Nebab #51 The Great Fast: Zewerede

 NEBAB #51

The Orthodox Tewahedo Magazine

THE GREAT FAST (LENT)

WEEK 1: ZEWEREDE

    

The Spiritual Education Unit

Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Archdiocese of the Caribbean and Latin America

In this issue:

    1. What is the Great Lenten Fast?

    2. Commentary on the Gospel Reading

         "He Who Came Down From Heaven" John 3:10 -21

    3. Faith and works

    4. “Ask Abba/Kes”

    5. Miracle of the Virgin Mary

    6. Children’s corner

    7.ይበል ግዕዝ 

    8. Orthodox Q&A

 

What is the Great Lenten Fast?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.

The Great Lenten Fast, also known as "Abiy Tsome" is one of the moving fasts of the Church. This year, it extends from February 16th - April 11th lasting a total of 55 days. Overall, the fast is divided into three main periods: (i) The Fast of Eraclius (ii) The 40 days that Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ fasted (iii) Passion Week reflecting the passion of Jesus Christ as fasted by the Apostles.

The first Sunday of the Great Fast in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is known as the "zawardada" which means, "The one who came down from above"

In the introduction of his hymn book, St. Yared acknowledges Our Lord's descent, incarnation, and crucifixion in John 3:13.

The second Sunday is known as "Qədəsətə."  It denotes sanctity. It describes the sacredness of Sunday. 

We name the third Sunday "Məkurabə."  The word məkurabə represents the synagogue. It serves as a reminder that during his ministry, Our Lord and Saviour Eyesus Christos taught in synagogues. 

The fourth Sunday is known as "Mäs'aguʾə," which means one who is infirm. (Jn. 5:1-9). Our EOTC sings a song on this day in praise of the Lord's healing of the sick and sight for the blind. 

The fifth Sunday is known as "Däbərä Zäyətə." Däbərä Zäyətə is the Geez term for Mount of Olives. Our EOTC observes this day by singing a hymn about Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ's second coming, which he taught on Mount Olives. 

We name the sixth Sunday Good Servant "Gäbərə Herə." Our EOTC celebrates this day by telling and singing the story of the excellent servant who received five talents and profited by five more. (Mt. 25:14-30). 

Our EOTC calls the seventh Sunday "Nicodemus." St. Yared composes a hymn commemorating Nicodemus' nighttime visit to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

The eighth Sunday is Hosanna (Palm Sunday). It is a commemorative day on which Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ entered the temple triumphantly, and the people sang "Hosanna in the highest." 

In the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, as our father Saint Yared teaches us, fasting is not only abstinence from food, but when we fast, we must let our eyes fast, our tongues fast, both ears all of our senses must fast from evil things. (Mt. 5:21-30; St Yared - Diggua)

Let us also remember the words of Our Holy Father, St John Chrysostom, also known as the "golden tongue"....

"Fasting is the change of every part of our life, because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast.

Are you fasting? Show me your fast with your works. Which works?

If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy.

If you see an enemy, reconcile with im

If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not be jealous of him!

If you see a beautiful woman on the street pass her by"

He Who Came Down From Heaven

John 3:10-21

Every week of the lenten fast is dedicated to themes identified by our Holy Father, Saint Yared. For the first week of the Great lenten fast known as Zawarada, Saint Yared has selected this Gospel reading, John 3:10-21 to guide our reflection through this week.  

As the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus neared its end, the Lord began to declare three consecutive truths about His divinity:

First: He is the incarnate God descending from heaven and ascending to heaven and being in heaven at the same time. This means that during the time of Christ's incarnation on earth, He did not leave heaven - with His infinite divinity- for a single moment. He is in a state of constant incarnation and ascension, as indicated by the tense of the word "ascended" in the Greek language. It is in the present perfect tense as in the English language.

Second: The necessity of the Son of Man being lifted up on the wood of the cross for redemption. Jesus referred to what Moses did by lifting up the bronze serpent according to God's command (Numbers 21:8-9), to save all who looked at it from the deadly bites of the wild serpents. It was nothing but a symbol of Christ hanging on the wood of the cross, who, by HIs death, saves from death all who believe in Him.

Third: The connection of the free salvation offered on the cross with faith. Through His redemption, Christ opened the doors of eternal lfie to all people, but with the condition of believing in Him.

