Month: May 2011

For the third year now, we have served the Holy Week services at Nativity of the Holy Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church in Greenville, North Carolina, and its sister mission, the mission of St. Mark the Evangelist in Raleigh. I wanted to share with those of you who were not able to make it this year a little about how we schedule this busy time and how we make it possible to have services in both Raleigh and Greenville.

Holy Week begins with Lazarus Saturday, when we commemorate Jesus’ raising of his friend, which prefigures His own resurrection. We served this liturgy in Raleigh, and the peace of this day was only interrupted by the tornados which blew through the area on April 16. On Sunday, we drove to Greenville and celebrated Palm Sunday. The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed handing out the beautiful palms that one of our parishioners lovingly made for the spiritual benefit of all.

Sunday evening we were back in Raleigh, and began the cycle of the evening Bridegroom Matins (Orthros) services. This beautiful service reminds the faithful to watch out, for we know not when the Bridegroom (Christ) will return and ask for us to give an account. Holy Thursday morning, we commemorated the Mystical Supper (the Last Supper) with a liturgy in Raleigh. We took a break from wearing the dark vestments for this liturgy, wherein we wore red. At four o’clock, our chanter John and I left for Greenville, where we arrived to set up for the service of the Twelve Passion Gospels. We were blessed to have, besides the normal parishioners, repeat visitors to this moving service, and also a new friend who was visiting family in Rocky Mount. Finishing around 9 o’clock, we returned to Raleigh, where I then went and picked up three people who came in to town so they could attend Holy Friday through Pascha with us. The dedication of some of our flock amazes me!

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