Truly He is Risen! – Blisswood

Thomas Sunday & Mothers’ Day Greetings!

Christ is Risen!

Happy Thomas Sunday and (coincidentally) Mother’s Day!

Today is also St. Basil of Ostrog’s day!

The feature image is our Pascha Basket. ☺️ We had so much fun decorating the iced Kulich with old-fashioned candied Pansies and Violets from our window boxes (done a few weeks before, to allow them time to cure). Evidently, one can also candy rose petals, carnations, borage and other edible flowers! The red eggs are made from a natural onion skin dye.

There are so many amazing traditions taking place today. This is also when the Artos Bread (which represents Jesus Christ, our Bread of Life, and always Invisibly Present with His Church) which stood all week in front of the opened Royal Doors, is blessed and distributed amongst the faithful. Like holy water, Artos possesses mystical properties. Eating the blessed Artos during the year, replenishes physical and spiritual energies of the Orthodox faithful. Like all other sacred objects, Artos is to be treated with respect and piety. For proper storage, Artos is cut into smaller pieces, dried, and put in a glass container and kept in one’s icon corner. A small piece of dried Artos may be eaten when needed for spiritual strength and consolation, preferably taken on an empty stomach, with a bit of holy water and prayer.

Today is also Radonitsa (Day of Rejoicing)… When we visit the cemetery to have the graves of loved ones blessed, and to sing Christ is Risen to them!

The first Sunday after Pascha, is dedicated to the Apostle Thomas who finally believed, when he was invited by the Risen Christ to touch Him. When we seek God, we touch Him, and we are touched by Him. He passes through the closed doors of our hearts and minds, and directs us towards the light of faith and understanding.

Jesus saith … blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. – St. John 20:29

That’s a direct message from our Risen Lord, to all Christians, throughout the ages! Christ bestows this verbal blessing and acknowledgment upon each of one us. Then. Now. Today. Saying… “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” That’s us!

Special, loving greetings and gratitude to all mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and matushki! Whether our own mothers are still with us, or have already passed on… there is always the joyous consolation that our Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary is always close by!

We are never alone! God loves us more than father, mother, friend, or any else could love, and even more than we are able to love ourselves. ~ St. John Chrysostom

The Most Holy Mother of God prays for us ceaselessly. She is always visiting us. Whenever we turn to her in our heart, she is there. After the Lord, she is the greatest protection of mankind. ~ Elder Thaddeus of Vitnovica

The Angel Cried to the Lady
(Special Hymn to the Theotokos, sung at Pascha and during Pascha-tide)

Rejoice!

Exalt!

Be Radiant!

Truly He is Risen!

What Are We Looking For?

Image by Παναγιώτης from Pixabay

When we are coming to church what are we looking for? Fish in the desert? No, we are looking for that hidden “inward meditation” of the heart which unites us to Christ… The same thing happens in the church where you are mystically and sacramentally united with Christ. In and through your inner meditation on these things they will become a reality… In order to find Him strive to enter into that hidden, inner meditation and you’ll see that He’ll come of His own accord. You’ll see the heavy stone roll away from your heart and He Himself will rise! ~ Elder Aimilianos (The Way of the Spirit)

Truly He is Risen

Image by jplenio from Pixabay

Truly He is risen!

and were He not,

we should not have met

like cells of an enormous, incomprehensible fabric

our eyes are slowly opened

to the miracle which binds us together

May the Lord continue to bless us

~ by an Anonymous Friend

I initially posted this with my friend’s permission and name, but he has since requested that “anon would do nicely” and gave me this humble reason…

The words that I write
Are rarely my own
But are more seeds of light
That some Angel has sown
They take root and flower
And raising their heads
By some mystical power
They rise in their beds
And sing the praise of their Sower.

Blessings of Harmonious Union

Parish icons lit during an Evening Vigil.

Christ is Risen!

Greetings on Thomas Sunday!

Nothing elevates the soul, nothing gives it wings as a liturgical hymn does. A holy hymn gives birth to piety of soul, creates a good conscience, and is accepted by God in the treasuries of the heavens. ~ St. John Chrysostom

Bis orat qui cantat. (Means) He who chants prays twice. ~ Ancient Proverb

Psalmody – bringing about choral singing, a bond, as it were, toward unity, and joining people into a harmonious union of one choir – produces also the greatest of blessings: love. ~ St. Basil the Great

When you worship God with hymns, you should be worshipping Him with your entire being: your voice should sing; your heart should also sing; and your life should also sing. Everything should sing! ~ Blessed Augustine

Music is unique among the liturgical arts in that it’s something we have to do every time we come to church. Iconography, architecture, church furnishings, liturgical books, all these are things an artist can produce once and be done with. But music is never finished. As soon as you sing a note it vanishes forever. As soon as the service is over, whatever beauty you achieved during it has to be produced all over again in the next service. ~ Rowan Benedict Sheehan

Truly He is Risen!

Mondegreens

Spring garden flowers line our Pascha Basket.

Christ is Risen!

I would like to share just a couple of past musical mondegreens. A mondegreen is a mis-hearing or misinterpretation of a phrase that gives it a new meaning.

For instance… during my early childhood years in the Baptist Church, there’s a lovely Easter hymn I adored, which (I thought) was titled “At Calgary” Couldn’t really say why we were singing about a Canadian city at Easter, but people in the pews would nod and smile when us kids belted out those last two words to the refrains: Mercy there was great and grace was free, Pardon there was multiplied to me, There my burdened soul found liberty, At Calgary! One year at Easter, when I could read better, I sheepishly realized the last line of each stanza was actually At Calvary… a holy location which had nothing to do with the province of Alberta.

