When the 12 Gospels are read. Evening service on Maundy Thursday at Sretensky Monastery

EVENING SERVICE ON GOOD THURSDAY AT SRETENSKY MONASTERY

Duration 2:55:38 min.

And on the evening of Maundy Thursday in all Orthodox churches The reading of the twelve Gospels is heard among the candles shedding tears. Everyone is standing with large candles in their hands.

This entire service is dedicated to the reverent remembrance of saving suffering and death on the cross God-man. Every hour of this day is new feat Savior, and the echo of these exploits is heard in every word of the service.

In this very special and mournful service, which occurs only once a year, the Church reveals to the believers the full picture of the Lord’s suffering, starting from the bloody sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane to the Calvary crucifixion. Taking us mentally through past centuries, the Church, as it were, brings us to the very foot of the cross of Christ and makes us reverent spectators of all the torment of the Savior.

Believers listen to the Gospel stories with lighted candles in their hands, and after each reading through the mouths of the singers they thank the Lord with the words: “Glory to Your long-suffering, Lord!” After each reading of the Gospel, the bell is struck accordingly.

Here are collected the last mysterious speeches of Christ and compressed into a short space all this suffering of the God-man, to whom the soul listens, “confused and marveling.” The earthly is in contact with the heavenly eternity, and everyone who stands with candles in the temple this evening is invisibly present at Calvary.

We will clearly see how the night of prayer arrived in that very Garden of Gethsemane, the night when the fate of the whole world was decided for all time. How much internal torment and what near-death exhaustion He must have experienced at that time!

It was a night, the like of which has not been and will not be among all the days and nights of the world, a night of struggles and sufferings of the most fierce and indescribable kind; it was a night of exhaustion - first of the most holy soul of the God-man, and then of His sinless flesh. But it always or often seems to us that it was easy for Him to give His life, being God who became man: but He, our Savior, Christ, dies as a Man: not by His immortal Divinity, but by His human, living, truly human body...

It was a night of cries and tearful kneeling prayer before the Heavenly Father; this sacred night was terrible for the Celestials themselves...

In between the Gospels, antiphons are sung that express indignation at the betrayal of Judas, the lawlessness of the Jewish leaders and the spiritual blindness of the crowd. “What reason made you, Judas, a traitor to the Savior? - it says here. – Did He excommunicate you from the apostolic presence? Or did he deprive you of the gift of healing? Or, while celebrating the Supper with the others, he did not allow you to join the meal? Or did he wash the feet of others and despise yours? Oh, how many blessings have you, ungrateful one, been rewarded with.”

“My people, what have I done to you or how have I offended you? He opened the sight of your blind, you cleansed your lepers, you raised a man from his bed. My people, what did I do to you and what did you repay Me: for manna - gall, for water [in the desert] - vinegar, instead of loving Me, you nailed Me to the cross; I will not tolerate you any longer, I will call My peoples, and they will glorify Me with the Father and the Spirit, and I will give them eternal life.”

And now we are standing with lit candles... Where are we in this crowd of people? Who are we? We usually avoid answering this question by placing blame and responsibility on someone else: if only I had been there that night. But alas! Somewhere in the depths of our conscience we know that this is not so. We know that it was not some monsters who hated Christ... in a few strokes the Gospel depicts poor Pilate to us - his fear, his bureaucratic conscience, his cowardly refusal to act according to his conscience. But doesn’t the same thing happen in our life and in the life around us? Isn’t Pilate present in each of us when the time comes to say a decisive no to untruth, evil, hatred, injustice? Who are we?

And then we see the crucifixion: how He was killed with a slow death and how He, without one word of reproach, surrendered to torment. The only words He addressed to the Father about the tormentors were: Father, forgive them - they do not know what they are doing...

And in memory of this hour, when the human heart merged with the suffering heart of the Divine, people bring burning candles with them, trying to bring them home and place them burning in front of their home icons, so that, according to pious tradition, they can consecrate their homes with them.

Crosses are drawn with soot on the door frames and on the window.

And these candles will then be kept and lit at the hour of separation of the soul from the body. Even in modern Moscow on the evening of Maundy Thursday you can see streams of fire from burning candles that Orthodox parishioners carry home from church.

Passion Gospels:

1) John. 13:31 -18:1 (The Savior’s farewell conversation with his disciples and His high priestly prayer for them).

2) John. 18:1-28 . (The capture of the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane and His suffering at the hands of the High Priest Anna).

3) Matt. 26:57-75 . (The Savior’s suffering at the hands of the high priest Caiaphas and the denial of Peter).

4) John. 18:28-40 , 19:1-16 . (The Lord's suffering at Pilate's trial).

5) Matt. 27:3-32 . (The despair of Judas, the new suffering of the Lord under Pilate and His condemnation to crucifixion).

6) Mar. 15:16-32 . (Leading the Lord to Golgotha and His Passion on the Cross).

April 28th is a special day this year - Maundy Thursday. In our Temple in the morning we served Divine Liturgy St. Basil the Great, and in the evening - reading of the 12 Gospels of the Holy Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lent is over. Holy Week is underway - the Holy Days have arrived. Maundy or Maundy Thursday, on this day we remember the established at the Last Supper Jesus Christ, the Sacrament of the Eucharist, during which all believers, under the guise of bread and wine, taste the true Body and Blood Jesus Christ. At the Last Supper, the Lord broke bread and, having blessed it, gave it to the apostles with the words: “This is My Body, which is for you are pre-yet-sya; do this in My honor.” Taking the cup and blessing it, he said: “Drink from it, everyone; For this is My Blood for the remission of sins.”

In the evening we read 12 Passion Gospels. Amazing services. It is no coincidence that they are so concentrated, quiet and unusually strong. These Holy days have been embedded in our lives since childhood. It is so amazing that we no longer just say that we know - yes, God exists, but we empathize and through this we believe and trust in Christ the Son of God.

“I carry a passionate candle from the Gospels, look at the flickering light: it is holy. It’s a quiet night, but I’m very afraid: it will go out! If I bring it, I’ll live until next year. The old cook is glad that I brought it. She washes her hands, takes the holy light, lights our lamp, and we go to burn crosses. We burn it over the kitchen door, then in the cellar, in the barn... It seems to me that Christ is in our yard. And in the barn, and in the stables, and in the cellar, and everywhere. In the black cross from mine candles - Christ has come. And everything we do is for Him. The yard is cleanly swept, and all the corners are cleaned, even under the canopy where there was manure. These days are extraordinary - passionate. Christ's days. Now I'm not afraid of anything: I walk through the dark hallways - and nothing, because Christ is everywhere." ("The Summer of the Lord" by Ivan Shmelev)

On Maundy Thursday in the evening, or, better to say, on the night of Good Friday, a special service is performed according to the rite of Matins with the reading of the 12 Gospels about the Passion of the Lord, alternating with appropriate chants. The 12 readable Gospels set out the entire story of the Lord’s suffering - from the farewell conversation with the disciples at the Last Supper to the removal from the Cross and burial of the Lord’s Body by Joseph and Nicodemus in the presence of the myrrh-bearing women. Let us consider in more detail the content of this service, which takes us to Golgotha.

Jerusalem. Calvary

Matins begins as usual. After the Six Psalms and the Great Litany, “Alleluia” is sung with sweet singing and the troparion “When the Glory of the Disciple” is sung, as on the eve of Great Wednesday. The temple is filled with candles in hands. At the end of the troparion and the small litany, the Lord’s farewell conversation with His disciples is read in full from the Gospel of John: “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him...” Despite the length of the conversation, it is listened to with unflagging attention and tenderness each time as something new. The author of these lines has the happiness and great joy during his 40-year priesthood to read this conversation of the Savior 37 times, and each time with the same tenderness and consolation. We have given a detailed account of the Lord’s farewell conversation elsewhere in our manuscript, and we will not repeat it. Between the first six Gospels, 15 hymns are sung, called antiphons, with three antiphons between Gospels. After every three antiphons, a small ektenia is pronounced and a sedalene is sung. The first antiphon begins with the words: “The princes of mankind gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.” “You have laid the word of transgression upon Me, O Lord, Lord, do not forsake Me.” “Let us present our feelings pure to Christ,” the first antiphon says, “and, as friends, let us sacrifice our souls to Him. Let us not, like Judas, be overwhelmed by the cares of life, but from the depths of our hearts let us pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, deliver us from the evil one!”

