Prepare Your Lamps!: Holy Tuesday and the Parable of the Ten Virgins
Let us truly love the Bridegroom, O brethren, and prepare our oil lamps to receive Him. -First Kathisma Hymn of Holy Tuesday Bridegroom Orthros The Parable of the Ten Virgins The services for Holy Tuesday begin with the Bridegroom Orthros celebrated in the evening on Holy Monday. The synaxarion reading for that service tells us that Holy Tuesday is dedicated to the Parable of the Ten Virgins that Christ told to his disciples. This parable gives us an image of what the experience of Christ's second coming will be like. Although the service of the Bridegroom Orthros on Holy Monday evening sets this parable up as the major theme for the the day, it is not introduced into the Gospels readings until the Vesperal Presanctified Liturgy celebrated on Holy Tuesday morning. At any other time of the year, the liturgical day begins with the Vespers service celebrated in the evening. In these cases, the Vespers service will match the theme of the feast being celebra...