Third Day of Spring – Christ the Savior, the Sustenance of the World
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This day is dedicated to Christ the Savior, the sustenance of the world. It is on this day that Ieshu reveals the remaining ineffable mystery: Christ is the true life and the blood of the grapes. After worshipping Christ in the flame (the blazing star and five-petal rose), we now worship Him in the bread and wine. In procession a red banner is carried, on which is embroidered a white pelican opening its breast to feed its young, with a Rose-Cross surmounting its head. On the banner are also inscribed the words “hope” and “charity”.
The bread and wine are symbols of immortality. The Christ principle, which is the invisible source of the physical sun, the blazing star, and which is present in fire and in flowers, is also present in fruit and wheat. This same Christ manifests in human form as saviors. In Christ is the promise of immortality, escape from the cycle of reincarnations and, ultimately, deification. The process involves first understanding that there is an ‘ascending’ and ‘descending’ generator, which is the will of the universe, out of which all things are born as adaptations, or specifications of One; and second it involves separating thick from subtle. This also teaches a method of dying, such that the ethereal body will rise up the vertical beam and flower through the head, or bear fruit. The Church teaches that Ieshu’s body was carefully secluded in a cave where he rested from his labors and prepared to transition from this mortal life to the ethereal and eternal life. |
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Gospel Reading for the Third Day of Spring (Maundy Thursday).
"Ieshu said to those around him: Work not for the food which perishes, but for that which gives eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for God the Father has set his seal on him. And they said to him: What must we do, to be doing the works of God? Ieshu answered them: This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.
Ieshu also said to his disciples: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
“After the supper, Ieshu rose from the table, took off his garments, tied a towel around himself, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of his disciples, wiping them with the towel with which he was girded. Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Ieshu answered him, "What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand." Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Ieshu answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part in me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Ieshu said to him, "He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all over; and you are clean, but not every one of you." After washing their feet and putting on his garments, he resumed his place and said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”
"Ieshu said to those around him: Work not for the food which perishes, but for that which gives eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for God the Father has set his seal on him. And they said to him: What must we do, to be doing the works of God? Ieshu answered them: This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.
Ieshu also said to his disciples: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
“After the supper, Ieshu rose from the table, took off his garments, tied a towel around himself, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of his disciples, wiping them with the towel with which he was girded. Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Ieshu answered him, "What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand." Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Ieshu answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part in me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Ieshu said to him, "He who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but he is clean all over; and you are clean, but not every one of you." After washing their feet and putting on his garments, he resumed his place and said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”