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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.
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