Holy Monday — Monday of Holy Week of Lent. Holy Week is dedicated to the remembrance of the last days of the Savior’s earthly life, His suffering on the Cross, death and burial.
In terms of the greatness and importance of the events that took place, each day of Holy Week is called holy and great. These consecrated days are perceived by believers as a Divine holiday, illuminated by the joyful consciousness of the received salvation through the suffering and death of the Savior. Therefore, on these holy days, neither the memory of saints, nor the commemoration of the dead, nor prayer singing are performed. As on all major holidays, the Church even these days calls on believers to take spiritual part in the services performed and become participants in sacred memories.
Since apostolic times, the days of Holy Week have been in deep veneration among Christians. Believers spent Holy Week in the strictest abstinence, earnest prayer, and feats of virtue and mercy. All services of Holy Week, distinguished by the depth of pious experiences, contemplations, special tenderness and duration, are located in such a way that the history of the Savior’s suffering, His last Divine instructions, are vividly and gradually reproduced in them.
In the first three days of Holy Week, the Church prepares believers for worthy contemplation and heartfelt complicity in the Savior's suffering on the Cross. On Maundy Monday, the Church remembers the Old Testament Patriarch Joseph the Beautiful, who, out of envy, was sold by his brothers to Egypt, who shaped the suffering of the Savior.
In addition, on this day we remember the drying up by the Lord of a fig tree covered with rich foliage, but barren, serving as the image of the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees, from whom, despite their outward piety, the Lord did not find the good fruits of faith and piety, but only the hypocritical shadow of the Law. Like a barren, dried fig tree is every soul that does not bear the fruits of spiritual — true repentance, faith, prayer and good deeds.
On Holy Tuesday, the Lord's reproof of the scribes and Pharisees, His conversations and parables spoken by him on this day in the temple of Jerusalem are remembered: about the tribute to Caesar, about the resurrection of the dead, about the Last Judgment, about the ten virgins and about talents. On Holy Wednesday, the sinner wife remembers, washing her with tears and anointing the Savior’s legs with precious peace while he was at a party in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, and thereby preparing Christ for burial. Here Judas, with his imaginary care for the poor, discovered his love of money, and in the evening he decided to sell Christ to the Jewish elders for 30 pieces of silver (an amount sufficient at the prices of that time to purchase a small plot of land even in the vicinity of Jerusalem).
On Holy Wednesday, at the liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, according to the prayer behind the pulpit, the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian with three great bows is said for the last time.
On Thursday of Holy Week, four most important gospel events that took place on this day are remembered: the Last Supper, at which the Lord established the New Testament sacrament of Holy Communion (Eucharist), the Lord’s washing of the feet of His disciples as a sign of deepest humility and love for them, the Savior’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and the betrayal of Judas.
The Day of the Great Heel is dedicated to the remembrance of condemnation to death, the suffering of the Cross and the death of the Savior. In the service of this day, the Church seems to be placing us at the foot of the Cross of Christ and, before our reverent and reverent gaze, depicts the saving suffering of the Lord. At Great Heel Matins (usually served on Thursday evenings), the 12 Gospels of the Covenant of the Holy Passion are recited. At the end of Good Friday Vespers, a ritual is performed to carry out the Shroud of Christ with an image of His position in the tomb, after which the canon of the crucifixion of the Lord and the lament of the Blessed Virgin Mary is read, then the evening service is released and an application to the Shroud is performed.
In the evening of this day, it is customary to start a dough for ritual Easter cakes. Easter cakes should be baked on Saturday, and eggs should be painted too - it is believed that Friday cakes and eggs spoil quickly, and Saturday cakes are stored for a long time.
On Holy Saturday, the Church remembers the burial of Jesus Christ, the presence of His body in the tomb, the descent of his soul into hell to proclaim victory over death there and the deliverance of the souls who awaited His coming with faith, and the introduction of a prudent robber into heaven. Divine services on this day begin in the early morning and continue until the end of the day, so that the last Saturday songs, the so-called Easter midnight, merge with the beginning of the solemn Easter chants at Easter Matins.
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