HOLY WEEK AT THE MONASTERY
For those curious to know, the following is an account of Holy Week which I recently (written in 2006) spent at Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Boston, MA. The services at the monastery are the same services held in parishes during Holy Week. A few of them are an hour or so longer than they may be in most parishes. There are no pews, only benches along the wall. The idea is to stand for all the services if possible since the services are seen as a labor of love and sacrifice to God.
The monastery building is an old mansion built in 1881 by the Schlesinger family as their home. They were a wealthy steel family in Boston. (Arthur Schlesinger, a descendent, was secretary of defense under Richard Nixon.)
The building has some 70 rooms with lots of thick oak doors, paneling and elaborate carvings. It feels like and resembles an old castle. They paid $400,000.00 for it in 1970. It has 20 acres with woods, a creek and a cemetery. The monks have goats, a green house for growing herbs, paint icons, make incense and publish books to earn a living.
There are some 40 monks at the monastery ranging in age from the 20’s to the 70’s and maybe one or two in their 80’s. They are from several different nationalities and countries and come from backgrounds in most major Protestant denominations, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism and various independent and charismatic movements including Oral Roberts University (including two former professors). It is quite an eclectic group.
I arrived on Holy Wednesday of Holy Week. They had already had two days of special services that began on Palm Sunday evening and continued on Holy Monday and Holy Tuesday.
The abbot of the monastery, Fr. Isaac, picked me up at the airport and we arrived at the monastery at 12:45, just in time for the 1:00 Pre-Sanctified Liturgy. It is called by this name because the Bread and Wine used for the Eucharist are pre-sanctified on Sunday for use during the weekday liturgies to maintain a penitential mood during the week. Sundays always celebrate the Resurrection and thus the Bread and Wine are sanctified on that day.
Since the Eucharist must always be preceded by fasting, the monks had not eaten since the day before. The Pre-Sanctified Liturgy ended at 3:00 PM.
We then had lunch, the only meal of the day, in keeping with the Lenten Fast. It consisted of vegetable soup that had red beans, macaroni, squash, zucchini, carrots, onions, peas, celery and potatoes. For dessert there was strawberry sorbet, a banana, fresh olives, bread and water. The Lenten Fast (not just for monks but all Orthodox Christians) is essentially eating without meat, wine, olive oil, dairy and eggs for 8 weeks. Fish is permitted only on a few days during the fast.
During meals at the monastery, there is no talking and one of the monks stands and reads from some spiritual writings while everyone eats. After we ate, everyone had an assigned clean up duty. In about 20 minutes we had the tables cleared, the dishes in the dishwasher, the left over food put away and the tables completely reset and ready for the next meal. (The abbot told me they spend about $1,000.00 per week at the market even without the purchase of meat, since they never eat meat).
I then road with Fr. Sergios, one of the monks, to deliver some fasting food to a family who owes a Pizza/Sub shop in town and are close friends of the monastery. This was so they could keep the Lenten fast while working.
From 6:30-9:00 PM we had the service of Holy Unction, which always falls on Holy Wednesday. This is a service that includes anointing with Holy Oil blessed by the bishop for the healing of soul and body. Incidentally, the bishop resides at this monastery.
I slept in a guest room with two other guests. One was an 84-year-old retired businessman who comes often just to visit. He was from upstate New York. The other guest was Sergei from St. Petersburg, Russia. He is a portrait painter who gets commissioned by wealthy families in America to come and paint their family portrait. He was in town on business but was able to participate in most of the services of Holy Week. There were several other guests staying in another guest room, all young men whose wives were staying at the convent that is just five minutes away. They were all recent converts to Orthodoxy from various backgrounds.
On Holy Thursday morning, the Abbot assigned me to help with the dying of eggs in the kitchen at 7:30 AM . We dyed red some 1,000 boiled eggs which the monks give away and eat during the 40 days of Pascha (more on this later) until the Feast of the Ascension.
The next service was a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy from 11:30 AM till 3:00 PM. It is called hierarchical because a hierarch, the bishop, presides and celebrates this liturgy. This liturgy commemorates the institution of the Eucharist by the Savior on Thursday of Holy Week.
