Τhe Icon of
Christ the Bridegroom
Orthodox
Holy Week and Pascha
by
Fr. George Dion. Dragas
Great and Holy Week (Megali kai Agia Evdomas) is the name
given to the week preceding the Sunday of Pascha. It was so named in the first
Christian centuries, because of the great events that are commemorated in it. These
events follow the development of the Lord’s holy and saving Passion from his
final entry into Jerusalem all the way to his death, burial and Resurrection.
The Great and Holy Week
according to a most ancient tradition is a period of severe fasting. The
strictest fast, of course, has always been that of Great Friday and Great
Saturday. On these days the early Christians did not eat until the cockcrow in
the morning of the Sunday of Pascha when they broke their fast in commemoration
of the Holy Resurrection. Details about this ancient fast of Holy Week can be
found in the Apostolic Constitutions,
Book 5, chapter 18. But what happens during the Great and Holy Week?
The Great and Holy Week begins with the
Vespers of Palm Sunday, which marks the conclusion (apodosis) of the Feast of Christ’s Triumphant Entry into
On the first three days of the Holy Week the Vesperal Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts is normally celebrated in the mornings after the reading of the Hours. The Vesperal Liturgy of the Great Basil is also celebrated on Great Thursday and on Great Saturday mornings. In more ancient times a Pre-sanctified Liturgy was also observed on Great Friday, but it has been abandoned for many centuries perhaps because of the length of the services of that day.
The memories and the events of the days of Great Week have been appointed according to their historical order. This is especially underlined by the reading of appropriate Gospel lessons, mainly from the Gospel of Matthew, and also by appropriate hymnology. More analytically the subject matter of each Great Day of Holy Week is as follows:
Great Monday is dedicated
to the memory of
On Great Monday a
commemoration is also made of the Fig Tree, which was cursed by the Lord and
withered, because it had no fruit. This
tree and the Lord’s action towards it has become the symbol of people, from the
Jewish and other Nations who have failed to recognize their divine calling and
to bear the divine fruit of virtue in their lives which were consummated in
Christ. Thus, the Gospel for Great Monday Matins (Matthew
Great Tuesday is
dedicated, according to the Synaxarion,
to the Parable of the “Ten Virgins,” which teaches us to be ready to welcome
the Lord when he comes again on an unknown date and hour. This parable is read
during the Pre-sanctified Liturgy of Great Tuesday together with the parable of
the “Talents” and the description of the “Last Judgment" (Mt. 25:36‑26,2).
The hymns of the day refer to the same themes. Typical of this is the
well-known hymn “Behold the Bridegroom is
coming in the middle of the night” which received its inspiration from the
Parable of the Ten Virgins. Similarly the Hexapostilarion
humn “I see your Bridal Camber” has
been inspired from the parable of the “Royal Wedding” (Mt. 22:1‑14). Both
of these two hymns, are sung in the Matins of Great Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
of Holy Week, which are known as Services of “the Bridegroom” or of “the Bridal
Chamber,” as we have already noted.
Great Wednesday is
dedicated, according to the Synaxarion,
to the memory of the Harlot who repented and anointed the Lord with myrrh a
little before his Passion. Almost the entire contents of the hymns of this day
refer to this woman. The most well known of them is perhaps the so-called Troparion of Cassiane, also known
from its beginning, “Lord the woman who has fallen into many sins”
which is sung as Doxastikon for the Aposticha of the Matins and the Stichera of the Vespers. There seems to be
some confusion with regard to the identity of this woman who anointed the Lord.
The Gospel narratives of Matthew, Mark and John (Mt. 26 6‑16; Mk 14:3‑11;
Jn. 12:1‑8) speak of Mary the sister of Lazarus as the woman who anointed
the Lord a little before his holy Passion. Luke, however, refers to a similar
anointing by a harlot, which occurred on another occasion before the Passion
(Lk. 7:36‑50). It seems that the contrast between the repentant harlot
and the obstinate and zealous Judas better serves the teaching purposes of the
Church and this is why the Tradition has chosen to commemorate this anointing
on this day. The theme of the anointing of the Body of Christ is somehow also
reflected in the celebration of the sacrament of Holy Unction (Euchelaion) which is observed on this
day after Compline for the healing of Christians.
Great Thursday is rich in
festal subjects because it commemorates four events, all of which originally
occurred on the evening of that day. i) The Holy Washing (O Nepter), i.e. the washing of the disciples’ feet by the
Lord; ii) The Mystical Supper (O Mystikos Deipnos), i.e. the
institution of the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist by the Lord; iii) The Supernatural Prayer (Hyperphya Proseuche), namely, the prayer
of the Lord in agony in Gesthemane before his capture, and iv) The Betrayal (Prodosia) of Judas (not his deal with
the Jewish leaders, but the execution of this betrayal).
