you'll be observing Good Friday tomorrow, but in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Holy Week is just ahead of us.  Our Easter - Pascha - is April 15th this year.]  

Holy Week is the perfect time to focus on the miracles of Christ. The last Saturday of Lent (just preceding Passion Week - or Holy Week) is focused on Jesus' miracle of the Raising of Lazarus.  Of course, Holy Week itself, our journey with Christ to Pascha, ends with the ultimate miracle of the Resurrection, as Jesus frees the dead from Hades.

In my home, I display an Easter Egg Tree every year.  I made my own last year with pussy willow branches stuck into florist foam, which I nestled down into a pretty tin. (In Europe, pussy willow branches are used in place of palm branches on Palm Sunday, since palms are not available in that region.) When our children were young, during Holy Week they looked forward to hanging beautifully decorated eggs on our Easter Egg Tree each day.  By Easter - Pascha - the tree would be full.

This year I thought I would do it a little bit differently, decorating the tree for Holy Week with icon cards of "The Miracles of Christ" hung from the branches, and eventually adding in my Easter Egg collection for Pascha.. 

Pack of 18 cards. I got them here.

To all my readers:  I'll be back after next week. Blessed Pascha (Happy Easter)!

HOLY WEEK: JOURNEY TO PASCHA

During this last week leading up to Easter (we call if "Pascha" in the Orthodox Church), I won't be posting much about books, since Holy Week is in full swing!  Beginning over the weekend with Lazarus Saturday and then Palm Sunday, the week continues with many more services to attend, baskets to prepare, goodies to make, and an Easter Egg Tree to decorate...

When our children were young, during Holy Week they looked forward to hanging beautifully decorated eggs (that I had collected) on our Easter Egg Tree each day.  By Easter - Pascha - the tree would be full.  I made my own last year with pussy willow branches stuck into florist foam, which I nestled down into a pretty tin.  In Europe, pussy willow branches are used in place of palm branches on Palm Sunday, since palms are not available in that region.

A variation of this Easter Egg Tree would be to hang these beautiful little "Miracles of Christ" icon cards on the branches at the beginning of Holy Week (Lazarus Saturday).  Each card is about 31/2 by 4 inches and would just need a hole punched at the top with a ribbon threaded through it in order to tie it to a branch.  On each successive day of Holy Week, your children could take down a card, read the story from Christ's life on the back, and replace the icon card with an Easter egg.

"Miracles of Christ" icon cards are
available HERE at Orthodox Marketplace  

Tonight we will be attending the Bridegroom Matins.  Christ the Bridegroom is the central figure in the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25: 1-13); Christ is the divine Bridegroom of the Church as described in the Book of Isaiah (chapter 54), as well as the primary image of Bridegroom Matins. The title is suggestive of his divine presence and watchfulness (“Behold the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night…”) during Holy Week and his selfless love for his Bride, the Church.

"Behold the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom he shall find watching, and unworthy is the servant whom he shall find heedless.

Beware, therefore, oh my soul. Do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death, and lest you be shut out of the kingdom.

But rouse yourself, crying, Holy, Holy, Holy are Thou O God."

To hear this beautiful Orthodox hymn, “Alleluia, Behold the Bridegroom”, click HERE.