Our Church introduces the Great and Holy Week by commemorating Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This event prefigures Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and also declares the truth about human immortality. We use the following Tropar for this celebration.

O Christ our God, You confirmed the resurrection of all before the time of You passion by raising Lazarus from the dead.  Therefore, we as the children of Israel carry the symbols of victory and cry out to You, the Conqueror of Death: “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord”.

For six days preceding Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, the liturgy of the Church makes us follow Christ as He first announced the death of His friend and then begins His journey to Bethany and Jerusalem.

The center of attention is Lazarus – his sickness, his death, the grief of his relatives and Christ’s reaction to all of this. The entire week is spent in the spiritual contemplation of the forthcoming encounter between Christ and Death – first in the person of His friend, Lazarus; then in Christ’s own death. It is the approach of that hour of Christ of which He so often spoke and toward which all His earthly ministry was oriented. And we must ask: What is the place and the meaning of this contemplation in the lenten liturgy? How is it related to our own lenten effort? It is important that we attempt to answer these questions for ourselves. Recall the fact that our Church, when she celebrates these events in the life of Christ, always uses the present tense of the verb. Today Christ is born! Today Christ enters the city of Jerusalem! Today Christ is raised from the dead! She sees these events as ongoing. I believe we must ask: What is the meaning of this transposition; the significance of this liturgical today?

One can say without exaggeration that the whole life of the Church is one continuous commemoration and remembrance. The Church IS the remembrance of Christ. Just as the Divine Liturgy is the real remembrance of Christ’s presence among us. Christ is present and His presence is real. So when we celebrate the events of His life, He is truly present with us. Of course if we don’t open our minds and hearts we will not experience Him as present.

Further, since there is no time in the spiritual dimension where God is, all things are present – all things are happening right now. This approach to the celebration of Jesus’ life is truly one of the unique aspects of our Church.