by Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
Boise, Idaho, USA
May 2002

My Beloved Friends In Christ Our Lord,

Peace to your souls, and Our Gracious Lord God be with you today and always! In true Orthodoxy we have the wonderful revelation of how much our Lord Jesus Christ loves us, when He grants us His Holy Light which blazes with heavenly jubilation to light up our minds and raise our hope.

Very soon we well enter Holy Week, which actually begins on the night of Palm Sunday April 28th, entering this spiritual pilgrimage in prayer, and witnessing from the Holy Gospels our Lord's Passion, Crucifixion, and Holy Glorious Resurrection, as these services progress throughout the Holy Week.

So this is the point in time when we should ask: What will we be doing during Holy Week? Will we, with great love, rush to the Church and pray, and go with our Lord to Golgotha? Will we witness the washing of His feet? This is the time for us to receive a fresh anointing with the grace of Holy Unction on Holy Wednesday - or will we stay home and watch TV? Will we attend His Holy Mystical Supper (on Holy Thursday morning), and go with our Gracious Lord (previously celebrated on May 27th called St. Lazarus Saturday) to the tomb of St. Lazarus and cry with Saints Martha and Mary?

Jesus wept! Let us with sincere tears weep with our Lord, for truly our faith in Him does become weak at times, and we forget how much our Lord loves us. We constantly need to learn to love Him too.

Have faith, and allow the eyes of your hearts and souls be open to behold the great many spiritual rewards that are available to us all during this period of Holy Week, and especially as we anticipate with hope and love the feast of our Lord's Holy Glorious Resurrection. This indeed is a Glorious and Holy Feast, the center point of our Holy Faith, as we have the heart of it the sublime truth that Christ has come to us to offer us life everlasting...

During Holy Week it's time for us all to pray and pray…

Pray for those who are ill at this time, and pray for those who hate us and those that love us.

Pray for the newly departed in the Lord, pray for those who are hungry and thirsty and have no source of relief.

Pray for those who are desperate for love and understanding.

Pray for our Patriarchs, our Archbishop, the Metropolitans, the Bishops, the Monks, the Nuns, and the Priest.

Pray for your parents, and pray for the children, you relatives, as well as your friends who live next door to you.

Pray for the peace of the whole world.

Pray that our loving and gracious Lord God will make us worthy to receive the Holy Fire, not only at our local Church, but that He may grant it to us from the Holy Land in Jerusalem at the Holy Sepulcher. Pray!

Pray for those in the hospitals, nursing homes, and those in prison.

Blessed is he who loves our Lord, and whose love extends to all around him, we shall be rewarded, as others have been rewarded, with the loving grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia!

Glory to thee O Lord, Glory to Thee!

Blessed is he who loves our Lord and one another, and seeks the Lord. Alleluia!

Glory to Thee O Lord, Glory to Thee!

May our Gracious Lord forgive us, O my Resurrected Christ, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

My beloved friends in the Lord, go to Church and pray. Pray not only in the Church but also your home, let your home and your loving Church be your comfort, where prayer is shared and where we taste the heavenly Kingdom. Yes, we can pray at home, but we need also to pray in the Church, our Lord's house, His temple and the place where prayer rises as sweet savor to Him. Let us all enter the New Jerusalem, and pray.

It is in this devoted prayer, in which we offer all glory and honor to our Lord God, that we shall truly weep as we share in His sufferings. Then we shall weep no more, for Christ shall rise from the dead and the gates of Heaven shall be flung open so all may flee from death to life in Christ. Taste and see the Lord, how good the Lord is, He loves us, and forgives us, we who are such poor sinners.

The Lord is Good, now we must be good too, and pray. Well done good and faithful servants of Our Lord Jesus Christ! Well done!

May we all have a spiritually rewarding journey during Holy Week, and at the Feast of Feasts: His Glorious Resurrection.

Christ Is Risen!

Truly He Is Risen!

A Sacred And Holy Pascha!


In Our Lord's Holy Glorious Resurrection,
+Very Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
Who Prays For You And With You!
May 2002
Boise, Idaho

Cited: Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes. Pray We May Be So Worthy To Obtain The Holy Fire - The Great Miracle of Holy Orthodoxy // Spiritual Nourishment For The Soul, May 2002