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 Wednesday the Holy Fathers have decreed the commemoration of the sinful woman who anointed the Lord with myrrh, as this occurred shortly before His saving Passion.
A woman pouring myrrh over Christ's body anticipated the embalming by Nicodemus.
Anointed with spiritual myrrh, Christ our God, free us from the passions that overwhelm, and be merciful to us as the One who alone is holy and loves mankind. Amen.
ORTHROS OF GREAT WEDNESDAY (celebrated on Great Tuesday Evening)
On the Great and Holy Wednesday, the Church calls to remembrance the sinful woman who anointed the head and feet of Jesus shortly before the passion and of Judas, the disciple who betrayed the Lord. The woman acknowledged Jesus as the Lord, the other severed himself from the Master. The one was set free, while the other became a slave. The one inherited the kingdom, the other fell into perdition.
Freedom belongs to the nature and character of a human being because he has been created in the image of God. Man and his true life is defined by his uncreated Archetype, who, according to the Greek Fathers, is Christ. Freedom is not a contrivance of human ingenuity and cleverness, but a divine gift. Man is free because his being has been sealed with the image of God. He has been endowed with and possesses divine qualities. The elemental exercise of freedom lies in one's conscious decision and desire to fulfill his vocation to become a person or to deny it; to become a being of communion or an entity unto death; to become a Saint or a devil.
Since man is able to resist God and turn away from Him, he can diminish and disfigure God's image in him to the extreme limits. He is able to misuse, abuse, distort, pervert, and debase the natural powers and qualities with which he has been endowed. He is capable of sin. Sin turns him into a fraud and imposter. It limits his life to the level of biological existence, robbing it of divine splendor and capacity. Lacking faith and moral judgment, man is capable of turning freedom into license, rebellion, intimidation and enslavement.
Sin is more than breaking rules and transgressing commandments. It is the willful rejection of a personal relationship with the living God. It is separation and alienation; a way of death. Sin is the denial of God and the forfeiting of Heaven. It is the seduction, abduction, and captivity of the souls through provocations of the devil, through pride and mindless pleasures. Hell is man's free choice; it is when he imprisons himself in an agonizing lack of life, and deliberately refuses communion with the loving goodness of God, the true life. To sin is to miss the mark, to fail to realize one's vocation and destiny. It brings disorder and fragmentation. It diminishes life and causes the most pure and noble parts of our nature to end up as passions.
Repentance, on the other hand, is a deliberate choice and act. It is a gift bestowed by Christ, who takes us unto Himself through His Church, in order to forgive, heal and restore us to wholeness. The gift he gives us is a new and clean heart.
The process of healing and restoring our damaged, broken, wounded and fallen nature is on- going. God is merciful and long-suffering towards His creation. He accepts repentant sinners tenderly and rejoices in their conversion. The act of repentance is not some kind of cheerless, morbid exercise. It is a joy-bringing event and enterprise, which frees the conscience from the burdens and anxieties of sin and makes the soul rejoice in the truth and love of God. From the interior sorrow it proceeds to the verbal acknowledgement of the concrete sins before God and the witness of His Church. The repentant sinner turns freely towards God in an attitude of love and trust. Then he focuses his truest and deepest self, his heart, continually on Christ, in order to become like Him. Experiencing the embracing love of God as freedom and transfiguration, he authenticates his own personal existence and shows heartfelt concern and compassion and love for others.
Toward the end of the Orthros of Great Wednesday the Hymn of Kassiane is chanted.
Lord, the woman caught in a multitude of sins, sensing Your divinity, assumes the duty of a myrrh bearer; lamenting, she provides myrrh in anticipation of Your burial. "Woe to me!" she cries, "for me night is a frenzy of excess, dark and moonless, a love affair with sin. You draw from the clouds the waters of the sea; will You accept the source of my tears? In Your inexpressible condescension You made the heavens bend down, incline now to the groaning of my heart. I will cover Your spotless feet with kisses, then dry them with the tresses of my head. Eve heard those footfalls in the twilight of Paradise and hid herself in fear. Who can fathom the magnitude of my transgressions, or the depths of your judgments, O Savior of my soul. In your boundless mercy do not reject me Your servant.
GOSPEL READING: According to St. John (12:17-50)
VESPERS OF GREAT WEDNESDAY (celebrated on Great Wednesday Morning)
PRE-SANCTIFIED LITURGY
See Explanation of the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy on Great Monday.
THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY UNCTION
Instead of the Orthros of Holy Thursday being chanted on the Evening of Great Wednesday, the Mystery of Holy Unction is celebrated. The sacrament embodies, extends and continues His healing ministry. It is the sign of His transforming presence in a bruised and hurting world, and the emblem of His promise to deliver us from sin and corruption.
Sickness and death are inescapable indignities resulting from the Fall. These indignities are not forms of divine retribution, but the result of the world's deep alienation from God. He allows death to terminate graceless life, not as punishment, but so that it may be restored to its fullness in the resurrection.
Holy Unction is a sacrament of faith. It is meant for any sick person and is always celebrated in the hope that it will bring healing. While this certainly is the desired effect, it is not the indispensable condition of the sacrament. The essential purpose of the sacrament is to allow the person to share in the victory of Christ and to raise him into the realm of God's kingdom. It communicates spiritual power that the trials of sickness may be borne with courage, hope and fortitude. The sacrament is not a substitute for medical treatment. Although the sacrament may be celebrated at anytime for the sick. It is celebrated with special solemnity on Great Wednesday for the entire community for the healing of spiritual and bodily infirmities of the faithful. The borders between the sickness of the body and the sickness of the soul are not always strictly defined. because we cannot draw a sharp distinction between bodily and spiritual illness, the Church confers Holy Unction upon the faithful whether they are physically ill or not.
It is not clear how the Sacrament of Holy Unction came to be celebrated on Great Wednesday. It may be related to the fact that in Christian antiquity penitents were received and reconciled during the course of Great Week. The sacrament of Holy Unction may have been part of the reception process for lapsed Christians.
Saturday of Lazarus Palm Sunday Great Monday Great Tuesday
Great Wednesday Great Thursday Great Friday Great Saturday