2nd SUNDAY OF PASCHA (ANTIPASCHA) — Tone 1. St. Thomas Sunday. St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus (403).
Tone 7 Troparion (Pentecostarion)
From the sealed tomb, You shone forth, O Life! Through closed doors You came to Your Disciples, O Christ God. Renew in us, through them, an upright spirit,// by the greatness of Your mercy, O Resurrection of all!
Tone 8 Kontakion (Pentecostarion)
Thomas touched Your life-giving side with an eager hand, O Christ God, when You came to Your Apostles through closed doors.// He cried out with all: “You are my Lord and my God!”
Tone 3 Prokeimenon
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power, / His understanding is beyond measure. (Ps. 146:5)
V. Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God! (Ps. 146:1)
Acts 5:12-20 (Epistle)
And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.
Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.”
Tone 8
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
V. Come, let us rejoice in the Lord! Let us make a joyful noise to God our Savior! (Ps. 94:1)
V. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King over all the earth. (Ps. 94:3)
John 20:19-31 (Gospel)
Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you! Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Saint Thomas Sunday: Antipascha
Every day during the week of Easter, called Bright Week by the Church, the paschal services are celebrated in all their splendor. The Easter baptismal procession is repeated daily. The royal gates of the sanctuary remain open. The joy of the Resurrection and the gift of the Kingdom of eternal life continue to abound. Then, at the end of the week, on Saturday evening, the second Sunday after Easter is celebrated in remembrance of the appearance of Christ to the Apostle Thomas “after eight days” (Jn 20.26).
It is important to note that the number eight has symbolical significance in both Jewish and Christian spiritual tradition. It signifies more than completion and fullness; it signifies the Kingdom of God and the life of the world to come since seven is the number of earthly time. The sabbath, the seventh day, is the blessed day of rest in this world, the final day of the week. The “first day of the week,” the day “after Sabbath”; stressed in all of the gospels as the day of Christ’s Resurrection (Mk 16.1, Mt 28.1, Lk 24.1, Jn 20.1, 19), is therefore also “the eighth day,” the day beyond the confines of this world, the day which stands for the life of the world to come, the day of the eternal rest of the Kingdom of God (see Heb 4).
The Sunday after Easter, called the Second Sunday, is thus the eighth day of the paschal celebration, the last day of Bright Week. It is therefore called the Antipascha, and it was only on this day in the early church that the newly-baptized Christians removed their robes and entered once again into the life of this world.
In the Church services the stress is on the Apostle Thomas’ vision of Christ and the significance of the day comes to us in the words of the gospel:
Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see My hands; and put out your hand, and place it in My side; do not be faithless, but believing.” Thomas answered Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (Jn 20.27–29).
We have not seen Christ with our physical eyes nor touched His risen body with our physical hands, yet in the Holy Spirit we have seen and touched and tasted the Word of Life (1 Jn 1.1–4), and so we believe.
At each of the daily services until Ascension Day we sing the Easter Troparion. At each of the Sunday services beginning with Antipascha, we sing the Easter canon and hymns, and repeat the celebration of the “first day of the week” on which Christ rose from the dead. At all of the liturgies the epistle readings are taken from the Book of Acts telling us of the first Christians who lived in communion with the Risen Lord. All of the gospel readings are taken from the Gospel of Saint John, considered by many to be a gospel written particularly for those who are newly-baptized into the new life of the Kingdom of God through death and new birth in Christ, in the name of the Holy Trinity. The reason for this opinion is that all of the “signs”—as the miracles in Saint John’s Gospel are called—deal with sacramental themes involving water: wine and bread. Thus, each of the Sundays after Thomas Sunday with the exception of the third, is dedicated to the memory of one of these “signs.”
Where Does the Divine Liturgy Come From?
THE CULMINATION OF THE AGE-OLD TRADITION OF WORSHIP
Thy processionals have been seen, O God, the processionals of my God, of my King Who is in His sanctuary. Princes went before, and after them the chanters, in the midst of timbrel-playing maidens. In the congregations bless ye God, the Lord from the well-springs of Israel. (Ps. 67:25–27)
Immediately after the exile of our common ancestors, Adam and Eve, from the Eden of delight, men built altars and prayed to God, accompanied by sacrifices of various kinds. Noah built an altar after the great Deluge, as did Abraham and the patriarchs, our forefathers who received the first promises from God. Moses was instructed to build a specific tent of worship, the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Later, King David’s son, Solomon, received the command to build God a house of worship, the first temple in Jerusalem. All this was to teach man that liturgical worship, under the direction of the ministers duly appointed by God, comprises the highest form of prayer—the pinnacle of spiritual experience: I was glad because of them that said unto me: Let us go into the house of the Lord (Ps. 121:1).
The Holy and Divine Liturgy is the product of two elements. First, our Liturgy is founded on the order of worship taught by God to Moses in the Old Testament. Later, under the ministry of Ezra the prophet (sixth century BC), the interpretation of Scripture was added to Mosaic tradition. Then finally, the Mystical Supper itself, the direct instruction given by Our Lord Jesus Christ on the eve of His Passion, was incorporated to complete the Holy and Divine Liturgy. On that night, He gave Himself to us mystically in the offered bread, His Body, and in the wine, His Blood. After Christ’s glorious Resurrection “on the third day” (Sunday), He appeared many times to His Apostles and taught them “the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). The Church has always understood this to mean, among other things, direct instruction to them concerning the Liturgy. In the Book of Acts, we learn about the sending forth of St. Paul on his apostolic journeys. He went out from Antioch, where the Church, inspired by the Holy Spirit, laid hands on him to commission him for that work. The text literally says “while they were celebrating the Liturgy [Greek leitourgountes, “liturgizing”] unto the Lord, and praying and fasting” (Acts 13:2, 3). So the Liturgy is the fundamental and most profound way in which the Church shows herself to be what she is: the New Israel, the Bride and Body of Christ.
