“You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16: 15)
His Eminence Vladimir, Metropolitan of Chisinau and Moldova, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Chisinau metropolitan Cathedral on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee.
During the service, the arch-pastor was assisted by the Cathedral Dean, archpriest Vadim Cheibas, and numerous clergy of the holy place.
Liturgical responses were provided by the Cathedral Choir conducted by Angela Angheni.
The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee opens the Lenten period with three pre-Lenten Sundays. It is followed by the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, the Meet-Fare Sunday, and the Sunday of the Dreadful Judgement (The Forgiveness Sunday).
Triodion Book – the service book of the Orthodox Church – dedicated to Great Lent, bases the liturgical services during this time.
Referring to the contents of the Book of Triodion, the following is stated:
The Triodion possesses an inner coherence and unity that are not at once apparent. Why, for example, should St. Theodore the Recruit be commemorated on Saturday in the first week, the holy ikons on the first Sunday, and St. Gregory Palamas on the second? What special connection have these three observances with the ascetic fast of Lent? Let us consider briefly the pattern which links into a single whole the different commemorations during the ten weeks of the Triodion. We shall not enter into details, but shall simply seek to indicate the place of each observance in the general structure of Lent. 1 (1) The Pre-Lenten Period. (a) The Sunday of Zacchaeus. One week before the Triodion enters into use, there is a Sunday Gospel reading which looks forward directly to the coming fast – Luke 19 : 1-10 , describing how Zacchaeus climbed a tree beside the road where Christ was to pass. In this reading we note Zacchaeus’ sense of eager expectation, the intensity of his desire to see our Lord, and we apply this to ourselves. If, as we prepare for Lent, there is real eagerness in our hearts, if we have an intense desire for a clearer vision of Christ, t hen our hopes will be fulfilled during the fast; indeed, we shall, like Zacchaeus, receive far more than we expect. But if there is within us no eager expectation and no sincere desire, we shall see and receive nothing. And so we ask ourselves: What is my state of mind and will as I prepare to embark on the Lenten journey?51 (b) The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee (Gospel reading: Luke 1 8: 10 -14 ). On this and the following two Sundays, the theme is repentance. Repentance is the door through which we enter Lent, the starting-point of our journey to Pascha. And to repent signifies far more than self-pity or futile regret over things done in the past. The Greek term metanoia means ‘change of mind’ : to repent is to be renewed, to be transformed in our inward viewpoint, to attain a fresh way of looking at our relationship to God and to others. The fault of the Pharisee is that he has no desire to change his outlook; he is complacent, self-satisfied, and so he allows no place for God to act within him. The Publican, on the other hand, truly longs for a ‘change of m ind’: he is self-dissatisfied, ‘poor in spirit’ , and where there is this saving self-dissatisfaction there is room for God to act. Unless we learn the secret of the Publican’s inward poverty, we shall not share in the Lenten springtime. The theme of the day can be summed up in a saying of the Desert Fathers: ‘Better a man who has sinned,if he knows that he has sinned and repents, than a man who has not sinned and thinks of himself as righteous.’52 (c) The Sunday of the Prodigal Son (Gospel reading: Luke ig : 1 1 – 32). The parable of the Prodigal forms an exact ikon of repentance in its different stages. Sin is exile, enslavement to strangers, hunger. Repentance is the return from exile to our true home; it is to receive back our inheritance and freedom in the Father’s house. But repentance implies action: T will rise up and go. . .’ (verse 18). To repent is not just to feel dissatisfied, but to take a decision and to act upon it. On this and the next two Sundays, after the solemn and joyful words of the Poly cl cos at Mattins, we add the sorrowful verses of 51 On the Sunday before that of Zacchaeus, the Gospel reading is sometimes Christ’s meeting with the Canaanitc woman (Matt. 1 ς : 2 1-8 ). Here the spiritual meaning is the same as for the Sunday of Zacchaeus. The woman’s daughter was healed because of her mother’s fa ith and persistence. Similarly in Lent we need living faith that Christ can heal us, and to this we must join persistent prayer. Then all things are possible. 52 Apophthegmata Patrum, alphabetical collection, Sarmatas 1. Psalm 136, ‘By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept. . This Psalm of exile, sung by the children of Israel in their Babylonian captivity, has a special appropriateness on the Sunday of the Prodigal, when we call to mind our present exile in sin and make the resolve to return home. (d) The Saturday of the Dead. On the day before the Sunday of the Last Judgement, and in close connection with the theme of this Sunday, there is a universal commemoration of the dead ‘from all the ages’ . (There are further commemorations of the dead on the second, third and fourth Saturdays in Lent.) Before we call to mind the Second Coming of Christ in the services on Sunday, we commend to God all those departed before, us, who are now awaiting the Last Judgement. In the texts for this Saturday there is a strong sense of the continuing bond of mutual love that links together all the members of the Church, whether alive or dead. For those who believe in the risen Christ, death does not constitute an impassable barrier, since all are alive in Him ; the departed are still our brethren, members of the same family with us, and so we are conscious of the need to pray insistently on their behalf. (e) The Sunday of the Last Judgement (Gospel reading: Matthew 2 ^ :3 1-4 6 ). The two past Sundays spoke to us of God’s patience and limitless compassion, of His readiness to accept every sinner who returns to Him. On this third Sunday, we are powerfully reminded of a complementary truth: no one is so patient and so merciful as God, but even He does not forgive those who do not repent. The God of love is also a God of righteousness, and when Christ comes again in glory, He will come as our judge. ‘Behold the goodness and severity of God’ (Rom. 1 1 : 22). Such is the message of Lent to each of us: turn back while there is still time, repent before the End comes.
(Lenten Triodion. Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware)
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