Christ the Bridegroom
The Orthros for Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday and Holy Wednesday are called the Service of the Bridegroom. The Kingdom of God is compared to a bridal feast and a bridal chamber. The Christ of the Passion is the Bridegroom of the Church. The imagery connotes the final union of the Lover and the beloved. The last days were especially sorrowful and gloomy. The relentless hostility and opposition to Jesus by the religious authorities had reached unparalleled proportions. In the midst of this painful conflict Jesus revealed aspects of His divine authority by passing judgment on the evil plots and false religiosity of His enemies. No disease of the spirit is more insidious, deceptive and destructive than false religiosity, which can be defined as religious legalism and exhibitionism. Jesus condemned it outright. He warned against those whose lives are measured by ceremonials rather than the holiness, mercy and love of God; and those whose evil motivations, intentions and improprieties are clocked in the respectability of the externals of religious faith and life. False religiosity is a cruel hoax and a betrayal of authentic religious faith. The practitioners of such artificial faith “shut the Kingdom of Heaven against men, for they neither enter themselves nor do they allow those who would enter go in.” The liturgy of the days of the Bridegroom represents the most urgent and emphatic call to such repentance. The faithful are reminded that no sin is so great as to defy the bounds of divine mercy, for Christ gives everyone the power to slay sin and to share in His victory.
For those who are not aware of our terminology, Orthros = Morning Prayer. But, here is the odd part, on Holy Week, the morning prayer is celebrated the night before, when the evening prayer (Vespers) would normally be celebrated. The icon of the Bridegroom at the front of the church, on a stand from the time it is taken in procession to its stand on Sunday night, until the Bridegroom Services are over. Notice that the icon of the Bridegroom is not a joyful icon of a Christ wearing a bridal crown, but rather a sorrowful icon of Christ after he has been beaten by the Roman soldiers and is wearing the crown of thorns. But, the readings of the Bridegroom days are of sinners whom our Lord accepted and loved during his ministry on earth. But, in the Bridegroom icon we see the price that our Lord paid for accepting us with love. And, so, it is true, “by his stripes we are healed.”
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