We do well to think about how our Church observes the Great and Holy Week. With the exception of Great and Holy Thursday, when we celebrate the Institution of the Eucharist, and the Great Day (Easter) itself, the services used to celebrate this week are: the Presanctified Liturgy, Matins and Vespers. In fact, the true celebration of Easter begins with the celebration of Resurrection Matins. This Morning Prayer Service shares in great detail the Church’s understanding of the revelation God has made to us through Jesus’ resurrection.

For example, the two main services for Great and Good Friday are: Matins of the Twelve Gospels and Vespers of the Burial of Christ. This reminds us that in the early Church, Christians worshipped God every day by praying Matins and Vespers and then, on the weekend, they celebrated the Divine Liturgy. Because the early Church maintained Saturdays as the Sabbath and Sundays as the Day of the Lord, Saturdays and Sundays are always liturgical days outside of any fast period. When keeping one of the fast   periods in our Church (traditionally there are four fast periods) a person never has to fast on Saturdays or Sundays.

The four fast periods are:

St. Philip’s Fast – Preparation for Christmas    (November 15 – December 24)
The Great Fast – Preparation for Easter
The Apostles’ Fast – Preparation for the Feast of SS Peter and Paul (June 11 – June 28)
The Dormition Fast – Preparation for the Feast of the Dormition (August 1 – August 14)

Again, we embrace these fast periods as a means of helping us spiritually grow. The discipline that comes with fasting is important for spiritual growth.

During Holy Week, I believe that the two most important services we have are Great and Good Friday Vespers and Easter Matins. They tell us so very much about what we believe and help us to understand the revelation that God has made to us about life.

In these services you will also find the Jewish roots to our faith. On Easter we pray in song about Jesus being the New Adam and the New Moses and the New Exodus that humankind has been led through by Jesus, the Christ. It tells us that we are clearly the New Israel and that the Church is the New Jerusalem. This takes an understanding of what these mean. Israel was seen as the Bride of God and Jerusalem as the Foundation of God.

You are encouraged to come and pray with me!