Byzantine Catholic Mission
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Holy Resurrection Byzantine Catholic Mission |
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O ye incorporeal angels who stand before the throne of God, luminous with the brilliance thereof and everlastingly shining with radiance. As secondary luminaries, entreat Christ, that He grant unto our souls peace and great mercy. O immortal messengers of the truly incorruptible Life, ye most blessed ones who received life from the first Life, ye have become holy beholders of the eternal Wisdom, full of light, and reflecting lamps shown forth as is meet. O ye archangels and angels, principalities, thrones, dominions, six-winged seraphim, and divine, many-eyed cherubim, instruments of wisdom, virtues and powers most divine. Pray ye to Christ, that He grant our souls peace and great mercy. Archives:
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HOLY RESURRECTION BYZANTINE CATHOLIC MISSION
Christos voskrese! Voistinnu voskrese!
Sunday of St. Thomas
Divine Liturgy Intentions
Our Offerings
Art and Spirituality of the Icon Lecture, Workshops Offered
Father Brendan McAnerney, a Dominican priest of the Latin Rite with faculties to serve in the Melkite Rite, will present a
free lecture on icons at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 16, at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension across from Sacred Heart
Cathedral in Knoxville.
Father McAnerney will also conduct two icon painting workshops at the Church of the Ascension during the weeks of May 16
and 24. The cost, which includes materials, painting instructions, and lectures on the spiritual traditions associated with
iconography, is $350.
For details about the lecture or the two workshops, call Leona Phelps at xxx-xxxx or
Ann Maxwell at xxx-xxxx.
From the Church Fathers
“Of all the Apostles, St. Thomas was, at one time, the weakest in faith, but with God’s grace, he became more
courageous and more untiring than the rest. He traversed almost the whole known world, preaching fearlessly to nations that
were fierce, savage, and bloodthirsty.” —St. John Chrysostom
The ‘Second Sunday of Pascha’ Is Also Known As ...
The Sunday of Anti-Pasch
Anti-pasch is a Greek word that means in place of, instead of the Pasch, for, to the early Christians, this
Sunday was, so to speak, a repetition of the feast of the Resurrection. In the Diary of a Pilgrimage, written by
Silvia of Acquitaine in the fourth century, we read that on the eighth day after Pascha, special celebrations took place in
Jerusalem, and the Gospel of the conversion of St. Thomas was read.
The New Sunday or the Sunday of Renewal or Renovation
It was on the first Sunday after the Resurrection that the celebration of the Pasch was, as it were, renewed. On this day
Christ, appearing to His Apostles, renewed the joy of the Resurrection. “On this day,” says the Synaxary of Thomas
Sunday, “the first Sunday after the Resurrection, we celebrate the renewal of Christ’s Resurrection and the
touching of His wounds by St. Thomas.”
White Sunday or Sunday in White
In ancient times the newly baptized, having received the Sacrament of Baptism on Holy Saturday, wore a white garment
throughout Bright Week, and on the Second Sunday of Pascha they put aside this garment at a special ceremony. To this day the
Western Church calls today “White Sunday” or “Sunday in White.”
Leading Sunday or the First Sunday after Pascha
Some authors say these names derive from this Sunday as being the leading Sunday, the first Sunday that continues the feast of
the Pasch. An old custom of commemorating the dead with a special memorial repast and praying for their souls at the cemetery
on this Sunday once existed among our people.
Did You Know?
St. Thomas is said to have died a martyr in India. Our church celebrates his memory on October 6.
Pastoral Ponderings: The Necessity of Divine Mercy
There is a scene in a movie about the Nuremburg Trials in which 20 German officers who participated in the extermination
of millions are tried. A U. S. army psychiatrist and a Jewish psychiatrist interview each of the convicted German
officers to find out why they committed such a merciless crime. The German officers confess that somehow they lost all
feelings of mercy, love and sympathy toward their prisoners.
It was during the Holocaust that our Risen Lord appeared in Poland, to St. Faustina. He told her of His Divine Mercy.
Later, a popular icon was carved, depicting the scene. It shows white and red rays of light coming from the heart of Christ.
The white rays represent the sacraments of Baptism and Penance, sacraments in which our sins are washed away. The red rays
represent the Eucharist. Through the Eucharist we taste and receive the death and Resurrection of Jesus. These sacraments make
us givers and recipients of Divine Mercy. At the canonization of St. Faustina, Pope John Paul II said: “The
Cross, even after the Resurrection of the Son of God, speaks and never ceases to speak of God the Father, who is absolutely
faithful to His eternal love for man. Believing in this love means believing in mercy.”
Have a good week.
—Father O’Connell
Last updated: 25-Apr-2004 |
