THE HOLY SEASON - DAY 1

                                  
I appreciate this tradition from the Orthodox Church.  Perhaps you will, too. 
                                                                                                                                    --Bonnie B.


    
                                                                                                 Lazarus Saturday                                                         
                                                                    
(The Saturday preceding Palm or Branch Sunday)

By raising Lazarus from the dead before Thy passion Thou didst confirm the universal resurrection, O Christ God!  Like the children with the branches of victory, we cry out to Thee, O Vanquisher of Death:  Hosanna in the highest!  Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord! (Troparion)

Christ--the Joy, the Truth and the Light of All, the Life of the world and its Resurrection--has appeared in his goodness to those on earth.  (Kontakion)


Lazarus Saturday was once among the few great baptismal days in the Orthodox Church Year.  Because of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, Christ was hailed by the masses as the long-expected Messiah--King of Israel. 

From the website of the Orthodox Church in America, OCA.org

(The Bible's 11th chapter of John tells the entire story of Lazarus.) 
 

 Tomorrow:  The Holy Season - Day 2, Palm Sunday