NEBAB #7: Lent Week 7- Nicodemus

    NEBAB #7

The Orthodox Tewahedo Magazine

LENT WEEK 7: NICODEMUS (ኒቆዲሞስ)

The Spiritual Education Unit

Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Archdiocese of the Caribbean and Latin America


7th Week of Lent: Nicodemus
In this issue:
Gospel: St John 3:1-12

    1. Nicodemus

    2. Brought low, then raised high

    3. Faith and works

    4. “Ask Abba/Kes”

    5. A Miracle of the Holy Virgin Maryam

    6. Children’s corner

    7.ይበል ግዕዝ 

    8. Orthodox Q&A


Commentary on the Gospel:
St John 3:3

In this verse, our Lord teaches that the experience of the Christian faith can only come by baptism. In this passage, the kingdom of heaven is interpreted to mean our faith and hope in the resurrection. One will ask, however- does not faith come before baptism? Indeed it does! But until a person is baptised and becomes a son or daughter of the Holy Trinity, he/she will not know the tewahedo faith fully. It becomes necessary, then, to distinguish between knowing ABOUT the faith and knowing the faith. St James teaches us that it is not our knowledge of something that gets us involved, but the works of faith- like receiving the sacrament of baptism- that open to us the experience of the Christian faith.

May we hear the word of life!


Nicodemus
The 8 weeks of The Great Fast, also known as Lent, have names and themes laid out in St Yared’s Tsome Digua. The seventh is named after Nicodemus. 
Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish ruling council who was so impressed with the miracles that our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ performed in Jerusalem, that he went to our Lord in the night in search of more knowledge. In the small snapshot of these nighttime lessons we get from the gospel of St John, we see that he learned about the first two pillars of mystery- the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation, and the first of the Holy Sacraments, baptism. Nicodemus, along with Joseph of Arimathea, lived as secret disciples of our Lord and buried Him after He died on the Cross.


The life of Nicodemus- brought low by himself, raised up by God

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time
1st Peter 5:6
What an example is Nicodemus for all those in high positions in the world! To understand the heights from which Nicodemus lowered himself in coming to Christ as a student, let us visit the Ethiopian andemta to understand what our Lord meant when He called Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews.
He was a ruler in 3 ways:
+ By wealth- It is not actually a sin to be rich, of course, but riches bring with them more temptations! Nicodemus’ wealth made him a ruler among the ranks of the Jews of his time.
+ By status- He had influence among the Jews. Having been appointed to a high position among the Jews, when he talked, people listened.
+ By teaching- He was a teacher. In the Hebrew tradition, ‘he who teaches you one thing [of the things of God], honour him like your master, he who teaches you many things, honour him like your God.’
By considering his position among the Jews less important than following Christ, he put himself in the position by which he would eventually find himself carrying the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and be honoured in our liturgy whenever the priest prays:
“Let my hands be like the hands of Joseph and Nicodemus who wrapped Your Body and found there peace, rest and honour from the Father and from the Son and from the Holy Spirit”



Faith and works:
Night school with Christ
We are taught that one of the reasons Nicodemus learned from our Lord by night was that while our minds are distracted during the day, when night comes the heart is only focused on going to sleep, so our thoughts are calmer. Nicodemus could have given up his day job as a ruler of the Jews or his opportunity to learn from Christ. He chose neither, giving up his sleep and studying at night.

This week’s challenge:
        Our church is full of priests and teachers working tirelessly to educate the faithful- often balancing their own day jobs with their pastoral duties! Find and participate in at least one evening/nighttime class a week. Take notes- you want your attendance to be as fruitful as it can be.


Ask Abba/Kes

What is the correct interpretation of Matthew 23:9 “call no man father?”

