The Weekly Festal Cycle
The Fifth Day (Pempti-Thursday)
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
The Fifth Day (Pempti-Thursday)
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
In the weekly festal cycle, Thursday is dedicated by the liturgical tradition of our Church to the Holy Apostles. This can be seen in the troparia of the Parakletike and in the apolytikia of the day, which are: "Holy Apostles, intercede with the merciful God that He grant unto our souls forgiveness of offences."
The great value of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ is that they left everything and for three years followed Christ, they were found worthy to see Him preach, to work miracles, and three of them, namely Peter, James and John, were found worthy to see Him in His glory on Mount Tabor and participated in His great prayer in Gethsemane. All the Apostles participated for the first time in the Mystery of the Divine Eucharist that took place at the Secret Supper, and then they saw the Risen Christ.
We must know that after His Resurrection, Christ did not appear to His enemies to make them believe, but He appeared to the Apostles and the Myrrhbearing women who had been properly prepared, despite their mistakes, to lead them to deification. This was the purpose of the appearance of the Risen Christ, so that through purification and illumination, he would lead them to deification.
Then, the Disciples of Christ on the day of Pentecost received the Holy Spirit and became members of His Body. This is very important from a theological point of view, because on Mount Tabor the three Disciples saw the glory of Christ's Divinity, they shared in that glory, but Christ was outside of them, while on the day of Pentecost they received the Holy Spirit and became members of the Body of Christ. Thus, Christ at Pentecost was not outside of them, but the Disciples were united with Him as members of His glorious Body. These blessed people first became Disciples of Christ, that is, they learned the mysteries of the Kingdom of God and then they became Apostles. Discipleship according to Christ precedes the apostolic life.
Also, the Apostles had a great position in the first Church in Jerusalem, as they also had a great drive and poured out into the whole world to preach the mystery of the Kingdom of God, to which they were initiated. They were not contemplative philosophers and theologians, but empirical theologians of the Church and they transmitted this apostolic Grace to the first Bishops and they to the following ones, and this Grace has now reached us.
In the Apostles of Christ we see the unity between apostolic life, apostolic Grace and apostolic succession, that is why they are honored after Christ and the Most Holy Theotokos.
If today we are Orthodox Christians, we owe it to the Holy Apostles who went to the ends of the earth to preach the mystery of the Kingdom of God and to establish the first Churches. Saint John Chrysostom writes that, even though there were twelve people, "they leavened the entire universe" and presented it as pure bread to God. According to Saint John of Damascus, the mission of the Apostles to the world was to invite people to the divine "Table" of the Lord's Secret Supper, which is the Divine Eucharist of the Church.
However, together with the Apostles, Saint Nicholas the Bishop of Myra and Wonderworker is celebrated by our Church every Thursday as well, not only because he is a popular saint, due to his many miracles, but also because he is the authentic successor of the Holy Apostles, that is, he had everything of their characteristic features. This is described in his amazing Apolytikion, which reads as follows: "The truth of things has revealed you to your flock as a rule of faith, an icon of meekness, and a teacher of temperance; for this cause, you have achieved the heights by humility, riches by poverty. O Father and Hierarch Nicholas, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved."
In this Apolytikion, Saint Nicholas is described as "a rule of faith", as "an icon of meekness" and as "a teacher of temperance", and these characteristics made him stand out among his flock. By his humility he obtained the high things and by poverty he received riches, and therefore we beg him to intercede for us to God so that we may be saved, when we follow the same life.
Saint Nicholas was a true Bishop, indeed a good successor of the Holy Apostles, and an example for all of us, especially the Bishops. And from this holy life miracles are found and the people's love for him is explained. Faith, meekness, temperance, humility, material poverty are the characteristic features of the apostolic life.
Christ is the head of our Church, He is the basis of our faith, He appeared as "Lord of Glory" to the Prophets of the Old Testament, He was revealed in the Body to His Disciples and Apostles, whom He sent to the world to preach the message of the Kingdom of God and to initiate them into this mystery, and He is glorified in the holy Bishops through the ages.
This means that there is an identity of teaching and life between the Prophets, the Apostles and the Fathers and in this revelatory teaching lies our salvation. Those of us clergy, monastics and laity who attune to their life and teaching, are orthodox in practice, whereas, if we do not attune to their teaching and life, we express our deviation from the teaching of Christ. The former are the true Apostles and Fathers, while the others are false apostles and false fathers.
In our time we met such holy Bishops, among whom was Saint Kallinikos, Bishop of Edessa, who truly had an apostolic life and was an ascetic Bishop of patristic standards.
Therefore, every Thursday we celebrate the Holy Apostles and Saint Nicholas, on the one hand, to express our gratitude to those who convey to us the life and teaching of Christ, on the other hand, so that they become true examples of life, behavior and teaching to all of us.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
In this Apolytikion, Saint Nicholas is described as "a rule of faith", as "an icon of meekness" and as "a teacher of temperance", and these characteristics made him stand out among his flock. By his humility he obtained the high things and by poverty he received riches, and therefore we beg him to intercede for us to God so that we may be saved, when we follow the same life.
Saint Nicholas was a true Bishop, indeed a good successor of the Holy Apostles, and an example for all of us, especially the Bishops. And from this holy life miracles are found and the people's love for him is explained. Faith, meekness, temperance, humility, material poverty are the characteristic features of the apostolic life.
Christ is the head of our Church, He is the basis of our faith, He appeared as "Lord of Glory" to the Prophets of the Old Testament, He was revealed in the Body to His Disciples and Apostles, whom He sent to the world to preach the message of the Kingdom of God and to initiate them into this mystery, and He is glorified in the holy Bishops through the ages.
This means that there is an identity of teaching and life between the Prophets, the Apostles and the Fathers and in this revelatory teaching lies our salvation. Those of us clergy, monastics and laity who attune to their life and teaching, are orthodox in practice, whereas, if we do not attune to their teaching and life, we express our deviation from the teaching of Christ. The former are the true Apostles and Fathers, while the others are false apostles and false fathers.
In our time we met such holy Bishops, among whom was Saint Kallinikos, Bishop of Edessa, who truly had an apostolic life and was an ascetic Bishop of patristic standards.
Therefore, every Thursday we celebrate the Holy Apostles and Saint Nicholas, on the one hand, to express our gratitude to those who convey to us the life and teaching of Christ, on the other hand, so that they become true examples of life, behavior and teaching to all of us.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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