“Judas hastens to the lawless scribes. - What will you give me and I will hand Him over to you? In the midst of those conferring, stood invisibly the One about whom they were conferring: O Lord, Knower of the heart, have mercy on our souls!”

“Let us serve God with love, like Mary at the supper, and let us not be lovers of money, like Judas: let us always be with Christ our God!”

“After the resurrection of Lazarus, the Jewish children exclaimed: Hosanna to you! But the lawless Judas did not want to understand this.”

“At the Last Supper You predicted to Your disciples: one of you will betray Me. But the lawless Judas did not want to understand this!

“To John’s question: who will betray you? “You pointed out the traitor with bread, but the lawless Judas did not want to understand this!”

“When you washed the disciples’ feet, you commanded them, O Lord: you too do what you see. But the lawless Judas did not want to understand this!

“Watch and pray so as not to fall into temptation,” You told Your disciples, but the lawless Judas did not want to understand this!

The Second Gospel is also read from John: about the capture of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, about His interrogation by the high priest Anna and about Peter’s threefold denial. The opposite psychology of the two apostles is involuntarily contrasted - the gloomy Judas, frozen in his motionless despair, and the repentant, crying, soft and pure-hearted Peter! On further antiphons, touching chants are sung: “Today Judas leaves the Teacher and accepts the devil, is blinded by the love of money, falls away from the light; and how can he see, having sold the Source of Light for thirty pieces of silver? But, having suffered for the world, shine upon us who cry out to You: you who suffered and have compassion for people, glory to You!”

“Today the Creator of heaven and earth said to His disciples: The hour has come, Judas is coming to betray Me. Let no one deny Me, seeing Me on the Cross between two thieves: I suffer as a man and, as a Lover of Mankind, I will save those who believe in Me!”

“Today the Jews are nailing the Lord to the Cross, who cut the sea with a rod and led them into the desert. Today they pierce His side with a spear, who covered Egypt with plagues for their sake. And they gave the bile to the one who had rained down the manna for them to eat.”

“Going into the free Passion, You said to the disciples: if you could not watch with Me for even one hour, then how can you promise to die for Me? Look at Judas, how he does not sleep, trying to betray Me to the lawless. Stand up, pray, let none of you refuse Me, seeing Me on the Cross.”

In the next sedalna the Church sings: “What reason made you, Judas, a traitor? Have you been excommunicated from the apostolic rank? Or were you deprived of the gift of healing? Or, sharing food with others, you were removed from the meal? Or, while washing the feet of others, you were passed over? How many benefits you forget about! In all this, your ungrateful disposition and the Lord’s immeasurable patience are revealed!”

The third Gospel is read from Matthew - about the trial of the Lord by Caiaphas, about the testimony of false witnesses: about the direct question of the high priest: “I adjure You by the living God, tell us, Are you the Christ, the Son of God?” And about the affirmative answer of the Lord; about the indignation of the high priest, and about the unanimous decision of the Sanhedrin to put Christ to death for blasphemy. Mockery of Christ. Peter's denial.

After the third Gospel, the 7th, 8th and 9th antiphons are sung.

Then the fourth Gospel is read - from John: Christ is led from Caiaphas to Pilate, but they enter the Praetorium so as not to be desecrated in view of the upcoming Easter. Pilate came out to them. Interrogation of Christ by Pilate. Pilate does not find any guilt in Him and wants to release Him according to custom for the sake of the Easter holiday. The Jews demand the release not of Christ, but of Barabbas. Pilate subjects Christ to scourging and abuse. In a desecrated form he brings Him out to the Jews. But they demand the death of Christ even more fiercely. After some resistance, Pilate “gave Him over to them to be crucified.”

Antiphons 10, 11 and 12 are sung, their content corresponding to the Gospel read.

“He who dresses himself in Light, like a robe, stands naked in judgment and receives blows on the cheek from the hands He created. The Lord of Glory is nailed to the Cross. The church veil is torn, the sun is darkening, unable to bear the outrage against God, before Whom everything trembles; let us worship Him!”

“For the good You showed to the Jewish race, they condemned You to crucifixion, and gave You gall and vinegar to drink. But reward them, Lord, according to their deeds, because they did not understand Your condescension.”

“Neither the shaking earth, nor the crumbling stones, nor the church veil, nor the resurrection of the dead convinced the Jews. Reward them, Lord, according to their deeds for the evil they have done.”

“This is what the Lord says to the Jews: My people! What have I done to you? Or how did he offend you? I healed your blind, cleansed your lepers, raised up the weak... My people, what have I done to you? And what did you repay Me with? For manna - bile; for water – otset; Instead of loving Me, they nailed Me to the Cross!.. I can’t stand this anymore - I will call My pagans, and they will glorify Me with the Father and the Spirit, and I will give them eternal life.”

After the sedal, the Fifth Gospel of Matthew is read - about the suicide of Judas and the subsequent trial by Pilate. Intervention of Pilate's wife. Pilate washes his hands. “His blood be on us and on our children!” Departure to the place of execution. After the Gospel, the last antiphons of the 13th, 14th and 15th are sung. “Christ, God’s Power and God’s Wisdom, before Whom everything is terrified and trembles, and Whom every people sings, the priests strike Him on the cheek and give Him gall. And He is ready to suffer everything in order to save us from our iniquities through His Blood.”

“Lord, You have chosen as Your companion a robber whose hands were stained with blood: accept us also according to Your love for mankind!”

“The thief on the Cross said few words, but he acquired great faith, was saved in an instant, and was the first to open the gates of heaven and enter them: Glory to Thee, who accepted His repentance!”

“Today he hangs on a tree, hanging the earth on the waters. The King of Angels is crowned with thorns, the King is clothed in false scarlet, covering the sky with clouds. He accepts the stranglehold that freed Adam in the Jordan. The church groom is nailed down with nails. The Son of the Virgin is pierced by a spear. We worship Your Passion, Christ! (3 times). Show us also Your glorious Resurrection!” After the small ectenia, the sedalene is sung: “You redeemed us from the curse of the law with Your most pure Blood, nailed to the Cross and pierced by a spear, and granted people immortality! Glory to You, our Savior!”

Then the Sixth Gospel of Mark is read. The soldiers' mockery of Christ in Pilate's courtyard and the procession to Golgotha are described. Along the way, the Cross is placed on an oncoming villager, Simon of Cyrene. At Golgotha, the Lord's vestments are divided among the warriors by lot. They give Him wine to drink “esmirnismeno” - mixed with myrrh. “He’s not nice.” On both sides of Him they crucify two thieves and place above Him the inscription of His guilt: “To the King and the Jews.” Passers-by and priests mock Him: “He saved others, but cannot save himself?” “Come down from the Cross, and we will believe You!”

The singing of the antiphons ended. The Beatitudes are sung with stichera. After the small ektenia, instead of the luminary, the prokeimenon is sung: “I have divided My garments for myself, and cast lots for My clothing.” - "God! My God! wonmi mi! Thou hast forsaken Me!” The feeling of being abandoned by God as a consequence of taking upon Himself the full weight of original sin weighed heavily on the soul of the Crucified One.

The Seventh Gospel of Matthew is read. It talks about the arrival of the soldiers with Christ at Golgotha and everything else, as in the previous narrative of Ev. Brand. From the 6th hour to the 9th hour darkness covers the earth. At the 9th hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani.” These words were not clear to everyone. One of the soldiers, having soaked a sponge in vinegar, brought it on a reed to the lips of Jesus. Having cried out loudly again, Jesus gives up the ghost. The church curtain is torn, the earth shakes, the stones fall apart. The coffins are opened - many dead are resurrected and appear to many in the city. The centurion and others with him, seeing what was happening, said: “Truly this man was the Son of God!” The 50th Psalm is read, giving some respite from the difficult Golgotha experiences. After the psalm, the Gospel is read again - the eighth, from Luke, again about the crucifixion. Jesus prays: “Father, let them go! They don’t know what they’re doing!” Again, bullying from the people, soldiers and leaders. One of the robbers also takes part in them, but the other robber holds him back and turns to Jesus in prayer, who promises him paradise along with Himself. Meanwhile, darkness covers the earth from the sixth hour to the ninth. At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out loudly: “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.” And he died. Seeing what was happening, the centurion standing at the Cross said: “Truly this man was a righteous man.” And all the people who had gathered for the spectacle, seeing what was happening, went home, beating their chests. Everyone who knew Him stood there and looked from afar, including the women who accompanied Him from Galilee.