 

Our fathers in their interpretation give us two meanings.
Our Lord was teaching the apostles that they should not seek to be called father. Even though they had great power and authority, they should not seek to exert it over anyone- except when they had to according to the order of church.
He also taught that we should have no father on earth who leads us away from our Heavenly Father.
Ge'ez words of the day
ጸሎት (tselot)       እምነት (imnet)     ሥግደት (sigdet)
prayer       ~       faith       ~       prostration

 
A Miracle of the Holy Virgin Maryam
There were two handmaidens of Our Holy Lady, the Virgin Mary, who gave birth to God in Bethlehem of the children of Judah. The name of the one was Juliana, and the name of the other was Barbara. One day, as they were going to Jerusalem to worship at the Festival of the Departure of Our Holy Lady, the Virgin Mary, they were attacked in the village of Rosmaduk by thieves who took their food away from them. 
It came to pass that, after the thieves had divided the bread they had stolen, they began to eat it. As each one of them put a morsel of it into his mouth and began to eat, straightaway their front teeth and their grinders broke off. Their mouths filled with pieces of shattered teeth, and the insides of their mouths and their throats were cut deeply by them. They could not speak and were close to death.
Those who saw and heard this miracle marveled greatly and were astonished, and because of their terror and awe of Our Holy Lady, the Virgin Mary, fear and trembling entered their hearts. Then the thieves went and repented. They renounced their evil deeds, and they begged forgiveness for their sins from Our Holy Lady, the Virgin Mary. They also gave Juliana and Barbara each a double portion of goods in return for the food which they had carried off. Our Lady, the storehouse of mercy, spared them.

She restored their teeth to their previous condition, for she is able to do all things—there is nothing which she cannot do; she is a worker of miracles and wonders.

May her prayer, her blessing, and the mercy of her beloved son, be with our King David forever and ever! Amen.

Your power, O Mary, has broken the tooth of our sin.
When the thieves ate morsels of the two maidens’ bread,
Your power made manifest a wonderful thing.
You, my dear Lady, performed a work unknown [before].
In your sanctuary I desire to dwell.

O Holy Virgin Maryam, pray for us!


LIJOCH! The Children's Corner

MEMORY VERSE:
ST. JOHN 3: 1 :-  “ THERE WAS A MAN OF THE PHARISEES NAMED NICODEMUS, A RULER OF THE JEWS.”

CONNECT THE DOTS TO GIVE NICODEMUS HIS CLOAK (YOU CAN COLOUR THE PICTURE WHEN YOU'RE DONE)


BIBLE QUIZ!
Can you name 2 other rulers of the Jews mentioned in Acts?


ይበል:ግዕዝ (yibel Ge’ez)
Let's reclaim our forefathers’ language

Today we'll learn the Ge’ez word for and, our first conjunction (a word that joins two ideas and shows their relation)
ዮሴፍ ወኒቆዲሞስ
(Yosef weNiqodimos)

In Ge’ez, conjunctions are attached to the beginning of the word, unlike in English where they are separated by a space:
Joseph and Nicodemus
The word ወ- (pronounced we- as in ‘wet’) when attached to the beginning of a word, means and. 
POP QUIZ: How do we correctly say ‘Adam and Eve?
አዳሞ ወሔዋን (Adam weHewan)
አዳም በሔዋን (Adam beHewan)
አዳም ወ ሔዋን (Adam we Hewan)


ORTHODOX Q&A

Why do churches who aren’t in communion with us accept St John Chrysostom?

Certain saints were canonised before 451 AD, which was the first time churches left communion with each other. As these saints predate the split in communion, they are venerated in all churches. 
 
What do the months of our calendar have to do with the moon?

The Ethiopian calendar is actually a solar calendar, by which a year is 365 days, 6 hours, 2 minutes and 24 seconds. By the reckoning of the moon, a year comes to about 354 days. Lunar calendars are used by others in the world, like in Islam. 
 
Send us your questions at: seu.eotccarla@gmail.com


References


Miracle of the Holy Virgin Maryam: Princeton Ethiopian Miracles of Mary Project (pemm.princeton.edu/stories/154)

CONTACT US:
Archdiocese headquarters: Medhane Alem (Saviour of the World), Old Golden Grove Rd. Arouca, Trinidad and Tobago.
Tel. 868-642-4230.
e-mail: eotc.arch.carla@gmail.com

 

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