These readings reveal riches of divine love, the divine dispensation for salvation, and passing over form death to life. That is, it explains what made by the Trinity for our salvation and the way to accept such love and salvation in our life.
Contents
The divine dispensation for salvation (he divine dispensation)
Readings for the Holy Pascha are about great love and salvation declared by God through his death and resurrection, about the captain of their salvation (Hebrews 2: 10) our Lord Jesus Christ, be glory.
Readings don’t provide an event took place in a week but reveal the divine love and salvation unto us in these points:
His everlasting dispensation (so the Trinity dispensation in salvation explained in readings for Good Friday Eve), in its preparation (as in prophets, symbols from the Old Testament, and what indicated to in Pauline Epistle, Catholicon, and The Acts in all readings for Pascha), in its occurrence (Incarnation, the Cross, resurrection, ascension, and filling with the Spirit in gospels), and in church life (in Pauline Epistle, Catholicon, and The Acts, in addition to prophets), and the glory of his eternal inheritance (in gospels and Revelation).
Lot readings of the holy church get us into the time to realize what made by the divine love for our salivation, hence we discovered that we got out the time to return back to the eternity to see the divine dispensation for salvation (Act 15: 1, Romans 16: 25, 2 Thessalonians 1: 9), taken to the Old Testament to know the meaning of prophets’ words to see his divine plan (Hebrews 1: 1, 2 Peter 1: 21), bringing us to the time of his Incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection to realize how he loved us unto the end (Jeremiah 31: 3, John 13: 1), live his salvation through his Holy Spirit in his holy church (Ephesians 3: 10), ultimately, readings take us to the eternity (in Revelation) to see the prepared inheritance to all who loved God and accepted his salvation.
In other words, the readings journey is a forward and back journey, a journey to the heaven, gets us into and out the time, and puts us on the earth to preview events and takes us upper the earth to see our salvation therein.
Thus, the readings journey is neither biblical information nor psychological emotions of hymns but it’s a journey to and in the Christ to be certain that we die and raise up in him, fill with his Holy Spirit, and realize his love and his divine dispensation for our salvation. As in this week, we take the power of his death, passion, and resurrection so we see his presence not only in joys, sadness, and simple acts of our life (1 Corinthians 10: 31), but also in trouble and perplexity that counted in the path to salvation (2 Corinthians 4: 8). In Pascha, including readings and hymns, we filled with riches and glory of his presence so we shall test how we live, and move, and have our being in him (Acts 17: 28).
Readings for Pascha are divided into three stages
- (The first stage) the first part of readings is a preface to the Holy Pascha, Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday that draw entrance to salvation. Both state the savior who will free man from all sins and how he declared his love through the cross. Readings for Lazarus Saturday are about the prince and the giver of life in resurrecting Lazarus, whether in Palm Sunday are about the king who willingly entered Jerusalem with Passover lambs to be offered declaring a kingdom of the new covenant.
- (The second stage) the second part of readings is for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, to explain dispensation for salvation, the story of fall, humanity need for savior after corruption of the human nature, man’s inability to self-saving, and invalidity of all human ways and means to get salvation and make free from bondage and power of Satan. These three days in Jerusalem where the Passover lambs were stayed to be offered as a sacrifice in the feast of the Passover. So after coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday , God devoted not to depart from Jerusalem and surrounding small villages till he present himself a Passover sacrifice. Therefore, the divine dispensation from the beginning for man salvation explained in the church ritual in the readings for such three days, as the necessity of existence of lamb in liturgy from liturgy Psalm till the time of offertory should be remembered. Gregorian Liturgy tells the story of the divine love in creation, after fall of man, and till redemption to live that divine love in each liturgy we pray.
- (The third stage) The third part (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) concluded by declaring and completing salvation, human Passover from death to life, revelation of riches of the divine love through the cross and resurrection (John 3: 16).
Here in there four days, we find that God reveals himself as a new covenant Passover (Thursday),
Offers himself for the salvation of the world (Friday),
And church shall have the right to enter the paradise and passing over from death to life in the Christ (Saturday Night) and ultimately rejoicing by glory of his resurrection.
Passing approach from death to life (human role)
Readings for The Pascha draws a path and passing approach from death to life, how we can die to the world every moment, and how we take, live, have the new world after revelation of riches of the divine love. Reading for the holy Pascha provided by the church is way of life in the Christ, daily constant passing from death to life, how the world death that live in sins, lust, conflicts, ego, disbelief, and animus, how freely we have received the Christ life which is in his love, divine righteousness, joy, peace, giving, hope, victory over death, Satan, and sin
How our days on the earth going from savor of death vanishing from our members and internal entity into a life shine lighting our spirits, souls, and bodies till all what related to the world inside us came to the end (for the prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me) John 14: 30 and our internal entity filled of God’s life (that you might be filled with all the fullness of God) Ephesians 3: 19. As said by Saint Clement of Alexandria (Eklemondos El Sakandary) (as man taken out of perdition and rose up to heavens, implanting the mortal into immortality, and earth transformed to heaven)
Source: book of “The Apostle Paul” for Father Tadros Yaacoub Malaty, page no. 41
So, we willingly chose dying to the world and to self (I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I) to be filled with the Christ life and his light be shining in us (Christ lives in me) Galatians 2: 20
Readings for that Holy Pascha is drawing a path and approach not to live in such readings and ritual for a week yearly but to renewing the act of the death to world and living in the Christ to be our way of life, daily behavior, and unceasing fight to receive the prize (1 Corinthians 9: 24, Colossians 2: 18)
In another way, passing from death to life always need to:
Let god governs our life, heart, and full entity (Palm Sunday)
Refuse the falsity of life and appearance without getting the fruit of the Spirit (Monday of Pascha)
Keep watch and let our lamps full of the oil (Tuesday of Pascha)
Make our life and love as a flask of perfume and a sweet savor everywhere (Wednesday of Pascha)
Bent head to wash the feet and pray till the blood to become united with him (Thursday of Pascha)
Walk with him to come unto Golgotha and crucify with him till death (Good Friday)
So we pass with him to the light, joy, and resurrection (Bright Saturday and Easter Sunday)
Readings inform us who Christ of salvation is
+ Sunday (the king- ruling over everything) between purge, healing, praise, and loss the goal of worship
+ Monday (the Holy- always purges) between our fruits and leaves- between renewing and our body
+ Tuesday (the judge- will come rendering) between keeping watch and suddenness
+ Wednesday (the bridegroom- love offering) between love ladder and the hell of transgress
+ Thursday (the minister- washing feet and blood pray) between washing people’s feet touching the heaven doors and pride and idleness
+ Friday (silent lamb-sacrifice and complete submission of willing) between complete submission of will, revelation of love and scattering from the cross)
+ Saturday (the passer- the unseen) between passing the seen to realize the unseen