On this day we make remembrance of the Parable of the Ten Virgins which Jesus spake along with others as he was coming to the Passion. It teaches us not to rest as though safe in virginity, but to guard it whenever possible, and not to desist from any virtues and good deeds, especially deeds of mercy, which make the lamp of virginity shine brilliantly. It teaches us also to be ready for our end, not knowing when our hour is coming, as the wise virgins were ready to meet the bride, lest death overtake us and close the door of the heavenly chamber in our face, and we hear the terrible judgment which the foolish virgins heard, “Verily, verily, I know you not.”
Wherefore, O Christ the Bridegroom, number us with the wise virgins and have mercy upon us. Amen.
Dear Father,
Thank you for posting these Synaxaria with improved wording and grammar. Did you edit them yourself or did you get them from another source? I’m wondering if in this Synaxarion it is correct to say “…as the wise virgins were ready to meet the bride…”? Wouldn’t it make more sense to say “to meet the Bridegroom”? It would be good to track this back to an original source.
Wishing you a blessed remainder of Holy Week and a radiant Pascha.
In XC,
Vladimir Morosan
Choir Director
St Anthony Orthodox Church, San Diego
I posted this two years ago. If memory serves me right, this translation came from the Melkites, who have been doing much better translation work than the people at Narthex Press.