The explanation of the Eastern fathers about the concept of the Holy Trinity and the Eucharist could clarify the link between the Great Lent, the Holy Pascha and The Holy Fifties.
St. Athanasius the Great said: “because of the grace we received from the Father, which has been given through the son, we are not part of the Gentiles because we received the Holy Spirit. When we are a part of him, we get the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the harmony of the Holy Spirit.” [1]
Dr. Said Hakim Yakoup says that the spiritual writers preferred the teachings of the eastern fathers in Christian education. Those methods
- The father made us through the Son and made us Holy by the Holy Spirit.
- The Holy Spirit leads me to glorify the father through the love of the cross.
St. Basil the Great said that the divine knowledge is obtained from the Spirit, through the Son to the father, and vice versa. De spirituality, the free will and the mighty place all go from the Father to the Son in the Holy Spirit.
He also says that The Lord is the good way that knows no devitiation nor faults.
Next to that, no one knows the Father except the Son and no one can say that Jesus is The Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. Pay attention that it does not say ‘through’ the Spirit, but in the Spirit. Also, God is the Spirit, and those who worship Him have to worship in Spirit and Truth.
We receive the Divine goodness, the Divine justice and the Kingdom glory from the Father, through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
Both traditions show a full meaning of the Hypostasis, and do not break the unity of the Orthodox belief. [2]
Through those original fatherly concepts we can understand the arrangement of these three liturgical occasions placed by our holy church.
In the readings of the Great Lent we can realize the divine goodness revealed to mankind:
- The Sunday before the Great Lent: fatherhood of the father (the word ‘your Father’ is repeated ten times in the Gospel of the liturgy).
- The Sunday of the treasures: de value of the heavenly treasures.
- The Sunday of the ordeal: the Son who gave us victory over the devil through the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1).
- The Sunday of the Prodigal son: the Father accepted his son, the sinner, because of His righteousness (Luke 15:20).
- The Sunday of the Samaritan woman: the Son who declared love and goodness towards the Samaritan woman and the Father who desires worshippers of all nations (John 4:23,24).
- The Sunday of the paralyzed man: de Son who always works with the father towards our salvations and who can raise everyone with His will.
- The Sunday of the blind born man: the Son who does the work that has been given to him by the Father, such as the eyes who were opened to see the glory of God.
The readings of the Holy Pascha week show us the following:
- Saturday of Lazarus: the power of God’s resurrection.
- Palm Sunday: His Kingdom rests on our altars.
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: how the Holy Trinity has played a major role since ancient times.
- Witte donderdag: His life that has been given to us through the Eucharist.
- Good Friday: the revelation of His love to humanity on the cross (John 3:16).
- Apocalypse (Saturday morning): how we go from the hill to Paradise.
- Sunday: the glory of the new order of existence through his resurrection from the dead.
Thus we are taken by our holy church on a journey that begins in the bosom of the father and his fatherhood. In this we gradually discover the gifts that the Holy Trinity have given us, reaching the source where all this glory is revealed, namely the dead of Christ and His resurrection.
The Holy Trinity takes us to another direction in the readings of the Holy Fifties, to raise us in the Son to the Father. The readings reveal the following:
- The first Sunday: the Sunday of Thomas (John 20: 19-31). The church shows Christ as the source of our joy (John 20:20).
- The second Sunday (John 6:35-45): Christ is presented as the Bread of Life.
- The third Sunday (John 4:1-42): tells about Christs meeting with the Samaritan woman en Christ has been shown as the Living Water (John 4:13-13)
- The fourth Sunday (John 12:35-50): Christ is the Light of life (John 12:46).
- The fifth Sunday (John 14:1-11): Christ is presented as the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).
- The sixth Sunday (John 16:23-33): Christus is de bron van onze vreugde (John 16:32-33).
- The seventh Sunday (John 15:26): Christ sends us the Holy Spirit.
Thus we are taken on a journey to the bosom of the Father by our church.
Jesus on the cross and his resurrection presents God’s love for us. This love has been brought to us through baptism. In the old church the baptism ritual was applied on the evening of Easter, in other words the resurrection. The process of the baptized persons coincide with the resurrection of Christ, as a declaration of receiving the gifts of the holy Trinity.
The resurrection fest is the most Holy day which is appropriate for the sacrament of baptism, as said by the expert Tertullian. [3]
In our journey through the Great Lent we, as sinners, receive hope through God’s love (such as the prodigal son, the Samaritan woman, the paralyzed man and the man born blind).
Such as st. Basil the great said, we are taken in the Holy Fifties, by the Spirit, to be fed with the tree of life. By this we receive the glory of God’s presence (the Bread of life, the Living father, the Light of the world, the Way, the Truth, and conquering the world).
St. Cyril said: ‘Your love lowered You to our level, Your grace raises us to Your height’. From this we can conclude that the readings of the Great Lent and the Holy pascha tell us about the divine love which has descended to our level and His glory which has been manifested in the cross and in the resurrection. On the other hand, the readings of the Holy Fifties tell us that God’s grace has lifted us up, filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
In the Gospel of St. Matthew we see the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-16). It begins with Abraham, followed by Joseph, followed by the sinners Thamar, Rahab and the nations. Here we see that there are also sinners in the genealogy of Jesus. From this we can conclude that divine love has descended to our humanity level. In the Gospel of st. Luke, on the contrary, we see that the genealogy begins with baptism, humanity filled with the Holy Spirit. The grace raises us to become children of God (Luke 3:38).
“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9). The human has a free will to do good and bad, such as what has been symbolized by the angels in the dream of our father Jacob (Genesis 28:12). Those angels went from upstairs to downstairs. Everyone who believes in God doesnt get lost because of the divine love, which has been revealed to us (John 3:16). This is how we are fulfilled with the fullness of God because of grace (Ephesians 3:19).
[1] The letters of St. Athanasius concerning the Holy Spirit – page 77 – translated by father Morkos Dawoud
[2] Unity and distinction of the Holy Trinity according to the thought of the church fathers – pagina 24 – Dr. Said Hakim Yakoup.
[3] Selected texts from the writings of Tertulian – pagina 180 – translated by a monk form the monastery of St. Anthony.