The lampadas are lit as they have been all week, their passionless flames burning before the icons of the Fathers and Saints who celebrate with us in Heaven even as we do on earth. The prayers, the incense, the singing of the people, all ascend to the Throne of God as our offerings of thanksgiving and praise on this night, the Feast of Feasts, even as they have throughout the whole week. The temple is packed on Holy Pascha, all eagerly awaiting the triumphal coming forth of the holy flame from the Tomb and the opportunity to proclaim joyously, "Christ is Risen!"

And yet if there is one thing that distinguishes the Paschal service from those of Holy Week, it is unfortunately this: there is - usually - a significantly smaller percentage of the Faithful participating in these services than those of Pascha itself. Now some people have no choice in the matter. They want to attend all the services, but for whatever reason beyond their control - work, school, family - cannot. Holy Church understands this, and affirms unequivocally that the grace of Pascha is in no way lessened for those who for these - or other - reasons could not participate in the services of Holy Week. For the Catechetical Sermon of St. John Chrysostom states:

"If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings, because he shall in no wise be deprived therefor. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness, for the Lord, Who is jealous of His honor, will accept the last even as the first."

The same grace of the Feast is given equally to all, whether we or not we participate in all the services of Holy Week. But there is a danger... the danger of letting St. John's words make us too comfortable, allowing us to come to the temple but on Holy Pascha, secure in the knowledge that our Lord will be bountiful in grace towards us regardless. If, indeed, the Lord "accepts the last even as the first," what is the gain for us to come to these services? And what is the trouble for us if we do not?

The key services for the first part of Holy Week are the Bridegroom Matins. These services spell out for us the state we are in as we seek to come face to face, to enter into intimate communion with each other and with the living God: "Behold I see the bridal chamber adorned, and I have no wedding garment..."

This imagery is given to us in Scripture in the parable of the wedding feast which we all know. We know that this Lord invited his friends to his wedding feast, but they made excuses and did not come. We know that that this Lord then invited - or, rather, compelled - those from the highways and byways to come into the feast. We know, also, that one man who was invited was then thrown out again, because he had no wedding garment.

In the Jewish wedding service of that time, the wedding garment was not something that each person had and brought with himself. Rather, it was provided by the master of the feast as a free gift to those invited. Each received one as he entered in through the door. Each wore it to prepare himself for the feast, to show himself to be of one mind and heart with the master and with each other, participating together in the joy of the feast.

The man who was thrown out was not wearing a wedding garment, for whatever reason. Perhaps he had gotten one, but did not like the color. Or perhaps he did not like the cut or style. Or thought it too small, or too large. Perhaps, on the other hand, he had never received one, because he had not entered in by the door but rather by another way, illicitly coming into the congregation. He might not have entered by the door, perhaps, because he did not like the manner in which this Lord wanted his guests to enter the feasting hall. Maybe the master wanted him to leave something outside which he wanted to bring with him. But for whatever reason, by his own choice and action he spurned the gift of the master of the wedding, and it was for that reason he was cast out of the joyous banquet.

To enter into the joy of Pascha, to come into that "bridal chamber all adorned", we too must have on our wedding garment which Christ our God gives us. But we must ask ourselves, what is this wedding garment? What does God give us so that we might prepare ourselves and be participants in the feasting in His Kingdom?

We find a good part of the answer to this question in another of the feasts of our Orthodox Church, that of the Holy Fathers of the Seven Oecumenical Synods. The troparia and stichs for this feast refer over and over again to the teachings of the Fathers, the decrees, definitions and canons of the Holy Seven Councils, - in short, our whole Tradition - as "a finely-woven garment of theology." Each part of our Tradition is a thread which goes together with every other to form that garment of theology, and it is that garment which God gives to us so that we might clothe our spiritual nakedness and prepare ourselves to participate in communion with God and with each other in His Holy Church.

And where do we find this garment handed to us? These threads, all these teachings, are given to us in Vespers, in the stichs on Lord I Call, in the Lity, in the Aposticha. We receive this garment in the troparia, sessional hymns and - most especially - the canons of Matins. We receive these in all the psalms, hymns, and litanies of prayers which the Holy Church, under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, have handed down to us. Ultimately, it is not in textbooks of dogmatics or learned treatises of scholars that these truths, this garment of doctrine, is to be found (although they do have their place, within limits) but rather in the living experience of and participation in all the Divine Services of our Holy Church where these threads are set forth. To receive this garment, we must go to the services.

When we realize this, we know why we cannot and should not merely rest on our laurels, merely come to Holy Pascha expecting that to be all we need to do. The bridal garment which we must have to participate in the Feast is given to us throughout Holy Week, and if we know this... and willfully and knowingly spurn it... then we stand a very real chance of bringing upon ourselves the same end which that man in the parable did when he refused his garment. We must realize that God's gift to us of "accepting the last even as the first" brings with it the responsibility on our parts to re-examine our priorities during Holy Week. Is school *that* important? Work? Even family? (For our Lord did say, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.") Can secular schooling, or work, clothe our nakedness before God? This is not to say that these are unimportant, but that they must - if we are honest - take second place to our overriding purpose in life, which is to work out our salvation and deification in Christ's Holy Church.

Two final things must be said. First of all, there are those who simply cannot, however much they want to or try, cannot make all the services, or cannot make all the services at once. This is a process of growth; each year we can participate in more and more services. Some things - like work - take time to work out so that we can fulfill our priorities as we ought. If we honestly strive to put the Church and her services first in our priorities, then even if actually being able to do so takes some time, we need not fear the fate of him who was cast out of the wedding feast to that place where there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Secondly, what we have said for Holy Week really goes for the whole of the Church year. At all of the services throughout the year these teachings are given us, in daily Matins and daily Vespers, in Compline, in the Resurrectional Vigils. We receive the wedding garment of theology at all these as well. Now it is only in monasteries that the full cycle of services can be fulfilled... but that still does not absolve us of the responsibility and necessity of prioritizing our lives around the Church, so that we can go to where we receive this garment so that we may enter "the bridal chamber all adorned."

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