Passion week  for believers have been a spiritual walk together along the way to Calvary with Our God and Savior Christ. It is a Passover we have been longing for throughout our lives; a Passover from the eye of destroying angle; a Passover from darkness and folly of sin, from the bondage and humiliation of Pharaoh, into light, into Salvation, and into emancipation by the blood of Christ. Passion Week is a time when we moved with our thought and action through the suffering of Our God and Savior Christ. Let’s picture of the moments in a fraction from the point that they seize Christ on Thursday night to the time of His death.

When they first seize Him, they tied His hand- they tied the hand of King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. He allowed this because He was to take all our sin and the full punishment that came with them. Seizing and tying of her Son was third of the five greatest suffering Mother of God had to endure  during Christ's journey to the Cross. “And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. (Matthew 27:2).”

Then they put a crown of thorn on His head.  “when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:29). Here is the symbolism- After Adam sinned, God cursed the soil and told Adam,  “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.  Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you” [Gen. 3:17-18].  Jesus allowed a crown of thorn to be put in His head, as a sign that He was taking into Himself all the thorns that man endured during his life away from Him.

Then they flogged him 6666 times. Pilate wanted to flog Christ and release him but the Jews wanted Him to suffer more. Mind you, flogging was done using a handle attached to several strips of leather, each of which was full of sharp pieces of metal. Each time that it hit His skin, hundreds of piece of metal would tear the skin and deep to the bone.

After that they forced Him to carry His weapon of execution, the Cross, under which He fell three times on His way to Calvary. “And He bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha” (John 19:17). Here is another symbolism in old Testament similar to the story- “So Abraham [symbol of God the Father]  took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac [symbol of Christ] his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.  But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” [Gen. 22: 6-8].

The Cross was so heavy that they forced a man called Simon the Cyrene to carry it the rest of the way to the Golgotha. When Christ reached there, they took His robe and the rest of His Clothes, which left Him completely naked.  The one who covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve when they sinned, become necked, with no fault of His own. He allowed this because nakedness was a sign and punishment of sin. It showed the state of humankind.

Then they pierce and drove huge nails into His hands and leg using a heavy hummer; and nailed it to the Cross. It is beyond imaginable to think how much suffering  He endured at those moments. After that, they rose the Cross and put it in the hole they dug for it in the ground. As they do this, the Body was pulled down, and its whole weight pushed on the three spots where the nails were. This produced tremendous pain. The three huge wounds of the hands and the feet bleed profusely. When the mother of God saw this, she wept bitterly, saying, “My child, what unjust death and no one suffer with you. Peter doesn’t accompany You-- he said to You, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” [Mt. 26:33]. Tomas has left You-- he said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” [11:16]. "How is it possible that I shouldn't mourn, and that my whole being should no be overwhelmed , when I see you necked and hanging as a criminal on the tree?". Then Christ before His death comfort and said to His Mother "Woman, behold your son!” ²⁷ Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home". [Jn. 19: 25-27].

But Why did He need to die in this way? Why the Cross? Was there any other way for God to redeem us, beside the Cross?

Before explaining anything we have to understand the basic consequence of our original parent's sin. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God they had to die because they broke the law, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” The result of transgression was twofold in nature.

1. The Death sentence, for “the wage of sin are death”[Rom. 6:23)
2. The Corruption of human nature-” For God created man to be immortal (incorruptible), and made him to be an image of his own eternity.  Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world [The Book of Wisdom 2:23].” The human nature contaminated when sin come in and death worked within it.

Out of many possibilities, God had three options (humanly speaking) dealing with Adam’s fall/Sin.

1. For Adam to DIE-  This contradict God’s endless love and His Mercy to human. This is what satan longs for after enticing them to sin. God could have created a new Adam, free of course, to fall again and die. This would be a continuous series of victory for satan. This is against God’s wisdom and honor. God had  created a man to enjoy His love, blessing and sonship. How dare satan deprive of these free gift. St. Athanasius contemplates on this saying “it was better for  a man if he wasn’t created than to be created to face this fate.”
2. For God to FORGIVE Adam - this contradicts God’s infinite Justice. Forgiveness would have question God’s claim of justice and credibility. Because God has told Adam what his decree would be if he transgress- death. If there had been only sin, and not its consequence of corruption, repentance would have been “enough?”. Let say for argument sake, God had forgiven Adam. Then Adam’s nature would have remained corrupt. This corruption would have lead him to live in a continuous state of sin and remained untruthful. So this was not a good solution either.
3. For God to REDEEM Adam- This is the only viable option that would meet God’s love and justice. Through redemption Adam would need someone to die for him, and to renew his  human nature.

Since, man sinned against infinite God; his sin was limitless demanding limitless punishment which couldn’t be attained through man’s capacity for repentance. Man's nature had become corrupted by sin and it required limitless atonement. Who is limitless except God Himself!.  The redeemer needed to be pure, holy, sinless, omnipotent, human, creator and willing to die in Adam’s place. These traits only be found in God.  This way Adam would escape death and yet meet God’s justice and love. But how? Why Cross? The Bible says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”[Gal.3:13]. The Lord has played three roles on the Cross. When Adam and Eve sinned, the result was obvious death! “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Humanity didn’t need only love. If it were, it would have been easy for God to forgive Adam. Adam’s transgression needed also God’s Justice. Humanity needed a redeemer who takes Adam’s place to die and to shed His blood in accordance with the law established in the Old Testament; “without shedding of blood there is no remission.” (Heb. 9:23). The Cross is a sign of Christ’s sacrificial love and Adam’s salvation.  St. Gregory the Theologian, said, “humanity has been saved through being unified with God. So the incarnation , along with crucifixion, can fulfill salvation. The cross, then, is an essential matter in the process of salvation”.  

The Cross is God’s call to humanity. The bible says “when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (Jn. 12:32). St. Athanasius explains this saying “ How could He have called us to Him unless he had been crucified. For no man can die with open arms except on the cross. That is why the Lord saw fit to bear this death, to stretch forth His hands, so that with one hand He could draw the old nation and with the other draw the nations, so that both would unite in His person.”

The cross is our sign to defeat the devil and all evil temptation as Christ defeated all evil with the cross. For this reason, we elevate and bow down before the cross in veneration and worship of God. In one our Church’s hymn, specifically in passion week, we say “Before the Cross, We bow down in Worship, O Master, and your  Holy Resurrection, we glorify”.

Source:-

Hymen of passion week

Daily prayer

A journey with The Church Fathers through Lent, Passion Week and Pentecost by Fr. MiKahil

The incarnation.. The journey of God to man.. Bishop Moussa

The passion of Jesus Christ.. Fr. El- Meskeen

The Mystery of the Cross...Fr. El- Meskeen

Reflections on the Life of Jesus Christ. Sami I. Boulos Ph.D

others