The most important and significant week of the entire church year. The Church reenacts before us the entire passion of Christ. We relive and experience for ourselves these events.

 Lazarus Saturday:

 Holy Week begins with Lazarus Saturday. On Lazarus Saturday, we find that death is the enemy that Christ came to conquer, and that Christ is truly the giver of life. We celebrate the divine love that brought Lazarus back to life - the same love that Christ offers each one of us. “With Lazarus’ resurrection, ‘death begins to tremble’. Thus begins Holy Week - the decisive duel between Life and Death - a duel that will end with final victory of Life over Death on Easter Sunday.”

 Palm Sunday:

 Jesus is acknowledged and acclaimed as the Messiah, the King and Redeemer of Israel. We receive Palm branches on this day to show that we too accept Jesus as King, and that we are willing to follow Him to the Cross. Christ the Bridegroom: the service of Holy Monday is Matins, chanted on the evening of Palm Sunday. The Hymn of the Bridegroom prepares for the coming of Christ. The priest carries the icon of Christ as a bridegroom in procession. We behold Christ as the bridegroom of the Church, bearing the marks of suffering, yet preparing a marriage feast for us in God’s Kingdom. The icon is placed in the middle of the church and remains there until Thursday.

 Holy Monday:

 The service of Holy Tuesday is Matins, chanted on Monday evening. The service urges us to be spiritually prepared to receive Christ. We should take time to reflect on the Parable of the Ten Virgins and our readiness to meet Christ.

 Holy Tuesday:

 The Bridegroom Service sung on Tuesday evening asks us to repent of our sins and to forgive others. We remember the sinful woman who anointed Christ in anticipation of His death. Her repentance and love of Christ is the theme of the Hymn of Cassiane chanted on this evening.

 Holy Wednesday:

 The Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts takes place in the morning. The Presanctified Liturgy also may take place on the mornings of Holy Monday and Holy Tuesday.

 Holy Unction: One of the seven sacraments of the Church, Holy Unction is the sacrament for healing. The sacrament is taken from James 4:14-15. There are two conditions outlined in James - the anointing of oil in the name of the Lord and prayer of faith.

 The oil is blessed by the Holy Spirit to bring us God’s healing power and the more faith we have, the more healing power God can pour into us. Where there is no faith, we must not expect the miracle of healing. Also the idea of our bodies being Temples is reinforced; God cares for our bodies as well as our souls. Finally, every sacrament is a personal encounter with Christ and we are being anointed with the healing powers of Christ through our faith. Seven Gospel Lessons and Seven Epistle readings are given so as to let God speak to us and increase our faith in His power to heal.

 Holy Thursday:

 In the morning we commemorate the institution of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion with the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil. In the afternoon we see the Washing of the Disciples’ feet, which sets an example for us of humility and love. The Matins of Friday are sung on Thursday evening. Twelve selected Gospel Lessons are read which tell the entire story of our Lord’s suffering and death from His farewell talk to the disciples to His burial and the sealing of the Tomb. After the 5th Gospel Lesson, a large crucifix adorned with a floral wreath and candles to be venerated by the worshippers as the choir sings: We worship thy passion, O Christ, show us also unto thy glorious resurrection. The procession symbolizes Christ’s coming to Golgotha to offer Himself as sacrifice for the world’s sins.

 Holy Friday: Holy Friday is a day of mourning, fasting and prayer. We commemorate the passion of Jesus Christ and these services or “Royal Hours” help us keep vigil at the side of the crucified Christ and relate Jesus’ suffering to our own redemption. Friday afternoon service is a vesper - The Apolathilosis - marking the beginning of Holy Saturday. The priest takes Christ’s body from the cross, wraps it in a clean white burial cloth and places it on the alter, as a sign of His burial by Joseph of Armathea. The priest then reads the Gospel account of the event. Finally, the icon of the epitaphion is carried in procession and placed in the tomb of our Lord which is adorned with flowers.

 Friday evening is the Matins of Holy Saturday in which the Hymns of Lamentations are sung. We lament Jesus’ undeserved death for our salvation. With both sorrow and joy we sing the Lamentations to Him who is symbolically buried yet who we already know is the risen Lord and giver of Life. At this service, the epitaphion is taken in a candlelight procession around the church. Moreover, it is the belief of the Church that Christ descended into Hades to abolish the power of Satan and trample death. At the end of the service we come forward to reverence the icon of the epitaphion and receive a flower which we should keep before our family icon at home.

 Holy Saturday:

 On Saturday we celebrate a vesper service with the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil. This is a day of strict fasting and prayer as we anticipate Pascha. Christ descended into hell that death itself might be destroyed. The liturgy includes readings from the Old Testament, the vesting of celebrants and acolytes in bright robes and special hymns. The priest disperses flower petals in a procession through the church which serves as the first heralding of the resurrection. Finally, Saturday evening we come to the climax of Holy Week and Great Lent. As the congregation gathers, the church is clothed in darkness. The service begins as a funeral dirge. Suddenly at the stroke of midnight , the old day passes into a new and a new era begins. “The darkness, symbolizing death, is pierced, destroyed, annihilated by hundreds of candles and by the singing of ‘ Christ is risen from the dead. By His death He trampled upon death and to those in the tombs He had bestowed life eternal’ .” Sunday morning or afternoon in the Agape service (which is a paschal vesper), we embrace and forgive our family and friends, sharing with others the gift of a new life.