PASSION WEEK. It is the only time when we forget ourselves, our duties, and our requests. In the Church's hymnody of the Passion services from Holy and Great Thursday to Holy and Great Saturday, you will not find any mention of us sinners, of our downtrodden souls, of our petitions. The contemplation of Christ engrosses everything. Our attention is focused on Him alone. Therefore, for the attentive Christian, the experience of these days is a school of life in Christ and of life with Christ, which is the only true and normal condition for a Christian.

We now enter the most sacred week of the year. It starts with the Feast of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, which, as we have already said, taken with the raising of Lazarus, forms a prelude of joy and glory to the harrowing humiliations which are to follow. The Holy and Great Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy and Great Week are a preparation for the Passion.

The solemnities of Great and Holy Week are preceded by a two-day festival commemorating the resurrection of Lazaros the friend of Christ, and the triumphant entry of Christ into the holy city of Jerusalem. These two events punctuate Christ's Ministry in a most dramatic way (St. John 11:1-12, 19). By causing the final eruption of the unrelenting hostility of His enemies, who had been plotting to kill him, these two events precipitate Christ's death. At the very same time, however, these same events emphasize His Divine Authority.

A Christian, at any rate, an Orthodox Christian, views repentance as a dynamic act of responsibility to God, but also to other men. It is not pining away in narcissistic self-reflection, even while implying self-knowledge and self-examination. Sin is a relational act - a break in the "I-Thou" relationship. It concerns my relationship with another person. When the prodigal son "came to himself" in the Gospel Parable (St. Luke 15), he did so in relation to his father: "I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you" (v. 18).

Repentance is indeed an act of reconciliation, or reintegration into the Body of Christ, which has been torn asunder by sin. For "if one member suffers, all suffer together" (1 Corinthians 12:26). "Therefore, confess your sins to one another...that you may be healed" (St. James 5:16). The whole Church expresses a search for repentance in the repeated words of the Psalmist, commonly known as the "miserere" (Psalm 50[51]). It is through the faith of the community that the individual is readmitted and forgiven. "When Jesus saw their faith He said, "Man, your sins are forgiven" (St. Luke 5:20; St. Matthew 9:2 and St. Mark 2:5). "Justification" in the New Testament does not mean a transaction - a kind of deal; and repentance defies mechanical definition.

"And He said to them, 'Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (St. Luke 20:25).

It is a fact that our beloved country finds itself divided, in turmoil, in conflict, and afflicted with hatred. In other words, our country is, among other things, spiritually ill. As Orthodox Christians and citizens of the United States we must continue praying for the welfare of our country and the current president as we do in every Divine Liturgy: "For our country, the President, for every city and land, and for the faithful who live in them, let us pray to the Lord."