After the Eighth Gospel, the singing of the Trisong begins (i.e., a canon with a reduced number of songs - instead of nine there are only three), compiled by Cosmos of Maium: “To You this morning, who has immutably poured out mercy for Yourself and who has worshiped impassively to the passions, grant me peace to the Word of God, fallen, Lover of Mankind." “Having washed their feet and been cleansed by the communion of Your Divine Sacrament, Your servants, O Christ, ascend with You from Zion to the great Mount of Olives.” “Look, friends,” You told them, do not be afraid: the hour has come for Me to be taken and killed by the hands of the lawless. You will all scatter and leave Me, but I will gather you so that you will preach about My love for mankind.”

Kondak: “Come, let us glorify the Crucified One for our sake!” Seeing Him on the Cross, Maria said: although You endure crucifixion, You are both the Son and My God!”

And to about s: “Seeing Her Lamb being drawn to the slaughter, Maria, letting down her hair, followed Him with other women, exclaiming: where are you going, Child? Why the haste? Does the second marriage take place in Cana of Galilee? And You rush there to turn water into wine? Should I also go with You? Or wait for you? Say a word to Me, do not silently pass by Me, which You have preserved in purity: for You are both the Son and My God!

Song 8: “The divine youths have denounced the pillar of malice against God: but the reeling, lawless congregation advises in vain against Christ, the belly of the one who holds the hand is taught to kill: With it he will bless all creation, glorifying it forever.”

“Drive away sleepiness from your eyes,” Christ said to the disciples, “do not weaken in prayer, lest you fall into temptation, and especially you, Simone! The stronger the greater the temptation! Understand, Peter, Me, Whom all creation blesses and glorifies forever!”

“I will never say a single bad word to You, Lord! “I will die with You, even if everyone turns away from You,” Peter exclaimed. “It was not flesh and blood, but Your Father who revealed You to me, Whom all creation blesses and glorifies forever.”

“You have not fully experienced the depth of divine wisdom and intelligence and have not comprehended the abyss of My destinies, man,” said the Lord. “Being flesh, do not boast: you will deny Me three times, Whom all creation blesses and glorifies forever.”

Song 9: “The most honorable Cherub and the most glorious without comparison the Seraphim, who without corruption gave birth to God the Word, the real Mother of God we magnify Thee.”

After the three-song, the famous luminary is sung, especially revealing the art and feelings of our church singers and especially touching those praying: “Thou hast vouchsafed the prudent thief in one hour to heaven, O Lord: and enlighten me with the tree of the cross and save me!” Listening to the Three Songs and the Lights, we enter into a special depth of feelings and experiences evoked in us by the service of Holy Week.

Every moment of these experiences resonates deeply in our hearts, but does not give rise to in us either a feeling of horror and fear of the coming wrath of God, or a feeling of expectation of a terrible, merciless execution. On the contrary, our heart, overflowing with deep compassion and love, remains filled with deep peace and joy, plunging into the vast abyss of Divine love and condescension for the human race!

After the luminary, the Ninth Gospel (from John) is read. At the Cross of the Lord stood His Mother, and Mary of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene, and the beloved disciple John. The Lord entrusts His Mother to John, and John adopts His Mother as son. And from that day John took the Mother of His Lord into his home. Jesus Christ was thirsty. One of the soldiers, soaking a sponge in vinegar and sticking it on a cane, quenched His thirst. Having said: “It is finished,” the Lord gave up his ghost.

Since it was Friday and Saturday was approaching, which coincided with Easter that year, the Jews, not wanting to leave their bodies on the crosses on such a day, asked Pilate for permission to break the crucified legs and remove their bodies from the crosses. Pilate allowed it. The legs of the robbers who were still alive were broken. But Christ, who had already died, was not broken in the legs, but only one of the soldiers struck Him with a spear, and blood and water flowed from the wound. Thus the prophecies were fulfilled: “A bone will not be broken by Him” and “they will look at Him Whom they pierced.”

After the 9th Gospel, psalms of praise are read and stichera of praise are sung: “My firstborn son Israel did two wicked things: He abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug for himself a worthless well. He crucified me on a tree, but he begged Barabbas and let him go! The sky was horrified at this, and the Sun hid its rays, but you, Israel, were not ashamed and put Me to death: forgive them, Holy Father, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Each member of Your most pure Flesh suffered reproach for us: the head is a thorn; face - spitting; cheeks - strangulation; the lips received bile dissolved in vinegar; ears - wicked blasphemies; shoulders - flagellation; hands - cane; the whole body is prostrate on the cross; hands and feet - nails; ribs - copy. You who suffered for us and freed us from passions, who condescended to us in mercy and exalted us, Almighty Lord, have mercy on us!”

“Seeing You crucified, all creation trembled; The foundations of the earth shook from the fear of Your power... The Jewish race perished, the church veil was torn in two, and the dead rose from their graves... The centurion, seeing the miracle, was horrified; and Your Mother, sobbing loudly, exclaimed: “How can I not weep and be tormented at heart, seeing You naked, like a criminal, hanging on the Cross! Crucified, buried and risen from the dead, Lord, glory to You!

After the stichera, the Tenth Gospel of Mark is read: Joseph of Arimathea dared to go to Pilate and ask for the Body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised that He had already died, and, calling the centurion, learned from him that Christ had indeed died and allowed Joseph to take the Body. Joseph bought a shroud, took the Body from the Cross, wrapped Him in the shroud, and placed Him in a new tomb, carved out of stone, in his garden. And he rolled the stone to the door of the tomb. At the same time, Mary Magdalene and Mary of Joseph (i.e., the Mother of God) were present and watched where they laid Him.

The Great Doxology on this day is not sung, but read. After the petitionary ectenia, the Eleventh Gospel, according to John, is read. According to this Gospel, Joseph, the secret disciple of Christ, “for fear of the Jews,” asks Pilate for the Body and Sou. Pilate gives permission to take it. Nicodemus also came and brought with him aromas. They took the Body of Jesus and wrapped it in clothes with aromas, as is customary among the Jews. In that place there was a garden, and in the garden there was a new coffin in which no one had yet been laid. There, for the sake of Jewish Friday, since the tomb was close, they laid Jesus.

After the Gospel, verse stichera are sung: “The whole creation changes with fear, seeing You hanging on the Cross: the sun has darkened, the foundations of the earth have shaken, everything has compassion for the Creator of everything; You who endured everything for us, glory to You!”

“Lord, when You ascended the Cross, fear and trembling gripped all creation; You forbade the earth to swallow up those who crucified You, but you commanded hell to release the prisoners, Judge of the living and the dead, who came to renew people, to give them life and not death - Lover of mankind, glory to You!

“The reed for judgment is already being wetted; Jesus is tried by unrighteous judges and condemned to the Cross; all creation suffers, seeing the Lord on the Cross. But, having accepted our bodily nature and suffering for my sake, good Lord, glory to Thee!”

The Twelfth Gospel according to Matthew is read. “On the morning of the next day, after Friday, the bishops and Pharisees gathered to Pilate and said: we remembered that this deceiver promised to rise on the third day. Order that the tomb be guarded until the third day, so that His disciples, coming at night, do not steal the Body and tell people that He has risen from the dead and the last deception will be worse than the first. Pilate answered: You have a guard - go, guard as best you can. They went, sealed the coffin and set a guard!” After the reading of the Trisagion, the troparion of the day is sung: “You redeemed us from the curse of the law with Your Most Pure Blood, nailed to the Cross and pierced by a spear, and granted people immortality, glory to You!” Then follows the usual end of Matins, without the first hour, which is transferred to the next morning.

The service of the 12 Gospels is of central importance in the worship of the entire Holy Week. It describes and remembers all the amazing events of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday night and Good Friday.

A series of great events pass before us: the Last Supper, the washing of feet, the institution of the Sacrament of Communion, prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, taking into custody and the whole painful night of interrogations, bullying, abuse and beatings inflicted on the Lord, Peter’s denial, condemnation of the Lord to death, confirmation of the sentence Pilate, the procession to Golgotha, the crucifixion and death of the Lord, the burial of His Body in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea, the sealing of the grave and its protection by guards. Liturgical chants almost do not touch the dogmatic meaning of Golgotha, do not give its dogmatic interpretation, but it is clearly felt by the believer and with a loving heart. There is no talk of the wrath of God, no fear of the punishing hand of God. One feels only the sacrifice of boundless love for humanity, and, moreover, the love not only of the Suffering Son of God, but also of God the Father who sent this suffering. “God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). This is what Evnagelia says, this is what the service of Holy Week says, even in its most sorrowful and shocking moments. This is the Orthodox perception of Golgotha.

