My brothers and sisters,
I want to congratulate you all on this joyious (sp?) feast of the Resurrection of our Lord!!
CHRISTUS IS OPGESTAAN!! CHRIST IS RISEN! ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!! ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕСЕ!! JIDU FUHUO LIAO!! (Mandarin Chinese)
In Christ,
Makis
Christ is risen!!
-
costaswright
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CHRIST IS RISEN! & Fwd: Light of Christ
Greetings to all, fellow Orthodox and heterodox alike, on
this the holiest Feast of Feasts, Great Pascha, which the
Holy Orthodox Catholic Church has and celebrates and offers
to all, with the invitation to "Come receive the Light"
which is in the True Church! What joy there is in this
Feast, and in the Holy Orthoxo Church!
I would alos like to share with you all this account of the
Miracle of the Holy Fire which occurs in our Patriarchate
of Jerusalem, a miracle which is likewise offered to all:
The Miracle of the Holy Fire
By Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.
The entire Christian community in Jerusalem today gathered
to witness the greatest of all miracles—the Miracle of the
Holy Fire. It was the first time I was not bothered by the
soldiers, the police, the large crowds, the noise, the
drums of the Boys Scouts and the Girl Scouts anxiously
waiting to receive the Holy Fire from the Life Giving Tomb
of Christ in the Holy Sepulchre.
It was an exciting day where representatives of many
churches from all over the Holy Land come to receive the
Holy Fire and carry it back in small lanterns to their
particular churches for the Midnight Resurrection Service.
Palestinians are not allowed to enter Jerusalem without a
special permit thus this year many Christian Palestinians
went to the extra trouble of getting permits in order to
partake in this centuries old celebration that reflects our
Christian heritage and deep roots in Palestine.
Unfortunately there were three checkpoints inside the Old
City so many people, although got a permit to enter
Jerusalem, still got stuck outside the church of the Holy
Sepulchre.
It is on this Great and Holy Saturday that the Holy Fire
come down from Heaven and was received by the Greek
Orthodox Patriarch as it has been done every year, on the
same day, in the same manner, at the same time, at the same
holy place of Christ's Life Giving Tomb. This is the
miracle that allows us to know that Christ is in our midst.
This is the miracle that allows us to feel that Christ is
truly among us. This miracle is another way that God
communicates to us. As we chant in our Midnight
Resurrection Service: "Come ye and receive light from the
unwaning Light, and glorify Christ, Who a rose from the
dead."
My son Canaan was very careful to receive the Holy Fire by
lighting his candle and keeping it in a lantern until we
reached our small village of Taybeh. A wonderful parade
was held to celebrate the Holy Fire entering our village.
The priests of all three churches, Fr. Daoud, Fr. Raed and
Fr. Jack led the faithful with the choir chanting to meet
our cousins Ibrahim and Philip who traditionally go to the
city of Ramallah to receive the Light from a patriarchate
representative who brings it from Jerusalem to Ramallah for
all the Palestinian Christian communities that cannot reach
the Holy City including not just Taybeh, but Aboud,
Birzeit, Jifna and Ein Arik.
It is one of the most magnificent celebrations in the Holy
Land that has been overshadowed and forgotten during the
reoccupation of the Palestinian Territories. For the last
three years the boy scouts have not carried on our regular
tradition of receiving the Holy Fire to the beat of the
drums due to the bloodshed and violence. However, living
the cycle of death every day, it was refreshing for the
Christian community to rejoice in receiving the Holy Fire
and celebrate that for us all hope lies in Christ our
Savior. Four years of killing, back and forth, surely we
have been living in the darkness of all evil. "And the
light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it
not." (John 1:5)
Thus today we all received the Light that proceeded from
the core of the stone that covers Christ's Life Giving Tomb
and once again celebrated the oldest unbroken Christian
ceremony that exists in the world. By the way, many people
make fun of me for participating in the ceremony of the
Holy Fire but since as Christians we are not of this world,
I really do not except the world to comprehend the eternal
love and presence of God. It takes faith.
In Luke 16:15 we read that Jesus said: "Go ye into all the
world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved" We witness the
truth and received the Holy Fire today so that all who are
not blessed to live in the land of Christ's Holy
Resurrection can believe that Christ is the true Light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John
1:9)
"And that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in his name among all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things." (Luke
24:47)
Our Christian community is small and diminishing but with
God's help and your prayers can survive the terrible
occupation, dreadful checkpoints, the collapsed economy,
the segregation wall that is currently going up and the
daily hardships that make life unbearable. Truly the Lord
is Risen!
Note: I would appreciate it very much if you would please
subscribe to Saint George Taybeh Mailing list
(www.saintgeorgetaybeh.org) because the hotmail has become
limited in sharing news from the Holy Land and once it is
sent from the website all subscribers receive it without
the hotmail difficulties. As always, I am most grateful
that you share our news with others in your community or
email list. Sorry to trouble you, thank you for subscribing
)
go to
http://three.pairlist.net/mailman/listi ... rge-taybeh
With Joy in the Risen Lord and prayers and best wishes for
the holy season of the Pentecostarion and beyond!
Rd. Constantine
=====
- Reader Constantine Wright
IC|XC http://constans_wright.tripod.com
+--+--+ Traditional Orthodox Christian
NI|KA http://www.new-ostrog.org/paper1.html - Member of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church of
the Patriarchate of Jerusalem in the Americas
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