Fundamentals of Orthodoxy

Nativity of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

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The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God

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St. Vladimir Liturgy of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Toronto – July 28, 2016.

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Parish Feast at Holy Trinity Church, Toronto, ON

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The Day of the Holy Trinity

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St. Gregory Palamas – Sermon on the saving Nativity of our Most Blameless Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

1. Actually, any time is convenient in order to make a beginning of the saving way of life; showing that, the great Paul said: “Behold, this is appropriate time, behold, this is the day of salvation. let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day” (Romans 13:11-13); not calling a certain single hour or day appropriate for salvation, but (he says that) after the appearance of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, any time is appropriate for it. For since, as with the rising of the material sun, there comes the time for bodily activity for people, as David said: “The sun shall rise, and man shall go unto his work and unto his labor until the evening” (Psalm 103:22,23); thus, when the Sun of Righteousness shone unto us in the flesh, after His appearance, any time is appropriate for the spiritual activity, the same Prophet manifesting it in another place, after he said about the coming of the master: “The Stone, which the builders rejected, the Same has become the head of the corner”, brought: “This is the day that the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 117:22,24). Yet, under the material sun, which is as though interrupted by night, “man”, it is said, “shall go forth unto his labor until the evening”; the Sun of Righteousness, being unsetting, and according to the word of the Apostle, “possessing no variableness neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17), makes the appropriateness of the time for the spiritual activity uninterruptible.

2. However, if it is necessary to set apart one time more appropriate than other, as if, for example, there is a time for sowing and for gathering, time for planting and time for collecting of fruits, and time for any other thing, similarly, regarding the doing of good works you shall find that in relation to this also an hour is set up differently. Now is the fall season, and in it this month (September) holds a preferable place, it serves for us as the first month and beginning of the year, when the work of our salvation had its beginning, and we celebrate that today. Because, today we celebrate the first sacred feast and solemnity of our calling and recreation according to grace, a feast, with which all things new began to happen and things unchanging to replace those under the law, and spirit to replace letter, and truth to replace shadows.

3. Because, today a new World and wondrous Paradise opened today, Paradise, in Which the New Adam was incarnate and of Which He was born for the sake of reunification of the old and for the renewing of the entire world; the New Adam, Whom one cannot beguile, but Who Himself outwits the beguiler (devil) and gives freedom to them, who on account of being beguiled (by devil) committed themselves into the slavery of sin. Today on earth a striking Book is prepared, not with written words, but capable of bearing the Very Living Word; and the word not traveling through the air, but the Heavenly One; not one destined to perish, but saving from perdition those attending to It; not from the movement of human tongue, but pre eternally born of God the Father. Today the Animate and Not-made-with-hands Tabernacle of God and Noetic and Spiritual Arc, truly, of the “Bread of Life sent from the heavens” (John 6:32,33) to us, is seen. Today, as it is said in the Psalm: “Truth hath shown forth from the earth” (Psalm 84:11) – true Beauty of the human nobility, which was from the beginning, – “and righteousness hath looked down from heaven”, That Righteousness, Which drove out the very author of unrighteousness and the beginning of unrighteousness, as One unrighteously judged and righteously judging, One that bound the one strong in evil and had captured his vessels, and had melted them and shown them capable of containing in themselves the Divine righteousness; and thus, by faith in Him having made righteous the captives of sin, had received them for the eternal being with Itself; while the prince of evil, having bound him with unbreakable bonds, with deliver to eternal and dark fire. Today, “the Rod from the Root of Jesse” foretold in the prophecy (Isaiah 11:2), budded forth, from Which “a Flower shall come forth”; Flower, not subject to withering, but once again calling our nature – withered and thus deprived of unwithering place of pleasure – and raising it to blooming, and giving it eternal flowering, and raising it to heaven, and leading into paradise; Rod, with the help of Which the Great Shepherd directed the reasonable sheep to eternal pastures; Rod, having leaned upon Which, our nature, having set aside its most ancient decrepitude and weakness, easily climbs to heaven, leaving earth behind for those, who are bent down as ones with nothing to lean on.