“My soul, my soul, arise!” Open your eyes and rise from the bed of hell; decide to serve the living God and the truth, as you have hitherto served as an idol of the passions; and everything else is already ready for your salvation. The Gospel is ready to admonish you in all cases of life; the precious garment of Christ's merits is ready to cover your spiritual nakedness; The Body and Blood of the Son of God is ready to satisfy your hunger; The oil and balm are ready to heal your wounds; the almighty grace of the Holy Spirit is ready to strengthen your weak strength; Gogov is the very crown to crown your small deeds. “Rise up, may Christ God have mercy on you.” Do you hear how He speaks with the voice of the Gospel from His heavenly supper: “And there is still room” (Luke 15:22). This is the place for you and me, my soul! Let us hasten to become worthy of it, before midnight comes, before the doors of the palace are shut, and before the oil in the lamp of our life goes out! Amen.

Innokenty, apxep. Kherson

The text of the Gospel readings is given in the synodal translation for a better understanding of the service and is provided with detailed patristic and theological exegetical interpretations, which will help you better understand the meaning and significance of the Sequence of the Holy and Saving Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, also called the service of the “Twelve Gospels of the Holy Passion of Christ.”

During Great Lent on Holy Week, on the evening of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday Matins, or the service of the 12 Gospels, as this service is usually called, is celebrated. This entire service is dedicated to the reverent remembrance of the saving suffering and death on the cross of the God-Man. Every hour of this day there is a new deed of the Savior, and the echo of these deeds is heard in every word of the service.

In it, the Church reveals to believers the full picture of the Lord’s suffering, starting from the bloody sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane to the Calvary crucifixion. The Passion Gospels are a sequence of passages selected from all the Evangelists and divided into twelve readings, according to the number of hours of the night, which indicates that believers should spend the whole night listening to the Gospels, like the apostles who accompanied their Teacher the Lord to the Garden of Gethsemane. Taking us mentally through past centuries, the Church, as it were, brings us to the very foot of the cross of Christ and makes us reverent spectators of all the torment of the Savior. Believers listen to the Gospel stories with lighted candles in their hands, lighting them before reading each Gospel text, and after each reading through the mouths of the singers they thank the Lord with the words: “Glory to Your long-suffering, Lord!” After each reading of the Gospel, the bell is struck accordingly. John Chrysostom already mentions the reading of the Passion Gospels on this day.

Order of the Passion Gospels

John 13:31-18:1 (Farewell conversation of the Savior with the disciples and His high priestly prayer for them).
John 18:1-28 (The capture of the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane and His suffering at the hands of the High Priest Anna).
Matt. 26:57-75 (The Savior’s suffering at the hands of the high priest Caiaphas and the denial of Peter).
John 18:28-40, 19:1-16 (The Lord's suffering at Pilate's trial).
Matt. 27:3-32 (The despair of Judas, the new suffering of the Lord under Pilate and His condemnation to crucifixion).
Mar. 15:16-32 (Leading the Lord to Golgotha and His Passion on the Cross).
Matt. 27:34-54 (Continuation of the story of the Lord’s suffering on the cross, the miraculous signs that accompanied His death).
Onion. 23:32-49 (Prayer of the Savior on the Cross for enemies and repentance of a prudent thief).
John 19:25-37 (The Savior’s words from the cross to the Mother of God and the Apostle John and repetition of the legend about His death and perforation).
Mar. 15:43-47 (Removal of the Lord's body from the Cross).
John 19:38-42 (Participation of Nicodemus and Joseph in the burial of the Savior).
Matt. 27:62-66 (Attaching guards to the tomb of the Savior and sealing the tomb).

We see that this reading is compiled from the texts of all four evangelists. The chants of 15 antiphons in the intervals between readings only complement and explain the course of the Gospel events. The entire service, except the Gospel readings, is sung as a sign of great spiritual triumph. The Gospel readings were chosen to highlight the suffering of the Savior from different angles and to present their successive stages.

“Before us passes a picture of what happened to the Savior out of love for us; He could have avoided all this if only he had retreated, if only he had wanted to save Himself and not complete the work for which He came!.. Of course, then He would not have been Who He really was; He would not be Divine love incarnate, He would not be our Savior; but at what price does love cost!

Christ spends one terrible night face to face with coming death; and He fights this death, which comes at Him inexorably, just as a man fights before death. But usually a person simply dies helplessly; something more tragic was happening here.

Christ had previously said to his disciples: No one takes life from me - I give it freely... And so He freely, but with what horror, gave it away... The first time He prayed to the Father: Father! If this can pass me by, yes, a blowjob!.. and I fought. And the second time He prayed: Father! If this cup cannot pass Me by, let it be... And only the third time, after a new struggle, He could say: Thy will be done...

We must think about this: it always - or often - seems to us that it was easy for Him to give His life, being God who became man: but He, our Savior, Christ, dies as a Man: not by His immortal Divinity, but by His humanity , a living, truly human body...

This is what we must learn: in the face of persecution, in the face of humiliation, in the face of insults - in the face of a thousand things that are far, far removed from the very thought of death, we must look at the person who offends us, humiliates us, wants to destroy us, and turn around soul to God and say: Father, forgive them: they don’t know what they are doing, they don’t understand the meaning of things...”

“But before showing Christ bloodied, naked, crucified and buried, which we see in the rite of the removal and burial of the Shroud, the Holy Church shows us the image of the God-man in all His greatness and beauty. Believers must know Who is being sacrificed, Who will endure “spitting, and beating, and strangulation, and the cross, and death”: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him...(John 13:31). To comprehend the depth of Christ’s humiliation, one must understand, as far as this is possible for a mortal man, His height and His Divinity. The First Gospel of the Holy Passion is therefore, as it were, a verbal icon of God the Word reclining at the “Easter of the Crucifixion” and ready to die. Seeing the immeasurable humiliation of her Lord and Savior, the Church at the same time beholds His glory.”

1st. In., 46 credits, 13, 31 - 17, 1
Gospel of John
Chapter 13

When he went out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.”

If God was glorified in Him, then God will glorify Him in Himself, and will soon glorify Him.

Children! I won't be with you for long. You will seek Me, and just as I told the Jews that where I go you cannot come, so I tell you now.

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, let you also love one another.

By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Simon Peter said to Him: Lord! where are you going? Jesus answered him: Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but later you will follow Me.

Peter said to Him: Lord! Why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my soul for You.

Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for Me?” Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied Me three times.

Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, and believe in Me.

In My Father's house there are many mansions. But if it were not so, I would have told you: I am going to prepare a place for you.

And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be.

And where I am going, you know, and you know the way.

Thomas said to Him: Lord! we don’t know where you’re going; and how can we know the way?

Jesus said to him: I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

If you knew Me, you would also know My Father. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him.

Philip said to Him: Lord! show us the Father, and it is enough for us.

Jesus said to him: I have been with you so long, and you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, show us the Father?

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; The Father abiding in Me, He does the works.

Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; but if not so, then believe Me by the very works.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me will do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do, because I go to My Father.

And if you ask the Father anything in My name, I will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

If you love Me, keep My commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may be with you forever,

the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; and you know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you orphans; I'll come to you.

A little more and the world will no longer see Me; and you will see Me, for I live, and you will live.

On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

He who has My commandments and keeps them, he loves Me; and whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and appear to him Myself.

Judas - not Iscariot - says to Him: Lord! What is it that You want to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?

Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves Me will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him.

He who does not love Me does not keep My words; The word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father who sent Me.

I told you these things while I was with you.

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I have told you.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

You have heard that I said to you: I am leaving you and will come to you. If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I said: I am going to the Father; for My Father is greater than Me.

And behold, I told you about it before it happened, so that you might believe when it happens.

It’s not long for me to talk to you; For the prince of this world comes and has nothing in Me.

But so that the world may know that I love the Father and, as the Father commanded Me, so I do: get up, let’s go from here.

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

Every branch of Me that does not bear fruit He cuts off; and every one that bears fruit he cleanses, that it may bear more fruit.

You have already been cleansed through the word that I preached to you.

Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it is in the vine, so neither can you unless you are in Me.

