Holy Week
Holy Week
• Remember on Palm Sunday the Kingdom of God within your heart.
• What benefit is it if Christ reigns over the whole world but not over you?
• Let your behavior outside the church be consistent with your behavior inside it.
• Spirituality is not only for occasions but a life that settles to continue.
• They are our sufferings, not His; yet He made them His out of His love for us.
• We remember His sufferings for us and are humbled.
• On Covenant Thursday, the sanctuary is opened—so open your heart to the Lord.
• Meditations on the Pascha praise and on Great Friday.
Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, the day when the Lord Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem and was received as King with palm branches.
Our meditation is lifted toward the Kingdom of God within us (Luke 17:21), and we think of how we may open our hearts and minds to the Lord so that He may reign over them. We try to subdue within ourselves all that rebels against the Kingdom of God.
Palm Sunday concludes with a general funeral service held by the Church for those who depart from this world during this week, since no funeral prayers or memorials are performed during it, the focus being solely on the sufferings of Christ. What are your feelings during this service?
Perhaps each person should think that these prayers are for him. For who knows? Death comes without notice. It is striking that we hear the tunes of sorrow immediately after those of joy.
The joy of the people on Palm Sunday was accompanied by the jealousy of some of the Jewish leaders who began to plot His death, saying to one another: “Behold, the world has gone after Him” (John 12:19). Envy drove them to conspire against Him, refusing His kingship—just as Herod did when he ordered the killing of all the children in Bethlehem after hearing of the birth of the King.
We, however, celebrate Christ as King not only on Palm Sunday but throughout Holy Week, singing to Him in every hour of these days: “Thine is the power and the glory and the blessing and the majesty forever, Amen, O Emmanuel our God and King.”
On Great Friday especially, we focus on Christ’s kingship, for He “reigned upon the wood” (Psalm 95 LXX) and “purchased us with His blood” (Revelation 5:9).
We remember that they wrote on His cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37), and that the thief addressed Him as a King (Luke 23:42).
We chant to Him, “The scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom” (Psalm 44).
Christ was indeed King—“King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16), and “of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:33).
But what benefit is it if Christ reigns over the world and not over you? On this day, let Christ reign over your heart and let your life be joined to His Kingdom.
Sharing in the Sufferings of Christ
If you accept Christ as King, you must also enter into His sufferings, bearing your cross and following Him (Matthew 16:24), experiencing “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10) and being “glorified together with Him” (Romans 8:17).
Hence the importance of the Cross in Christianity, and of the narrow gate the Lord spoke about (Matthew 7:13): “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
As Christ went outside the camp bearing reproach, so too the Church goes out with Him—leaving the sanctuary and the first choir of saints, praying in the second choir. The entire church is draped in black: the walls, pillars, lecterns, and icons. All its appearance expresses mourning as it chants sorrowful hymns throughout the week, sharing with her Lord who suffered for her until she completes her celebration of His crucifixion and death.
The Church follows the Lord step by step during Holy Week, reading from the four Gospels all the events of those days with matching Psalms and prophecies from the Old Testament. The Church never neglects the Old Testament in its readings—neither during Holy Week nor the Great Lent—and adds interpretations and excerpts from the sermons of the holy Fathers.
This makes the week deeply moving, with hymns rarely heard during the rest of the year. Hence people are eager to attend church in this holy week. Most believers live these days in strict asceticism, avoiding every bodily pleasure, remembering that the Lord offered His body as a sacrifice for us. If He suffered for us, how could we live indulging the desires of the flesh or its comforts?
All this is good and profitable, yet let us add two advices:
Let your conduct outside the church match your conduct inside it.
Do not lose after the feast what you gained spiritually during the Pascha week.
Many leave the powerful prayers of the church to return to their usual routines and conversations, losing the spirituality they had gained. Even if they keep their fervor for a short while, it soon fades. We must learn that the spiritual life is not occasional—it is a life that settles to endure.
Let us take from our experience in Holy Week spiritual principles that remain with us in times of joy: that we should not grieve the Lord by our sins. For every sin we commit is laid upon Christ the Lamb, who gives account for it to the Father on our behalf and wipes it away with His blood—our sins being the drops in the cup the Father gave Him to drink (John 18:11).
The Apostle warns about those who were enlightened and then fell, “since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:6).
