Paschal Message of
Archbishop Lazar (Puhalo)
Abbot of the Canadian Orthodox Monastery
of All Saints of North America (OCA).
PASCHA 2007
This is foremost in the saving ekonomy in the flesh: to bring human
nature into unity with itself and with the Saviour, having destroyed
the evil cleavage, to renew the original unity, just as the best
physician, by applying treatments, again binds together a body which
has been broken in many places" (St Basil the Great, Ascetic Rules,
Ch.18).
This year, as we approach the joyous feast of Light and
Life, let us look briefly at the meaning of that divine service that
occurs at the heart of Holy Week. It is certainly not without meaning
that in the midst of this week, Holy Wednesday focusses on the Healing
Service. Let us focus on it as well this year, for everything about the
events of this week and of Pascha are centred on healing.
Salvation, as the word implies, consists in the healing and restoration
of the fallen human nature. This is the message of the whole earthly
ministry of Jesus Christ. Everything that He taught, every word that He
spoke was certified by His miracles in which He healed the whole
person, body, soul and mind. Even death itself, the ultimate illness
and mark of the fall, was healed by Christ.
Having assumed our
human nature, He recapitulated all things in Himself (Eph.1:10),
healing and restoring the nature of man in Himself, having taken upon
Himself our infirmities and weaknesses (Mt.8:17).
This is why the
Healing Service of Holy Wednesday is so significant for us. It sets the
events of Holy Thursday and Holy Friday in proper perspective,
illumining not only the meaning of Christ's earthly ministry, but the
meaning of His saving passion proclaimed in the Twelve Gospel readings
of Holy Thursday. Sin consists not only in those things which directly
separate us from God. Those things which cause cleavages in our nature,
in humanity, and turn people against one another, are also sin. We are
driven to sin by the Evil One, who holds us in bondage through this
powerful fear of death. Our liberation from such bondage is necessary
before we can find healing for our corrupted and sinful nature.
The
Healing Service calls our minds to the liberation from bondage to the
Evil One which is accomplished finally by Christ's death and
resurrection. As our beloved father Paul tells us, "Forasmuch then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise
took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hb.2:14-15).
It is from this bondage that we are redeemed by Christ, making it
possible for each of us to assimilate the new nature recapitulated in
Him and become "partakers of the divine nature" (2Pet.1:4). Again, St.
Basil the great instructs us that "He gave Himself as a ransom to
death, in which we were held captive, sold under sin. Descending
through the Cross into hades — that He might fill all things with
Himself — He loosed the pangs of death. He arose on the third day,
having made for all flesh a path to the resurrection from the
dead" (Great Eucharistic Prayer). Not only are we liberated from this
bondage to death which causes us to constantly fall short of the mark
(sin) for which we were created (Romans 5:12), but we are liberated
also from the juridical law of the Old Testament, since He has blotted
"...out the manuscript of ordinances that was against us, which was
opposed to us, and removed it out of the way, nailing it to His cross"
(Col.2:14). The juridical law is replaced by the law of love which
reveals to us the true morality of Jesus Christ.
Having given us
such an understanding of the saving ekonomy of Christ, the Holy
Wednesday Healing Service maps for us the whole struggle by our
Christian life and the true nature of repentance. Every new wound of
sin, every occasion of missing the mark set before us, is healed by
Christ in our struggle of sincere repentance. It is our liberation from
bondage to the fear of death that makes this struggle possible.
Not only the nature of man is thus healed but, "... the earnest
expectation of all creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons
of God. For all creation was made subject to frailty, not by its own
fault, but by the will of Him who so subjected it, yet with hope,
because all creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we
know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth ... together until
now. And not only creation, but ourselves also, which have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body"
(Rm.8:19-23).
Our salvation does not consist in punishment or
vengeance, nor in a satisfaction paid to God the Father. Rather it is
an outpouring of the co-suffering love of God for mankind which heals
our fallen human nature and reunites man with God in Christ Jesus. We
receive our healing little by little in our struggle for a life in
Christ and participation in the renewed nature that He had provided for
us.
If, therefore, we have focussed on the Healing Service of Great
Holy Wednesday, it is not to diminish any of the other services, but
rather to provide a matrix for the contemplation of all, and of the
true meaning of redemption and salvation. This is the very reason that
the Healing Service is placed in the midst of Holy Week: so that we
might more clearly apprehend the meaning of all that is to follow in
the saving ekonomy of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Christ is Risen!
Truly He is Risen!
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