I am the vine, and you are the branches; He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Whoever does not abide in Me will be cast out like a branch and wither; and such branches are collected and thrown into the fire, and they burn.

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

By this My Father will be glorified, if you bear much fruit and become My disciples.

As the Father has loved Me, I have loved you; abide in My love.

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

I have spoken these things to you, so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

You are My friends if you do what I command you.

I no longer call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have told you everything that I have heard from My Father.

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you.

I command you this, that you love one another.

If the world hates you, know that it hated Me first.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own; But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you: a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you too; If they have kept my word, they will also keep yours.

But they will do all these things to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

He who hates Me also hates My Father.

If I had not done among them works that no one else had done, they would not have had sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.

But let the word that is written in their law be fulfilled: They have hated Me without cause.

When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me;

and you also will testify, because you were with Me from the beginning.

I told you these things so that you would not be tempted.

They will drive you out of the synagogues; the time even comes when everyone who kills you will think that he is serving God.

They will do this because they have not known either the Father or Me.

But I told you this so that when that time comes, you will remember what I told you about this; I didn’t tell you this at first, because I was with you.

And now I go to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me: Where are you going?

But because I told you this, your heart was filled with sorrow.

But I tell you the truth: it is better for you that I go; for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you; and if I go, I will send Him to you,

and He, having come, will convict the world about sin and about righteousness and about judgment:

about sin, that they do not believe in Me;

about the truth that I go to My Father, and you will no longer see Me;

about judgment, that the prince of this world is condemned.

I still have a lot to tell you; but now you cannot contain it.

When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth: for He will not speak from Himself, but He will speak whatever He hears, and He will tell you the future.

He will glorify Me, because He will take of Mine and proclaim it to you.

All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that he will take from Mine and tell it to you.

Soon you will not see Me, and again soon you will see Me, for I am going to the Father.

Then some of His disciples said to one another, “What is it that He says to us: Soon you will not see Me, and again soon you will see Me, and: I am going to the Father?”

So they said: What does He say: “soon”? We don't know what he says.

Jesus, realizing that they wanted to ask Him, said to them: Are you asking one another about this, that I said: A little while later you will not see Me, and again a short time later you will see Me?

Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

When a woman gives birth, she suffers sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to a baby, she no longer remembers the sorrow for joy, because a man was born into the world.

So now you also have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you;

and on that day you will not ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you.

Until now you have asked nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

Hitherto I have spoken to you in parables; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in parables, but will tell you directly about the Father.

In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you:

for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and believed that I came from God.

I came from the Father and came into the world; and again I leave the world and go to the Father.

His disciples said to Him: Behold, now You speak plainly, and do not speak any parables.

Now we see that You know everything and have no need for anyone to question You. Therefore we believe that You came from God.

Jesus answered them: Do you believe now?

Behold, the hour is coming, and has already come, that you will scatter, each in his own direction, and leave Me alone; but I am not alone, for the Father is with Me.

I have spoken these things to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but take heart: I have overcome the world.

After these words, Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and said: Father! the hour has come, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also will glorify You.

(…) First Gospel begins with the words of the Savior about His glorification: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. This glory, like a kind of light-like cloud, envelops the exalted Cross now standing before us. Like once Mount Sinai and the ancient tabernacle, it surrounds Golgotha. And the stronger the sorrow that the gospel story tells about, the stronger the glorification of Christ sounds in hymns.

The essence of God is love, therefore it is glorified even in the suffering of the Savior. The glory of love is its sacrifice. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends(In. 15 , 13). Christ lays down His soul for His friends and calls them: You are my friends(In. 15 , 14). The Lord brought people complete knowledge. The fullness of the Divine living in Him bodily through the unity of those who love in Him reveals knowledge about the most important and valuable thing - about God. Loving friend friends in Christ receive a revelation of the essence of God. For, abiding in Christ's love, they thereby abide in the Trinitarian Godhead. He who loves Me will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him(In. 14 , 23). With the coming of the Father the Holy Spirit is sent down, which comes from the Father and testifies of the Son (cf.: Jn. 15 , 26).

However, it is impossible to love when you are alone. Therefore, the image of God is reflected in human society - in the Church of Christ. The hymns call us to common prayer and to the general glorification of the Lord in order to perceive together “the Holy Passover, which is sacred in us”: “Let us hear all the faithful, convening with high preaching, the uncreated and natural wisdom of God, crying out: taste and understand, as Christ I, cry: gloriously glorified is Christ our God.” (TP. L. 424). “Christ established the world, Heavenly and Divine Bread. Come, lovers of Christ, with mortal lips and pure hearts, let us faithfully celebrate Easter, which is celebrated in us” (TP. L. 423).

So, the unity of God is reflected in the unity of the Church, and vice versa. Jesus Christ prays for him in His bishop’s prayer: That they all may be one: as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us; and the world also has faith, because You sent Me. And I have given the glory to Me, I have given it to them, that they may be one, as We are one. I am in them, and You are in Me: that they may be perfect in one, and that the world may understand that You sent Me and loved them as You loved Me.(In. 17 , 21–23). What meaning does the Church give to the reading of this Gospel? This text leads us to recognize the internal connection of the teaching about the personality of Christ as the God-man, about the Church as the body of the God-man and about the nature of the Divinity as the consubstantial (omousia) of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In addition, the above prayer is a prayer for salvation, for to abide in the Father and the Son means to be saved.

Emphasizing the importance of the Gospels being read and the entire service of Holy Week, church hymns encourage us to be especially attentive and focused, leaving at least for a while cares of life: “Let us present our pure feelings to Christ, and as His friends, let us devour our souls for His sake, and not be oppressed by the cares of this world, like Judas, but in our cages let us cry out: Our Father, who is in heaven, deliver us from the evil one” (TP. L. 436).

Prompting us to special attention, The Holy Church again in her hymns glorifies the wife who anointed the Lord with myrrh, and cites as an example the betrayal of the wicked money-lover Judas, reminding us that the root of all evil is the love of money(1 Tim. 6 , 10): “Let us serve the mercy of God, like Mary at the supper, and not acquire the love of money, like Judas: that we may always be with Christ our God.

With thirty pieces of silver, Lord, and with a flattering kiss, I ask the Jews to kill Thee. But the lawless Judas did not want to understand” (TP. L. 436).

In the following antiphons, the lesson of humility is again heard, the washing of the Savior’s feet is again recalled: “In Thy washing, O Christ God, Thou hast commanded Thy disciples: do this very thing as thou seest. But the lawless Judas did not want to understand” (TP. L. 437). Further, the need to stay awake is again spoken of: “Watch and pray, so that you do not fall into misfortune, as you said to your disciple, Christ our God. But the lawless Judas did not want to understand” (TP. L. 437), since in the next Gospel we will read about the treacherous taking of the Savior into custody. The topic of spiritual wakefulness is very important. Directly these words of the Savior are addressed to His disciples, but through them - to all Christians. Since Peter turned out to be too bold in his words, as well as the other disciples, Christ exposes their instability as people who spoke rashly, and especially turns his speech to Peter, saying that it will be difficult to remain faithful to the Lord for those who could not stay awake for even one hour . But, having denounced him, he again calms them down, because they dozed off not out of inattention to Him, but out of weakness. And if we see our weakness, we will pray so as not to fall into temptation. All Christians are called to this constant spiritual vigilance; without this constant bearing of their Cross there can be no salvation, for Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God(Acts 14 , 22). That’s why we hear again: “Having laid down thirty pieces of silver, the price of the One Who was Priced, He was valued by the children of Israel. Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak: for this reason, watch” (TP. L. 439).

But the reading of the second Passion Gospel, which tells about the taking of the Savior into custody, is approaching. The solemn procession of ancient Christians spending Holy Week in the Holy Land was at that moment approaching the Garden of Gethsemane, where the betrayal took place. Therefore, in order to remind those praying that the Lord suffers for our sake and that everything happened according to God’s ineffable Providence, the Holy Church sings: “At the supper the disciples fed, and knew the pretense of tradition; at it you exposed Judas, for you knew that this was uncorrected: know that Although you have given yourself over to everyone by your will, you may snatch the world away from the alien: long-suffering, glory to You” (TP. L. 437).

Priest Gennady Orlov. Hymns of Holy Week.

