After His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Christ now enters the days that lead directly to His Passion. Great and Holy Monday is the first great station on this journey. The Church does not live it as a simple continuation of the feast of the Palms, but as a sudden inward change. The joy of welcome recedes, and in its place come sobriety, watchfulness, and the sense that the dread and holy events of the Passion are drawing near.
The Withered Fig Tree: A Warning Against Spiritual Barrenness
As the Lord returns from Bethany toward Jerusalem, He sees by the roadside a fig tree full of leaves. He approaches it seeking fruit, but finds none. Then the Lord says, “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever,” and the tree immediately withers.
Passage (Matt. 21:19)
“And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it: Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.”
Translation
Seeing a fig tree by the roadside, He came to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. And He said to it, “Let no fruit ever grow on thee again,” and immediately the fig tree withered away.
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This is one of the first severe signs of these days. Christ is not acting out of human anger, but showing by a deed that the outward appearance of life is not enough when there is no fruit.
The fig tree represents the Synagogue of the Jews, which possessed the outward greenness of the Law and of the types, yet lacked the fruit of faith and love. On a more personal level, the fig tree is the soul that exhausts itself in outward forms of piety and social appearances, while inwardly remaining barren of virtue. The sudden withering of the tree reminds us that the time of our earthly life is limited, and that our spiritual fruitfulness does not admit of delay.
Thus the barren fig tree becomes an image of spiritual sterility, of a life that has the appearance of piety yet lacks truth, repentance, and the works of faith.
The All-Comely Joseph: A Figure of Patience and Purity
Together with the fig tree, Great and Holy Monday also places before us another figure, altogether different. Today the Church sets before us Joseph, the youngest son of the Patriarch Jacob, whom she calls the All-Comely, beautiful both in appearance and in soul.
The story of Joseph prefigures the life of Christ. His brothers, out of envy for his virtue, cast him into a pit and sold him to merchants, who in turn sold him as a slave into Egypt. There, despite trials and the false accusation of Potiphar’s wife, Joseph remained steadfast in faith and moral purity. God’s providence led him from prison to the rank of ruler in Egypt, where he was able to save the people and even his own family from famine. Just as Joseph was envied and sold, so too the Lord was delivered up by His own, led to the Passion, and through it granted eternal nourishment and life to the whole world.
Thus Great and Holy Monday sets before us two images. On the one hand, the fig tree with leaves but no fruit. On the other, Joseph, who remains fruitful in the midst of trial. The first reveals spiritual barrenness. The second reveals patience, purity, and a faith that does not die in hardship.
The Hymnography of the Bridegroom
In the Matins service, hymns of great simplicity and depth prevail.
The Bridegroom Troparion
“Behold, the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, lest thou be borne down with sleep, lest thou be given up to death and be shut out from the Kingdom...”
Translation and Meaning
Behold, the Bridegroom, Christ, comes in the middle of the night, and blessed is the servant whom He finds vigilant. Unworthy, however, is the one whom He finds slothful. Therefore, O my soul, do not sink into spiritual sleep, lest thou be delivered over to death and shut out from the Kingdom of God. The hymn calls us to continual spiritual readiness, since our meeting with God does not follow earthly schedules. It comes in the spiritual night of this world.
The Exapostilarion
“I behold Thy bridal chamber adorned, O my Saviour, but I have no wedding garment that I may enter therein. Illumine the garment of my soul, O Giver of Light, and save me.”
Translation and Meaning
I behold, O my Saviour, Thy bridal chamber adorned, but I do not have the proper garment to enter into it. Illumine and brighten the robe of my soul, O Thou Who art the Giver of Light, and save me. Here the deep humility of the believer is expressed. We do not ask to enter the Kingdom by our own strength, but beg God Himself to cleanse and illumine our soul.
Theological and Spiritual Reflection
Great and Holy Monday places us before the mirror of our conscience. Through the example of Joseph, we learn that afflictions, injustices, and the pit that others may dig for us are not the end, but the path of testing that may lead to glory, if only we preserve purity of heart. Joseph’s freedom from resentment toward his brothers prefigures the forgiveness that Christ will proclaim upon the Cross.
At the same time, the withered fig tree acts as a spiritual alarm. It reminds us that the Christian life is not a collection of abstract rules or a decorative display of leaves, but the daily bearing of fruit: love, mercy, prayer, and repentance. Great and Holy Monday calls us not merely to remember, but to change, casting off spiritual negligence and putting on the bright garment of vigilance.
The participation of the faithful | Great and Holy Monday and Great and Holy Tuesday: Spiritual Preparation
- In church: The Bridegroom Services, celebrated on the evening of the preceding day, call us to vigilance. In the morning, the Presanctified Divine Liturgies are served.
- Fasting: Strict fasting.
You can find Lenten Monastic Recipes here → - Practice: These are days of inward cleansing. The faithful prepare for the Mystery of Confession, so as to approach purified the dread Mysteries that follow
