Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord,
We have come to the end of Great Lent. Behind us are weeks of effort, prayer, struggle, falls, and attempts to begin again. And now the Church leads us into special days — Lazarus Saturday and the Feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.
This is no longer simply the continuation of the Fast. It is its transition to what is most essential.
Lazarus Saturday reminds us that Christ is the Author of life and the Conqueror of death. He comes to the tomb of Lazarus and restores him to life. This miracle takes place on the eve of His own suffering and, in a way, reveals in advance the meaning of all that is about to happen: death does not have the final word.
Yet in this event there is also something deeply personal for each of us. The Holy Gospel says: “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been
dead four days” (John 11:39). Christ enters precisely where, by human standards, there is no hope — where everything seems final and irreversible. And through this the Church tells us: there is no state from which God cannot raise a person. There is no depth of fall that the grace of God cannot reach.
Lazarus is not only a person from sacred history. He is also an image of each of us when we lose our living connection with God. And Christ does not come when we are “ready,” but when we need Him the most.
The next day we celebrate the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. People greet Christ with joy, with palm branches, crying out: “Hosanna!” They see in Jesus of Nazareth a King. But very soon, the same crowd will cry out: “Crucify Him.”
This is a serious reminder for each of us. Faith cannot be built on feelings and inspiration alone. It requires faithfulness, endurance, and inner commitment — even when it becomes difficult, when the cross appears, when outward joy fades.
These two days stand side by side for a reason. Lazarus Saturday gives us hope: Christ conquers death and restores life. The Entry into Jerusalem shows us the path: this victory is accomplished through suffering and the Cross. And now the Church brings us to what is most important: not simply to remember these events, but to enter into them with our own lives.
We are almost at the goal. But ahead are the deepest and holiest days of the year — Holy Week. The Church gently says to us: do not stop now. Do not lose your focus. Lent was a time of preparation. Now begins the time of encounter — an encounter with Christ in His suffering, in His journey to the Cross, and in His Resurrection.
Let us not remain observers. Let us walk these days together with Him — in prayer, in stillness, and in attentiveness to our souls. May these holy days help us remain collected, attentive, and open to what the Lord desires to accomplish in our hearts.
I invite you all to come and pray in the church — to share in the services and walk this path together to Pascha, to the joy of the Resurrection of Christ, so that with Him we may be crucified and with Him also rise again.
