This morning, H.H. Pope Tawadros II prayed the lakkan and liturgy of the Great Thursday (Covenant Thursday) at Saint Mina’s Monastery in Mariout; Alexandria, with the participation of His Grace Bishop Kyrillos Ava Mina (Bishop and Abbot of the Monastery), the monastery’s monks and congregation members.

The prayers began with Matins of Covenant Thursday, which includes the raising of incense of matins, then the rest of the daytime hour prayers (the third, sixth, and ninth hour), followed by the Lakkan prayer, then the Divine Liturgy. The prayers concluded with the prayer of the eleventh hour of Thursday.

Pope Tawadros delivered a sermon during the liturgy, in which he pointed out that the days of the Holy Pascha prepare us for the Day of the Cross (the Day of Salvation), as they are like doors or entrances to the Holy Cross:

-Monday: the door of being fruitful and the abandonment of the life of hypocrisy, as a person’s life must be fruitful in order to enjoy the Cross.

-Tuesday: the door of knowledge and the abandonment of laziness, as our first knowledge must be from the Holy Bible as life and not just information.

-Wednesday: the door of honestly and the abandonment of betrayal and sin. Sin is a breaking of Christ’s love for man, and betrayal is betraying His love for you. He loves you and you betray His love with your evil actions.

-Thursday: door of humility and the abandonment of pride and selfishness. On it, Jesus Christ taught us the lesson of humility when He bent down and washed His disciples’ feet.

His Holines explained the main features of Covenant Thursday, which are:
-It begins with a sad procession of Judas, the disciple who betrayed his teacher.
-The rites of the Lakkan, in which Jesus Christ taught us the lesson of humility, and humility is considered the guardian of grace (any grace that God gives man is protected by humility.).
-Establishing the Sacrament of the Eucharist; the sacrament of sacraments
It is Christ’s dwelling in us and we in Him. It is the sacrament that gives life to the Church.
-The Upper Room Discussion: it is the conversation of the Lord Christ with the disciples before they headed to the Garden of Gethsemane
-The farewell prayer of the Lord Christ in which He bid farewell to the world, and in it we find spiritual principles for man’s life.
-Thursday is considered the day of establishing the Eucharist, and establishing the life of prayer in all of us.

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