They despised You, because You took upon You the form
of a servant, but we glorify You, as we know who You are...
You are equal to the Father as You said, "All Yours are
Mine" (John. 17:10). And You are the Only Begotten son, who
is in the bosom of the Father, since the beginning (John. 1:18),
"Who being the brightness of His Glory and the express image
of His person" (Heb. 1:3). Yes Lord, we glorify You for the
glory which " You had with Your Father before the world was."
(John 17:5), and because all authority in heaven and earth had
been given to You. (Matt. 28:18).
You had been glorified before we came into being, and for
You "every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of
those on earth, and of those under the earth " (Phil. 2:10).
Before we began to glorify You, You were and still are glorified
by the Angels and Archangels... [Before whom stand thousands
of thousands and ten thousand of the heavenly hosts ministering
to You... and carry out Your word, our Master.]
You had been also glorified before the Angels or anything else
existed, when You alone existed. You do not need any creature
to glorify You, for You are glorified in Your Nature, Your
attributes, and Your Divinity. You need no one to glorify You
and as You said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." (Rev. 22:13).
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When we glorify You, Lord, we do not add something new
to You, for even in Your self-humiliation, many events
showed Your glory...
You were glorified on Your birth by the angels who brought the
good tidings to the shepherds, and by the three wise men who
brought you gifts that suited Your glory and worshipped You.
You were glorified when the idols of Egypt fell on Your visit
while still a child. (Is. 19:1). John the Baptist glorified You
saying, "..."There comes One after me who is mightier than I,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. "
(Mark 1: 7,8).
Your glory was shown during the Baptism, when the Holy
Spirit descended on You like a dove, and a voice from heaven
said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well
pleased."(Luke 3:22).
Your glory was also shown on the Mount of
transfiguration, when Your face shone like the sun and
Your garments became white as light, and God's voice from a
cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Hear Him! " (Matt. 17:2-5).
You showed Your glory, Lord, in numerous miracles, even
the devils could not help but bear witness. And when You were
tempted by Satan on the mountain, You showed Your glory...
You rebuked the devil and he was gone, then the angels came
and ministered to You. (Mark 1:13).Your glory was shown through the Revelation to St. John
the Visionary, who saw You in the midst of golden
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lampstands. Your face shone as when the sunshines in its full
strength, Your eyes were like a flame of fire, and Your voice
like the sound of many waters... When St. John saw You, he fell
at Your feet as dead. (Rev. 1:13-17).
In Your second coming, You will also come in Your Glory,
on clouds of heaven, as it is said, "When the Son of Man
comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He
will sit on the throne of His glory " (Matt. 25:31). "Clouds and
darkness surround Him, Righteousness and Justice are the
foundation of His throne... His lightning illumine the world..
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord. " (Ps. 97..2-5).
We also Glorify You:
When glorifying You, our mouths are sanctified, but that
does not add anything to You. When we glorify You, Lord,
we do not give you glory, but rather admit Yours. You are like
the sun; it shines with or without our acknowledgment. What
we say does not add to its light; it illuminates by itself...
We do not glorify You only in Your second coming, when Your
glory will be obvious, but we glorify You in the depth of Your
passion. We follow You, step by step proclaiming, "Thine is
the Power and Glory... Emmanuel our God and King". We
Glorify You with the beautiful hymn... the magnificent,
immortal melody which is incomparable in the world of music,
in which we say, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A
sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Your kingdom." (Ps.
45:6).
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By glorifying You, Christ, we protest against the deeds of
those who plotted and crucified You. We protest against
what the ungrateful human beings did to You, and see Your
true glory in the Cross You endured for our sake. By glorifying
You in Your crucifixion, we have pride in the glory of the
Cross, taking it as a life and support for us in our ministry. We
even sing with St. Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is
no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me ". (Gal. 2:20).
With this beautiful hymn we glorify the Lord at the end of the
prayers of the Good Friday, after He paid His blood a price for
the world's salvation, and began to reign on a tree. We sing to
Him, "Your Throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever... " With the
same hymn, we also glorify Him on Tuesday of the Passion
week, the day on which He announced to the disciples the time
of His crucifixion, "You know that after two days is the
Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be
crucified. " (Matt. 26:2). And with the same beautiful tune we
glorify the Lord with another hymn ie.
