Eastern Catholic Life Official Publication of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic VOL. LIII, NO. 4 APRIL 2017 Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen! Icon of the Descent Into Hades from the interior of the Church of Chora, Istanbul, Turkey. Photo by Father Lewis Rabayda CircaThe 400AD Paschal Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom f any man be devout and love cept the last even as the first; he gives sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no was embittered, for it was slain. It was God, let him enjoy this fair and rest unto him who comes at the elev- one go hungry away. embittered, for it was overthrown. It radiant triumphal feast. If any enth hour, even as unto him who has was embittered, for it was fettered in manI be a wise servant, let him rejoic- wrought from the first hour. Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Re- chains. It took a body, and met God ing enter into the joy of his Lord. If ceive ye all the riches of loving-kind- face to face. It took earth, and encoun- any have labored long in fasting, let And he shows mercy upon the last, ness. Let no one bewail his poverty, tered Heaven. It took that which was him now receive his recompense. If and cares for the first; and to the one for the universal kingdom has been seen, and fell upon the unseen. any have wrought from the first hour, he gives, and upon the other he be- revealed. Let no one weep for his in- let him today receive his just reward. stows gifts. And he both accepts the iquities, for pardon has shown forth O Death, where is your sting? O If any have come at the third hour, deeds, and welcomes the intention, from the grave. Let no one fear death, Hell, where is your victory? Christ is let him with thankfulness keep the and honors the acts and praises the for the Savior’s death has set us free. risen, and you are overthrown. Christ feast. If any have arrived at the sixth offering. Wherefore, enter you all He that was held prisoner of it has an- is risen, and the demons are fallen. hour, let him have no misgivings; be- into the joy of your Lord; and receive nihilated it. By descending into Hell, Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. cause he shall in nowise be deprived your reward, both the first, and like- He made Hell captive. He embittered Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ thereof. If any have delayed until the wise the second. You rich and poor it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isa- is risen, and not one dead remains in ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing together, hold high festival. You sober iah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said the grave. For Christ, being risen from nothing. If any have tarried even until and you heedless, honor the day. Re- he, was embittered, when it encoun- the dead, is become the first fruits of the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not joice today, both you who have fasted tered Thee in the lower regions. It was those who have fallen asleep. To Him alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, and you who have disregarded the embittered, for it was abolished. It be glory and dominion unto ages of who is jealous of his honor, will ac- fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all was embittered, for it was mocked. It ages. Amen. Great and Holy Week Eparchial priest returns to Photos of March “big snow” A Journey from Holy Week Schedule at Saint Michael ministry after serious event in Northeast PA —p5 to the Resurrection—p8-9 Cathedral, Passaic—p3 accident—p4 Page 2 Eastern Catholic Life APRIL 2017 Callousness— The Loss of the Fear of God lunch meat, that sight was one of see why presumption is a snare for estingly enough, all of the Abraha- deep horror. If a cadaver must be zeal. If we are saved no matter what, mic religions teach that we will all dissected, quite properly it should then why bother, why go to all that be judged at the end of time. The take place behind closed doors. trouble? Good works are begun, Jewish scriptures say (among other but as soon as we hit a rough spot, things) that all nations will be gath- In the East, we have a strong sense there is no urgency to continue, and ered in the Valley of Jehoshaphat for that the sacred should be hidden they fall by the wayside. judgment. Likewise, the Moslems from view so that we do not become teach that all will be judged after the insensitive to it or callous. That is The next step down, according to resurrection of the dead. We Chris- why we cover the bread and wine as our guide, is “the noose of courage”. tians read about the Last Judgment we carry them through the church He doesn’t mean that courage is a in the twenty fifth chapter of the hen I lived in Italy for four even when they are yet unconse- noose, rather Saint John means that Saint Matthew (and other places). Wyears, I watched television crated. That is why we have an icon callousness kills courage as an ex- Even pagan religions teach about over there to learn Italian. Mostly screen to separate us from the holy ecutioner hangs a criminal. Imagine hell. But in popular culture, there I watched cooking shows and quiz mysteries. There is a passage in the soldiers about to rush into combat; is nothing more offensive to people shows. The quiz shows were espe- Holy Apostle Paul, one which I have it is the warriors with passion who than any mention of judgment, hell, cially helpful because they would never heard preached, in which he rush in first, while the one who is or especially fear of God. display the possible answers on the says that the most sacred parts of the callous or cynical holds back and screen. When I returned to the body are the ones that we cover up. allows the others to risk their lives. Saint John warns us that this spi- United States, I tried to return to They are treated with more honor Much like zeal, courage is what gets ral staircase into spiritual darkness watching a little popular television because they are more sacred. It is us past the rough spots. It takes no doesn’t have a bottom, but as he here, but I found it very painful. a beautiful passage—we don’t cover courage to start an honorable ac- puts it poetically, finally callousness In the four years that I was gone, up those parts of our body because tion, but it takes courage to go past becomes the daughter of her own the entertainment industry in the they are ugly or because we are the opposition of critics or the hu- daughter, that is, the loss of the fear United States had become openly ashamed of them; we cover them miliation or ridicule of the weak or of God gives birth to further insen- blasphemous. I don’t remember the up because they are too sacred to be scornful. How prophetic when C. sitivity or callousness. To lighten popular shows being so openly con- looked upon. Indeed, the callous- S. Lewis said, “We make men with- the mood with a little humor, he temptuous of faith, and so viciously ness of our culture, and the destruc- out chests and expect of them virtue says that he who has lost sensibility insulting to God and to Jesus Christ. tion of faith has been accomplished and enterprise. We laugh at honor is “a brainless philosopher, a self- I don’t think our country changed as everything that is holy, whether it and are shocked to find traitors in condemned commentator, a self- that much, but the entertainment is the sacred mysteries of the faith or our midst. We castrate and bid the contradictory windbag, a blind man industry certainly had stopped hid- the sacred flesh of the human body, geldings be fruitful.” who teaches others to see”. (I have ing its intense hatred for Christian- is exposed to view. noticed that even in the most sober- ity. Over a period of many years, the This descending staircase of in- ing passages, Saint John always takes culture slid into irreverence, and the Our guide through this distressing sensitivity now leads to “ignorance time to help us laugh at ourselves.) population was so desensitized to landscape is Saint John of the Divine of compunction”. Compunction blasphemy that the top-rated shows Ascent. According to him, the first is sorrow for sin. Saint John warns As he often does, Saint John or- in the United States could insult Je- effect of callousness is “benumbed us that now we are worse off than ders the evil vice to speak in its sus Christ with no fear of a backlash. thought”, that is, thought that can- simply lacking in compunction, we own voice, and these are its chill- The prophetic words of King David not reach right conclusions because are even ignorant of it. How many ing words, “My subjects laugh when were fulfilled again, “Why do the the feelings have been cut off from are unable to be sorry for their sins, they see a corpse, but feel nothing nations rage and peoples plot vain reason or numbed.