4. Yet – what is this New World, wondrous Paradise, striking Book, Animate Tabernacle and Arc of God, Truth (that shown forth) from the earth, the praised Rod of Jesse? This before birth and after birth is the Ever-Virgin Maiden, Whose Nativity from barren parents we celebrate today. Joachim and Anna, living together and being blameless before God, however, on account of barrenness appeared to Israelites worthy of reproach. Since the hope of immortality was not yet, the continuation of the race seemed the most necessary affair. Yet now, when This Virgin born today, through the One Born of Her in virginity, gave us eternity, we have no necessity in offspring through the bearing of children. However, for the Israelites of that time many children appeared to be the highest virtue, and having no children seemed so great an evil, that even these Righteous ones, instead of being praised for virtue, were reviled for barrenness. Thus, these Righteous ones, being very much saddened on account of being reviled, and having recalled Abraham and Sarah and others, who experienced profound sadness on account of having no children, and then having brought to mind the mending, which served as healing in so great a sorrow, themselves decided to turn to God with prayer. Behold, the chaste Joachim goes into the desert and dwells there and undertakes a fast, sending up prayer to God, in order to become father; and he did not grow weak in prayer and didn’t leave the place, until he received the fulfillment of his request. Fellow-chaste Anna closes herself in a nearby large garden and here with a pain filled heart cries to the Lord: “Hear me, O God of my fathers, and bless me, as Thou didst bless the womb of Sarah.” And the Lord heard and blessed them and promised to fulfill their request, and He now brought His promise to fulfilment and gave them a Child, most wondrous of all that ever were, the Very Birth-giver of the Creator of all, Who deified the human race and made earth heaven, Who made the Son of God the Son of Man, made men the children of God, as the One, Who needlessly conceived in Herself and as the One, Who unspeakably gave birth to Him, Who out of not being created being and brought it into good being and does not allow it to fall into not being.

5. But what was the reason why She came forth from the barren womb? – In order to do away with the sorrow and the reviling of parents, and also to foreshadow the doing away of the sorrow and curse fallen upon the Forefathers of the human race, which would happen on her account. How could nature be so bold as to make common (for other children as well) the womb, in which was and from which came forth the Only One, Who had the Holy of Holies as Her home and Who became the Dwelling Place of the Creator of nature? Because, (in that case) why would there not appear before Her, or after Her the Virgin Mother and the Mother of God? – Yet, just as before Her and after Her no one dwelt in the Holy of Holies, so also in that mother’s womb there was no other fruit before, nor after Her. Since it was necessary that the Mother of God would also be Virgin, and from the line of David and in accordance with the time appointed for our salvation, and that time was drawing near and it was fit to prepare the Virgin, and at that time there was no one, who would be greater in virtue, other than this childless couple, there was no one more noble in genealogy and in manner among those descending from David, these childless ones were preferred to ones with many children; it were necessary for the all-virtuous Child to be born from the parents of many virtues, and for the All-Immaculate One to proceed from the very chaste ones, and chastity, which was accompanied by prayer and undertaking, received a fruit – to become the birth-giver of Virginity, and that Virginity, Which without corruption in the flesh gave birth the the One, Who before all ages as God was born of the virgin Father. Oh, the wings of that prayer! Oh, the boldness, which she obtained before God! Oh, these hearts, so blameless, to be able to raise such prayer, which preceded such things and reached such things!

6. And you, o, sacred gathering, hearers of my words, my reason endowed sheep and harvest in Christ, men and women, old together with the young, rich and poor, princes and subjects, and altogether all people and every age and every calling and skill and art, bring a gift to the Mother of God, a gift fit for the day of Her Nativity, namely: the doing of virtue and success in it! Let no one among you be barren and fruitless! No one be dry and incapable of receiving the spiritual seed, but on the contrary, let every one zealously receive the heavenly seed – the saving word – and cooperate in deed, in order to bring forth heavenly fruit pleasing to God! Let no one allow the beginning of virtuous deed to die down! Let no one show his faith in Christ only on his tongue, because “not everyone saying unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the heavenly kingdom”, says the Lord (Matthew 7:21), – “but the one doing the will of My Father, Who is in the heavens”; and – “no one, having put one’s hand on the plough, and looking back, is worthy of the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

7. Virgins and ones who gave the vows of the monastic life, and you, who do good to the virgin’s community, enter, and altogether, by the languor of repentance achieve a way for you to live the same life with it. Seek everything in God through the Virgin born now for our sake, Who in virginity in time gave birth in the flesh to Him, Who before all ages was born of the virginal Father; living solely for the one God born for Her and of Her, looking upon Him Alone, delighting in Him Alone, rejoicing in hope, showing control in sorrow, being obedient to mothers superiors, serving one another, taking care to keep mutual peace, being always in attention and prayer and contrition of soul, in psalms and chants and spiritual songs, being blameless and virgins in soul and in body and in all senses and thoughts, and always showing spiritual and virginal way of thinking and living in all things. Because in this way, as is said in a psalm, following after the Mother of God, you will be near Her and will enter the not-made-with-hands temple of the Heavenly King, into the bridal chamber of immortality, above the world and eternal.