Salvation then comes as a free gift that does not depend on my merit but on the grace of God's love for me. He offered me the cross and redemption as salvation, baptsim as an entrance to it, and gave me life to live and enjoy being here with Him, so that I may testify to Him and strive for this salvation granted to me, lest I lose it.

So why does St Yared choose to focus on this theme of Christ's divinity for this week?

To help us prepare for this lent. Christ descended and our ascension is only possible through his descension. Not simply a physical descent from heaven to earth but a sort of kenosis or emptying himself, lowering himself voluntarily without loosing his divinity and fully entering into our condition. The purpose of Christ descending is because he loved the world so much, taking our weaknesses upon himself so that we can have restoration of life with him

He descends being born into poverty and sharing fully in our experiences. He even descends into hades breaking the powers of death from within. Christ also meets each one of us personally, meeting us exactly where we are. 

He descended for our sake so that we might ascend for His sake

Do you want to ascend? Hold on to Him who ascends. By yourself, you will not be able to rise.... If no one ascends except He who descended that is, the Son of Man, our Lord jesus Christ.  No one ascends except the one who isa member of HIs body, fulfilling the saying: "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down"

Faith and Works:

Fasting, prayer and almsgiving are some of the basic pillars of orthodox spiritual discipline and the three of them go hand in hand. During this lenten season, challenge yourself to read the Wudase Maryam daily and intentionally incorporate this prayer into your routine. 

Where possible, take time to medidate on the words of the prayer using the Andemta (commentary) available in english to deepen your understanding and reflection.

Commentary on St Ephraim's Praise of St Mary EOTC Theotokion: A Commentary on St. Ephraim the Syrian's Praise of St. Mary (EOTC Patristic Bible Commentaries): Asnake PhD, Fr. Haileyesus: 9798334755406: Amazon.com: Books

May this practice draw you closer to Christ and His Holy Mother, Saint Mary. 

Ask Abba/Kes

What does faith look like practically while we wait for the things we pray for?

To envisage faith practically, consider the words of St. James the Just, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).

This profound truth shows that faith, while deeply internal is also vibrantly external, manifesting through our deeds, our patience and our steadfastness.

BIBLE QUIZ!

What things did our Lord command us to do and not to do when we fast? Where can the verses be found in the bible?

A Miracle of the Holy Virgin Mary

A miracle [performed] by Our Lady Mary, Mariham, Holy Virgin, the Mother of God, may her intercession be with us, amen.

An archbishop [in a certain city] was good in everything he did and judged honestly during his time in office.

He loved Our Lady Mary, Mariham, Holy Virgin, the hope of the discouraged and the crown for virgins. He served her wholeheartedly and with all his might.

Indeed, because of the love he had for her, he put a coarse cloth shirt upon his body, underneath his clothes [secretly].1

When that coarse cloth shirt wore out, he wanted to make another to take its place. So he took coarse cloth that had not been sewn together, and he entered his monastic cell so that he could measure it, cut it, and wear it in secret so no one would know about his [penitential] act.

While he was sitting in his monastic cell, he wondered how to accomplish this task, since he didn’t know how to sew or measure cloth.

While he was wondering this, Our Lady Mary, Mariham, Holy Virgin, the compassionate, heavenly seamstress, the shower of mercy to all humanity, suddenly appeared to him.

She said to him, “Don’t be discouraged, for I am delighted by [all] your good works. Also, your [ascetic] exertions are acceptable to me. So, I will sew this coarse cloth shirt for you.”

She took that coarse cloth and cut and sewed it for him. Then she clothed him with it.

The archbishop joyfully rejoiced and praised Our Lady Mary, Mariham, Holy Virgin, with his whole heart.

On a later day, a man came to the archbishop and confessed his sin to him.

The archbishop told him, “Go see Mar2 Jacob [in Santiago, Spain].”

But that man replied, “Have pity on me; I am poor and weak, unable to travel.”

But the archbishop insisted, “Go, like I said.”

That man pleaded with him tearfully, saying, “Spare me from traveling to Mar Jacob. I will do anything else that you order me to do.”

Instantly, the archbishop became furious with him [and shouted at him], and the man ran out sobbing.

He was despondent and had no idea how to do this[, travel all the way to Santiago].

