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Carrying the Cross

Carrying the Cross

adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily

The feast of the Cross is an ancient feast that the church has held for seventeen years.

After Emperor Constantine accepted the Christian faith in the 4^th century, his mum, Queen Helena, wanted to protect the Holy sites in Jerusalem. Her method of protecting the Holy sites was to build churches over them.

She went to Jerusalem and identified the place of Christ’s crucifixion and His burial and she built a Cathedral over these holy lands. She invited the Patriarchs of the churches to consecrate the church of the Holy Sepulchre (the church of the Resurrection) and they brought the Cross of Christ.

Amongst them was St Athanasius of Alexandria. This celebrate began of the consecration of the church and the laying of the Cross of Christ was in this church. This marked the feast date of the Cross.

The Cross was once a symbol of torture and the means of execution of the worst criminals in the Roman empire, now it has been adopted as the identity of Christians.

When people see the cassock of Orthodox priests, it can appear off-putting – a very Arab garment. It is only on closer inspection and when the Cross becomes visible, that people are comforted.

As I was walking in the shopping centre, there was a lady coming toward me that appeared afraid but as soon as she saw the Cross, she was reassured. Another lady came and sat next to me and said, “you know I wasn’t going to sit next to you.”

I asked why and she replied, “Only when I saw the Cross did I feel safe enough to sit next to you.”

What is it about the Cross that makes people feel safe and comfortable?

An interaction between Christ and His disciples begins when He asks them the question- “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matthew 16:13).

Who do people say that I am? What do others think of me?

The disciples respond with a range of names including John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

Christ pushes them asking, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter responds, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Christ being impressed with this answer says, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

The Catholic and Orthodox churches interpret this response very differently. The Catholic church read that Christ was building the church on Peter; on the person, Peter. Thus, the successor of Peter will always be the head of the church.

The Orthodox church believes that it wasn’t the person of Peter that Christ built the church on but the faith within him. The church is built on the proclamation of faith given by Peter. Faith in Christ, as the Son of the living God, that is the cornerstone of the church.

If you go down a little bit further and the dialogue continues, Christ declares to the disciples that He must suffer and be killed and finally raised. Peter responds, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” A natural response to the upcoming ill-events of a loved one.

Christ responds, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

This is a sharp contract to the praise He gave him just before, calling him the rock on which His church shall be built. Within minutes, He refers to him as Satan.

How did we go from the rock of faith to Satan? The reason we have this shocking response was because Peter did not understand the Cross. Christ was telling them about the Cross to come. Peter could not fathom the Cross and so was, rebuked as Satan. The faith he uttered without understanding or living the Cross was meaningless.

The Cross was central to Christ’s mission, ministry, life and expression of love to the world, and if this cannot be understood, then faith is nothing. Everything was about the Cross.

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24). The Cross was not only a part of Christ’s life and ministry, but a requirement for Peter and the disciples understanding. Furthermore, it serves as a constant reminder for us to carry our Cross with Christ. Without the Cross, there is no Christianity, there is no life. This is what makes a Christian- the Cross. Living a life of carrying our Cross with Christ.

Part of our calling as Christians is to carry the Cross, happily, joyfully, faithfully, with Christ. Not only do we carry our Cross but we help others carry their Crosses. The Cross becomes a model of sacrifice, selflessness and love that we bestow upon those around us.

How Much Does God Love Me?

How Much Does God Love Me?

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Elijah Iskander

Holy Week leads up to the crucial death of our Lord. If we were to summarise this week in one phrase, it is, The Cross. If the Cross was described in another way, that is love – The Cross is Love.

We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. – 1 Cor. 1:23-24.

To some, the Cross is foolishness, how could you believe in a god that would accept to be treated in this way? Others take it one step further and say that it is a stumbling block. I want to believe but I can’t.

To some it is weakness, agony, failure. Even some Christian denominations have this view; that Jesus was the victim.