After this liturgy, we had the only meal of the day, which consisted of boiled potatoes, slaw with vinegar dressing, grapes, olives, sugar cookies, bread, water and wine. On Holy Thursday, wine is permitted during the Lenten Fast since this day is the commemoration of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. This was the last meal we would have until Saturday afternoon.
On Holy Thursday evening we had the Service of the Twelve Passion Gospels, which lasted from 7:00 PM till Midnight. This service consists of many prayers and hymns interspersed between 12 readings taken from the four Gospels describing all the events leading up to the betrayal of Christ, the Crucifixion, the Burial and the events that followed except for the Resurrection.
During this service the icon of the body of Christ is placed on a cross that stands front and center and the faithful prostrate themselves before the cross.
Incidentally, in the chapel, there are no electric lights. The only lights are oil lamps and candles.
On Great and Holy Friday the service began at 10:00 AM and ended at 3:30 PM. This consists of several services put together: The Royal Hours, Vespers, Pre-Sanctified Liturgy and the taking down from the cross service. During this time the body of Christ is removed from the Cross, wrapped in linen cloth and taken in procession as to the tomb which has been prepared before hand and now sits in the front of the temple. Here the image of the body of Christ is adorned with flowers, spices and myrrh in imitation of the burial preparation by the myrrh-bearing women as described in the Holy Gospels. All the faithful then come and prostrate themselves before the tomb and worship His Holy Suffering and Death.
On Holy Friday evening we had the Service of Lamentations which lasted from 7:00 PM till 11:00 PM. During this service we gather around the tomb and sing hymns of lamentations, which are hymns of repentance and of praise for the Savior’s love, suffering, and death. I attended this service with the nuns at the convert just down the street from the monastery.
On Holy Saturday morning there was another Hierarchical Liturgy with the bishop. This lasted from 11:30 AM till 3:00 PM. This is a solemn service in awareness that during this time the Savior was in the tomb and descended into Hades (the realm of death where all went who died before the Advent of Christ) and proclaimed his Resurrection to all those who had fallen asleep prior to his coming. Those who embraced Him in Faith were led from the captivity of the grave into Paradise with the thief who had been crucified with Him on Holy Friday.
After this service we had our first meal since Holy Thursday. It consisted of Tofu Soup w/pasta shells, ½ of an avocado, a banana, dates, figs, an orange, bread and water. This was followed by the usual clean up.
Immediately after this meal the spirit of the anticipated Feast of the Resurrection begins to fill the air. All the monks get busy cleaning the building, washing windows, preparing many floral arrangements and cleaning all the holy vessels and utensils used in all the services.
Then on Saturday evening at 11:30 PM we gathered to celebrate the Feast of the Resurrection, a joyous and festive service that lasted until 4:00 AM. From this time until the Feast of the Ascension forty days later, the Resurrection hymns are song every week in every service and the customary greetings of “hello,” “good morning,” etc. are replaced for 40 days with the greeting of “Christ is Risen!” and the response, “Truly He is Risen!”
This service was followed by a light meal which breaks the fast and consisted of fish soup, feta cheese, Pascha bread and Pascha cheese, an orange, chocolates, wine, coffee and water. (In the Orthodox Church Easter is called Pascha, which means Passover since the death and resurrection of Christ are the fulfillment of the meaning of the Old Testament Feast of Passover.)
We went to bed at 5:00 AM and gathered again at noon for the main Pasha meal which consisted of baked cod, green beans almandine, boiled egg, an orange, Pascha bread and cheese, chocolates, wine and coffee.
Agape Vespers were chanted from 6 till 7 PM. During this service the Resurrection Gospel is chanted in many different languages to emphasis the universality of the Gospel. At the monastery it was done in 12 different languages. This was followed by the evening meal, which I didn’t attend due to a phone call about Nathan’s arrest.
The week following Pascha is called Bright Week and there are services everyday to celebrate the Resurrection. We had the liturgy for Bright Monday from 7 till 10 AM.
This was followed by lunch which consisted of baked fish filet, baked potato with butter, chives and sour cream, a pear, boiled egg, Pascha bread and cheese, chocolates, cookies, wine and coffee.
Monday evening I flew home to Nashville.
Joseph Bragg
