Introduction
Beloved, this year we are called to celebrate Holy Week and Pascha in a very different way, set apart from any year we have experienced. We are to be at home, with our loved ones, away from the corporate prayer we long for, and witness the resurrection from our home altars. There is a joyful sorrow hidden in all of this that I hope will bring us edification and mend parts of our spiritual lives that perhaps we have neglected. In a way, we are forced into a very beautiful position if we look at this time with humility. Our Lord voluntarily suffered this week alone. His life-giving Passion began in silence, darkness, and a secluded cell. We are now shut-in and must experience some of this lonesomeness with Him. We will not hear our most favorite hymns sung by our beloved church family and so many things about this week are stripped away from us. We are left with the bare-bones of prayer, which is very beneficial for us. Being alone, let us enter this week into the lonesome cell of Christ and take up the yoke of this week’s rich services which nourish the soul. It will be a very tough year for us clergy, not seeing all your joyful faces illumined with the Paschal light. We must press on together mystically to the Cross, the Tomb, and glorious Pascha. You will all be carried in my heart and on my diskos, as always—but with greater zeal and feeling during this holy time.
Included in this outline is a guide through the days of Holy Week and Pascha and an appendix for how to do readers services using the Holy Week Book. Page numbers regarding services are from 3rd edition of the Holy Week Book.
In addition, links to streaming services will be provided throughout the week. Currently our church does not have wifi, so it is difficult to stream from our phones. What we cannot stream, we will provide links to other parishes as I have been doing. Please watch these with reverence and a prayerful disposition. I still think that it is better to pray these prayers personally, but Holy Week services can be particularly long and hard to do on your own. I understand this. Just be sure to devote some time in silence and personal prayer with regards to the services.
May your journey through these Holy Days be profitable. I ask for your prayers!
Yours in Christ,
Fr John Valadez
Guide to Holy Week and Pascha At Home
PDF with links to prayers, activities for children, inspiring videos, icons to print for the week, and other things to fill your Holy Week with edifications.
Selected Services of Holy Week and Pascha
This PDF includes Reader’s Bridegroom services, Typika for Holy Saturday, the 12 Passion Gospels, Typika for Holy Saturday, and a modified Rush Service and Paschal Typika with St John’s homily for Home use. Rubrics for suggestions during home celebrations included.