To the Orthodox Christian, the Cross is victory and power, but above all the Cross is love.

If we knew how much God loved us, our lives would be different. If we knew the depth of His love for us personally, our lives would be renewed!

We meet so many characters in the Scriptures of Holy Week. All their thoughts and actions could be understood by asking one question – did you know how much God loved you?

We read about the Israelites in the prophecy of the sixth hour of Good Friday. After they saw the ten plaques, after the first-born of the Egyptians die, after the Red Sea is parted and they escape, after they receive manna from heaven, they then complain against God. We read, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us in the desert, For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” The Lord Himself sent bread from Heaven to sustain them but even this, they did not like. (Numbers 21:5).

After everything the Lord had done for the people of Israel, the question becomes, did you forget how much He loves you?

If we look at Judas, a key figure of Holy Week, the question becomes, did you ever realise that Christ loved you? While other church fathers disagree, St John Chrysostom believes that Christ did wash Judas’ feet along with the other disciples. He did this to show him that He loved him. He wanted to give him one more chance. Maybe this would move his heart. Maybe this would have stopped Judas’ scheme. Maybe this would soften his heart.

If Judas knew how much the Lord loved him, would he have sold Him so cheaply for thirty pieces of silver? It would be impossible. If Judas knew how much the Lord loved him, would he have been able to go and betray Him with a kiss – an intimate, calculated and premeditated act? If Judas knew how much the Lord loved him then his life would have been very different. Perhaps the question for Judas becomes, did you ever know how much the Lord loved you?

If we look at the two thieves that were crucified with Christ, we see two different perceptions of the crucified Christ. In the right-hand thief’s creed of Good Friday, we say, “What did you see and what did you comprehend,” to be able to confess Christ as King?

The left-hand thief didn’t see or hear anything, we know this because we hear him blaspheme against the Lord when he said, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us” (Luke 23:39). If the left thief had known how much the Lord loved him, his words would have been very different. If he comprehended how much Christ loved him, perhaps he would have cried out like the right-hand thief, who could see how much Christ loved him. Even if every moment of his life had been away from Christ in not a negligent way, but intentionally for he was a robber, he was yet able to comprehend Christ’s love. He looked at Christ and saw how much He loved him. He saw that Christ could overlook what he had done. It was not too late for the boundless love of the Lord.

The sinner woman rushed into the Pharisee house uninvited, breaks the flask of alabaster oil, loosens her hair and wipes His feet with her. She made a spectacle of herself. She knew how much Christ loved her, she knew He would defend her, she knew He would honour her and say, “what this woman has done will be told as a memorial to her” (Matthew 26:13). Because she knew how much Christ loved her, her actions without words, were testament to her recognition of Christ’s love for her.

St Peter also, loved the Lord but in an impulsive moment he denied Him. If St Peter remembered in that specific moment how much the Lord loves him then it would be impossible for him to deny. There was a momentary lapse; a moment that his fear clouded his vision of Christ’s love.

Finally, St John the Beloved; the one whom Jesus loved. The one who knew how much Jesus loved him. He was unwavering in faith, standing at the foot of the Cross when all the other disciples had scattered. He could do this because he knew how much the Lord loved him, his words and actions were different. He was the one whom Jesus loved.

For us on Good Friday, we must reflect on these characters. I ask myself, in the midst of uncertainty, pestilence, plaque, setbacks in study or health, am I like Israel, forgetting what the Lord has done for me in the past? If I knew how much the Lord loves me, I will never be shaken.

Am I like Judas? If I know how much the Lord loves me, will I betray Him for a cheap lie? An inappropriate image or thought? An inappropriate relationship? If I know how much the Lord loves then my response to His love is an inability to do these things.

Am I like the right-hand thief? I know how much You love me, even if I have sinned and been far from You up until this day, I know it is never too late, I know You still have hope for me. I know that You can still accept me.