8. And you, who are in marriage, do not give yourselves wholly to this world; because for your sake also This newly created truly otherworldly World, I mean the Mother of God, the Fruit of marriage, was revealed today. Abiding in old age, manifest a manner of thought respondent to old age, and do not be (immature) youths in your thoughts and words and deeds, thinking according to the flesh and living according to the flesh. Youths, imitate the wise and spiritual elders, honour such and obey such, and be not ignorant regarding what old age is “honourable” and in what way “youth is not deprived the dignity of honourable old age.” If you are in ignorance, ask the Most Wise Solomon, and you will hear: “Wisdom is grey hair unto men, and unpolluted life is old age” (Wisdom 4:9). Those, who obtained some excess in these worldly fleeting and temporal and easily transferring from ones to others goods, try to attain for yourselves eternal life by sharing them; “for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things, which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15). Those, who suffer need in the very necessary things, be rich in patience and thanking God, in order to be numbered by Him with the blessed poor, and you will inherit the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). Princes, “judge the righteous judgment” (Zacharias 7:9) and do not use power against your subjects; show to them not so much fair, as much fatherly attitude, remembering, that you are of one race with them and are fellow-slaves. And do not go against submission to the Church and her teaching: for they are the confirmation of the well-intended people. Subjects, consider it your duty before authorities to fulfill only things that are not impediments to the promised hope of the heavenly kingdom.

9. Altogether, at this time bring to the Virgin celebrated now the most beautiful and most natural to Her gift: your sanctification and blamelessness of body, obtained by temperance and prayer. Behold, all of you, how chastity and fast and contrite prayer, having come together, revealed Joachim and Anna parents of the Vessel of God, the Vessel so chosen, that (it was able) to bear not only the Divine name, as it later relates to Paul (Acts 9:15), but even Himself, Whose “name is wonderful” (Psalm 8:1). And if we also shall firmly hold on to other virtues and prayers, fervently and continually being in the church of God, we also shall obtain treasured for us purity of heart, containing and revealing God unto us (Matthew 5:8). Thus also Isaiah call it (purity of heart) and the inclination of soul toward God on its account, “the spirit of salvation obtained within the womb”, addressing God (with the following words): “For the sake of Thy fear, O Lord, we have received in the womb, and we have laboured with pain, and we have brought forth the spirit of Thy salvation, which we wrought upon the earth” (Isaiah 26:18). Do you see how the barren and childless souls come to have good children?

10. But to the words spoken the Prophet adds, saying: “We shall not fall, but they shall fall that live upon the earth”, i.e. those whirling around with earthly thoughts and passions. Thus, if we shall wish, brethren, to make heaven – not earth – our home, and not to fall upon the earth and the sin that crawls upon it, but shall desire ceaselessly to reach toward divine hight, let us fear God, turn away from evil, turn to Him through good works, let us try by temperance and prayer to remove from ourselves bad habits and change inner thoughts for good (more worthy things), and let us, in the words of the Prophet, labor with pain with the spirit of our salvation and give birth, having as a Helper the One, Who for the sake of her parents’ prayer and their manner of life pleasing to God, was given to them today; Who both changed the sorrow of Her parents into joy and removed the forefathers’ curse and stopped the pain of the First Mother, without pain having given birth to Christ, unto Whom is due all glory, honour and worship together with His Unoriginate Father and His Most Holy and Good and Life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Translated by Priest Viatcheslav Davidenko
15/28 August – Dormition of our Most Holy Glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

After the Ascension of the Lord, the Mother of God was in the care of St. John the Theologian, and in his absence, she lived in the house of his parents near the Mount of Olives. She was a consolation and edification for the apostles and all the faithful. Talking with them, the Mother of God related the wonderful events of the Annunciation, seedless conception and Her giving birth without corruption to Christ, His infancy and entire life on earth. Like the apostles, She planted and confirmed the Christian Church by Her presence, word and prayers. The reverence of the apostles toward the Most Holy Virgin was extraordinary. After receiving the Holy Spirit on the significant day of Pentecost, they continued in Jerusalem for about ten years, ministering toward the salvation of the jews and wishing more often to see and hear from Her Divine words. Many from among the newly illumined by the faith came even from distant lands into Jerusalem in order to see and hear the Most Pure Theotokos.