This wonderfully touching conversation of the Lord with the disciples is given in full only by one fourth evangelist, St. John, a short excerpt from it is given by St. Luke, and the first two evangelists speak only about the Lord’s prediction of Peter’s denial and about the meeting with the disciples after the resurrection in Galilee. This entire speech is extremely lengthy and takes up several chapters. Together with the so-called following it. With the “High Sacred Prayer” of the Lord, it is read in its entirety during divine services on the evening of Maundy Thursday as the first Gospel of the Holy Passion.

According to St. The Lord Jesus Christ began this conversation with John immediately after Judas left with the words: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him... We must assume, however, that this conversation was begun by the Lord with these words not only after the departure of Judas, but also after the Lord established the sacrament of Communion, about which St. John is silent, as only completing the narratives of the first three Evangelists. Having taught His Body and Blood to the disciples and seeing the mystery of redemption as if it had already been accomplished, since if He had already been sacrificed and victory had been achieved over all hostile forces, the Lord exclaimed these victorious words: Now is the Son of Man glorified..."Now", i.e. on this mysterious and terrible night came the glorification of the Son of Man, which at the same time is the glorification of God the Father, who was pleased to give His Only Begotten Son as a sacrifice for the salvation of people, and this earthly glorification of His Son is the beginning of His future heavenly glorification as the conqueror of death and hell. Wanting to lead His disciples out of that depressed mood of spirit in which they were influenced by the thought of the betrayal of one of them, the Lord turns their thoughts to His Divine glory, which will be revealed both in His upcoming suffering and in His resurrection and ascension to heaven. “Soon he will glorify”, i.e. His humiliation will not last long, but His visible glorification will soon begin. Children, I haven’t been with you much yet- “children” or “little children” - this extremely unclear address of the Lord to the disciples is not found anywhere else in the Gospel: it resulted from a deep feeling of impending separation under such difficult and tempting circumstances for their faith. As I spoke before to the Jews, so now I say to you that I am leaving you on a path in which you cannot now follow Me. Leaving you in peace to continue My work, I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as you have loved... Out of love for people, I lay down My life for them and you should imitate Me in this. The commandment to love one’s neighbors was also given in the Law of Moses, but Christ gave this commandment a new character, unknown before - about love even for one’s enemies, even to the point of self-sacrifice in the Name of Christ. Such pure, unselfish and selfless love is a sign of true Christianity. St. Peter then asks a question full of fear and sadness: Lord, where are you going? The Lord confirms to him that now he cannot follow Him, but immediately predicts to him that in the future he will follow Him along the same path of martyrdom. What follows is the prediction of Peter’s threefold renunciation, which is narrated by all four Evangelists. Warning Peter against arrogance, when he began to assure that he would lay down his soul for the Lord, the Lord, according to St. Luke said to him: Simone, Simone, behold, Satan asks you to sow you like wheat...

It is characteristic that the Lord here calls him not Peter, but Simon, for by denying the Lord, Peter showed that he had ceased to be a “stone.” By this “sowing” we mean the temptation from Satan, to which the Apostles were actually subjected during the hours of suffering of their Divine Teacher, when their faith in Him was ready to be shaken. This request of Satan is reminiscent of his request regarding Job the Long-Suffering, whom the Lord allowed to be subjected to such a grave temptation. With His all-powerful prayer, the Lord protected His disciples, and especially Peter, from complete fall; He allowed Peter to fall temporarily, so that he would be stronger and firmer later and thereby strengthen his brothers. Prayed for you- although danger from Satan threatened everyone, the Lord prayed especially for Peter, for he, as the more ardent and decisive one, faced the greatest danger. Once you have turned, strengthen your brethren- this indicates that Peter, having repented after his denial of Christ, will be for everyone a model of true repentance and an example of firmness. To this, Peter, in all four Evangelists, begins to assure the Lord of his unshakable loyalty to Him, of his readiness to follow him into prison and to death. How, however, was Peter’s denial possible if the Lord prayed for him so that his faith would not fail? But Peter’s faith did not diminish: he denied in a fit of cowardly fear and immediately, as we see, surrendered to the deepest repentance. According to all four evangelists, Christ predicts to Peter that he will deny Him on the coming night three times before the rooster crows, and according to Mark, before the rooster crows twice. This great accuracy of St. Mark is explained, of course, by the fact that he wrote his Gospel under the leadership of the Apostle Peter himself. The first rooster crow occurs around midnight, the second - before morning; therefore, the meaning of this is that even before morning comes, Peter will deny his Teacher and Lord three times. Apparently, the Lord predicted Peter’s denial twice: the first time at the evening, as St. Luke and St. John, and the second time - after leaving the supper, on the road to Gethsemane, as reported by St. Matthew and St. Mark. To the prediction of Peter's denial, according to St. Luke, the Lord added a prediction about what kind of need and struggle awaited His disciples in the future. When you were sent without a vagina, and without fur, and without boots, did you eat anything faster?... - just as before the apostles did not need to worry about anything, for they everywhere found food and everything they needed while they walked and preached during the life of the Lord in Judea and Samaria, so now other times are coming when the anger of people against their Teacher will spread and on them. All further speech of the Lord about taking the vagina and fur and buying a knife (or sword), of course, must be understood not in a literal sense, but in a symbolic one. The Lord simply warns them that an extremely difficult period of life is coming for them, and they must prepare for it themselves, that hunger, thirst, disasters, and enmity from people await them; if their Teacher Himself is considered a villain in the eyes of these people, then what good can they expect? The apostles, out of naivety, understood everything that the Lord said literally, and say: there are two knives here. Seeing that they did not understand Him, the Lord stopped this conversation with the words: enough to eat.

Let not your heart be troubled- the thought of the Lord’s imminent departure from them should not confuse the disciples, because this departure is only a means of bringing them into constant, already eternal communion with Him: the Lord promises them, when the time comes for that, to take them to Himself in the eternal abodes of His Father Heavenly. Still clouded by false ideas about the earthly kingdom of the Messiah, the disciples do not understand these words of the Lord, and therefore Thomas says: Lord, we don’t know where you are going... In the answer, the Lord explains that He Himself is the path by which they must go to the Father in order to settle in the eternal abodes awaiting them. No one will come to the Father except Me- since Christ is the Redeemer and only through faith in the work of redemption of mankind accomplished by Him is salvation possible. If they knew Me more quickly, then they knew My Father more quickly, - for in Christ is the full revelation of God, as He previously said to the Jews: Az and the Father are one (John 10:30). And the disciples of the Lord, knowing Christ, should also know the Father. True, they did not know Christ well, but they gradually approached this knowledge, which the Lord gave them especially at the Last Supper through the washing of their feet, the communion of His Body and Blood, and through His edifying conversations. Similar in character to Thomas and just like him, distinguished by rationality, Philip then said to the Lord: “Show us the Father, and it will be sufficient for us,” meaning, of course, by this a sensory vision, which, for example, the prophets were awarded. The Lord expresses, as it were, regret for Philip’s lack of understanding and inspires in him the uselessness of his request, since in Him - through His deeds, through His teaching, through His very God-human personality - they should have known the Father long ago. Continuing to further console the disciples, the Lord promises to endow them with the power of miracles, fulfilling everything that they ask of Him in prayer: prayer in the Name of the Lord the Redeemer will work miracles. Provided that the disciples, loving the Lord, will keep His commandments, the Lord promises to send them a Comforter who will abide with them forever, the Spirit of Truth, who will, as it were, replace the name of Christ and thanks to whom they will have constant mysterious communication with Christ. The “world” as the totality of those who do not believe in the Lord and people hostile to Him, alien in everything and contrary to the Comforter Spirit, cannot accept Him, but He remained with the Apostles thanks to their communication with the Lord during His earthly life, and He will remain in them to remain with them forever, when it comes upon them on the day of Pentecost. “I will not leave you, orphans: I will come to you,” both visibly after the resurrection and mysteriously through spiritual communication in the sacrament of communion, through the mediation of the Holy Spirit. “And you will live” in unity with Me, as the source of eternal life, while the world, spiritually dead, will not see the Lord. "On that day", i.e. on the day of Pentecost, “you will understand that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you,” you will understand the essence of spiritual communion with God in Christ. The condition for this communion with God is love for the Lord and keeping His commandments. Judas, not Iscariot, called Levway or Thaddeus, who apparently did not part with the favorite thought of the Jews about the sensory kingdom of the Messiah, understanding the words of the Lord in the literal sense that He would appear in a sensory-corporeal form to those who love Him and keep His commandments, expressed bewilderment why The Lord wants to appear only to them, and not to the whole world, as the founder of the glorious worldwide kingdom of the Messiah. The Lord explains that He speaks about His mysterious spiritual manifestation to His followers, repeating the previous thought about the need for this to love Him and fulfill His commandments. The world, which does not love Him and does not fulfill His commandments, is incapable of such spiritual communication with the Lord. The commandments of Christ are at the same time the commandments of the Father. All this may now be unclear to the disciples, but when the Comforter comes, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in the name of Christ, He will instruct the Apostles - He will teach them everything and remind them of everything that Christ taught them: He will reveal to them the secret of spiritual life, life in Christ.