In the early centuries the
Divine Liturgy for this day was celebrated after a common Supper in
commemoration of the “Mystical Supper” in the Upper Room. This custom was
finally prohibited by the Synod of Trullo (5th-6th of
In the evening of Great
Thursday the service of Matins of Great Friday is sung for the sake of
liturgical convenience. It is on this occasion that “Twelve Gospels” (Ta dodeka evangelia) are solemnly read,
supplying the Gospel accounts of the final events of our Lord’s earthly life
from the end of the “Mystical Supper” to the time of the burial of the Lord and
the sealing of his Tomb. After the fifth Gospel the priest announces the
Crucifixion by intoning the traditional verses “Today He hangs upon the tree...” (Semeron krematai epi xylou) and leading a procession with the
crucifix from the sanctuary to the middle of the nave. The priest places the
Crucifix in front of the Beautiful Gates of the sanctuary so that the believers
may come and venerate it.
Great Friday is without
question the most holy and venerable day of the Great and Holy Week because it
commemorates the Saving Passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. On Great
Friday morning the service of the Great Hours is sung, when Messianic Psalms
and prophetic, apostolic, and Gospel readings are read, as well as Gospel lessons
from each Evangelist which refer to the Passion of the Lord. Through these
readings and the hymns intercepted between them the entire redemptive work of
the Lord is eloquently presented and the Christians are called to consider its
deeper meaning.
At Vespers, which is sung
immediately after the service of the Hours around mid-day, a later custom is
observed. This is a ceremonial representation of the solemn removal of the Body
of the Lord from the Cross (Apokathelosis)
by St Joseph of Arimathea. The Apokathelosis
takes place just before the end of the reading of the Gospel for Vespers. The
Priest removes the representation of the Body of Christ from the Crucifix, raps
it up in white linen and carries it into the Sanctuary placing it on the Holy Altar.
At the end of Vespers a gold-threaded embroidery depicting the Apokathelosis, called Epitaphios, is led in solemn procession
by the priest from the Sanctuary to the middle of the Church and placed in a
Canopy (Kouvouklion) which represents
the Holy Sepulchre and is decorated with flowers. This commemorates the
Entombment of the Body of Christ (Entaphiasmos)
which took place for the sins of the world. Through this Christians are
reminded of the fact that they were buried with Christ that they may also rise
with him to life eternal in glory.
In the evening the service of
Great Saturday Matins is sung, commemorating the Burial of the Lord’s Body. At
the heart of it we have “The Lamentations” (Ta
Engomia), perhaps the most well known
and moving songs of Orthodoxy, which are sung before the Epitaphios. Later in the Service and during the singing of the last
verses of the Doxology a solemn Procession with the Epitaphios takes place around the Church and all people
participate. Already in this Service the joy of the Resurrection begins to
emerge because many hymns of the Great Saturday carry a resurrection character.
This is especially the case with the final prophetic reading at the end of the
Service which speaks of the gift of resurrection (Ezekiel 37:1‑14).
Great Saturday
commemorates both the burial of the Lord’s Body and his descent into Hades
whereby Hell was destroyed (the first Resurrection). The celebration on Great
Saturday morning of the Vesperal Liturgy of the Great Basil is a most joyous
Resurrection ceremony. Psalm 81:8 “Rise
up O God and Judge the earth for you shall inherit among all the nations,”
resounds in this ceremony as a resurrection cry as the Priests scatter during
this singing leaves of laurel all over the nave as symbols of victory. Thus the
Great week comes to an end and the celebration of the Pascha of the Cross (Pascha Stavrosimon) is ended, so that the Pascha of the Resurrection (Pascha Anastasimon) may begin. The
Pascha of the Cross and the Pascha of the Resurrection are not two but one,
inasmuch as the one cannot exist without the other. Both together form the
Christian Pascha, when the Lord was crucified for the sins of the world and
rose again for the justification of humanity.
Holy Pascha has its roots
in the most ancient Hebrew feast of the Passover (Pesach) which was celebrated during the night of the 14th‑15th
of the month of Nissan in memory of God’s intervention in the emancipation of
the Israelites from the harsh slavery under the Egyptians. A necessary element
for the celebration of the Hebrew Passover was the slaughtering and eating of a
lamb in memory of the manner through which the first born Hebrew males escaped
the destruction of the Angel of Vengeance during the night of the Exodus.
According to the Apostles and the Fathers
of the Church, the Hebrew Passover was a type of the Christian Pascha in which
the entire humanity was redeemed from the slavery of sin and passed over from
death to life. The paschal lamb of the Jews was a type of the true paschal Lamb
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was sacrificed on our behalf and with whose
blood we were sealed, as the doors of the houses of the ancient Israelites had
been sealed with the blood of the lamb. According to divine dispensation
(economy) the Crucifixion (Sacrifice) of the Lord concurred with the Jewish
Passover, which at that time fell on a Saturday. The Lord was crucified and
died on the Friday along with the passover lambs which the Jews were to eat
that evening, and rose again “on the first of the Sabbaths,” i.e. on the first
day of the week. Thus Pascha, acquired a new meaning in Christianity and became
the feast of human salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ.
Christ is risen from the
dead, trampling death by death, and bestowing life to those in the tombs!
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