During Herod’s persecution of the young Church of Christ (Acts 12:1-3), the Most Holy Virgin Mary, together with the apostles John the Theologian, in the year 43, went to Ephesus, where it was his lot to preach the Gospel. She also visited St. Lazarus the Four-days-dead on Cyprus, he was the bishop there, she went to Mount Athos, of which, according to St. Stephen of the Holy Mountain, the Mother of God said prophetically: “This place shall be my lot, given Me by My Son and My God. I shall be the Protectress of this place and the Intercessor for it.”

The circumstances of the falling asleep of the Mother of God are known in the Orthodox Church from apostolic times. In the first century, hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite wrote about Her Dormition. In the second century, narrative about the bodily translation of the Most Holy Virgin Mary to Heaven is found in the works of Meliton, bishop of Sardis. In the fourth century, St. Epiphanius of Cyprus points to the tradition regarding the Dormition of the Mother of God. In the fifth century, St. Juvenal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, said to the holy right-believing greek queen Pulcheria: “Even though Sacred Scriptures do not contain information about the circumstances regarding Her falling asleep, we know of them from the most ancient and most sure tradition.” This tradition is carefully collected and presented in the church history of Nicephorus Callistus in the fourteenth century.

Evidence remains that at the end of the seventh century there existed a church over the underground church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos; from this church’s bell tower one could see the dome of the church of the Resurrection of the Lord. There are no traces of this church now. However, despite the destruction and changes, the general primary crosswise foundation of the church remains.

“It is necessary for that, which was formed of earth, and was going to return to earth, and then would ascend to heaven, having received in the earth the most pure life through the leaving of the flesh in it; it is necessary for the body through death, as though through the fire in the furnace, just like gold, having been cleansed of all darkness and the crude heaviness of corruption, to rise from the tomb incorrupt, pure and illumined with the light of immortality.” – These words belong to St. John of Damascus. On the feast of Dormition in the year 754, the saint delivered a homily in Jerusalem – over the Tomb of the Most Pure One, Who asked to be buried in Gethsemane, at the foot of the mount of Olives, not far from the place, where the last night in the earthly life of Her Son was spent.

According to the testimony of the byzantine church historian George Kedrin, the falling asleep of the Theotokos was preceded by a manner of second Annunciation: “the Most Holy Virgin, once, was praying on Her knees at the very place, where Her Divine Son once prayed about the cup, when, suddenly, Archangel Gabriel stood before Her, and giving Her the sign of victory over bodily death – a branch from the date palm in paradise – he announced to Her that She would fall asleep in three days.” George Kedrin writes that the apostle John the Theologian carried this branch before the bier of the Theotokos after Her Dormition.

The circumstances of the falling asleep of the Theotokos, as well as all related to Her, are set forth in the work of some Leucius, a younger contemporary of the apostles. This work is very ancient and is dated in the beginning of the second century of christian era; its content fully agrees with the orthodox service for Dormition. According to Leucius, the adopted son of the Most Pure apostle John and the first bishop of Jerusalem Jacob the brother of the Lord informed all the faithful about the coming Dormition of the Mother of God. Apostles, in wondrous manner, were brought from various regions into the Holy City of Jerusalem. Only apostle Thomas, by a special providence of God, was unable to bid farewell to the Mother of the Savior. Further, it is noted that the Theotokos was buried at the Gethsemane cemetery, near the valley of Jehosophat, near the graves of her parents: Ss. Joachim and Anna, in one of the three tombs in that section of the cemetery, the one closest to the east.

In 1972, archeologist and famous specialist in early christians monuments, franciscan Bellarmino Bagatti had the honor of confirming the absolute exactness of the topographical data of Leucius. A flood helped the discovery: in 1972 the underground church of the Dormition of the Mother of God was flooded more than usual. “Misfortunes often happen to be providential, – is written in the report of the monk professor. – In the past, when our Sister the Water finished its veneration at the holy place, the custodians, armenians and greeks, changed the vestments in the church and as soon as the walls were somewhat dry, painted them anew. However, this time it was decided to do a more thorough job. When the plaster fell, the stone wall of the burial chamber of the Virgin Mary stood before our eyes.”

