The Great Heel On the Great Heel, the holy saving passions of our Lord Jesus Christ are remembered, for our sake, by the will of him who underwent spitting, beating, choking, vexation and death on the cross. Therefore, the night on Great Heel is supposed to be spent in the hearing of the Gospels about

Seven words

Word on Great Friday For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Jn. 3:16 In the general sense of the word, the whole life of Christ the Savior, who descended to earth for us for the sake of man and for our salvation, was

Great Heel Lesson 1. Great Friday (What do the 3 Calvary crosses preach to us?) I. Brothers Christians! I want to transfer our reverent thoughts and feelings to Mount Golgotha, our help came by no means, and precisely by the time when the great

On Great Heel So ended the most terrible and greatest drama in the history of the world. The most pure Body of our Savior hung lifelessly on the torn wounds from the nails ... The dead head sank low on his chest. And so it hung for a long time.

Great Monday of Holy Week of Great Lent will be marked for the audience with a special concert Arkhangelsk Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Onufriev. April 2 at 18-30 The orchestra will perform a brilliant and unique work by an Austrian composer Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) "The Seven Last Words of the Savior on the Cross"- this is one of the most heartfelt, tragic and incredibly beautiful works of the composer.

For the first time the Orchestra performed this music in 2001, and then it sounded to the public in different cities of Russia and Finland. Joseph Haydn's music was written in 1785, and for its time the composition was completely innovative - it combined Music and Word.

A canon from the Cathedral of Cadiz in Spain asked Haydn to compose instrumental music in seven words, which, according to biblical tradition, Jesus uttered on the cross. In those distant times, an oratorio was performed annually in the main cathedral of Cadiz during the days of Great Lent. The walls, windows and columns were covered with black cloth, the doors were locked ... and the music began to sound. After the introductions, the bishop pronounced one of the seven Words and accompanied it with an interpretation. When his speech ceased to sound, the orchestra entered. “This action was to correspond to my composition,” Haydn himself wrote about the history of the creation of the composition. For provincial Cadiz in the 18th century, this idea was very daring, and professional church composers did not respond to the priest's request. But Haydn agreed, enthusiastically plunging into hard work. "Seven Words" exist in four options- orchestral, quartet and piano versions, as well as in the form of an oratorio.

It is not possible to establish the genre of this work with certainty. It is a synthetic thing, half-service, half-concert. In the Soviet period, it was played without words - for example, the famous pianist Maria Yudina, a deeply religious person. The fact that now music is combined with the word of the shepherd is a merit of the present time.

During the concert on April 2, excerpts from the Gospel will be read and theologian and preacher, Archpriest Alexander Kovalev. At first glance, the standard seminar task - to reveal in speech the meaning of the seven words of the Savior, turns out to be not so easy for priests in a stage environment. However, Father Alexander - a great lover of music and a connoisseur of the classical heritage - for the second time has undertaken to tell us about the words of Christ, sounded at the hour of the cross. He will perform as a full participant in the performance as the orchestra. It was Father Alexander who took part in the first performance of "Seven Words" in 2001. And then it was also Monday.

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”;

“Today you will be in paradise”;

"Mother, behold your son";

"My God, my God, why did you leave me";

"Thirsty";

"It is finished";

"Into your hands, Lord, I commit my spirit."

These phrases in Latin are written out in the score of the work before its parts. Listeners will listen to the musical incarnations of the gospel story, when the path begins with a mournful introduction and ends with a grandiose picture of an earthquake. The composer turned out to be close to the great artists of the Renaissance, his work is full of sincerity and humanity, it is marked by sublime simplicity and great spiritual depth. Music will speak to listeners about things that cannot be expressed in words.

We invite you to meet her!

