In the night between Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, Christ was tortured and scourged. Pontius Pilate handed Jesus over to the Jews, saying that he could not condemn him, because he found no guilt, and that the man was innocent. The Jews saw that they could only torture Jesus, but they could not condemn Him, so they told Pilate that Jesus was actually rebelling against the emperor, because he proclaimed himself emperor, and for such a sin the Romans must punish the perpetrator. As it was the eve of Passover, the biggest Judean holiday, custom dictated that one prisoner be released. Pilate asked the people who to release: Jesus Christ or Barabbas, the robber, who killed several Roman soldiers. The sanctuary, incited by the Pharisees, sought Barabbas. Pilate asked what to do with Jesus, and the crowd shouted: Crucify him! Crucify him! They put a crown of thorns on Christ's head, and put a heavy cross on his shoulders and led him down the road that even today, two thousand years later, is called the Street of Pain. They spat at him and hurled insults at him. There was also a good man, Simon from Cyrene, who took pity and helped the Lord to carry the Cross of Passion. On Golgotha Hill they placed three crosses, on which they crucified Christ and two robbers. The cross of Christ was in the middle. And after all the suffering and humiliation he suffered, Christ begged his Heavenly Father to forgive people, because they do not know what they are doing. When, around three o'clock in the afternoon (according to our reckoning of time), He gave His spirit to the Father, all nature, God's creation, rebelled against injustice and crime: the sun darkened, graves opened, the earth shook. The curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom. The stones were disintegrating with a terrible bang. The rocks were cracking. This is how Christ's words came true that even dead stones will bear witness to the Living God. The captain who was on guard at the cross said that this Man was truly righteous, and the assembled people were seized with unspeakable horror. Beside the Cross, the Mother of God remained with the apostle John, Mary Magdalene and some other women. Numb and petrified by pain, the Mother of God looked at the lifeless body of her Son and God. Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and begged him to take down Christ's body from the cross and bury it. Pilate, because tomorrow is Saturday (when nothing is done), and the body would not be on the cross for three days, he allowed them to take Him down from the cross. They wrapped Christ's body in a cloth and took it to a new tomb, which Joseph had prepared for himself. The grave was carved into the rock. When they laid Christ's body, they threw a huge stone at the entrance. The Romans placed guards all around, fearing that the Christians would take the body.
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Saint Nicholas Žički
Bishop Nikolai spent his last days in the Russian monastery of St. Tikhon in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. He rested peacefully in the Lord, early on Sunday, the 18th of March, 1956. Death found him at prayer. From the Russian monastery, he was transferred to the Serbian monastery of St. Sava in Libertville and buried with great honors in the Serbian national cemetery next to the monastery. At the news of Vladica's death, bells rang out from the towers of all Serbian churches around the world. Especially in his "Home". Sorrow enveloped Serbian monasteries, monks and nuns, clergy and people, especially its faithful worshippers. Sadness, but at the same time joy. Everyone knew and felt with their souls that Serbia had received another prayer leader before the throne of God. The people immediately began to pray to him as a saint.
The transfer of his holy relics to Serbia can only be compared to the transfer of the relics of Saint Sava from Trnovo to Milesevo. Contemporary Serbian generations have experienced God's special grace to be visited at the same time by two of the greatest Serbs - Saint Sava, with the construction of the temple on Vračar, and Bishop Nikolaj, with his return from America.
Venerable Theodore Trikhina. Venerable Anastasius of Sinai. Blessed Anastasius Sinait, Blessed Gregory, Patriarch of Alexandria. Holy Apostle Zacchaeus. Venerable Athanasius Meteorite. Venerable Joasaf Srpski.