Athanasius Yohan I Metropolitan’s Holy Week Message

His Holiness Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan I Metropolitan’s Holy Week Message 2022.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!

The story of salvation began with the Lord Jesus Christ, God becoming a man through the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. The Holy Week – this is the final week of the earthly life the Lord Jesus Christ and He lived for one purpose. This week talks about that.

When you come to Thursday, Maundy Thursday it is known, this is where the mystery of all mysteries is unfolding, where the Lord Jesus Christ takes that bread and the chalice and He says, “This is My Body given for you, this is My Blood, partake of it.” And today, the Holy Church celebrate Eucharist, reminding of this amazing truth. But then He does one of the most unthinkable acts – He stoops down and washes the feet of His disciples, the ultimate expression of humility. What an example for all of us.

The ultimate most incredible journey that He chose known as Good Friday, where no one forced him, no one can take His life. He lays down His life on the cross to be the ultimate answer, the solution for the sickness of sin and death.

Everything stops, they walk into Saturday. Total silence. Nothing moves. What on earth is happening. Yes, for us it is silence, but beneath and beyond the act of mystery of liberation, freedom He descends into hades, the abode of the dead and liberates those souls from bondage. The anticipation, the hope and the fulfillment of the very words He Himself said, “I will rise again.” And we realize the reality of it when it comes to the next day, Easter Sunday, the day where He defeated death and He rose from the grave, offering us hope, life, eternal life. He is risen! Christ is risen!