On the first Easter day, at 12.00 hours, the Resurrection Vesper, also called “the second Resurrection\u201d is celebrated in all the places of worship of the Romanian Patriarchate.<\/p>\n
Sunday, 20 April 2014, the Vesper of the Resurrection of the Lord was celebrated at the Patriarchal Cathedral by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, assisted by a group of hierarchs, priests and deacons. Besides His Beatitude, His Grace Varlaam, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch and Secretary of the Holy Synod and His Grace Varsanufie Prahoveanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest, were also present.<\/p>\n
The evangelical pericope of Saint Evangelist John 20:19-25 was read During this religious service: “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, <\/em>“Peace be with you!\u201d<\/em> After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. <\/em>Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.\u201d<\/em> And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.<\/em> Cross references:<\/em><\/strong> If you forgive anyone\u2019s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.\u201d <\/em>Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. <\/em>So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!\u201d<\/em> But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n At the Patriarchal Cathedral the Holy Gospel was read in 12 languages.<\/p>\n The power to forgive sins was given to the disciples as an accomplishment of the commandment to celebrate the Holy Eucharist <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Patriarch of Romania showed in the sermon delivered that Christ, our Lord, gave his disciples, and to the Church too, through them, the power to forgive sins: “This appearance of Christ and encounter with His disciples, after His resurrection from the dead has a special significance because we see that Christ, our Lord, gives a gift to His disciples, and through them to His Church too, a divine gift that only God has, namely the forgiveness of the sins. The power to forgive sins and to postpone forgiveness was given to the disciples as an accomplishment of the commandment to celebrate the Holy Eucharist saying: Do that in remembrance of Me<\/em>. Thus, Christ, our Lord, institutes the Holy Eucharist before His death and Resurrection, and now He institutes the Holy Sacrament of the forgiveness of sins\u201d.<\/p>\n Nobody can be saved without having the sins forgiven <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church showed that the mystery of forgiving sins is such a great gift that Christ, our Lord, has not given this power to the angels, but to the humans: “The forgiveness of sins means the liberation of man from under what is not in accordance with his nature and vocation, to the nature created by God which has become a work contrary nature, namely sins and passions. This liberation from under sins is a remake of the coat of Baptism, a cleaning of the coat of the baptism of the Christian man namely the man who repented and received the forgiveness of his sins after he has confessed them can enter the Kingdom of Heaven, can be saved. Nobody can be saved without having the sins forgiven. God forgives sins, but He gave this gift to his disciples as well, and through them to the servants of the Church too. Thus, this mystery of forgiving the sins is a mystery of the revival, of the renewal of the spiritual life, a mystery which enables us to re-establish our bond of spiritual sons and daughters with God. It is such a great mystery that Christ, our Lord, has not given this power to the angels, but to the humans. The mystery of forgiving sins is a mystery concerning the raising of man, his liberation from a distressing past and possibility of a good beginning. Thus, the forgiveness of the sins is a saving work\u201d.<\/p>\n The Holy Sacraments are not a right, but a gift and this gift is given only to those who prepare themselves <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church has also explained the words of the Saviour who said: Receive Holy Spirit; If you forgive anyone\u2019s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven<\/em>.\u201d: “Saint Kyril of Alexandria interprets this not forgiving of the sins as a postponement in two concrete cases, namely a postponement of the Baptism if the one who is a candidate to Baptism is not prepared enough and a postponement of the administration of the Holy Eucharist if the one who wants to have it is not prepared well enough. Thus, this keeping or restraint to forgive sins is not an arbitrary work but a pastoral work, it is a responsible work, a work of healing, it is pedagogy. Only when we deprive somebody of a gift we make him aware of how great the value of the gift refused to him is, otherwise we think we deserve everything. The Holy Sacraments are not a right, but a gift and this gift is given to those who prepare themselves to receive it aware that they do not deserve it, but they endeavoured to forgive, to change their life, to receive the forgiveness of God through His disciples, Apostles and their descendents. This year dedicated to the Holy Sacrament of the holy confession and Holy Communion the Gospel which speaks about the forgiveness of the sins is very significant. The fact that the Saviour says Receive Holy