The Weekly Festal Cycle
The Sabbath (Savvaton-Saturday)
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
The Sabbath (Savvaton-Saturday)
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week and according to the Old Testament, on this day God "rested" after creating the world in six days and blessed and sanctified this day (Gen. 2:3). That is why the Jews, according to God's command, had to refrain from all work on this day, except for some necessary work, and to pray to God, but also to go to the Synagogue or the Temple and read the Prophets of Old Testament.
According to Christian teaching, on Great Saturday the soul of Christ together with His Divinity was in Hades, where He smashed the gates of Hades and freed the righteous of the Old Testament and this is considered as the First Resurrection. Thus, as we chant in the troparia of Great Saturday, on this day "the Only Begotten Son of God rested from all his works, keeping the sabbath due to the economy of the death of the flesh."
If in the Old Testament the seventh day of the week was characterized as the Sabbath, the week was characterized as Sabbaths, that is why there is the expression "on the first of the Sabbaths," that is, the first day of the week.
Saint Maximus the Confessor relies on this to say that the Sabbath is the purification of the heart through spiritual rest; Sabbaths is the illumination of the nous; and Sabbaths Sabbath is deification, the communion of man with God in His glory. However, for us Christians, the Jewish Sabbath was replaced by the Lord's Day on Sunday and we give spiritual meaning to Sunday, because of the Resurrection of Christ. However, Saturday is also honored as a day of preparation for Sunday, due to the sacred silence.
In the weekly festal cycle, according to Christian worship, Saturday was determined to honor the memory of the martyrs, the venerables and the reposed pious Christians who lived and died in Christ, imitating Christ, which is why this Apolytikion is chanted on this day as follows: "Apostles, Martyrs, and Prophets, Hierarchs, Venerables and Righteous, having fought the good fight and kept the faith you have boldness towards the Savior. Entreat Him, for He is good, beseeching for the salvation of our souls."
The Prophets, the Apostles, the Martyrs, the Hierarchs, the Venerables, the Righteous, who kept the faith and fought the good fight, are attached to Christ the Savior, as His friends. And because they are friends of Christ, we beg them to strengthen us with their prayers, so that we may walk the same path and follow the same way of life in order to become friends of Christ and have fellowship with Him.
Also, on this day, Saturday, we celebrate the Memorial Services of Christians who have left this world and have received the first judgment (Heb. 8:27), but are waiting for the coming of Christ so that the resurrection of the bodies can take place and be the second and final judgment of all men. For this reason, this day is described by Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite as a "funerary day and restful day," while Sunday is a resurrection day and a type of the future age. This is the meaning of the two days Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the sacred Memorial Services of our reposed brethren are held according to the exact interpretation of the tradition, while the observance of the Memorial Services on Sunday is done only by oikonomia, because it is a resurrection day.
That is why the troparia of the Sabbath service refer to reposed Christians. For example, in the Apolytikion we sing: "Remember the souls of Your servants, Lord, for You are good, and insofar as they sinned in this life, forgive them; for no one is sinless but You, Who can also give rest to the departed." The Exapostelarion that is chanted on this day has the same content: "You who rule over both the dead and the living as God, grant rest to Your servants in the tabernacles of the elect, and though they may have sinned against You, Savior, they have not departed from You."
God rules over the dead and the living and for this reason we are asking that His servants rest in the tabernacles of the elect, because despite the sins they committed they did not turn away from God, i.e. they believe in God, they are members of the Church.
That is why it is important to remain in the Church, not to move away from it, not to tear the Church apart, but staying in it to ask for God's mercy, with the intercessions of the Theotokos and the entreaties of the saints.
Also, Saturday is the bridge between Friday and Sunday, which means that we must prepare for our participation in the Resurrectional Divine Liturgy of Sunday and in partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, with the permission of our spiritual father. Therefore, the habit of some Christians to celebrate secularly the whole night of Saturday until Sunday and then not to go to church on Sunday, or if they go to church to be in a bad mood, is not a Christian habit.
Also, because, as we find in patristic texts, all the great Despotic events took place on Sunday, and the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ will take place on Sunday, it means that Saturday is a day of preparation for the future resurrection of the dead and our encounter with Christ. This shows the value of the Sabbath day as a day of preparation.
