See! The Bridegroom sets forth in the dead of night. And blessed is that servant whom he shall find on watch; unworthy the one he shall come upon lazing. See to it, soul, that sleep does not overtake you, lest you be given up to death and be shut out of the kingdom. Bestir yourself, then, and sing out: “Holy, holy, holy are You, our God; through the protection of the bodiless powers, save us.”
Apolytikion of Holy Monday
All the previous weeks and events on the path of the 40 days long Fast, all the symbols and deep meaning of the graceful Divine services filled with wonderful hymns and prayers of repentance seem to have been a really powerful preparation for this exact blessed journey through the Passion Week, which invites us to follow Christ the Bridegroom in His honourable passions and bright Resurrection. Time is tightened now and concentrated into these most touching events which follow and which have changed forever the human existence on Earth.