As an adult in the Orthodox Church, I sing in the choir and for awhile my music stand housed an older choir book. At the ends of certain sections on the faded liturgical sheet music, there was hand-printed in a thick, dull, stubby pencil, the word “repent”. This huge WOW-factor made me wonder occasionally about the book’s previous (obviously devout) owner who would unsparingly post themselves repentance reminders! One day an unexpected pattern emerged. I noticed the numerous repents were always pencilled in at the ends of certain bars of faded music… where one could barely make out the 2 dots of a musical “repeat” sign. The pencilled words weren’t “repent” they were actually “repeat” albeit, in poor penmanship. *Smacks Forehead* Nevertheless, repentance, and repeat repentance are indeed crucial. Sometimes, to this very day, if I see a musical “repeat” sign, or have a fleeting thought of Calgary… I can’t help but smile.

Truly He is Risen!

Peace Starts With Each of Us

A bouquet of garden flowers await in a basket on the Eve of Pascha.

Christ is Risen!

You must strive to have peace in your homes. Peace starts with each one of us. When we have peace in us, we spread it around to others. You can see for yourself that there are very few humble and meek souls on the earth – but also that they are truly blessed. ~ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica (Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives)

Truly He is Risen!

As Innocent Children

On Holy Saturday morning, two lone Cherry Blossoms fell from the tall Church vase and clung tenaciously to the Gospel sitting on the Winding Sheet. Reflections from the overhead flowers are seen on the side of the Gospel. May we be as those two unwavering blossoms, and cling to the Good News of God’s Word!

Christ is Risen!

When He came to dwell among us, he showed us the way to live: simply, humbly, and meekly. We should approach Him just as He created us – as innocent children. ~ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica (Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives)

Truly He is Risen!

For This Beginning

The Winding Sheet on Great and Holy Friday

…To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth… ~ Jesus Christ (St. John 18:37)

On account of God’s great Love for us, and as any sin (small or great) is a spiritual sickness that separates us from God… our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, willingly took the sins (of everyone in the world who has ever been born) – onto Himself.

When Jesus died and was buried, all our sins and spiritual pain died and were buried too. We’re forgiven, and keenly remember this at our Baptism and through Repentance.

Because He is the Son of God – Christ arose victorious from the dead bearing witness to the truth! “Trampling down death, by death!”

We are forgiven because of what Jesus did for us on the cross! He Loves us so much! Nothing can keep us from the Love of God. Nothing. This is why we no longer fear death.

Death is a new beginning.

Death is Life… a New and Eternal Life with God.

For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. ~ St. Luke 20:38

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

Banquet of Faith

Some of our 2022 Pascha eggs (dyed brick-red with onion skins) sit on a nest of sweet lavender. These floral imprints are from marigold, barrenwort flowers, and a clover leaf.

Dying eggs red for Pascha is an ancient tradition, and symbolize the gift of eternal life though our Lord Jesus Christ’s glorious Resurrection.

Their shells represent the sealed tomb of Jesus, and when we crack our eggs together, we depict the end of the old and the beginning of the new… His Resurrection from the dead, the shattering of the Gates of Hell, and the Promise of Life Eternal!

The tradition of red eggs begins with St. Mary Magdalene, one of the Holy Myrrh-Bearers. As a witness of Christ’s Resurrection, and after His Ascension to the heavens, she began a life of ministry and also became known as an Equal-to-the-Apostles.

According to holy tradition, during her travels, St. Mary Magdalene gained an audience with the Emperor Tiberius in Rome… where she denounced the conduct of Jerusalem’s governor (Pontius Pilate) at Christ’s trial, by his condemning of an innocent man (whom he acknowledged to be) to death.

Then St. Mary Magdalene told the Emperor about the life and miracles of Jesus Christ, and His Resurrection from the dead. To illustrate the symbol of New Life (in Christ), she held an egg out to him, and joyously proclaimed, “Christ is Risen!”

The emperor mocked her saying, “There’s about as much chance of a human being returning to life again from the dead… as there is for that very egg in your hand to turn red!”

An instantaneous sign from God confirmed the truth of her message, and the egg immediately turned red!

Christ’s redemption transcends time and space. When we greet each other during the 40 days of Pascha-tide saying, “Christ is risen,” we confirm that not only did He rise all those years ago, but He remains risen right now.

Christ is risen! Truly He is Risen!

Christ is Risen!

Cherry Blossoms fell like tears, and clung to the under-cloth of Holy Friday’s Winding Sheet.

Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and upon those in the tombs, bestowing life! ~ Paschal Tropar

Happy BRIGHT Monday!

…the wood of the Cross hath now put forth flower ~ Ode 3 Katavasia of the Cross

Now all things have been filled with light, both heaven and earth and those beneath the earth; so let all creation sing Christ’s rising, by which it is established. ~ St. John of Damascus, Paschal Canon

Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless One. We worship Thy Cross, O Christ, and hymn and glorify Thy holy Resurrection, for Thou art our God, and we know none other beside Thee, we call upon Thy name. O come all ye faithful, let us worship Christ’s holy Resurrection; for behold through the Cross, joy hath come to all the world. Ever blessing the Lord, we hymn His Resurrection. For having endured crucifixion, He hath destroyed death by death. ~ 5th Century Matins Hymn

TRULY HE IS RISEN!