Our whole life, in a general sense, is a preparation for our encounter with Christ and to live eternally with Him. Thus, just as the Myrrhbearing women on Great Saturday, after having bought perfumes, waited with great desire for the Sabbath to pass, and they kept quiet as commanded, and on Sunday morning they went to the tomb, so we must also live in our lives, to keep the commandments of Christ and wait for the great meeting with Him.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
According to Christian teaching, on Great Saturday the soul of Christ together with His Divinity was in Hades, where He smashed the gates of Hades and freed the righteous of the Old Testament and this is considered as the First Resurrection. Thus, as we chant in the troparia of Great Saturday, on this day "the Only Begotten Son of God rested from all his works, keeping the sabbath due to the economy of the death of the flesh."
If in the Old Testament the seventh day of the week was characterized as the Sabbath, the week was characterized as Sabbaths, that is why there is the expression "on the first of the Sabbaths," that is, the first day of the week.
Saint Maximus the Confessor relies on this to say that the Sabbath is the purification of the heart through spiritual rest; Sabbaths is the illumination of the nous; and Sabbaths Sabbath is deification, the communion of man with God in His glory. However, for us Christians, the Jewish Sabbath was replaced by the Lord's Day on Sunday and we give spiritual meaning to Sunday, because of the Resurrection of Christ. However, Saturday is also honored as a day of preparation for Sunday, due to the sacred silence.
In the weekly festal cycle, according to Christian worship, Saturday was determined to honor the memory of the martyrs, the venerables and the reposed pious Christians who lived and died in Christ, imitating Christ, which is why this Apolytikion is chanted on this day as follows: "Apostles, Martyrs, and Prophets, Hierarchs, Venerables and Righteous, having fought the good fight and kept the faith you have boldness towards the Savior. Entreat Him, for He is good, beseeching for the salvation of our souls."
The Prophets, the Apostles, the Martyrs, the Hierarchs, the Venerables, the Righteous, who kept the faith and fought the good fight, are attached to Christ the Savior, as His friends. And because they are friends of Christ, we beg them to strengthen us with their prayers, so that we may walk the same path and follow the same way of life in order to become friends of Christ and have fellowship with Him.
Also, on this day, Saturday, we celebrate the Memorial Services of Christians who have left this world and have received the first judgment (Heb. 8:27), but are waiting for the coming of Christ so that the resurrection of the bodies can take place and be the second and final judgment of all men. For this reason, this day is described by Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite as a "funerary day and restful day," while Sunday is a resurrection day and a type of the future age. This is the meaning of the two days Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the sacred Memorial Services of our reposed brethren are held according to the exact interpretation of the tradition, while the observance of the Memorial Services on Sunday is done only by oikonomia, because it is a resurrection day.
That is why the troparia of the Sabbath service refer to reposed Christians. For example, in the Apolytikion we sing: "Remember the souls of Your servants, Lord, for You are good, and insofar as they sinned in this life, forgive them; for no one is sinless but You, Who can also give rest to the departed." The Exapostelarion that is chanted on this day has the same content: "You who rule over both the dead and the living as God, grant rest to Your servants in the tabernacles of the elect, and though they may have sinned against You, Savior, they have not departed from You."
God rules over the dead and the living and for this reason we are asking that His servants rest in the tabernacles of the elect, because despite the sins they committed they did not turn away from God, i.e. they believe in God, they are members of the Church.
That is why it is important to remain in the Church, not to move away from it, not to tear the Church apart, but staying in it to ask for God's mercy, with the intercessions of the Theotokos and the entreaties of the saints.
Also, Saturday is the bridge between Friday and Sunday, which means that we must prepare for our participation in the Resurrectional Divine Liturgy of Sunday and in partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, with the permission of our spiritual father. Therefore, the habit of some Christians to celebrate secularly the whole night of Saturday until Sunday and then not to go to church on Sunday, or if they go to church to be in a bad mood, is not a Christian habit.
Also, because, as we find in patristic texts, all the great Despotic events took place on Sunday, and the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ will take place on Sunday, it means that Saturday is a day of preparation for the future resurrection of the dead and our encounter with Christ. This shows the value of the Sabbath day as a day of preparation.
Our whole life, in a general sense, is a preparation for our encounter with Christ and to live eternally with Him. Thus, just as the Myrrhbearing women on Great Saturday, after having bought perfumes, waited with great desire for the Sabbath to pass, and they kept quiet as commanded, and on Sunday morning they went to the tomb, so we must also live in our lives, to keep the commandments of Christ and wait for the great meeting with Him.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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