Stand for the reading of the Synaxarion.
From the Triodion.
On Holy and Great Tuesday, we commemorate the
Parable of the Ten Virgins in the Holy Gospel.
Verses
Great Tuesday bringeth us ten virgins,
Who win a victory from the impartial Master.
St. Seraphim of Sarov
The parable about the ten virgins has been clearly and convincingly explained by St. Seraphim of Sarov in his conversation with Motovilov:
Some say that the shortage of oil of the foolish virgins signifies their shortage of good works in their lives. Such understanding is not exactly correct. How can they be short of good works if they, though foolish, are still called virgins? Chastity is a supreme virtue, the state of being equal to angels, and could itself serve as a substitute for all other virtues. I humbly think that they were actually short of the grace of God’s All-Holy Spirit. These virgins did good, and out of their spiritual foolishness supposed that doing good was exactly the point of Christianity. They did good works and by this obeyed God, but they did not care in the least beforehand whether they had received or reached the grace of God’s Spirit. This very gaining of the Holy Spirit is that oil which the foolish virgins lacked. They were called foolish because they forgot about the necessary fruit of virtue, the grace of the Holy Spirit, without which no one is saved and no one can be saved, for: ‘it is by the Holy Spirit that any soul is vitalized and exalted in chastity, and any soul is lit by the Trinitarian unity in holy mysteries’. The Holy Spirit moves into our souls, and this installation of the All-Mighty into our souls, and co-existence of His Trinitarian Unity with our spirit is given only through the gaining by all means, the Holy Spirit, which prepares in our soul and body the throne for God’s creative co-existence with our spirit in strict accordance with the word of God: ‘I will dwell among them and will be their God, and they will be my people’. This is the oil in the lamps of wise virgins, oil that burnt bright and long, so that the virgins with the burning lamps could wait until the Bridegroom who came at midnight, and enter with Him into the house of joy. But the foolish virgins, seeing that their lamps were going out, went to the marketplace to buy oil but would not come back in time, for the doors were already shut. The marketplace is our life; the door of the house of marriage (that was shut and did not lead to the Bridegroom) is our human death; wise and foolish virgins are Christian souls; the oil is not works but the grace of the All-Holy Spirit of God which is received through these works, and which converts things perishable into things imperishable, transforms spiritual death into spiritual life, darkness into light, the manger of our being, with passions tied like cattle and beasts, into the Divine Temple, into the glorious palace of never-ending rejoicing in Christ Jesus.
O humble Lord, burn up within our hearts the devil’s sowing of pride with the fire of Your Holy Spirit, and plant within it the noble sowing of humility and meekness.
What will be happening during these days is not a dead remembrance of something that happened some time ago; it is an event that resides in the heart of our days, and on it our world and our life is founded and built. How I wish, your Godliness, that in this life you may always be in the All-Holy Spirit of God! St Seraphim of Sarov – Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh
https://iconandlight.wordpress.com/2022/04/18/what-will-be-happening-during-these-days-is-not-a-dead-remembrance-of-something-that-happened-some-time-ago-it-is-an-event-that-resides-in-the-heart-of-our-days-and-on-it-our-world-and-our-life-is-f-2/
Troparion. Mode pl. 4.
Behold, the Bridegroom is coming in the middle of the night; and blessed is the servant He shall find awake and watching; unworthy is the other He shall find being lazy. So beware, O soul of mine, be not overcome by sleep, so that you not be handed over to death and be shut out from the Kingdom. Come to your senses and cry aloud: Holy, holy, holy are You our God. Through the Theotokos have mercy on us.
Kathisma II.
Mode 4. Joseph marveled. Κατεπλάγη Ἰωσήφ.
Motivated by their fierce * envy, the priests and the scribes, * came together and convened * a lawless council against You, * and they incited Judas to betray You. * Shamelessly he went to them, O Savior, and spoke, * vilifying You to men who kept not the Law; * and he conferred with them and said, “What will you give me * if I deliver Him into your hands?” * O Lord, deliver our souls, we pray You, * from the betrayer’s condemnation
Exaposteilaria.
Mode 3. Automelon. Τὸν νυμφῶνά σου βλέπω
O my Savior, now I see * Your wedding hall decorated, * and I have not the garment * needed for me to enter it. * Make this raiment of my soul brightly shine, * O Giver-of-Light, and save me. (3)
Lauds. Mode 1.
Idiomelon. Mode 1.
How shall I enter into the splendor of Your saints since I am unworthy? For if I dare to enter the wedding hall along with them, my garment will betray me, for it is not fit for the wedding; and then I shall be bound and cast out by the Angels. I pray You to wash away the stains on my soul, and save me, O benevolent Lord. [SD]
Mode pl. 2. Idiomelon
O Bridegroom, more beautiful than all other men, You have invited us to the spiritual banquet of your bridal chamber. Divest my ill-clad form of offenses by my participation in Your sufferings. And when You have adorned me with the glorious apparel of Your beauty, show me to be a radiant guest of Your kingdom, since You are compassionate. [SD]
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