Our Feeling Toward the Sufferings of Christ
Our awareness of Christ’s sufferings should make us careful not to grieve Him by our sins, realizing that sin is directed first against God Himself, though it may also harm others or ourselves. We sin, and He bears the cost: “All we like sheep have gone astray… and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). Therefore, the prophecy says of Him: “He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities… He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… He made His soul an offering for sin… He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:4–12).
For this reason, the Church places the remembrance of Christ’s sufferings before us continually—not only in Holy Week, which is but a focus of that remembrance.
Every Friday we fast to remember His suffering, crucifixion, and death; every Wednesday we remember the conspiracy against Him. That is the weekly remembrance.
Daily, the Church reminds us of His crucifixion at the Sixth Hour and of His death at the Ninth Hour. The cross we see before us always, and with which we sign ourselves in every prayer, is a perpetual reminder of His Passion.
If this remembrance were not so beneficial, the Church would not set it before us constantly.
They are truly our sufferings, not His; yet He made them His out of love for us. Out of love He suffered and died instead of us, to save us from death by His death. Because of His love He offered Himself for us. He could have avoided suffering or crucifixion, even come down from the cross at His enemies’ challenge—but He did not, so that we might live. “Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
As we remember His sufferings for us, we remember our sins and are humbled. Therefore, Holy Week is a week of repentance leading us to continual repentance—and also a week of love, for we recall God’s love that moved Him to empty Himself, to take flesh, to suffer, and to die for us. We respond to His love with love, as the Apostle says: “We love Him because He first loved us… Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10, 19).
So during Holy Week, let us think of how we respond to this love. Shall we cause Him more pain by our sins? Would that not be betrayal of His love—joining His enemies and preferring the world over Him? Let us remember Judas’s betrayal, Peter’s denial, the disciples’ flight, the people’s ingratitude, and the cry “Crucify Him, crucify Him,” and the Jews’ rejection, saying, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15).
Human Weaknesses During Christ’s Passion
Holy Week highlights Judas’s betrayal—but betrayers are many. Be sure you are not among them. Every sin is a betrayal of God’s love, His goodness, His indwelling Spirit, and our vows to Him. Remember your betrayals and repent of them in these holy days. Do not mock Peter for his denial—you may have denied Christ too, not by words but by deeds. Beware, for He said: “Whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:33). “If we deny Him, He also will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12).
The most fearful words a denier could hear from the Lord are: “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23; Luke 13:25–27).
Some might argue, “We have never denied the Lord.” Yet the Apostle answers: “They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him” (Titus 1:16).
So look to the deeds by which you deny Him and repent sincerely.
Benefit from the liturgies of this week, especially the Liturgy of Covenant Thursday—the greatest of the year, for it is upon the covenant made that all our liturgies are built. It is preceded by Palm Sunday’s liturgy and followed by the Bright Saturday and Resurrection liturgies.
Covenant Thursday
It is the first day the sanctuary is opened during Holy Week—so open your heart to God and enter the Holy of Holies. On this blessed and great day we remember four important events:
The washing of the disciples’ feet, after which the Lord said, “You are now clean” (John 13:10). Remember this purity required for Communion; do not settle for clean feet without a pure heart.
The institution of the Holy Eucharist—the first Communion in the New Covenant took place that day. Prepare to receive Communion through repentance, purification of heart, and a firm decision to live steadfastly in Christ.
The Lord’s long spiritual conversation with His disciples in John 13–16, in which He spoke of His love and promised them the Holy Spirit. Read and meditate on these chapters as if every word were addressed to you, remembering His consoling promise: “I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3).
The long prayer of Christ to the Father (John 17), a profound lesson in service. At least take this phrase for meditation: “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).
Great Friday
It is the holiest day of the year—remain in the church and let your heart burn with all its prayers, hymns, and readings. During the prostrations, confess your sins, that Christ may carry them on His Cross. Give thanks for His mercies, present your needs and those of your loved ones to be blessed in this day. Pray the Sixth Hour sincerely and chant with the thief, “Remember me, O Lord, when You come into Your Kingdom.” In the hymn Agios, ask the Lord for holiness: “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15).
The Pascha Hymn
Throughout Holy Week we chant, “Thine is the power and the glory and the blessing,” replacing the Psalms with it. We have given you a book containing these hymns—read it, with meditations for Holy Week, and let this blessed week be effective in your life.
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Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Watani newspaper on April 7, 1985.
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