At the end of the Easter supper, the head of the family said to those present: “Peace be with you,” and then the supper concluded with the singing of psalms. The Lord, intending to leave the Easter room and having in mind that he would soon depart from His disciples, following custom, also taught them peace, but upper world, in comparison with what the world usually gives, lying in evil: “my peace I give to you” - this is a peace that perfectly balances all the forces of the human spirit, brings complete harmony to the inner mood of a person, calms all confusion and indignation, this is the one precisely the peace that the Angels sang about on Christmas night. Therefore, the Apostles should not be embarrassed or afraid of anything.

The supper is over. The time was coming to leave the Zion upper room where it took place. Outside there was the darkness of the unknown, the fear of separation from Christ and helplessness in a hostile world. Therefore, Christ again consoles the disciples with the promise to come to them and says that they should rejoice in the fact that He is going to the Father, “for My Father is in pain” - more, of course, as the First Cause (the Son, being born from the Father, borrows from Him His being), more like God, in comparison with Christ - the God-man. Everything must happen, according to what is written, just as the Lord warned the disciples before: through the fulfillment of what was predicted, the disciples will be convinced of the truth of Christ’s words. “To whom I speak a little with you,” only a few hours remained until the moment when Judas and the soldiers were to take the Lord. The Lord with His spiritual gaze sees the approach of His enemy “the prince of this world” - Satan in the person of Judas with the spira and in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the devil attacked the Lord, tempting Him with the fear of torment and the hour of death - the last attempt to deviate the Lord from His redemptive work. feat for the salvation of humanity. The Lord says at the same time that the devil is in Him have nothing to do with, i.e., due to the sinlessness of Christ, he cannot find anything in Him over which he could dominate. This is proof of the Lord’s complete moral freedom, with which He, solely out of His love, gives His life for the salvation of the world, to fulfill the will of the Father. Get up, let's get out of here- let's go to meet the approaching enemy, the prince of this world in the person of Judas the traitor.

Many interpreters are inclined to believe that after these words one should read the words of ev. Matthew, coinciding with the same words of St. Brand: and singing, she went up to the Mount of Olives Then the Lord talks about himself as a vine. On the road to the Mount of Olives and on its slopes there were many vineyards, looking at which the Lord used this visual and living image.

It is believed that by passing through the vineyards and pointing to the grapes to the Apostles, the Lord borrows from the vine an image of the spiritual relationship between Him and those who believe in Him: I am the true vine, and My Father is the worker. The Father is a vinedresser, as the owner of the grapes, cultivating them himself and through others: He sent down His Son to the earth, planting Him like a fruitful Vine, so that the wild and barren branches of humanity, merging with this Vine, would receive new juices from Him and themselves would become fruitful. Branches that do not bear fruit are cut off: those who do not prove faith by their deeds are cast out from the community of believers, sometimes even in this life, and finally on the day of Judgment; those who believe and bear fruit are cleansed by the power and action of the Holy Spirit, by temptations various kinds and suffering, in order to further improve in moral life. The apostles of Christ have already purified themselves by listening to the teaching of the Lord, but in order to maintain and perfect this purity, they must constantly take care to be one with Christ. Only those who are in constant spiritual communion with Christ can bear the fruits of Christian perfection. Without Me you can't do anything. Branches that bear no fruit are collected and thrown into the fire, and they burn. The time when the Lord said this was the time of clearing the vineyards and, perhaps, before the eyes of the Lord and the disciples there were fires on which dry branches were burning grape vines. It was an expressive image of spiritually withered people who future life the fire of Gehenna is prepared. Further, the Lord promises the disciples that if they remain in constant spiritual communion with Him, all their prayers, of course, in accordance with the will of God, will be fulfilled. But for this they need to constantly abide in the love of Christ and fulfill His commandments. The expression of the disciples’ stay in the love of Christ is their mutual love for each other, which should extend to the readiness to give their lives for their neighbor. You are my friends, and if you do, I command you- mutual love between students makes them friends with each other, and since the union of this mutual love them in Christ, who loved them with the same love, then they, becoming friends of each other, become friends of Christ. Because of this love, the Lord revealed to them the whole will of God: this is proof that they are not slaves, but friends of Christ. Having fully depicted His love for the Apostles, which was reflected in the fact that He chose them for great service, the Lord ends this entire part of His conversation (John 15:12-17) again with an admonition: I command you this, that you love one another. Further, the Lord (John 15, 18-27 and 16, 1-3) warns the disciples at length about the persecution that awaits them from the world hostile to Christ. They should not be embarrassed by this hatred of the world, knowing that their Divine Teacher was the first to be subjected to this hatred: this hatred is understandable, because the Lord singled out disciples from a world that loves only what belongs to it, which corresponds to its spirit of all sin, malice and wickedness . When persecuted by the world, disciples must console themselves with the thought that they are no greater than their Lord and Teacher. However, the Sin of the world is inexcusable, since the Son of God Himself came to it preaching repentance, and the world, seeing His glorious deeds, did not repent, but also hated Him: to hate the Son means to hate the Father. Encouraging the disciples in the sorrows awaiting them, the Lord again reminds them of the impending sending down to them of the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, who through the Apostles will testify to the world about Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ will send the Comforter, according to the right of His redemptive merits, but He will send not from Himself, but from the Father, for the eternal origin of the Holy Spirit is not from the Son, but from the Father: who comes from the Father(John 15, 26). This verse completely refutes the false teaching of the Roman Catholics about the procession of the Holy Spirit not only from the Father, but also from the Son. Further, the Lord predicts that the Apostles will testify about Him in the world, as those who saw His glory and were the first to receive His grace and truth.

All this verbs to you, do not be tempted, that is, so that your faith will not be shaken in the persecution awaiting you. These persecutions will go so far that they will excommunicate you from the synagogues and even consider it a godly act to kill you. Jewish fanaticism has indeed reached such a degree of blindness. The Jews were convinced that “he who sheds the blood of the wicked does the same as he who makes a sacrifice.” So St. fell victim to this fanaticism. First Martyr Stephen. The persecutor Saul, who later became ap. Paul, also thought that by participating in the murder of Christians, he was doing what was pleasing to God (Acts 8:1; 22:20; 26:9-11; Gal. 1:13-14). Apparently, from these words of Christ, the disciples were plunged into such deep sadness that the Lord, to console them, began to explain to them how important His departure was for them and for the whole world, for only in this case would the Comforter come to them, who would convict the world about sin, about truth and justice. “Reprove” is used here in the sense: will bring out, bring to consciousness wrongness, crime, sin(cf. John 3:20; 8:9; 8:46; 1 Cor. 14:24; Tit. 1:9; Matt. 18:15; Luke 3:19). This conviction is the same as a moral judgment of the world. The consequence of this judgment can be one of two things: either turning to Christ through repentance, or complete spiritual blindness and bitterness (Acts 24:25; Rom. 11:7). This conviction of the world by the Holy Spirit must be accomplished through the preaching of the Apostles and their successors and all believers in general who have received the Holy Spirit into themselves and become His organs. The first subject of reproof is the sin of unbelief in the Lord as the Messiah, the most significant and most serious sin, for it rejects the Redeemer and Savior of mankind; the second subject - “about righteousness, as I go to My Father” - that Christ really is the Son of God, whose righteousness, completely different from the imaginary righteousness of the Pharisees, is witnessed by God by the fact that He has seated Him at His right hand (Eph. 2:6 ). The third subject is the judgment of the prince of this world - the devil, to which judgment and condemnation all unrepentant and hardened like the devil are subject. Thus, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles will win a great moral victory over this world, lying in evil, although it will persecute and persecute them. This prophecy of the Lord was fulfilled when the formerly timid and fearful disciples, who fled into different sides when the Lord was taken and those who sat afterwards fear for the sake of the Jews in a locked upper room, after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, they courageously and undauntedly preached about Christ in front of thousands of crowds of people, testified about Him all over the world and were no longer afraid of anything, even being known before the kings and lords of the world(Matt. 10:18).

