The Holy Week Experience
Holy Week
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Saturday of Lazarus
Palm Sunday
(Palm Sunday Evening)
(Holy Monday Evening)
(Holy Tuesday Evening)
Interlude – Holy Unction
(Holy Wednesday Evening)
Holy Thursday Morning
Holy Thursday Evening – The Passion
Holy Friday Morning
Holy Friday Afternoon – Apokathilosis
Holy Friday Evening – The Lamentations
Holy Saturday Morning – The First Resurrection
Holy Saturday Night - Pascha
Saturday of Lazarus
• Story of Lazarus
• The straw that broke the
That broke the camel’s back
• Thomas’ words
– Let us go an die with Him
Palm Sunday
• Entrance of the King
• Antithesis to what was
expected
• “Blessed is He who comes
in the name of the Lord!
Orthros of Holy Monday
• Each of the first Three Evenings commemorate
the Bridegroom
Behold, the Bridegroom cometh in the
middle of the night, and blessed is the
servant whom He shall find watching, but
unworthy is he whom He shall find in
slothfulness. Beware, therefore, O my soul,
and be not overcome by sleep; lest thou be
given over to death, and shut out from the
kingdom. But return to soberness and cry
aloud: Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, O God;
through the Theotokos, have mercy on us.
Themes of Holy Monday
• The Patriarch Joseph
• The Fig Tree
Orthros of Holy Tuesday
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to
meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their
lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their
lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us
some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil
and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were
ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Orthros of Holy Wednesday
• The Sinful Woman vs. Judas
Hymn Of St. Kassiani
• Story of St. Kassiani
• "-Ἐκ γυναικὸς τὰ χείρω." “Through a woman came forth the baser things"
"-Kαὶ ἐκ γυναικὸς τὰ κρείττω.“"And through a woman came forth the better things”
Sensing Thy divinity, O Lord, a woman of many sins
takes it upon herself to become a myrrh-bearer,
And in deep mourning brings before Thee fragrant oil
in anticipation of Thy burial; crying:
"Woe to me! For night is unto me, oestrus of lechery,
a dark and moonless eros of sin.
Receive the wellsprings of my tears,
O Thou who gatherest the waters of the oceans into clouds.
Bend to me, to the sorrows of my heart,
O Thou who bendedst down the heavens in Thy ineffable self-emptying.
I will kiss Thine immaculate feet
and dry them with the locks of my hair;
Those very feet whose sound Eve heard at dusk in Paradise
and hid herself in fear.
Who shall reckon the multitude of my sins,
or the abysses of Thy judgment, O Saviour of my soul?
Do not ignore me, Thy handmaiden,
O Thou whose mercy is endless."
Interlude – Holy Unction
• Unction to strengthen us
Holy Thursday Orthros
• The Washing of the feet & The Mystical
Supper
Tomb of King David
• The Greatest King of the Jews
Holy Thursday Morning
• The Reserve Sacrament – The Mystical Supper
Holy Thursday Evening – The Passion
• The 12 Gospels
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John 13:31-18:1
John 18:1-29
Matthew 26:57-75
John 18:28–19:16
Matthew 27:3-32
Mark 15:16-32
Matthew 27:33-54
Luke 23:32-49
John 19:19-37
Mark 15:43-47
John 19:38-42
Matthew 27:62-66
Holy Friday Morning
• Repeat of the Passion
• 3 hour total Solar Eclipse – noon to 3 pm
– 2nd-century chronicler Phlegon of Tralles: "Phlegon records that during the
reign of Tiberius Caesar there was a complete solar eclipse at full moon from
the sixth to the ninth hour".
• Skull of Adam and the Meaning of Golgotha
Holy Friday Afternoon
• The body taken from the Cross- Apokathilosis
Holy Friday Evening – The
Lamentations
Holy Saturday Morning
• Three Holy Youth
• The First Resurrection
Holy Saturday Night - Pascha
Mary Magdalene
and the Red Paschal Eggs
Miracle of the Holy Fire
Resources
• http://lent.goarch.org/articles/index.asp#a_hw
• http://www.antiochian.org/midwest/Articles/Develo
pment_of_Holy_Week_Services.htm
• http://orthodoxwiki.org/Holy_Week