Great Heel. Reading the 12 Gospels

In the antiphons that we have just heard, it was said that the water and blood that flowed from the rib of Jesus were divided into four sources, and these four sources are the four Gospels from which we learn about the life and death of Jesus Christ. And today, on the day we remember the crucifixion of the Lord on the cross, we hear the reading of these four Gospels, a reading that tells us about the last hours, the last minutes of Christ's earthly life. The evangelists have preserved for us the seven words of the Savior on the cross. The first of these words was the prayer that the Lord spoke when the soldiers pierced His hands with nails, when He was crucified on the cross. And the Lord prayed for them: "Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." This prayer reflects all the love that the Lord has for people. The Lord loves not only those people who are faithful to Him, not only those people who fulfill His commandments, but also their enemies, and their crucifixes, and all those who, through their sins, either through ignorance, or deliberately drive nails into His hands. And even when we inflict wounds on the Lord with our sins, the Lord loves us and prays to His Father: "Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
Then in the Gospel we hear how two thieves who were crucified next to Jesus on the crosses reviled Him. But suddenly one of the robbers changed his mind. He saw the suffering Jesus, he remembered the words that Jesus said that someday there will be a Kingdom in which He will be King, and with faith he said to the Lord: "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And the Lord answered him, and this is the second word that the Lord uttered on the cross: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise”. And this word teaches us that no matter how great a person's sin, how far a person would have deviated from God, even if this person was a robber, even if all his life he was unfaithful to God, and crucified God and did evil people, the word of repentance with which he turns to the Lord, can open the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven for him. And we believe, hearing this word, that no matter what happens to us, the Lord will always be ready to forgive us, the Lord will always be ready to open the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven for us, if we approach Him with faith, repentance and love.
The third word that the evangelists brought to us is the words of Jesus Christ addressed to His mother and to His beloved disciple - the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian. At the cross of Jesus stood His Mother, and seeing Her, the Lord said: "Woman, behold your son." And he said to John: "Behold thy mother." And with these words, the Lord not only entrusted His Mother to the care of His beloved disciple, and not only entrusted His disciple to the care of His Most Pure Mother, but also entrusted all of us with the love and intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. Remembering the Lord on the cross today, we also remember the Mother of God at the cross of Jesus, the Mother of God, Who gave birth to the Son of God, Who together with Him went through all the sufferings, and Who stood at the cross of Jesus and was "torn to pieces by the womb." And the Lord entrusts to Her intercession all of us - His faithful and unfaithful sons and daughters.
In the Gospel we hear that the Lord, when He was on the cross, called out with His Father: "My God, My God, why did You forsake Me?" And in these words was present all the sorrow of being forsaken by God, which the Lord experienced on the cross. Never, not for a single moment, Jesus Christ was abandoned by His Father, never, for a single moment, the Divinity of Christ was not separated from His Humanity. But in order to go through the path of suffering, He had to endure not only spitting and strangulation, not only betrayal and renunciation of Him, He had to endure the most terrible suffering that can befall a person - this is a feeling, a feeling of being forsaken by God, this the feeling that a person experiences when it seems to him that God does not exist, or that God does not hear his prayers, or that God has left him. And the Lord had to go through this in order to become one of us, so that in these moments of God-forsakenness we too could remember that he also went through this torment.
The Lord on the cross exclaimed, "I thirst." This word of the Lord testifies to the fact that He experienced the torment on the cross in a real way, as every person experiences them. He was crucified, and it was a terrible and painful death, a death that came slowly from loss of blood and from thirst. But the Lord thirsted not only for material water, the Lord, first of all, thirsted for the salvation of people, He longed for these sufferings of His on the cross to reach our hearts, so that all mankind would respond to this His sorrow, to this His torment, to this His prayer for everyone us and His crucifixes. The Lord thirsts for our salvation, and that is why the Lord ascended to the cross in order to save each of us, in order to open the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven to each of us as a prudent thief.
When the hour of the death of the Lord approached, He said: "It is finished." This word meant that the end of His earthly deed was coming. What He had to go through was ending, His earthly suffering was ending, His heavenly glory was coming. The Lord was crucified because it was necessary, it was foretold in the scriptures. And again, this was necessary for our salvation. When the Lord said: “It is finished,” it means that our salvation has been completed, it means that the gates of paradise were opened, and for each of us, including those who were in hell. For immediately after his death, the Lord descended into hell.
And finally, the last words that the Lord spoke on the cross, they were addressed to His Heavenly Father. He said, "Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit." We only need to think about what Christ went through, and with what feeling He could utter these words. After all, even before His suffering on the Cross, He prayed to the Father and said: "Father, if possible, let this cup pass from Me." But this cup did not pass him by. The Lord God the Father did not condescend to this cry, because that is how Jesus Christ had to suffer. And when the Lord spoke on the cross: “My God, why did you leave me?”, It was a cry of anguish from separation from the Father. But the Lord died reconciled with His Father, He died with confidence in the Father, He died with the feeling that what He had to accomplish was accomplished. He died not in a state of being forsaken by God, but in a state of the Father's presence, died with confidence in the Father. There was no reproach in His words, in His words there was one endless love and endless trust. He addressed the Father as a child addresses his parents: "Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit." These were the words with which Jesus Christ gave up the Spirit.
And now, remembering all these events, remembering the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, we will remember that the Lord is close to each of us, that the Lord is close to us just as He was close to the prudent thief, that He loves us as He does. He loved all the people who surrounded Him then: His Mother, and His disciples, and soldiers, and crucified Him - everyone, regardless of their own attitude to Him. Let us remember that no matter what happens to us, no matter how far we are from God, the Lord will always be close to us. No matter how far we have deviated from His commandments, the Lord will always love us. And even if we left Him, He will never leave us. It is for this that He ascended to the cross.