Forty eight steps of the wide stone stairway, literally overflowing with a hot river of wax, made from the thousands of melted candles, on the days of Dormition, lead into the underground church. In the fifth century, over the tomb of the Ever-Virgin cut in stone, there stood a richly decorated byzantine style church, and there were only twenty steps, but since then, or more precisely from the time of the crusaders, the ground level changed and the Dormition church, one might say, went deeper into the rocky soil.

Three days before Dormition the orthodox clergy of Jerusalem transfers a silver Shroud into Gethsemane – in memory of the sad day, when the apostles carried the Most Pure body of the Theotokos from the house of apostle John on mount Sion. By the way, in a calendar, compiled before the time of the crusades in Jerusalem, there is the feast of “translation of the Body of Mary from mount Sion to Gethsemane.” On the 14th of August according to Church calendar, one day before the feast, Patriarch of Jerusalem and all the brotherhood of the Holy Tomb walk along the way of the Cross in the direction of the gates of Saint Stephen (they are also known as the Lion’s gates, and the Gates of Lady Mary). A small distance from them, beyond the Kedron valley, is situated the church of Dormition – the tomb of the Most Holy Theotokos.

…On the third day after the Dormition of the Theotokos the unconsolable apostle Thomas came to Gethsemane, and weeping, he bowed over the cave of the tomb. Having compassion for his sorrow, the other disciples agreed to move away the stone, which covered the entry into the tomb, however, the Most Pure Body was no longer there, for the Most Holy Theotokos “as though with sleep slept for a short while in death, she soon as from sleep, woke from it, and having shaken off the deadness of the tomb, as sleep from eyes, she saw the immortal life and glory in the light of the Countenance of the Lord” (from the canon of Dormition).
August 6/19 – Holy Transfiguration of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ… Second (“Apple”) feast of the Savior

In the Transfiguration of the Lord the mystical Divine essence of the One, Who was still called Nazarene, suddenly became visible to the three disciples chosen by Himself, or, in the language of the Church, this Essence proceeded through the human nature of Jesus. Apostles Peter, James and John saw the Son, Whose image shown “like the sun.” At the same time, the Apostles physically experienced upon themselves “the grace of the Holy Spirit, coming, like a noetic light, brining joy” (according to the words of St. Symeon the New Theologian). And when Peter, for a moment being permeated by this Light, cried out: “Lord! It is good for us to be here,” the voice of the Heavenly Father: “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him” (Matthew 17:4) became audible for him, and for James and John.

The author of the Third Gospel, holy apostle Luke, in his description of the Transfiguration offers three most important details: the Lord’s “appearance of countenance” changed during the time of prayer; Prophets Moses and Elias spoke with Jesus “about His departure, which He had to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31); the disciples “were heavy with sleep” and that in some way foretold the unconquerable black sleepiness, that would soon come upon the apostles in the garden of Gethsemane at night.

Transfiguration of the Lord happened on the eve of the Old Testament feast of tabernacles, which is called “the feast of our joy,” “the feast of light” and other. During these days, according to ancient custom, the faithful had to dwell in houses made of branches – “tabernacles,” – which in part signified the corruptibility, instability, and temporary nature of all things earthly. However, at the same time the feast of Tabernacles is also the end of the difficult labor of cultivating the land for months, it is the gathering of the harvest.

“…if Thou willest, let us make three tabernacles here: one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias, – Peter offered the Lord, “for he did not know what to say; for they were sore afraid” (Mark 9:6). According to Bishop Cassian (Bezobrazov), Peter thus tried to hold Transfiguration: for if Christ, the Son of the Living God, is near, and Moses, and Elias, who embody the Law of God and the Prophets, then, it must be that the Kingdom of God “is at the doors”: it either came already, or will come at any moment, and one would not have to go into cruel stone Jerusalem, above which hangs the red hot haze, and one could stay here, in the green, blossoming Galilee, on mount Tabor…

The Church tradition, rising at least to the third century A.D., points to mount Tabor, in the southern part of Galilee, as to the place of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

“Mount Tabor is earthly heaven, exultation of the soul and satiation of the eyes of the orthodox: for some divine grace is present, overshadowing the mountain, which is what inspires the spiritual joy,” – sometime wrote the greek from Crete, author of pilgrim’s notes, John Fokas; his visitation of the Holy Places of Palestine happened in 1187. It is difficult to say what exactly he saw on mount Tabor: some sources state that in 1181 the armies of calif Saladin destroyed the local monasteries and churches, killed those, who lived there, and upon the ruins they built a fortress to deflect the attacks of the crusaders.

