TROPARION
Behold! The Bridegroom sets forth in the dead of the night. And blessed is that servant whom he shall find on watch; unworthy the one he shall come upon sleeping. See to it, O my soul, that sleep does not overtake you, lest you be given up to death and be shut out of the kingdom. Rouse yourself then, and sing out: "Holy, Holy, Holy are You, our God, through the prayers of the Theotokos, save us."
The Synaxarion:
On the Holy and Great Monday we commemorate the blessed and noble Joseph; also the Lord's cursing of the fruitless fig tree.
The wise Joseph proved himself a just ruler and provider. What an abundance of goods! Likening the fig tree to the assembly of the Hebrews, berift of spiritual fruits, Christ withered it with a curse. May we escape such a fate.
Through the prayers of the noble Joseph, Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.
The first part of Great Week presents us with an array of themes based chiefly on the last days of Jesus's Earthly life. The Scripture lessons, hymns, commemorations and ceremonials that make up the festal elements in the respective services of the Cycle highlight significant aspects of salvation history, by calling to mind the events that anticipated the Passion and by proclaiming the inevitability and significance of the Parousia..
The Orthros of these days (beginning on Palm Sunday evening which is the Orthros of Holy Monday) is called the Service of the Bridegroom. The Kingdom of God is compared to a bridal feast and a bridal chamber. The Christ of the Passion is the Bridegroom of the Church. The imagery connotes the final union of the Lover and the beloved.
The last days were especially sorrowful and gloomy. The relentless hostility and opposition to Jesus by the religious authorities had reached unparalleled proportions. In the midst of this painful conflict Jesus revealed aspects of His divine authority by passing judgment on the evil plots and false religiosity of His enemies. No disease of the spirit is more insidious, deceptive and destructive than false religiosity, which can be defined as religious legalism and exhibitionism. Jesus condemned it outrightly. He warned against those whose lives are measured by ceremonials rather than the holiness, mercy and love of God; and those whose evil motivations, intentions and improprieties are clocked in the respectability of the externals of religious faith and life. False religiosity is a cruel hoax and a betrayal of authentic religious faith. The practitioners of such artificial faith "shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for they neither enter themselves nor do they allow those who would enter go in."
The tone of Great Week is clearly one of somberness and sorrowfulness. The liturgical assembly is not gathered to mourn a dead hero, but to remember and commemorate an event of cosmic significance: the Son of God experiencing in His humanity every form of suffering at the hands of feeble, misdirected and evil men. We mourn our sinfulness as we stand in contrite silence before the awesome, inscrutable mystery of Christ, the God-Man who carries his kenosis to the extreme limits accepting the death of the cross.
Great Week reveals to us the utter shame of the Fall, the depths of Hell, Paradise lost, and the absence of God. And so we mourn! There is no other way to deal with our rebellion and with God's unfathomable humility and condescension except to experience the rending of the heart. It is out of this kind of mourning that true repentance is born. to be experienced as the honest commitment to the life-long process of grasping, accepting and choosing to follow the values of the Christian life.
The liturgy of the days of the Bridegroom represents the most urgent and emphatic call to such repentance. The faithful are reminded that no sin is so great as to defy the bounds of divine mercy, for Christ gives everyone the power to slay sin and to share in His victory.
ORTHROS OF GREAT MONDAY (celebrated on Palm Sunday Evening)
On Great Monday we commemorate Joseph the Patriarch, the beloved Son of Jacob (Genesis 37-50) . Because of his exceptional qualities and remarkable life, our patristic and liturgical tradition portrays Joseph as a typos Xristou, a prototype, prefigurement or image of Christ. The story of Joseph illustrates the mystery of God's providence, promise and redemption. Innocent, chaste and righteous, his life bears witness to the power of God's love and promise. The lesson learned from Joseph's life is summed up in the word he addressed to his brothers who previously betrayed him, "Fear not.. As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as the are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." (Gen 50:19-21). The commemoration of the noble, blessed and saintly Joseph reminds us that in the great events of the Old Testament, the Church recognizes the realities of the New Testament.
Also on Great Monday we commemorate the cursing of the fig tree. The fig tree is symbolic of Christ's judgment on the faithless, unrepentant, unloving will be certain and decisive on the Last Day. It also makes it clear that nominal Christianity is not only inadequate, it is also despicable and unworthy of God's kingdom. Genuine Christian faith is dynamic and fruitful.
GOSPEL READING : According to St. Matthew 21:18-43
EXAPOSTEILARION: I see your bridal chamber all bedecked, my Savior; but I have no fit wedding garment to venture in. O Giver of Light, make my soul's attire radiant and save me.
VESPERS OF GREAT MONDAY (celebrated on Great Monday Morning)
The Pre-Sanctified Liturgy is celebrated on the first three days of Great Week. Although for practical considerations in some parishes it is only celebrated on the morning of Great Wednesday. In the development of the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy, Wednesdays and Fridays were observed with a total fast, which meant complete abstinence from food and drink until the late afternoon. This practice was especially true for Great Lent. The total fast signified both the spiritual concentration and expectation of an approaching joy as well as the last and ultimate preparation for a decisive spiritual event and feast. For this reason a total fast was observed also in preparation for Holy Communion.
From early times it was considered inappropriate to celebrate the Eucharist on fast days. The reason for this is based on the understanding of the Holy Eucharist as the feast of the Church. Inasmuch as the celebration of the Eucharist constitutes a feast (the spiritual banquet), it is incompatible with fasting. While fasting signifies the way toward the fullness, the Eucharist is the manifestation of that fullness.
The combination of these factors resulted in the development of the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts. The gifts of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are consecrated at the Sunday Liturgy and are distributed during the fast days. The Pre-Sanctified Liturgy manifests vividly the spirit of joyous-sorrow, xarmolypi , which characterizes the Orthodox Lenten Season and Great Week.
Saturday of Lazarus Palm Sunday Great Monday Great Tuesday
Great Wednesday Great Thursday Great Friday Great Saturday