Palm Sunday Bulletin- 4.12.20
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
24411 Rampart Blvd.
Port Charlotte, FL 33980
Phone: 941.629.3888
304.319.3441
(Fr. Mojmir)
web: http://www.HolyTrinitypc.org
Online Donations
For stewardship donations and contributions
can be made online via a credit card.
Office Hours
Tuesday-Friday: 9:00 to 12:00 Noon
Very Reverend Fr. Dr. Mojmir Zalcik, PhD
Priest
Divine Services today, Sun. April 12:
Palm Sunday
Orthros 9am, Divine Liturgy 10am;
Palm Procession/Blessing
Divine Services Schedule
Great and Holy Week
Sun. April 12 – Bridegroom/Nymphios
Service (Matins of Holy Monday), 6pm
Mon. April 13 – Bridegroom/Nymphios
Service (Matins of Holy Tuesday), 6pm
Tues. April 14 – Bridegroom/Nymphios
Service (Matins of Holy Wednesday), 6pm
Wed. April 15 – The Sacrament of Holy
Unction/’Ef-chélaion’ Service, 6pm
Thur. April 16 – The Service of the Holy
Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, 6pm;
Reading of the 12 Gospel Excerpts
Fri. April 17 – The Holy and Great Friday:
– Great Vespers Service, 3pm;
The Apokathelosis/Taking from the Cross
– The Lamentations Service, 7pm;
Epithaphios Procession
Sat. April 18 – Great and Holy Saturday;
Vesperal Divine Liturgy of St. Basil
the Great (Proti Anastasi), 10am
Have a Blessed Great and Holy Week!
EASTER / PASCHA - Sunday April 19
– Matins (Orthros) of the Resurrection;
- Anastasi, 11:00pm (Sat. April 18)
Sun. April 19 – Holy Paschal Divine Liturgy
of Saint John Chrysostom, Midnight/12 am
– Easter Sunday/Agape Service; 11am
Dear and beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, I serve and pray to God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for His mercy, protection and blessings for all of you. Please stay home, be safe and healthy. Pray, support and help each other in this time of pandemic. We can see this situation also as a test of our faith. I pray to God to help us all to follow with our crosses the path of our Lord to His Cross. I pray to the Lord for His forgiveness for us all. May He who is most merciful, forgive all our sins, transgressions, errors. May we all, on bended knees beneath His Cross, see in our open hearts His great and boundless love to us, great sinners. May on the Day of Pascha in great joy we cry out: “Christ is Risen!” [Fr. Mojmir]
Church activities are still canceled
(until further notice). Please continue to pray together every day at 8pm the Prayer of Protection from the Coronavirus.
If you can, join Orthodox Divine Services online, via YouTube, FB, etc.
We all are in contact via our phones/e-mails. If you need anything, let me know. Please, continue to be in touch, support and help one another. Together we go through all tribulation in this pandemic situation.
Thank you and God bless you.
Many and Blessed Years to
Sophia Ifantides (B-Day 4/13),
Amelia Costa (4/16).
Steward Pledge Contribution and all other donations we send by mail to our Parish. We can do it also online Please use the website www.holytrinitypc.org.
Palm Sunday - The Triumphal Entry
“Behold, Your King is coming!”
Palm Sunday it is a profound event that has much to teach us about our God and Savior Jesus Christ. In Matthew’s Gospel we read a
quote from the prophet Zechariah: Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
(Matthew 21:5; Zechariah 9:9)
Early Christians viewed Jesus’ death and resurrection from the standpoint of Christ the Conqueror or Christ the Victor, the Victor who conquered the death.
Jesus Christ is unlike worldly conquerors. Unlike Roman emperors who entered triumphantly riding a chariot drawn by war horses, Jesus enters Jerusalem riding a donkey, a sign of humility.
Cyril of Jerusalem explains, in his lectures to catechumens on Zechariah 9:9, the point of the uniqueness of Christ’s kingship: Kings are many; of which do you speak, O Prophet? Give us a sign which other Kings have not. If you say, A king clad in purple, the dignity of the apparel has been anticipated. If you say, Guarded by spear-men, and sitting in a golden chariot, this also has been anticipated by others. Give us a sign peculiar to the King whose coming you announce. And the Prophet makes answer and says, Behold! Your King comes unto you, just, and having salvation: He is meek, and riding upon an ass and a young foal, not on a chariot. You have a unique sign of the King who came. Jesus alone of kings sat upon an unyoked foal, entering into Jerusalem with acclamations as a king. (Catechetical Lectures 12.10)
Interesting allegorical interpretation of Jesus riding the foal is in the Matins hymn of the Feast (from ‘Lenten Triodion’): O Thou who ridest on the cherubim and art praised by the seraphim, Thou hast sat, O gracious Lord, like David on a foal, and the children honored Thee with praise fitting for God; but the Jews blasphemed unlawfully against Thee. Thy riding on a foal prefigured how the Gentiles, as yet untamed and uninstructed, were to pass from unbelief to faith. Glory be to Thee, O Christ, who alone art merciful and lovest mankind.
In Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is a great missionary message; that Christ came to save not only the Jews but also the Gentiles. With Christ’s entry into Jerusalem the Old Covenant of Moses reaches its conclusion and a New
Covenant commences. With coming of the
Messiah, the Christ, the Law and Prophets are fulfilled, with His coming to the world the Old Israel is “fulfilled”, with His coming to the city of Jerusalem that day the Old Israel is superseded by the New Israel, through Him and in Him transformed. The King comes: Let us also come today, all the new Israel, the Church of the Gentiles, and let us cry with the Prophet Zechariah; Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem; for behold, thy King comes unto the... (Lenten Triodion; Palm Sunday Hymn).
In his Catechetical Lectures Cyril also sees Jesus entry into Jerusalem as fulfilling another prophecy in Zechariah 14:4, a favorite verse of those who view it in light a literal 7 year Tribulation, the Antichrist, and the Second Coming. Cyril of Jerusalem in his Catechetical Lecture notes (12.1): But He might perchance even sit upon a foal: give us rather a sign, where the King that enters shall stand. And give the sign not far from the city, that it may not be unknown to us: and give us the sign plain before our eyes, that even when in the city we may behold the place. And the Prophet again makes answer, saying: And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the east. Does any one standing within the city fail to behold the place?
Palm Sunday invites all to worship Jesus Christ as the King, who comes to save us. Just as the Jews and the city of Jerusalem were given that time on that day the opportunity to receive Christ as King, so the same opportunity is given timelessly to all. In Canticle One Palm Sunday we praise the only King, the God, the Christ and His victory over death on the Cross: Out of the mouth of Thy servants, the innocent babes and sucklings, Thou hast received praise. Thou hast overthrown the adversary and by Thy Passion on the Cross Thou hast avenged Adam’s fall of old; with the Tree Thou hast raised him up, and he sings to Thee, O Lord, a hymn of victory. Amen.
“Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt. 21:9)
Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ!
ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ!
Bulletin Hymns