The glorious “igumen of the Russian land” Daniel mentions the churches on Tabor in his “Pilgrimage”: “There is a place at the very top of the mountain, as though a stone hill, small, with a sharp top, upon that place Christ our God was Transfigured; there are good churches built there, one in honor of Transfiguration, and the other in honor of the holy prophets Moses and Elias.”

All of this, later on, disappeared at the hands of the destroyers, and only in the XIX century, greek orthodox church was built on Tabor, where one can see the remains of the buildings from the times of the holy Empress Helena, mother of holy Equal-to-the-apostles Emperor Constantine. The guide for the Russsian pilgrims, published in 1894 in Odessa, narrates: “Pilgrims take almost an hour in order to climb to the sacred top of the mountain of Transfiguration. At the walls of the greek monastery the caravan is greeted by the peeling of the bells and the pilgrims go straight into the church… Having venerated at the holy place, the pilgrims situate themselves within the walls of the monastery, however each one is capable. The entire building of the monastery, even the church is wide open to receive the distant travelers. In the evening, our Russian hieromonks, along with the entire brethren of Tabor, clergy from among the pilgrims, and in the presence of the Metropolitan [of Nazareth], serve the all-night vigil, and then, early in the morning, liturgy in Church Slavonic.”

The shining of the uncreated light of Tabor right next to sinful people, who were sleeping, contains within itself a promise: “it is impossible for Him not to enlighten those, who in a worthy manner participate in the Divine shining of His Body within us,” – writes St. Gregory Palamas. It was in this very manner that the blessed Batushka Seraphim of Sarov made his N.A. Motovilov a seer of the mystery and fellow participant of being in the Light of Transfiguration. “Imagine to yourself, in the middle of the sun, in the very shining brightness of its noon rays, the face of a man, who is talking to you. You see the moving of his lips, the changing expression of his eyes, hear his voice, yet you do not see yourself, nor his figure, but only the blinding light, stretching far, and illumining with its bight shining the snow, covering the meadow, and the pieces of snow, pouring from above upon me and upon the Great Elder”, – said Motovilov about what took place.

In continuation of the Old Testament custom, the fruits of the earth are blessed on Transfiguration, the heads of wheat and grapes, “for from it there comes wine, acceptable for the offering of the bloodless sacrifice”.
FOR THE DAY OF THE HOLY TRINITY

Three times in the history of our salvation the Third Hypostasis of God – the Holy Spirit – visibly, audibly, and palpably manifested Itself “Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified,” for the old testament world knew always the Holy Spirit “Who spoke by the prophets”: He was “in every pure soul, without Him no truly good work was ever completed” (Bishop Innocent of Kherson). The Holy Spirit invisibly dwelt in the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem temple, but He departed when the Lord “gave up the spirit” on the Cross; as the mark of departure and the harbinger of the destruction of Jerusalem served the great sign: “…the veil of the temple [separating the Holy of Holies – YM] was rent in two, from the top to the bottom” (Matthew 16:37-38). It is essential that the description of this event we find not only in the Gospels, but also in the judean records, where a fairly exact date of what happenned is also given as the forty years before the destruction of the temple, i.e. in the 30th year after the Nativity of Christ, in the year of crucifixion.

The fullness of the Trinity was given to us in Theophany (Baptism of the Lord) at the Jordan; later on the Holy Spirit illumined the apostles with the uncreated light of Tabor in the miracle of Transfiguration; and, finally, “bestowing the tongues of fire, He called all into unity” in the Upper Room on Sion on the day of Pentecost.

Yet the very ability of men to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit possesses as its source the meeting of the Life-creating Trinity in the image of Three Travelers by forefather Abraham, the friend of God.

“And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant” (Genesis 18:1-3).

As it follows from the Scriptures, the Friend of God addressed the Three Men in singular person.

The Mamre oak grove was situated on the slopes of the hollow to the west of Hebron of those days. The Oak of Mamre (in other words Abraham’s), under the shade of which the forefather received the Mystical Guests, survived miraculously to our days, having given life to multiple shoots.

“Old, very old is this Patriarch of the vanished forests of Palestine, – is said in the travelling notes of the famous Russian explorer and ethnographer A.V. Eliseev (With the Russian pilgrims to the Holy Land in the spring of 1884, St. Petersburg, 1885). – Many parts of it have dried, but it still lives, and though not every year, but does bear fruit… The venerable oak, according to my most thorough calculations, is in no way less than 4 to 5 thousand years old, judging by the number of the lairs of its triple and quadruple branches, the cuts of which I was able to observe.”

