Orthodox Holy Week — Bridegroom Matins for Holy Wednesday
“How can I gaze upon Thee, the Master? Yet Thou Thyself art come to save the harlot. Out of this abyss do Thou raise me who am dying, O Thou Who didst rouse Lazarus from the tomb after four days. Receive me, hapless as I am, O Lord, and save me.” (Holy Wednesday, Aposticha of the Praises)
The Bridegroom Matins for Holy Wednesday is similar in many ways to the quiet and compunctionate services for Holy Monday and Holy Tuesday, as we continue to move along the way with Christ towards His saving passion. In the Gospel reading (St. John 12:17–50), Christ explains that He is the Light of the world. “I am come a Light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me should not abide in darkness.”
True Christianity is not a “morality religion” as so many have come to think of it. It is the Divine Revelation of salvation. The Uncreated Unwaning Light, the Word of God, has come into this fallen world in order to personally bring to each of us the invitation to become children of Light, gods by Grace. This happens by accepting His invitation and walking the Path of Sanctification.
The themes that come up this evening are juxtaposed to one another.
The first one centers on the actions of the repentant sinful woman. In her heart she understood that Christ is the One Who heals not only bodies, but even more so, souls and hearts, and cleanses us from the gloom of sin. This repentant woman understands deep in her soul the mystery of the Incarnation — that Christ came to save us from the Egypt of the passions.
Without words she approaches Christ weeping. She anoints His feet with her tears and wipes them with the hair of her head, kissing and anointing with fragrant oil the feet belonging to the God-man walking among us. In her, our humanity repents of falling away from His love.
Christ, the Knower of hearts, received her deep and heartfelt repentance, and conveyed to her that she is forgiven, her sins are cleansed, she can now “walk in newness of life” — the very spiritual riches and restoration that she was seeking from Him.
And once again, as He did with Mary the sister of Lazarus, He defended this woman when others murmured that the ointment could have been sold. Christ knew that when the myrrhbearing women, in just a few days, were going to go to His Tomb with the intention of anointing Him, that He would already be risen. This repentant harlot was the myrrhbearer who anointed Him in preparation for His burial.
Here are the beautiful words of the hymn sung only on Holy Wednesday, written by the nun Kassiani (9th c. Constantinople):
Click here to hear the Hymn of Kassiane chanted. (Holy Nativity Convent, 2022. It starts at 1:12:02)
At the same time, another event is happening, and this is the second theme of the hymns on Holy Wednesday: Judas is meeting with the leaders of the Sanhedrin and offering to betray Christ to them somewhere away from the crowds. The woman was not ashamed to bring her sins to the Light, and the enviers plot how to “capture Christ”, thinking to be hid by darkness.
Judas does not even barter the price and sells the Creator of the Universe for a mere thirty pieces of silver, the not very significant price that a master would be paid in recompense if his slave were accidentally killed. (Exodus 21:32) Again, in a truly stunning way, what is being fulfilled now was prophesied and foreshadowed hundreds of years before in the book of the Prophet Zacharias.
The woman pours out precious ointment, and Judas betrays the Priceless Myrrh, whose very Name is ointment poured forth. (Song of Solomon 1:3) The sad reality of this irony is poetically brought to light many times in tonight’s hymns.
“While the sinful woman was offering myrrh, then was the disciple making terms with the lawless. She rejoiced in emptying out that which was of great price, and he made haste to sell Him that is beyond price. She recognized the Master; he severed himself from the Master. She was set free, and Judas became a slave of the enemy. Fearful is heedlessness! Great is repentance! Which do Thou grant unto me, O Saviour, Who didst suffer for us, and do Thou save us.” (Holy Wednesday Matinal Praises, 1st tone)
The Sinful Woman and the Betrayer
What was so different about them?
The woman was a sinner…and she came to a state of mind in which she wanted healing; this is called repentance. To sin is to “miss the mark,” and to repent is to turn back, to genuinely have a change of mind and heart.
Judas, and the Sanhedrin and rulers opposed to Christ, were in a different state of being, not only sin, but also idolatry. They were not even facing in the right direction, nor did they realize they were in need of healing. Judas was particularly attached to money, and the Sanhedrin were particularly attached to their vainglorious status and dream of earthly rule. These things became for them golden calves for which they were literally willing to sell their souls — and the Creator of the universe.
For the woman God was her Healer, the only One Who could mend her broken soul and pour the oil of His mercy into her wounds. For the ones who envied Christ, He had become, in their minds, their enemy. They didn’t want healing, they wanted to dominate.
These power-hungry passions that oppose God as our King align a person with the same goals as Satan. The Scripture says that Satan entered into Judas’ heart. (St. Luke 22:3) And Christ said to the Pharisees: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not.” (St. John 8:44–45)
The woman repented, and Judas regretted and despaired. She gained her life, and he lost his life. These are the fruits of serving either the Master, or the thief.
On Holy Wednesday we commemorate and seek to emulate this blessed woman who cast off the yoke of Satan and ran to the healing embrace of Christ, the Bridegroom of our souls!
Here is the beautiful Hymn of Kassiani chanted this year by the Holy Nativity Convent in Brookline, MA. (It starts at 1:11:22)