First. Praying for those who crucified, He said this to His Father: “Father! Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing ”(Luke 23, 34). Remembering this, God-loving person, you forgive your enemies' sins, praying that their sins will be forgiven. Likewise, with tenderness and tears, ask God for forgiveness, saying: I have sinned, forgive me!

Second. When those passing by blasphemed Him, shaking their heads, and said: “Eh! Destroying the temple and building in three days! If you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the Cross ”(Matt. 27, 40; Mark 15, 29), then the robbers, crucified with Him, reviled Him. Jesus, hearing how the ungrateful people and His enemies, even on the Cross, insulted Him with their ingratitude and reviled Him, cried out loudly, saying: “My God, My God! Why did you forsake Me! " (Matthew 27:46). Remembering these words of Christ, and you exclaim to Him in great tenderness of your heart, exclaim to God, saying: “God the Son, the Word of God, Christ my Savior, suffering for me on the Cross with flesh, hear me crying to You: My God, why are You left me? Raise the fallen one! Revive the slain with a multitude of sins, lest I perish in sins! Accept my repentance and have mercy upon me! "

Third. One of the evildoers hanged with Him blasphemed Him, saying: "If you are the Christ, save yourself and us" (Luke 23, 39). Another stopped him, saying: “Or are you not afraid of God, when you yourself are condemned to the same? And we were justly condemned, because we received what was worthy according to our deeds, but He did nothing wrong ”. And he said to Jesus: “Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom! And Jesus said to him: “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23, 43).

Reflecting on this merciful word of Christ to the repentant robber, we will approach Him with zealous repentance, confessing our sins, just as the prudent robber did not hide his sins, but confessed that he suffers for his merits and for his sins. In addition, he confessed that the Son of God was innocent, and believed that He was not just a man, but the Lord. He directed his cry to Him, because he believed in Him as the King and Lord of the True God. Therefore, the execution, perpetrated over him, was imputed to him as a punishment for his sins, and he departed, according to the Lord, into His kingdom. So, cry out to Him with repentance and we, like a robber: "Remember me, Lord, when I come into Thy Kingdom!" (Jac. 23, 42)

