Before His departure to the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ said the Apostles: "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (St. John 14:2-3). The Savior prayed to the Father, "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me" (St. John 17:24). And the Apostles express the desire to depart and to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23), knowing that they have "a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (II Cor. 5:1).

In the Lives of the Saints it is clearly and obviously demonstrated: There is no spiritual death from which one cannot be resurrected by the Divine power of the Risen and Ascended Lord Christ; there is no torment, there is no misfortune, there is no misery, there is no suffering which the Lord will not change gradually or all at once into quiet, compunctionate joy because of faith in Him.

On Holy and Great Thursday four events are celebrated: the washing of the Disciple's feet by Christ, the institution of the Mystery (Sacrament) of the Holy Eucharist at the Mystical (Last) Supper, the agony in the garden of Gethsemane (but the liturgical texts do not dwell much on this), and the betrayal of Christ by Judas.

While most Christians celebrated Pascha (Easter) last week, Orthodox Christians here and throughout the world, together comprising the second largest Christian body after Roman Catholicism, will celebrate the All-Holy Pascha, the commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, on Sunday April 8th.

PRAYER OF THE OIL

Priest:

O Lord Who, in Thy mercies and bounties, healest the disorders of our souls and bodies; Do Thou, the same Master, sanctify this Oil, that it may be effectual for those who shall be anointed there with, unto hearing, and unto relief from every passion, every malady of the flesh and of the spirit, and every ill; and that therein may be glorified Thy Most Holy Name, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the Ages of Ages. Amen.

"O Lord, the woman who had fallen into many sins, perceiving Thy Divinity, fulfilled the part of a myrrh-bearer, and with lamentations she brought sweet-smelling oil of myrrh to Thee before Thy burial. 'Woe is me,' she said, 'for night surrounds me, dark and moonless, and stings my lustful passion with the love of sin. Accept the fountain of my tears, O Thou Who drawest down from the clouds the waters of the sea