04/28/2024
It begins....
Tonight begins my favorite week of the year, and as I've made this week spring break for my classes I'll be able to focus almost entirely on the services.
For those of you who don't know we'll have two a day (except for 3 on Friday) from now until Sunday, the Feast of Feasts - Pascha! Tonight will be the first time we open these Holy Week books since last year, and we'll go through every page as we walk through the last week of Jesus's earthly life before His passion on the cross. If you've never experienced this but have any interest in seeing what it's about, I highly recommend stepping into an Orthodox Church this week, be it St. Raphael of Brooklyn Orthodox Church or any other that might be near you.
Personal favorites -
Of the three Bridegroom Orthros services that begin tonight(5pm), the final one on Tuesday evening(6:30pm) is definitely a highlight of the week for me as it has my favorite hymn sung all year - the Hymn of Kassiani. I learned it long before I started chanting at church, and it's been my favorite ever since.
Wednesday evening (6:30pm) we have an unction service with lots and lots of readings as we prepare Holy Unction, or holy oil for healing, that will be used to anoint all of the Orthodox faithful there. We will have other blessed oils for those who aren't Orthodox as well.
Thursday night (6:30pm) is the 12 Passion Gospels - 12 readings from the gospels that take us through Christ's final week, during which Father will process a cross through the church, and beautiful hymns are sung. It is a long service, (maybe 3 hours) but achingly beautiful.
Friday night (6:30pm) is Lamentations - in which we will gather around a beautiful flower covered bier (kind of like a tomb) with the icon of Christ on it, and sing hymns of lamentation while holding candles. Father will splash everyone with blessed rose water filling the room with a holy fragrance, then we'll process with this bier around the church as we continue to sing.
Saturday morning (10am) we commemorate the Harrowing of Hell in which Christ went down to Hades to free the dead, conquering death by death. Flowers and leaves are thrown everywhere and we'll baptize and Chrismate quite a few brand new Orthodox Christians!!
Saturday night though - that is the best night of the year. The service begins at 10pm but anyone showing up then might have to park in a nearby neighborhood as we will be packed. The service begins pitch black, and we light candles before processing around the church yet again. We sing and pray and commune until around 1am, then feast and CELEBRATE as only the Orthodox can celebrate until around 3am. There really is nothing like it.
We come back Sunday at 3pm for agape vespers (a very short service) and an egg hunt for the kids, and of course, MORE FEASTING!
All services are open to anyone who wants to come and see, and I will be singing at all of the services (I'll post the full schedule below as there are SO many more services) so please, come and see!
The church is at 1990 Stewart Street, Fuquay Varina, NC, 27526.