Christian writers of the XVII century mention the Oak of Abraham in their “travels,” it is notable that the location pointed out by them then matches exactly the current location of the tree.

The famous igumen Daniel, who visited the Holy Land during the time of the Jerusalem’s king Baldwin I, tells: “And from Bethlehem, facing south is Hebron, the cave of Abraham and the oak of Mamre. …The oak is close to the way, there walking on the right hand side; and it stands beautiful on the high mountain. …And here stood the tent of Abraham near the oak, facing east. And the oak is not very tall, spread out and is thick with branches, and there is much fruit on it.”

The piece of land, upon which the Oak of Mamre grew, was – together with the other most important parcels on the Holy Land – purchased for the Russian ownership by the ever-memorable archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) – the director of the Russian Spiritual Mission.

The parcel “Khirbet-en-zibta,” pointed out by tradition as the biblical grove of Mamre, used to belong to the family of some Ibrahim Shalludi. The history of the purchase of the Oak deserves a more thorough look at it.

Only the subjects of the Ottoman empire were allowed to buy land openly in these regions. It was here that sometime famous mission translator Iakov Yegorovitch Khalebi played his role.

Iakov Yegorovitch adorned my live, – Fr. Antonin Kapustin, not inclined to emotional exclamations, spoke of him.

“In the winter of 1868, he [Khalebi – YM] appeared in Hebron under the guise of a merchant from Aleppo. Iakov Yegorovitch, carefully playing his role, as though buying merchandise, mingling in the midst of Hebron merchants, spent a long time there. Finally, after long and fatigueing negotiations, combinations, precautions, countless bribes, Shalludi sold the parcel with the Oak to Iakov Yegorovitch, a lawful ownership deed being drawn up for the transaction.

I had to hear about his meeting with Fr. Antonin in Jerusalem form eyewitnesses. Fr. archimandrite waited for Khalebi, who arrived, at the entrance into a hall, on the stairway, in the Mission building. As soon as Iakov Yegorovitch, still from below, saw the figure of Fr. Antonin, he joyously ran up the stairs, waving the deed and shouting: ‘the Oak is Russian, the Oak is Russian!’ Fr. Antonin joyously opened his embrace to him and kissed him.” (Archimandrite Cyprian Kern. Fr. Antonin Kapustin. Belgrade, 1934).

On 22 May, 1871, at the Oak of Mamre first Liturgy was served, and to this day, on the third day of the feast of Pentecost, the clergy of the Mission serves Liturgy upon a movable altar table under the tree, from which all of our trinity birches take our beginning.

The buiding of the large church with three altars dedicated to the holy Forefathers was started only in 1907, while archimandrite Leonid (Sentsov) was the director of the Mission. The work was completed only in 1925.

“It is easy to reestablish how the travellers journeyed, – says a guide “Holy Land” (Paris, 1960). – Most likely, they descended into the Hebron Valley from the Northwest, and Abraham, who sat in the shadow of his tent in the midday heat, saw them on the slope of the mountain, where there now stand Russian cathedral and a house for pilgrims.”
April 4/17 – Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; proclaim it aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, the King is coming to thee, just, and a Savior; he is meek and riding on an ass, and a young foal (Zach. 9:9).

Entry of The Lord Jesus Christ in JerusalemThe prophet of God pronounced this prophecy over four hundred years before the event that we commemorate and celebrate today. Having completed His preaching on the earth, our Lord Jesus Christ made His triumphant entry into the royal city of Jerusalem, into the city where the true God was worshipped, a city in most ways Godly. The Lord made this entry as the King and victor, in order to finish His service by a decisive exploit: destroying death by death; removing the curse from the human race by taking this curse upon Himself. He made His entry into the royal city on the colt of an ass, whereon yet never man sat (Lk. 19:30), in order to restore to mankind the royal dignity which our forefather had wasted; to restore this dignity by ascending the cross. The unbroken colt was tamed beneath the wondrous Rider. The Apostles placed their garments upon the colt; great multitudes of people ran ahead to meet the Lord and walk alongside Him, shouting in their ecstasy, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he [the king (Lk. 19:38)] that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest (Mt. 21:9). The Lord is proclaimed King in the name of the Lord at His own beckoning—not accidentally, and not by conscious human will. In the course of four days, those same people who that day proclaimed Him King will cry, Away with him, away with him, crucify him… We have no king but Caesar (Jn. 19:15).

