Paschal Message 2007 by Archbishop Lazar

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!