“The imam still has many words to say to you, but you cannot bear it now” - here the Lord tells the disciples that until they are illuminated by the grace of the Holy Spirit, they are unable to properly understand and assimilate everything that He has to tell them, but the Holy Spirit, when he comes, “instructs them to all truth,” i.e. will guide them into areas that are difficult for them to comprehend now Christian truth. All these revelations of the Holy Spirit will be drawn from the same source of Divine wisdom as the teaching of Jesus Christ: He will speak, like Christ, what he “heard from the Father” (John 3:32; 5:30; 12:49 -50), as from the Primary Source of Divine truth. By these actions of the Holy Spirit Christ will be glorified, because He will teach the same things that Christ taught and thus, as it were, will justify the whole work of Christ in the world. “He will receive from Mine,” because the Son and the Father are one, and everything that the Spirit says belongs equally to both the Father and the Son. In the distance, and whoever you don’t see Me- The Lord again turns to the thought of His departure from the disciples, but immediately consoles them with the hope of a new meeting with Him, obviously both during the Lord’s appearances after the resurrection and in spiritual, mysterious communication with Him. These words of the Lord seemed mysterious to some of the disciples, which again revealed the imperfection of their spiritual understanding. The entire further course of the conversations is devoted to explaining these words of the Lord. The basis of the disciples’ bewilderment again lies in their same prejudice about the earthly kingdom of the Messiah. If the Lord wants to establish His kingdom on earth, then why does He leave? And if He does not want to establish such a kingdom, then why does He promise to come again?

The Lord answers them: “You are a little, and you do not see Me” - this means that you will “weep and weep”, since the world will fulfill its murderous plans - the Lord’s hidden indication of the suffering and death soon to come to Him. “A little while, and again you will see Me” - this means that “your sorrow will be turned into joy,” just as the sorrow of a wife giving birth is transformed into joy. Here we mean the joy of the disciples that they experienced when they saw the Lord risen - a joy that did not leave them later throughout their lives: “and no one will take your joy from you.” "On that day", i.e. the descent of the Holy Spirit, from which day the Apostles will enter into constant spiritual communion with Christ, all Divine mysteries will become clear to them, and every prayer will be fulfilled, to complete the fullness of their joy.

“As I go to the Father” - this means: “I departed from the Father and came into the world, and again I leave the world and go to the Father” - so, for Christ to go to the Father means to return to the state in which He was before incarnation as the Hypostatic Word. These words struck the disciples with their clarity; They noted with particular satisfaction that the Lord was now speaking to them directly, without using hidden, indirect speech, and expressed their ardent faith in Him as the true Messiah. It was sincere and deep faith, but the gaze of the Lord saw the imperfection of this faith, not yet illuminated by the Holy Spirit. “Do you believe now?” - He asks: “no, your present faith is still imperfect, it will not withstand the very first test, which soon, in a few hours, it will have to be subjected to, when you “dissolve each into your own, and leave Me alone.” “All this is me.” “I told you,” the Lord ends His farewell conversation, so that you “have peace in Me,” so that you do not lose heart in the hours of trials ahead of you, remembering that I warned you about all this in advance. In spiritual communion with Me you will find the necessary peace of Spirit."

“In the world” - a society of people hostile to Me and my cause, you will be sorrowful; but do not lose courage, remembering, “for I have conquered the world” - I conquered by accomplishing the great work of redeeming mankind with His death, defeated the spirit of pride and malice dominating the world with His humility and self-abasement even to the point of death, and laid the foundation for the transformation of this world from the kingdom of Satan to the Kingdom God's.

Averky (Taushev), archbishop. Guide to Study Holy Scripture New Testament. Four Gospels.

M hi to you, dear visitors of the Orthodox website “Family and Faith”!

IN The day of Maundy Thursday, or, as it is popularly called, Maundy Thursday, Vespers is celebrated with the reading of the 12 Passion Gospels. In pre-revolutionary Russia, on this day they painted Easter eggs(paint them in modern Russia and now), and also prepared for the evening service, both old and young. Adults and children made lanterns in which, after the service, they would need to bring a lit candle and paint the ceiling at the entrance, as well as the beams above the windows, with black crosses.

R Russian writer Vasily Nikiforov-Volgin wrote a wonderful memoir from childhood dedicated to Maundy Thursday.

WITH holy week. Maundy Thursday. Before the bell rang for the reading of the twelve Gospels, I was making a lantern from red paper in which I would carry a candle from the church from the passion of Christ. With this candle we will light the lamp and maintain an unquenchable fire in it until the Ascension.

“The Gospel fire,” the mother assured, “delivers from sorrow and spiritual darkness!”

My flashlight turned out so well that I couldn’t bear to run to Grishka and show it. He looked at him vigilantly and said:

- Wow, but I’m better!

At the same time, he showed his own, bound in tin and with colored glass.

“Such a lantern,” Grishka convinced, “will not go out in the most furious windy weather, but yours will not stand it!”

I became confused: will I really not bring the holy light to the house?

He told his mother his fears. She reassured.

“It’s not clever to convey it in a lantern, but try to convey it our way, the village way, in your hands.” Your grandmother used to carry the Thursday fire two miles away, in the very wind, and across the field!

The eve of Maundy Thursday was showered with a golden dawn. The ground grew cold, and the puddles were covered with crispy ice. And there was such silence that I heard a jackdaw, who wanted to drink from a puddle, break the thin frost with its beak.

- How quiet! - remarked to his mother.

She thought about it and sighed:

– On such days it is always... It is the earth that sympathizes with the suffering of the Heavenly King!..

It was impossible not to shudder when the round-sounding sound of the cathedral bell rang across the quiet land. It was joined by the silver, chest-like ringing of the Church of the Sign; the Assumption Church responded with a murmuring splash, the Vladimir Church with a pitiful groan and the Resurrection Church with a thick cooing wave.

From the sliding ringing of bells, the city seemed to float through the blue twilight, like big ship, and the twilight swayed like curtains during the wind - first in one direction, then in the other.

The reading of the twelve Gospels began. In the middle of the church stood a tall Crucifix. In front of him is a lectern. I stood near the cross, and the head of the Savior in the crown of thorns seemed especially tormented. I read the Slavic writings at the foot of the cross: “He was ulcerated for our sins and tormented for our iniquities.”

I remembered how He blessed the children, how He saved a woman from being stoned, how I cried in the Garden of Gethsemane, abandoned by everyone - and my eyes grew gloomy, and I so wanted to go to a monastery...

After the litany, in which the words touched: “For those who sail, travel, are sick and suffer to the Lord, let us pray to the Lord,” - in the choir they sang, as if with one sob: “When the glorious disciples were enlightened at the prayer of the supper...”

Everyone’s candles were lit, and people’s faces became like icons in the lamplight—luminous and merciful.

From the altar, along the wide, sad spills of the Thursday troparion, they carried out the Gospel, heavy in black velvet, and placed it on the lectern in front of the Crucifixion. Everything became hidden and listening. The twilight outside the windows became bluer and more thoughtful.

With unquenchable sorrow, the “beginning” of the reading of the first Gospel was laid: “Glory to Thy passion, O Lord”...

The Gospel is long, long, but you listen to it without burden, deeply breathing into yourself the breath and sorrow of Christ’s words. The candle in your hand becomes warm and tender. Her light is also alive and alert.

During the incense, the words were read, as if in the name of Christ Himself: “My people, what have I done to you or what has caused you the cold: I have enlightened your blind, I have cleansed your lepers, I have raised up the man who is on his bed. My people, what have I done to you, and what will you repay me? For manna - gall, for water - otset, for a hedgehog to love me, nail me to the cross”...

That evening, to the point of shudder, I saw closely how the soldiers took Him, how they tried, scourged, crucified, and how He said goodbye to His Mother.

“Glory to Your long-suffering, O Lord”...

After the Eighth Gospel, the three best singers in our city stood in elegant blue caftans in front of the Crucifixion and sang “luminaries”: “The prudent thief in one hour hast thou vouchsafed to heaven; and enlighten and save me with the Tree of the Cross.”

With the lights of candles they left the church into the night. There are also lights coming towards us: they are coming from other churches. The ice crunches under your feet, the special pre-Easter wind is humming, all the churches are ringing, icy crackling sounds are heard from the river, and in the black sky, so spacious and divinely powerful, there are many stars.