Today is Holy Saturday – the sixth day after Easter. In it, Orthodox Christians honor Saint John.
As the Sabbath day is dedicated to the dead, people distribute red eggs in memory of their recently deceased loved ones.
Three things are forbidden to women on Holy Saturday. On this day, women should not wash or do laundry, so that the soap foam does not sting the eyes of the dead. It is absolutely forbidden to cut and sew clothes, because whoever wears such a garment will die.
Today the Church honors the memory of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, the beloved disciple of Christ.
According to the New Testament, the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian was one of the first apostles called by Christ to be his disciples. Later, Jesus himself often called only three of his disciples for various significant events – John, his brother James (Zabedeev) and Peter.
It was John who was the disciple to whom the crucified Jesus entrusted the care of his mother. According to the orthodox interpretation, John is also the beloved disciple who rested his head on Christ’s chest during the Last Supper.
Apart from what is recorded in the books of the New Testament, the tradition of the Christian church indicates that John lived to a very old age, taking care of the Mother of God until her Assumption itself.
After the evangelical events, he lived mainly in Smyrna and Ephesus, and at the end of his life he was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote his famous “Revelation”. He died in 100 AD.
Holy Week ends with St. Thomas Sunday, named after St. Ap. Thomas, who was the only one of the twelve apostles of Jesus who did not believe in Christ’s resurrection.
On this day, the Gospel reading is read about the appearance of Christ to His disciples, among whom was the Apostle Thomas – one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, who did not believe in Christ’s Resurrection.
When the rumor about the body of the Lord missing from the tomb spread, the only apostle Thomas did not believe in this sign and asked to see for himself by touching the wounds from the nails of Jesus nailed to the cross.
Eight days after the Resurrection, Christ appeared to Thomas, and so he convinced himself of the truth, fell on his knees and begged God to forgive him.
#bright #Saturday #bans #women