If we know how much the Lord loves us, our words, actions and lives will be different. Knowing the Lord is more than just information, we must have intimate knowledge of the Bible.

What if I don’t know the Lord loves me? Knowing the Lord runs much deeper than facts, but having intimate knowledge of the Bible. How then, can I remind myself?

The Cross. Look at the Cross. Contemplate the Cross. Sit at the foot of the Cross. Pray, Lord, I just need to remember, I just need to know how much You love me. This becomes easy, for we love for He first loved us.

“He bows his head, as if to kiss you. His heart is made bare open, as it were, in love to you. His arms are extended that he may embrace you. His whole body is displayed for your redemption. Ponder how great these things are. Let all this be rightly weighed in your mind: as he was once fixed to the cross in every part of his body for you, so he may now be fixed in every part of your soul.”
St Augustine

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The Cross

The Cross

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Augustinos Nada

Crucifixion started in about 600 BC by the Babylonians who were crucifying people on trees. The person would be nailed to the tree and their body would be left for the animals and birds to prey on. Very barbaric!

The Romans modified this method of punishment and became experts in crucifying people. The word excruciating comes from a Latin word which means crucifixion, and it describes the severe pain which is exactly what the Lord endured. A very severe pain both on the cross and leading to the cross. In icons, you notice that a lot of the crosses are very high and tall, but in reality, some of the scholars say that Roman crosses were not that high, only about two meters or so. This allowed for anyone to approach the person on the cross to slap, spit, curse or abuse them. It was quite humiliating, in addition to the pain.

Christ was crucified outside Jerusalem as the Jews believed that if anyone was to die, especially criminals, they should not to be executed or put to death in Jerusalem, in their holy city, because that was regarded as defiling the land. They wanted Christ to be crucified in accordance to the law in Deuteronomy that said anyone who hangs on a tree is, “cursed by God” (Deut. 21:22-23). The Lord was crucified outside the city and on a place called Golgotha. Some traditions say that this is the place where Adam was buried and this is quite ironic. The second Adam, the one who lifts the curse from us and opens the doors of Paradise outdoes the consequence of the first Adam’s actions.

The greatest miracle witnessed on the Cross was the acceptance of the right hand thief, who acknowledged and accepted the true faith. In itself, this is the greatest miracle. The Lord rose many people and performed countless miracles, including Lazarus, but all those died again. The situation with the right hand thief was the raising of the spiritually dead person who was granted everlasting life. Even while on the Cross, the Lord was still giving and performing miracles.

More still, there was darkness all over the land from the sixth hour (Matt 27:45). In 55 AD, a Jewish historian recorded that there was some kind of eclipse during the year of the Lord Jesus Christ although it was later confirmed that there was no eclipse, as this was not the time for it. Something clearly dramatic happened at this time that had the appearance of the darkness of an eclipse but was beyond what Science could explain. This is why the church switches off the lights from the sixth hour to commemorate this unusual darkness at the time Christ gave up His soul.

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). A lot of people think that He is praying to the Lord because He is in agony. He was in fact directing us to Psalm 22. Psalm 22 describes the Lord’s crucifixion and all the things that happened to Him in those hours. When the Lord says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me,” He was simply directing them to the Psalm. In those days, psalms were not numbered and so, the people would know the psalm by its opening line.

The Lord also said “I thirst.” In response to this, they gave Him sour wine, which is very old wine. The aim of this was to lessen the pain, as an analgesic but instead, the Lord refused it. The reason for this was because Christ didn’t want to soften the blow. He wanted to feel the full extent of the pain. He wanted to feel the pain and the suffering for the salvation of humankind. He was not forced to die, He went to the Cross willingly and accepted every bit of suffering for our sakes.

In the Gospel of St John, it says that the Lord bowed His head, and gave up His soul (John 19:30). Normally, at death, a person will die and then bow their head. Christ did the opposite. It was almost a display of honour to the Father as He gave up His soul. Christ was in full control throughout all His suffering. The Lord was so unique and so wise in all these happenings. If the Jews still could not see this, the veil of the Temple was torn, a declaration that the self-righteous Jews were not worthy of the Holiest of Holies.

