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Youth Chaplain's Corner
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Dear Youths, |
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| A good number of youths in our region have expressed a great deal of interest in understanding the importance of Passion Week in our Churches. Therefore, I am giving a brief sketch of the importance of this week. | |
| Passion Week (Hasa Week in Syriac) is a significant week in our Christian Liturgical Church Life. During the Passion Week our Church commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus. There are special services every day during this week to recall the significant moments in the final days of Jesus’ life and his death, burial and resurrection. Importance days in this week | |
| Thursday of this week known as the Passover Thursday (Pesaha in Syriac/ Maundy in English) is the day on which the institution of the Holy Qurbana first took place. | |
| Good Friday is the day of crucifixion and death of Jesus on the cross. | |
| Holy Saturday – Some churches have a Holy Qurbana on this day to commemorate Jesus Christ’s entombment and / or descent to Hell. This day is observed with quiet and prayer, mindful of Christ’s entombment. | |
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Sunday
the Church celebrates Feast of the Resurrection (Kemta in
Syriac/ Easter/ Uyirpu in Malayalam) with great joy.
There is a special Easter Service before the Holy Qurbana.
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| Mar Thoma Church as a historical church is in conformity with the faith of the Christian Church in all ages. Our Passion Week service is filled with meaningful prayers and symbols, which includes chanting, long prayers, kneeling, making the sign of the cross, and lengthy Gospel readings. Since the Mar Thoma Church is an Eastern Church, we follow the ancient and historical Antiochene (West Syrian) liturgical tradition in our order of service. | |
| Church has translated certain parts of these meaningful services, for example, Good Friday Service, special service before Easter Holy Qurbana and so forth into English, however a great deal of chanting is still in Malayalam. Language is an important tool for communication; however, language should not turn us away from our participation, presence, reverence, and commitment to attend these services. Our attitude toward worship is what God honors. | |
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Regarding the
participation in these services, P.J. Varghese Achen
wrote to his youth group, “Participation in these services is
very symbolic also. Symbols have place in our day-to-day lives
as means of communication and to imbibe knowledge. In the same
way, through the Passion Week Services, we experience and
communicate the Passion of Christ. Each time we kneel down, it
symbolizes that we identify with the Passion of Christ and also
we kneel at the feet of Christ and cry for mercy. It is also a
symbol of our surrender before God.” |
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Therefore I urge
you my young friends to participate in these services
in your local parishes with right attitude of worship and prayer
and be blessed. Let these services may be a channel of
experiencing God’s grace in your lives. Through this we all can
be strengthened to deny ourselves and carry the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ in this world. |
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With loving and
prayerful regards, Biju Simon Achen |
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-- The Rev. Biju Pulikottil Simon North East Region Youth Chaplain The Mar Thoma Church Diocese of North America and Europe 194 Bregman Avenue New Hyde Park, NY, 11040, USA |
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