The Unity and Continuity of the Church is Found in Her Bishops
Gathering together for the celebration of the Church’s Divine Services is that great moment in the life of the People of God that brings together both heaven and earth. In these services we are mystically transported to a place where time and space cease to exist as we know it, and we are taken into the Heavenly Realm. In these services we are mystically standing with the saints and all the Heavenly Powers before the Throne of God.
These services bring us all together, from the smallest chapel, to the largest cathedral. Patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, and clergy of every rank, stand as one before the Noetic Altar, worshiping the Holy Trinity.
The Unity of the Church is nowhere more defined than during her services, and the unity of the people of God around their bishop is clearly that defining moment. Whether the Divine Services are celebrated in a tiny monastic cave chapel of a hermit, or in the bishop’s own cathedral, all are united together as if in one liturgical celebration.
It is important to note that in Orthodoxy, Christ is the only priest, pastor, and teacher. Christ is the living Head of His Church, and alone guides and rules his people. He alone offers communion with God, His Father. He, alone, forgives sins. Christ remains with His Church as its living and unique Head, and is present and active in the Church through the Holy Spirit.
The Mystery of Holy Orders is the sacrament by which the bishop brings order to the Church, guaranteeing the continuity and unity of the Church from age to age and from place to place. It is the bishop who keeps the continuity of worship and doctrine, from the time of Christ and the Apostles until the establishment of God’s Kingdom in eternity.
Bishops receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to manifest Christ in the Holy Spirit to men and women everywhere. Bishops are neither vicars, substitutes, nor representatives of Christ. It is Christ, through his chosen ministers, who acts as teacher, good shepherd, forgiver, and healer. It is Christ remitting sins, and curing the physical, mental, and spiritual ills of humanity. There is reluctance to try to explain it in Orthodoxy, for it remains a great mystery of the Church.
According to Saint John of Kronstadt, the bishop is the source of sanctification for all the Christians of his flock, after God and the Holy Virgin. Thus, the great esteem and love shown to the bishop reflects in the faithful the view that the bishop is, by his office, the most perfect celebrant of the Holy Mysteries. Every priest, regardless of rank, shares in his bishop’s priesthood, and represents his bishop among the people.
The bishop, as the Father of the Diocese, is father to all of us. We must therefore include our bishop in our daily prayers, and show him the respect and love that is due his office. The unity and well being of the diocese requires that we never judge our bishop, but only love and respect him. He is the icon of Christ in our midst, is pivotal to the whole of our Orthodox Faith, and is central to what it means to be an Orthodox Christian. Without the office of bishop, the Catholic and Apostolic Church would cease to exist.
Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photo: His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and the Western America Diocese.
Saturday April 8, 2023 / March 26, 2023
Lazarus Saturday. Tone one.
Great Lent. Caviar Allowed
Feast of the Georgian Language (movable holiday on the Lazarus Saturday) (Georgia).
Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel.
Martyr Parasceva (1939).
Hieromartyr Irenaeus, bishop of Srem (Sirmium), Serbia (304).
Martyrs Bathusius and Bercus presbyters, monk Arpilus, laymen Abibus, Agnus, Reasus, Igathrax, Iscoeus (Iskous, Escoes), Silas, Signicus, Sonerilas, Suimbalus, Thermus, Phillus(Philgas), and the women Anna, Alia, Larissa, Monco (Manca), Mamica, Uirko (Virko), Animais (Animaida), Gaatha, and Duklida, in Crimea (375).
Venerable Malchus of Chalcis in Syria (4th c.).
Venerable Basil the Younger, anchorite near Constantinople (944).
Hieromartyr Eusebius, bishop of Kival, and Martyr Pullius the Reader.
St. Braulio of Saragossa in Iberia (646).
Martyr Codratus (Quadratus), and with him 40 Martyrs, who suffered under Diocletian.
St. Ludger, bishop of Munster (809).
Martyr Montanus the priest, and his wife Maxima at Sirmium (beginning of 4th c.).
St. Eutychius, subdeacon of Alexandria (356).
New Martyr George of Adrianople (1437).
Venerable Stephen the Wonderworker, abbot of Tryglia (815).
St. Govan, hermit of Pembrokeshire.
The Scripture Readings
Hebrews 12:28-13:8
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Concluding Moral Directions
13 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. 3 Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also.
4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we may boldly say:
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”
Concluding Religious Directions
7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
John 11:1-45
The Death of Lazarus
11 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. 7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”
12 Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” 13 However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.
14 Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
I Am the Resurrection and the Life
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he maydie, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Jesus and Death, the Last Enemy
28 And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. 31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”
32 Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?”
They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
37 And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”
Lazarus Raised from the Dead
38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone [d]from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.