(Avchenon)*.
We glorify You, Lord, in Your crucifixion not only in Your
miracles...
-------------------------
* This hymn is part of (Ps. 55) usually sung with the same tune of "Your
throne 0 God" on Wednesday night of the Passion Week.
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We follow our Lord Jesus Christ in the Crucifixion,
whispering in His ear, "Thine is The Blessing" as the Holy
Bible says, " Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. "
(Gal. 3:13).
For this reason, a criminal put to death in that way had to be
buried on the same day and not remain all night hanged on the
tree, lest he should defile the land, as the hanged is accursed by
God. (Dent. 21:22-23). And so the Lord took away the curse
of the Law on our behalf and became accursed for our sake.
But we know that He is holy, without sin, and the curse He
took away was ours; the wages of our sins according to the
Law. (Dent. 28:27). He is not a sinner, certainly not, but He
takes away the sins of others, of the whole world. We
therefore, follow Him regretting for what we made Him carry,
saying to Him from the depths of our hearts, "Thine is the
Power, the Glory, the Blessing... Emmanuel our God and
King"...
For this curse, they crucified Him outside the camp,- so
that He would not defile it, and we follow Him in His
Passion Week, as St. Paul said, "Accordingly, let us go forth
to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. 13:13).
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We bear His reproach, as said about the Prophet Moses,
"esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. " (Heb. 11:26).
For this reason the Church remains outside the camp, away
from the altar, away from the sanctuary, away from the first
Chancel, the Chancel of Saints, remembering our sins that took
us outside the camp like Adam when sent forth from the garden
of Eden. We follow the Lord outside the Camp saying, "You
are righteous, we are evil, we deserve the curse and banishment,
but You, Thine is the Blessing forever Amen, my Lord Jesus
Christ, the Good Saviour.
While the Jews see in the Cross of the Lord Christ a symbol of
shame and humiliation, we say to Him: To You and to Your
cross is the blessing. With Your Cross we are blessed in
everything. The priests, with the sign of the Cross, bless the
Congregation, and with the sign of the Cross, the consecration
and sanctification are completed.
With the sign of the Cross in the baptistery, we obtain the
blessing of the new birth and each member of our body is
blessed and sanctified with the sign of the Cross in the
sacrament of the Holy Chrism. Besides, all the Holy sacraments
of Eucharist, Priesthood and the other sacraments of the Church
are completed with the sign of the Cross by which we obtain
grace, blessing and gifts. So, we cry out from all our hearts,
"Thine is the Blessing........
We cross our food before we start eating and ourselves before
we go to sleep and with this sign we become blessed in
everything. We look at the blessings of the Cross and say to the
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Lord in His passion, "Thine is the Blessing, forever Amen,
Emmanuel our God and King".
Thine, 0 Lord, is the blessing that we lost since the fall of
Adam, and of which we dreamt till this day, waiting for
You to grant to us; You, by whom all the nations of the
world are blessed.
When Man was created, God blessed him, and when he fell, a
curse came unto earth, as God said to Adam, "Cursed is the
ground because of you" (Gen. 3:17). Then the curse spread
among human being themselves, so God cursed Cain (Gen.
4:11), then Canaan and his descendants too.
The curse extended and reached every sinner, as it was said in
the Law, "If you will not obey the voice of the Lord Your God
or be careful in following all His commandments and His
statutes which I command you this day, then all these curses
shall come upon and overtake you... The Lord will send you
curses, confusion and frustration in all that you undertake to
do, until you are a-destroyed and perish quickly" (Dent. 28:15-
20).
Amidst the curses of the Law, mankind dreamt of God
fulfilling His promise to Abraham, ... "In your seed all the
nations of the earth shall be blessed. " (Gen. 22:18).
Mankind waited for Your coming, Lord, then You came our
loving, kind Lord to take away the curse of the Law and in You
all nations be blessed. We stand by Your side while on the
Cross, trusting Your promise to Abraham.