-O’Grady, Patrick B. Come, Let Us Worship: A Practical Guide to the Divine Liturgy for Orthodox Laity. Ancient Faith Publishing.
A Homily of St. Nikolai Velimirovic
On the appearance of the prophet Jeremiah from the other world :
This done, in like manner there appeared a man with gray hairs and exceeding glorious, who was of a wonderful and excellent majesty. Then Onias answered, saying, “This is a lover of the brethren, who prays much for the people and for the holy city, to wit, Jeremiah the prophet of God” (II Maccabees 15:13–14).
This was the vision seen by the courageous Judas Maccabeas. The first to appear to him from the other world was Onias the high priest, and after that the holy Prophet Jeremiah. Just as the apostles saw Moses and Elias in glory on Mount Tabor, so at one time Judas Maccabeas saw the Prophet Jeremiah in glory. Even before the risen Christ, then, the merciful God did not leave men without proof of life after death. In Christian times, however, those proofs are without number and without end. Whoever, even after all of this, doubts life after death, remains under the curse of his sin as under a tombstone. As dead things cannot see the light of day, neither can he see the life that is, and of which there is no end. But behold how the Prophet Jeremiah is crowned with glory in the other life! Gray hairs and exceeding glorious! Around him was a certain indescribable dignity, a certain bright aureole, a certain inexpressible pleasure and beauty. He was dragged and beaten by the men to whom he had imparted the will of God, was a captive in prison and a martyr in a fetid hole, was derided as a liar, was tried as a traitor, and finally was stoned to death as a transgressor. However, the judgment of sinners is one thing, and the judgment of God is another. The most humiliated among men became crowned with angelic glory before God. And yet, behold how heaven names one whom the earth called false, a traitor and a transgressor! Lover of the brethren: this is what heaven called him. Lover of the brethren, who prays much for the people. Finally, see how the saints in heaven pray to God for us! Not sleeping, they pray for us while we are asleep; not eating, they pray for us while we are eating—and over-eating; not sinning, they pray for us while we are sinning. O brethren, let us be ashamed before so many of our sincere friends. Let us be ashamed, let us be ashamed of so many prayers for us by the saints, and let us join with their prayers. O Lord All-wonderful, forgive us our sinful slothfulness and dullness. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
— Velimirovic, Saint Nikolai. The Prologue of Ohrid (pp. 735-736). Sebastian Press Publishing House.
God’s Family
St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…” (Eph. 2:19). Every Christian has status. He or she belongs. We are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God! Christians should be taught from infancy to have the right kind of family pride: the kind that makes us want to live up to the family standard. The Head of our family is Christ Himself. Some of our brothers and sisters are the Theotokos, John the Baptist, the Apostles, St. Basil, St. Chrysostom and countless others. We belong to them, and they to us. It is a distinguished family tree. A Christian does not walk alone as if sealed in a space capsule. We are members of God’s family. As such, we must help and be helped by others. Orthodox Christianity does not espouse a narrowly individualistic “God-and-me” relationship. The Church is a family, God’s family, in which we are concerned for one another. In the words of St. Paul: “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (1 Cor. 12:26). The Russian theologian Alexis Khomiakov (1804-60) said, “We know that when one of us falls, he falls alone; but no one is saved alone. He is saved in the Church, as a member of her and in union with all her other members.” As members of the household of God, Orthodox Christians feel that they can call upon their brothers and sisters in the faith-the saints-for family support. This they do through prayers, beseeching the prayers of the saints in their behalf. The late Fr. George Florovsky, eminent Orthodox theologian, wrote: The final purpose of the Incarnation was that the Incarnate should have a “body” which is the Church…. Christ is never alone. He is always the Head of His Body. In Orthodox theology and devotion alike, Christ is never separated from His Mother, the Theotokos, and His “friends”, the Saints. The redeemer and the redeemed belong together inseparably. In the daring phrase of St. John Chrysostom, inspired by Ephesians 1:23, Christ will be complete only when His Body has been completed.[28] Speaking on the concept of the church as the family and household of God, Nicolas Zernov wrote: The Orthodox…regard the saints…as teachers and friends who pray with them and assist them in their spiritual ascent.
Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry was surrounded by disciples who did not prevent others from meeting Him, but on the contrary helped newcomers to find the Master. In the same manner fellowship with the saints facilitates communion with God, for their Christ-like character brings others nearer to the divine source of light and life.
— Coniaris, Anthony M. Introducing the Orthodox Church: Its Faith and Life. Light & Life Publishing Company.
Saying of the Desert Fathers
Abba Bessarion: “When you are at peace and not embattled, then humble yourself even more—lest some alien joy arising [in us] we boast and are delivered into battle. For, on account of our frailty, God often does not permit us to be embattled often—lest we be lost.
Gregory the Theologian: “God requires these three things of every person who has received baptism: correct faith from his soul, truth from his tongue, self-control from his body.”
— Wortley, John. Give me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Press.
Sunday Bulletin April 28, 2024