Fourth. Jesus, seeing His Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing at the Cross, “says to His Mother:“ Wife! This is Your son. " Then he says to the student: "This is your Mother!" (John 19:27). Here I will quote the word of St. John Chrysostom about the crucifixion of the Lord, to the lamentation of the Most Holy Theotokos. “Why did the Mother, who gave birth to the Most Pure One, suffer unbearably? For what reason?! Because She is the Mother! What sting did not sting her soul ?! What arrows did not pierce Her heart? What spears did not tear Her whole being to pieces! Therefore, She could not resist with her friends who were standing with Her near the Cross, condolences and weeping with Her about misfortune, She could not even stand close. Not having the strength to endure the trembling of the heart and wanting to hear the last words of her beloved Son, she fell to Him and, standing at the Cross and sobbing, cried out with a groan: “What does this horror, unbearable for My eyes, My Lord? What is this miracle that obscures the light of the sun, O My Son? What is this bewildered sacrament, sweet Jesus? I cannot see You naked, clothed with light, like robes! But now what do I see? The warriors cast lots about Your clothes, about the clothes that I have woven with My own hands. My soul is tormented, seeing You hanging in the middle of the whole universe on a high tree between two villains. You bring one into paradise, showing the image of a pagan conversion, and you are patient with another blasphemer, who is an image of Jewish bitterness. About envy! You have bypassed all the righteous who have lived from the ages and touched My Sweetest Child. About premium and ethereal Forces! Get together with Me and weep. O sun! Have compassion for My Child; transform into darkness, for soon the light of my eyes will descend under the earth. Oh moon! Hide your rays, for the dawn of my soul is already entering the grave. Where has Thy beauty disappeared, "the fairest of all the sons of men" (see Ps. 44: 3)? How has the lightness of your eyes darkened, the eye that drains the depths? " Having said this, the Mother of God was exhausted and, standing before the Cross, covering Her face with her hands, was perplexed in despair. Jesus, bowing His head to the right side and quietly turning his mouth away, said: “Woman! This is Thy son, ”pointing to His disciple John the Theologian. Thinking about all this, orthodox soul, pray to God with tears, saying: "Lord, have mercy."

Fifth. After that, Jesus, knowing that everything had already happened, said that the Scripture might be fulfilled: I thirst (John 19:28). A vessel full of vinegar stood close by. The soldiers, filling a sponge with vinegar, put it on a cane and pushed it to His mouth. Remembering this, with tenderness of heart we exclaim to Him: “Crucified for us, Christ our Savior, our sweetness, give us a drink of sweetness from the abundance of Thy house, and when you come to judge with glory, let us be satisfied, as Thy glory appears. Here, do not despise us who are hungry and thirsty, but vouch for us to be worthy partakers of the Most Pure Mysteries of the Body and Blood that You shed for us, make us worthy and not condemned forever and ever ”.

Sixth. When Jesus took vinegar, He said, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). Remembering this word, say this: “Christ, our Savior and Redeemer! Make us perfect before You, that, walking in the way of Your commandments, we may be perfect in good deeds and you would have heard this exalted call: “Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25, 34).

Seventh. Exclaiming loudly, Jesus said, “Father! Into Thy hands I commend my spirit ”(Luke 23:46). Having said this, He bowed His head and gave up the ghost. Here, holy thought of God, think so. Who betrayed the spirit? Son of God, our Creator and our Redeemer. Therefore, with a great desire of your heart, say to Him: “When the terrible hour of separation of my soul from my body comes, then, my Redeemer, take it into Your hands and keep it free from all calamities, may my soul not see the dark gaze of wicked demons, but yes saved will pass all these ordeals. Oh, our Savior! We firmly hope to receive this from Your love for mankind and mercy. "

Since it was Friday then, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on Saturday, "for that Saturday was a great day" (John 19:31), the Jews prayed to Pilate to break the legs of the hanged ones and remove them. The soldiers, having come, broke the legs of the first, and then the other, crucified with Christ. They did not break Jesus' legs, for they saw that He had already died, but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately Blood and water flowed out: Blood for our sanctification, water for ablution. Then the whole creature was struck with fear, seeing the life of all dead and hanging on the tree. Then Joseph of Arimathea came to ask for the Body of Jesus and, having taken it down from the tree, laid it in a new tomb. "Resurrect, O Lord our God, and deliver us to Thy name" (Psalm 48:27). Amen.