Monthly Archives: April 2017

∼ Words from the Church Fathers ∼

St Joseph of Arimathea, who buried the crucified Christ

The holy and righteous Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy member of the Jewish Sanhedrin and a secret follower of Christ (Matt. 27:25; John 19:38). His feast day is July 31. He is also commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearers – the second Sunday after Pascha. Along with St. Nicodemus, St. Joseph removed Christ’s body from the Cross, prepared it for burial, and placed it in his own sepulchre. Jewish spies found out about this and told their authorities, who imprisoned St. Joseph. However, the resurrected Christ appeared to St. Joseph in prison and convinced him of his Resurrection. Some time later the Jews released St. Joseph from prison and banished him from Jerusalem. He then travelled throughout the whole world preaching the Gospel, eventually sowing the seeds of salvation in Britain, where he reposed peacefully in the Lord.

Nicodemus the Righteous

The holy and righteous Nicodemus was a Pharisee who came to hear the Lord by night. After the Crucifixion, he acted as one of the Holy Myrrh-bearers. Because of this, he is commemorated on the Sunday of Myrrh-bearing Women, two weeks after Pascha. In the Gospel of John, he appears three times. The first is the aforementioned encounter, where he visits Jesus in the dead of the night (in order to avoid persecution by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish temple leaders, of which he was a member) to listen to his teachings (John 3:1-21). This meeting, a poignant scene in the Gospel, is where Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be “born again” in order to enter into the Kingdom of God. The second appearance is in John 7:45-51, where he states the law concerning the arrest of Jesus at the Feast of Booths. Finally, his last appearance is after the Crucifixion where he assists the Noble Joseph in recovering Jesus’ body and preparing it for burial (John 19:39-42).
Not much is known outside of John’s Gospel regarding the life of St. Nicodemus after the Resurrection. Church tradition states that he was possibly martyred sometime during the 1st Century AD.

∼ Words from the Church Fathers ∼

Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. He was the only disciple absent; on his return he heard what had happened but refused to believe it. The Lord came a second time; He offered His side for the disbelieving disciple to touch, held out His hands, and showing the scars of His wounds, healed the wound of his disbelief. Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It was not by chance but in God’s providence. In a marvelous way God’s mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his Master’s body, should heal our wounds of disbelief.

The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection. Touching Christ, he cried out: ‘My Lord and my God.’ Jesus said to him: ‘Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed.’ Paul said: ‘Faith is the guarantee of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.’ It is clear, then, that faith is the proof of what can not be seen. What is seen gives knowledge, not faith. When Thomas saw and touched, why was he told: ‘You have believed because you have seen me?’ Because what he saw and what he believed were different things. God cannot be seen by mortal man. Thomas saw a human being, whom he acknowledged to be God, and said: ‘My Lord and my God.’ Seeing, he believed; looking at one who was true man, he cried out that this was God, the God he could not see. What follows is reason for great joy: ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.’

There is here a particular reference to ourselves; we hold in our hearts One we have not seen in the flesh. We are included in these words, but only if we follow up our faith with good works. The true believer practices what he believes. But of those who pay only lip service to faith, Paul has this to say: ‘They profess to know God, but they deny him in their works.’ Therefore James says: ‘Faith without works is dead.’

On the Saturday before Holy Week, the Orthodox Church commemorates a major feast of the year, the miracle of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when he raised Lazarus from the dead after he had lain in the grave four days. Here, at the end of Great Lent and the forty days of fasting and penitence, the Church combines this celebration with that of Palm Sunday. In triumph and joy the Church bears witness to the power of Christ over death and exalts Him as King before entering the most solemn week of the year, one that leads the faithful in remembrance of His suffering and death and concludes with the great and glorious Feast of Pascha.

According to an ancient tradition, it is said that Lazarus was thirty years old when the Lord raised him; then he lived another thirty years on Cyprus and there reposed in the Lord. It is furthermore related that after he was raised from the dead, he never laughed till the end of his life, but that once only, when he saw someone stealing a clay vessel, he smiled and said, “Clay stealing clay.” His grave is situated in the city of Kition, having the inscription: “Lazarus the four days dead and friend of Christ.” In 890 his sacred relics were transferred to Constantinople by Emperor Leo the Wise, at which time undoubtedly the Emperor composed his stichera for Vespers, “Wishing to behold the tomb of Lazarus…”