The splitting of the veil of the Temple was a prophecy about the destruction of the Temple while Christ opened the Holies of Holy for all mankind to enter into the joy of the Lord. This allows Christians to come and partake of the Holies of Holy. It is no longer only the Jews that were God’s chosen people but all people.

We are so privileged to be Christian! We are so honoured to be Christians; to know and understand what the Lord did for our sake. To see how much suffering and how much pain He experienced, the nails, the scourging, the humiliation, that was on the Cross and all this was for our salvation.

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The Silent Lamb

The Silent Lamb

by Marina Giurgius

‘Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.’
Isaiah 53:7

A solider completely silent in the midst of war. Not a single war cry or victory scream. That same solider later forgives his enemy on the battlefield, in the midst of his agony. You and I can both agree that this all sounds somewhat unrealistic, unbelievable perhaps? Well this solider was Christ and his battlefield was Golgotha. Does that make it any more comprehendible? As we journey into Holy Week, let’s try to make sense of it.

Every aspect of death on the Cross had a ghastliness about it. It was the most agonising of Roman capital punishments and to make it crueller it was not a direct road either. Christ first underwent a patronising trial, excruciating torture and a mockery and all whilst remaining silent. He did not speak during these events and spoke only 7 things on the Cross, all of which were not for his own profit.

Lord, what stopped You from crying out to defend Yourself against the affliction? What satisfied Your heart so much, that it was worth the suffering?

It is not you and I alone questioning His silence. Many at the time and to this day may say that Christ was silent as a means of escaping His tribulation however, it is in fact the complete opposite. It was simply a still submission to the will of His Father and a depiction of His great love for mankind as ‘Love does not seek its own’ (1 Corinthians 13:5). Just as He left to go to the wilderness, the abyss of silence it was rather a spiritual battlefield than a means of an escape. His silence is perhaps one of the most overlooked lessons on forgiveness given from the Cross. His silence was not fear, but sacrifice.

When we speak many words it only satisfies our hollow weaknesses within us but serves little purpose to our soul belonging to God. It is a challenging task to ask someone to accept an injustice without getting caught up in a confrontation or an argument. Is this not what Christ did on the Cross when He paid the price for our sins in silence? The most difficult of tasks is to not speak in the midst of chaos “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). This is the first step to forgiveness as we begin to silence our anger and resentment with silence itself.

The word ‘give’ makes up the word FORGIVE and so it is no surprise that this is moreover at its centrality. The Silent Lamb broke His silence only to give. He gave his enemies and persecutors forgiveness. He gave the Right-Hand Thief the keys to paradise and eternal life. He gave the solider who speared his side a kindness that later made him a great saint. He gave His blessed mother a son and carer. He gave his Father a ransom paid in full and He gave humanity redemption and salvation from an eternal inferno. He gave only to receive a gift of humiliation, grief, suffering and pain embellished with a crown of thorns.

The first words of Christ at the Cross:

“Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34)

St John, the Mother of Christ and the three Mary’s are all at the foot of the cross and before speaking to them, Christ breaks his silence with a request of forgiveness for his enemies. He prays for his enemies before He addresses His own Mother and His own anguish. Not only was it a simple request of forgiveness on behalf of His enemies but a firm shield of defence and an exemption of their ignorance. How comforting is it to know that Christ is our chief advocate before the throne of God, for there is no earthly defender that can compare to such. Christ continually provides us with the benefit of the doubt for our sins, excusing our sins but how often do we do this with others? St John Chrysostom explains that waiting for your enemy to come to you seeking forgiveness is vain and a heavenly reward will only come to those who make peace with their enemy on the same day despite criticism. Setting an excuse for your enemy will allow you to forgive before they ask and is an ultimate expression of love, the core lesson from the cross.

