April 7, 2024, on the third Sunday of Great Lent, the Adoration of the Cross and the day of the great twelfth holiday Annunciation of the Most Holy Mistress of Our Lady and Blessed Virgin MaryHis Holiness Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Russia-Ukraine celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Volodymyr Cathedral.
On the eve of the holiday, in the evening of April 6, His Holiness Patriarch Filaret officiated all night vigil in the Volodymyr Cathedral.
His Holiness was co-served by clerics of the cathedral. Archpriest Mykhail Truskavetsky delivered a sermon at the sacrament.
After the service, prayers were offered for the God-protected state of Ukraine, so that the All-Merciful Lord would free us from the invasion of foreigners, strengthen and protect our soldiers, and give the Ukrainian people the long-awaited just peace and victory.
The festive service ended with a prayer to the Mother of God and worship of the Lord’s Cross.
Celebrating the feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Church of Christ celebrates the revelation of God’s eternal mystery and the beginning of our salvation. What is this secret of God? In the eternal council of the Holy Trinity, when the universe was not yet created, God entrusted the Son of God to save people from sin and death. The Annunciation was the revelation of this mystery. The essence of the mystery is that the Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin. And this event is the beginning of our salvation.
Why is the Annunciation such an important holiday, why does the believing people honor and love it so much? The holy fathers in their teachings call the Annunciation – the Incarnation. They say that the beginning of the earthly life of Jesus Christ is not Christmas. Christmas is birth. And the beginning of His earthly life is the Incarnation, the feast of the Annunciation of the Mother of God.
Having reached the middle of Great Lent, Christians need a gracious help to strengthen their spiritual forces. On this day, the Life-giving Cross is brought up for worship and the saving suffering of the crucified Lord is glorified. It is by looking at the Cross that Orthodox receive great comfort and encouragement.
The cross gave humanity the final victory of good over evil, the victory of love over hate, life over death. We can say with certainty that if there was no cross, there would be no saving feat of Christ, there would be no Divine resurrection. Therefore, Orthodox Christians honor the Life-giving Cross as a sign of Christ’s glorious victory over death.
Each of us becomes a participant in the saving power of the Lord’s cross only when we worthily carry our own cross along the path of life. And when, following this thorny path, where sorrows, grief, misfortune, oppression, diseases are encountered, a person does not complain, but gratefully accepts all these trials as a test from the Lord, then he becomes like Christ. And He is a true example of love, self-sacrifice, humility, meekness, mercy and patience, which we lack so much in this life.
Press service of the Kyiv Patriarchate
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