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We look at You, Lord, while You dip hyssop in Your Holy
Blood and sprinkle us to become clean. We sing for Your
Glory and Holiness: "Thine is the Blessing, forever Amen".
Thine is the Blessing:
Thine is the blessing that You gave to the world in whom are
blessed by all nations and generations. But for this blessing of
Yours, the whole world would perish in its sins.
Thine is the blessing as we say to You in the Holy Mass
"You blessed my nature in You". Thine is the unlimited
blessing by which the whole world are blessed...
Thine is the blessing You gave us, the nation who were called
uncircumcised, "that at that time you were without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without
God in the world. " (Eph. 2:12). With Your blessings, Lord we
"...you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow
citizens with the saints and members of the household of God."
(Eph. 2:19).
Thine is the blessing because You are Holy, so, on the day of
Your crucifixion, we sing this hymn saying, "Holy God, Holy
Mighty, Holy Immortal, who was crucified for us, have mercy
upon us..." As we sing the hymn of Your Holiness, we clear
You from all accusations.
When we sing the "AGIOS" hymn i.e. "The Trisagion" with a
sad tune, our sorrow is not for You, but for those who led You
to the Cross as a sinner and charged You with the improper.
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But You the Holy, born of the Holy Spirit, the only Holy One,
Thine is the blessing forever Amen.
You first gave You. blessing to the criminal on Your right,
when You brought him with You to Paradise. With this
blessing, You blessed the foolish of the world and disgraced
the wise, You blessed the weak porcelain vessels that
carried Your Holy Name...
Who ever thought those weak fishermen would become in Your
hands, like the five loaves and fill up the whole world, "...their
line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the
end of the world. " (Ps. 19..4). Who ever thought this scared
group hiding in the upper room would go and face emperors,
philosophies and religions, and fill the whole world... It is Your
blessing that was given to our mother Rebekah, when You said
to her, "Our sister, may you become The mother of
thousands of ten thousands; And may your descendants
possess The gates of those who hate them. " (Gen. 24:60).
Indeed Lord, Thine is the Power...
The sin hid the blessing, so, when the sin was taken away
from us, the blessing returned. You restored Man to his first
rank, as You said to him in compassion, "I will make you a
great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And
you shall be a blessing." (Gen. 12:2). We ask You to keep your
blessing on us, with all its grace and abundance... Let the
blessing we heard on the sixth day return to us, when You said.
"Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. "
(Gen. 1:28).
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As for me, my soul magnifies the Lord and all that is within me
blesses His Holy Name:
BLESS THE LORD, 0 MY SOUL,
AND ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME,
BLESS HIS HOLY NAME!
BLESS THE LORD, 0 MY SOUL;
AND FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS".
(Ps. 103:1-2)
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Thine is the Honour, as You are "Lord of Lords and King of
Kings" (Rev. 17:14).
And though You refused the worldly reign, You reign over the
hearts and Your Kingdom is within us. Even those who did not
give You their hearts feared you.
Thine is the Honour, as You have reverence, respect and
awe...
You can humble Yourself as You wish, or neglect Yourself in
humility, but that does not lessen Your glory and reverence.
Many times Your self-humiliation gave a chance to your
enemies to stone You or hurt You, but... passing through the
midst of them You went away and no one could do You harm.
(Luke. 4:30).
They failed to arrest You till the hour came, the hour that You
fixed to give up Yourself, with Your own will. They were all
afraid to face You and when they asked, they could not keep
their argument. You and when they asked, they could not keep
their argument. You were mighty in Your words with them,
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even as a Young Boy. They listened to You and were
astonished and amazed...
Even the devil used to feel deep inside that You are mighty
and unconquerable. Your humility allowed him to approach
You, but Your awe overcame him when You rebuked him. He
escaped from You, and could not finish his talk. His temptation
came to an end.
Lord, You have been mighty, respected and feared all Your
life. The story of the Cross is just a reaction of the fear of Your
enemies. They felt You are more powerful and closer to the
hearts than them. You were more convincing with people, so
they feared for their authority.
We stand by the side of Your Cross, Lord, and say, in spite of
these insults and sufferings, "Thine is the Honour forever Amen,
Emmanuel our God and King".
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