Bridegroom Matins
The Great Fast is like a really well written novel full of complicated plots and fascinating characters. The early chapters of the novel give clues and signs and themes which all work together to lead up to the final conclusion of the story.
If the fast is like a novel, then Holy week is like the final chapter where the pace of events accelerates and the suspense builds and all of the loose ends are tied together into an exciting and inspiring conclusion.
During these weeks of the great fast it is my goal to explain to you the meaning of the services of Holy Week in the hope that each year you will be able to participate more fully in each of these services.
Holy Week is actually introduced by Lazarus Saturday, the Saturday before Palm Sunday. The resurrection of Lazarus after being dead in the grave for four days prepares us for a week of great drama and emotional upheaval. This drama and roller coaster of emotions is not merely made up sentimentality. Rather, it is participation in the real life experience of journeying with Christ to the empty tomb by way of the cross.
After the joyful participation of the Church in Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Holy Week services begin with the first of three Bridegroom Matins services.
What is the meaning of Bride Groom matins? The services are based on the parable which Christ told of the ten virgins, five wise and five foolish. When the bridegroom came in the middle of the night for the wedding feast, the five wise virgins had oil in their lamps, the five foolish had to go and buy oil and were shut out of the feast.
You see, all of the virgins slept waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. This sleep symbolizes death. The bridegroom arriving symbolizes the second coming of Christ. The oil represents the preparation of the soul for that day.
With great soberness we enter into these services of the bridegroom matins, looking into our hearts to see if we are adequately preparing for the bridegroom through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These services have a very penitential tone and help to soften up our hearts so that we can enter into the remainder of Holy Week as active participants and not merely passive observers.
My dear children in Christ, I ask you to come to these services of Bridegroom matins as well as all of the other services of Holy Week for your spiritual edification and for a deeper experience of the unsurpassable love of God in Jesus Christ.
Freely Ye Have Received Freely Give