Then, Our Lady Mary, Mariham, Holy Virgin, the Mother of Mercy, appeared to that man. She asked him, “Dear So-and-So,3 why are you crying? Why are you upset?”

That man detailed what the archbishop had said and how he was forcing that man to go see Mar Jacob.

Our Lady Mary, Mariham, Holy Virgin, said to that man, “Return to the archbishop and tell him, ‘The seamstress who sewed your coarse cloth shirt has told me to tell you not to burden me and demand impossible things!’”

So that man returned to the archbishop and told him exactly what Our Lady Mary, Mariham, Holy Virgin, had said to him. By the way, that man did not know who had appeared to him.

When the archbishop heard this message from that man, he was shocked. He said, “I will listen and do exactly as you have said. And you? From now on, you are absolved of all your sins. And from this day forward, sit with me, eat at my dining table, and live in my house.”

After saying this, the archbishop ordered that he be fed and clothed all the days of his life due to the intercession of the Mother of Mercy, the Mother of Salvation, the Shower of Mercy to all humanity, Our Lady Mary, Mariham, Holy Virgin.

May her prayer and blessing be with King Constantine[, that is, Dawit II,] forever and ever, amen and amen, let it be!

O Holy Virgin Mary, pray for us!

LIJOCH! The Children's Corner

ይበል:ግዕዝ (yibel Ge’ez)

Let's reclaim our forefathers’ language

ዘወረደ 

werede

Zewerede comes from the root verb ወረደ werede - to go down or come down. As we learned previously, most verbs make the causative form by adding the prefix አ- a-. Remember that the causative form means to cause the verb to happen, so አውረድ awred means to cause  someone or something to go down/come down, or in simple terms, to bring/take down. (As in the hymn አንተኑ ሚካኤል ዘአውረድከ መና antenu Mikael ze'awredke mena - are you not Michael who brought down manna?

As we learned in the past, (https://nebabmagazine.blogspot.com/2024/09/nebab-15-meskel-feast-of-cross.html) the ze- added to the word to make zewerede is a relative pronoun that in basic terms means the one who (does/did something)- another example is ዘሞተ zemote - the one who died. A relative pronoun tells us that a certain piece of information refers to a specific person or thing. E.g. the phrase 'came down' by itself doesn't tell us who or what came down, but the phrase 'who came down' tells us that it refers to a person, and the phrase 'Christ who came down' tells us that the coming down refers to Christ.

We can also add the prefix ተ- te- to make the verb passive, ተወርደ tewerde - which means to lower oneself, or to be brought down (e.g. deposed from an office) or to be oppressed. Werede also gives us the word ምውራድ miwrad more commonly spelled as ሙራድ murad - a place of descent, or a downward slope, ውሩድ wirud - the adjective that means descending or deposed, and ርደት ridet - the noun that means descent.

Grammar concepts to revise: relative pronouns, the passive voice, the accusative case

ORTHODOX Q&A

What are the fasting rules of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church that we must observe during this season?

Fasting is abstinence from food, and is observed by man at certain times determined by law, to attain forgiveness of sins and much reward, obeying thus the One who fixed the law. Fasting [also] serves to weaken the force of concupiscence so that [the body] may obey the rational soul.

All the faithful are obliged to observe the fast of forty days as did Christ—may He be praised!—the fast which comes to an end on the Friday of the Feast, and after it [the fast of] the week of Crucifixion.

 These fasts shall be observed until the end of the day, and during that time no blooded animal nor what is produced by animals shall be eaten. And also the fasts of Wednesday and Friday of every week [shall be observed], except during the fifty days and during the feasts of Christmas and Baptism, when these feasts fall on these days. On fast days one must fast until the ninth hour, as it is written.

From the Fetha Negast, Chapter XV "On All The Fasts"....

Send us your questions at: seu.eotccarla@gmail.com

Short message on behalf the Spiritual Education Unit:

His Grace Abune Thaddaeus, Head Administrator Archimandrite Abba Gebreyesus, and all clergy and faithful- thank you for the opportunity to share this labour of love with you. Thanks also to the team of the Spiritual Education Unit for their hard work.

-Liqe Teghuan Tekle Mariam Greene

References

Miracle of Mary: https://pemm.princeton.edu/en-us/stories/128

Commentary by Fr. Malaty and Markos Coptic Church

Fetha Negast: 01thelawofkings.pdf

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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