Even the pain of the Cross did not amount to the pain He felt one night earlier in the garden of Gethsemane. Upon Christ’s great anguish kneeling before the Father with sweat dripping from his holy temple in the form of blood, He requests,‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done’ (Luke 22:42). We can be comforted knowing we have been promised condition-less forgiveness without needing to ask,“If you are willing, forgive me”.

St Anthony the Great says “If we remember our sins, God forgives them but if we forget our sins, God remembers them.” It is with a continual remembrance of our sins that it becomes impossible for us to say our own sins are lesser than those committed against us and this too will help us forgive.

Our ultimate role-model Jesus Christ even on the Cross in the peak of His torment did not cease to guide and inspire us to forgive. So here are the four things taken from the Cross that we can use to forgive.

Spend time with God in silence
Make excuses for people that you feel may have wronged you
Give whenever you can to the best of your ability
Always remember your own shortcomings and sins

Because of sinfulness, man lost the crown of perfection that God had granted him in the Garden of Eden, and instead crafted at Golgotha a new crown made of thorns, of that very earth that God cursed when man fell. Forgiveness is the love that compelled our creator to bear this crown and cross whilst silencing its suffering on our behalf.

Glory be to God forever.

The Struggle for Victory

The Struggle for Victory

By Archbishop Angaelos

There are many Christians in the world… and we are all trying to find the right way to live. We’re all trying to find a way to be a faithful, committed Christian, and that’s going to mean many different things. Our Lord says, “if you do not take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.” And for us, “taking up the cross” can mean different things. Sometimes we visualise “taking up the cross” as being this incredibly different feat, this challenge, this constant struggle… and that’s how we see our Christian lives. For others it will be this glory and this grace and this victory… and that’s how we see it.

The problem is, if we live in either of these extremes, it becomes difficult, and it becomes problematic for us as Christians, because if we just look at the “challenge” and the “struggle,” it becomes burdensome. God has not come to give us a burden, in actual fact He comes and says to us, “Come to me if you are burdened, if you are heavy ladened, if you are tired, and I will give you rest.” But then… if we look at the other side of the Cross just being this glorious, victorious symbol of authority, that is also problematic because that could quite easily slip into us becoming quite proud and arrogant… and there is nothing worse than an arrogant Christian, because that again, is the furthest thing from what we are supposed to be. We are supposed to be meek and lowly and humble and giving and sacrificial. All of those things. None of those things equate to arrogance and self- righteousness.

So what is the reality of our journey then? The reality of our journey is the Cross, that it is sometimes… a struggle, but at the end of it, it is a glorious victory. In our lives, we will struggle. We will struggle daily. Sometimes they’re large, significant, sometimes its crippling struggles, otherwise, there will be your daily struggles that just happen as we live life. Neither of those should overcome us, none of that should make us feel that we have no source or strength or foundation to go back to. We remember at that point that while there was pain and struggle and even a sense of ill-repute in the Cross, when our Lord was there crucified. Yet before He left this world, He left us the glory of the resurrection. He told us that there was something to come afterwards… no matter how strong, how significant, how even crippling the struggle, there is always the glory of that resurrection of the Cross. And that is the reality of our journey.

It is a complete, holistic journey. It is not one that is rooted in an absolute, because our journeys continue to shape and unfold. The only absolute is the presence of God and the salvation to which He calls us. The way we live it, the message and the hope and the victory and even the struggle is going to be shaped daily by our experiences and the presence of God in our lives. So… we give thanks for the struggles, we give thanks for the glory and we give thanks for the victory, knowing that when we “take up our cross,” we follow in the footsteps of our Saviour. Just as He suffered, we will sometimes suffer, but just as He, at the end of that journey, experienced and shared with us the glory and victory of the resurrection, so too will we, at the end of our struggle rise in glory and in the beauty of His kingdom and His promises.