Pascha 2021: A dove flies inside the Holy Sepulchre during the Holy Fire Celebration

Bright Monday

No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. +John 1:18

In iconography, a lion represents the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark (Apr 25/ May 8 ), symbolizing the might and royal dignity of Christ (Rev 5:5).

By the power of the Holy Spirit given by Christ to the apostles, St Mark performed mighty, miraculous works again and again. One of the central themes in the Gospel written by St Mark (ca. 62-63) is the power of God achieving what is humanly impossible.

The school that the Holy Apostle established in Alexandria would produce such Fathers and teachers as Clement of Alexandria and many others. The pagans, whom he had so often confronted, seized St Mark when he was serving the Liturgy at Alexandria and he received his glorious martyrdom there.

''When you received the grace of the Spirit from on high, O Apostle, you broke the snares of the philosophers and gathered all nations into your net, bringing them to your Lord...'' - Kontakion, Tone 2

Why do you seek among the dead, as a man, the One who is everlasting Light? Behold the clothes in the grave! Go and proclaim to the world: the Lord is risen! He has slain death, as He is the Son of God, saving the race of man.

On Bright Friday we commemorate the Life-Giving Spring of the Theotokos at Constantinople. The Theotokos, as the one who brought forth Life himself, is herself hymned as the Life-Giving Spring.

“O Lady, full of grace divine, you ever grant to me your grace's waters, which are gushing forth continually from your never-failing Spring, beyond understanding.You gave birth to God the Logos inexplicably, so I pray you that your gift of grace refreshes me, that I may cry to you, "Rejoice, water of deliverance!" —Kontakion, Tone 8

Antipascha: St Thomas Sunday

Then [Christ] said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” + John 20:27-28

The Holy and Glorious Apostle Thomas did not want to be found guilty of careless belief. He did not want to believe an apparition, and our Lord understood this. When St Thomas touched the Life-giving side of the Lord, he no longer had any doubts.

Icons named “The Doubting Thomas” are incorrectly titled. The correct inscription is “The Touching of Thomas” or “The Belief of Thomas.”

By the intercessions of Thine Holy Apostle Thomas, O Christ our Lord and our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

Icon from the altar of the Church of the Nativity of St John the Baptist (Chesmenskaya), St Petersburg, Russia

St John of Kronstadt called St Matrona of Moscow (May 2) his "replacement, the eighth pillar of Russia." Her healing gifts would become widely known during the years of persecution of the Church by the Bolsheviks. At her grave, healings continue to this day.

"Everyone, everyone who will come to me: tell me, as if I were alive, of your sorrows, and I will see you, and hear you, and help you. After my death few people will visit my grave, only close friends, and when they die my grave will be abandoned. But after many years people will hear about me and come in crowds for help in their sorrows and with requests for prayer for them to the Lord God, and I will help everyone and listen to everyone."

Once a militiaman came to arrest St Matrona of Moscow (Apr 19/May 2) but she said: 'Go home quickly! It’s an emergency. I am blind and can’t walk and won’t escape from you.' He believed her and rushed for home. There he found his wife who was accidentally severely burned. He was just in time to take her to hospital. The next day they asked him at work: Have you arrested the blind one?” He answered: 'I’ll never arrest her. But for her, I would have lost my wife.'"

"Matronushka", as she was affectionately called, "was a warrior angel, as if she had a sword of fire in her hands to fight the evil power."

Source: orthochristian.com/79033.html

What can be said about those who received the other Mysteries of Grace in the fullness of Orthodoxy and who have before them the examples of the saints and who constantly listen to the warnings and admonitions of God’s Church but, nevertheless, depart and go astray? At the Last Judgment, such will not be able to justify themselves with any type of blindness, rather they will be judged as transgressors who have disfigured themselves and others around them with blindness.

St Nikolai Velimirovic
(translation of his relics, May 3)

For God, “a mountain of worries is like a snowball thrown into a fiery furnace."—from a prayer of ☦️St Nikolai Velimirovic
(translation of his relics, May 3)

"Indeed the mystery of Christ runs the risk of being disbelieved precisely because it is so incredibly wonderful."

☦️St Cyril of Alexandria

The Great Virgin Martyr and Equal to the Apostles, Irene (May 5), although locked away in a tower so that she wouldn't be exposed to Christianity, was led to the faith by her personal tutor. Her zeal and suffering converted thousands, including her own father, a governor who tried to have her killed for her faith in Christ. He would himself come to the faith by her prayers. Even after being beheaded, St Irene continued preaching Christ—having been raised up by an angel. A local king, seeing her alive and hearing her preach, was baptized with many of his subjects.