Spirit<\/em>, and then says “If you forgive anyone\u2019s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven\u201d <\/em>shows us that it is not an ordinary work, it is not a juridical authority given to them, but a heavenly work through the coming of the Holy Spirit over those who receive the power to forgive the sins. Saint Simeon the Thessalonian says that Christ, our Lord, made three ordinations over the apostles. First He made them deacons when He called them to discipleship, then He made them priests when He said after Resurrection: Receive Holy Spirit<\/em>, If you forgive anyone\u2019s sins, their sins are forgiven<\/em>, and He made them bishops when He brought down the Holy Spirit over them in His fullness as tongues of fire, at Pentecost. This gradual deification of the disciples is designed to make them deifiers of the people. Thus, the Holy Spirit is given through ordination to those who become deifiers of the faithful, celebrants of the Holy Sacraments so that man should be cleaned of sins and get holiness which is the very presence and work of God in man through the Holy Spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n This reading of the Gospel in several languages shows us that Christ wishes the salvation of all people irrespective of age, rank or ethnic affiliation <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n His Beatitude has also emphasised the fact that the Gospel read at this holy service, in 12 languages, is a missionary Gospel: “It was read in several languages to show us that the Gospel of the Resurrection of Christ is not only for the Jewish people, but it must be announced and preached to all peoples. That is according to the words of the Saviour who says: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. <\/em>It is not only a part, but all commandments, the fullness of His teaching. Thus, the lecture of the Gospel at the Easter Vesper in several languages shows us that Christ, our Lord, wants the salvation of all people no matter their age, rank or ethnicity. The ethnic groups, nations, peoples in their diversity are called to unity, to communion through the love of Christ shown in the Holy Cross and in His Resurrection. Thus, the Good News is the news that death can be defeated, that the Crucified Christ defeated sin, hell and death and gave us eternal life. This is the Gospel, the essence of the Gospel preached to all peoples for the salvation of all people seeing in this the greatness and beauty of the Church. The apostles of Jesus went to all the nations known at the time and when the Holy Spirit came down over them at Jerusalem, they received the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire. Just like in a programme these tongues also symbolised the fact that they would be sent to announce the Gospel of the Resurrection of Christ to all nations. On this holy great day we receive with joy the gift of the forgiveness of the sins and understand with much wisdom and hope how great the love of God is, who wants all people to be saved, not only one people because everything God did with the people chosen He did it for the good of the entire humankind. It was a conservatory there that prepared the small plant that was to be planted all over the world. May God help us feel that it is very nice to keep our cultural identity, to deify our mother tongue through the word of the Gospel, through the translation of the Holy Gospel into every language, into every ethnic expression and so we shall see both the unity of the Church and its richness for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity and for our salvation.<\/p>\n The Vesper service celebrated on the first Easter day has a special character both through the Gospel read in several languages and through the solemn rite fitted for the Great Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the first Easter day, at 12.00 hours, the Resurrection Vesper, also called “the second Resurrection\u201d is celebrated in all the places of worship of the Romanian Patriarchate. Sunday, 20 April 2014, the Vesper of the Resurrection of the Lord was celebrated at the Patriarchal Cathedral by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, assisted by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-romanian-patriarchate"],"better_featured_image":{"id":94162,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":640,"height":480,"file":"2014\/04\/resurrection-vesper-at-the-patriarchal-cathedral.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"resurrection-vesper-at-the-patriarchal-cathedral-360x360.jpg","width":360,"height":360,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/resurrection-vesper-at-the-patriarchal-cathedral-360x360.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":94161,"source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/resurrection-vesper-at-the-patriarchal-cathedral.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94161\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=94161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94161\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94162\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=94161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=94161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=94161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}