What is the significance of the Lord’s riding into Jerusalem on an unbroken colt? According to the explanation of the holy fathers, this has a deep, prophetic meaning. The all-seeing Lord already saw the Jews’ approaching final apostasy from God. He announced this apostasy even back when the Law was given to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai, through the lips of the inspired Law-giver. They have sinned, said Moses of the Jews’ future sin against the God-man, as if he were speaking of something already done. They have sinned, not pleasing him; spotted children, a froward and perverse generation. Do ye thus recompense the Lord? (Deut. 32:5–6). It is a nation that has lost counsel, neither is there understanding in them. They had not sense to understand: let them reserve these things against the time to come (Deut. 32:28–29). For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their vine-branch of Gomorrha (Deut. 32:32). While to the contrary: Rejoice, ye heavens, with him—the Son of God—and let all the angels of God worship him; rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in him (Deut 32:43). The entry into Jerusalem upon an unbroken colt is a repetition of Moses’ prophecy—not in words, but in symbol. Moses foretold that the Gentiles would rejoice in the Lord, but the Jews would be rejected. Here, the unbroken colt, whereon yet never man sat (Lk. 19:30), is an image of the Gentiles. The Apostles’ garments are Christ’s teachings by which they would instruct the Gentiles, and the Lord seated Himself spiritually upon the Gentiles, making them God. He led them into Jerusalem, to the bosom of the Church, to the eternal city of God not made by the hands of men, to the city of salvation and blessedness. The rejected Jews were also present there. With their lips they cried, ”the King of Israel,” but in their soul, their Sanhedrin, they had already resolved to kill the Savior.

Here is another meaning of the colt of an ass. It is an image of every person who is led by irrational desires, deprived of spiritual freedom, attached to the passions and habits of fleshly life. Christ’s teaching looses the ass from its attachment; that is, from fulfilling its sinful and fleshly will. Then the Apostles lead the ass to Christ, place their garments upon it; the Lord seats Himself upon it and makes His entry upon it into Jerusalem. This means that the person who has left his sinful life is led to the Gospels, and is clothed as if in apostolic vestments, in the most detailed and refined knowledge of Christ and His commandments. Then the Lord seats Himself upon him by spiritually appearing to him and spiritually abiding in him, as it was His good will to promise: He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him (Jn. 14:21). And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him (Jn. 14:23). The Lord’s coming is accompanied by peace surpassing words and comprehension; peace that is full of grace, and worthy of the one Who grants it—the Lord. This peace is not to be compared with the natural rest of fallen man, who may feel rest and pleasure from fleshly delights, and who may consider his own insensibility, his own eternal death, to be rest. The Lord is seated upon the natural qualities of the person who has submitted to Him and has assimilated His all-holy teachings; and He leads that person into the spiritual city of God, the city of peace—into the Jerusalem created by God, and not by man.

The soul that upholds the Lord is greeted by the Holy Spirit, Who offers that soul spiritual joy which is incorruptible and eternal. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, the daughter of the Holy Church—because you belong to no one but God. Proclaim it aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, the King is coming to thee, just, and a Savior; he is meek and riding on an ass, and a young foal (Zach. 9:9). You have felt the grace-filled peace of Christ, and become a daughter of this peace; you have been renewed with spiritual youth and have come to know Christ’s Kingdom by experience. The passions are tamed in you by the grace-filled power of Rider Who steers you; your natural qualities cannot break their natural laws, they cannot go beyond their boundaries and be transformed into uncontrolled passions! Taking all your thoughts, feelings and actions from the Lord, you can and must proclaim the Name of the Lord to your brethren, and hymn Him in the midst of the Church (Ps. 21:22). As one born of the Holy Spirit and a daughter of the Spirit, you are able to behold the spiritual procession of your King, you are able to behold the righteousness of your King. He is meek and lowly in heart (Mt. 11:29), and He will guide the meek in judgment, He will teach the meek His ways (Ps. 24:9). Our God is a Spirit which is incomparable to any created spirit, as He is in all aspects infinitely different from all creatures. The holy created spirits are His thrones and chariots. He is seated and rides upon the Cherubim; He is seated and rides upon those blessed human souls who have submitted to Him and brought all their natural qualities to Him as a whole burnt offering. The King rides upon such souls, and enters the holy city of God, bringing holy souls into it also. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh. Amen.

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)
Translated by Nun Cornelia (Rees)

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