section_path: Eastern Orthodox/Matins of Holy and Great Saturday
section_name: Matins of Holy and Great Saturday
paragraph_text: Matins of Holy and Great Saturday
  
  On Friday night, the Matins of Holy and Great Saturday, a unique service known as The Lamentation at the Tomb (Epitáphios Thrēnos) is celebrated. This service is also sometimes called Jerusalem Matins. Much of the service takes place around the tomb of Christ in the center of the nave.
  
  A unique feature of the service is the chanting of the Lamentations or Praises (Enkōmia), which consist of verses chanted by the clergy interspersed between the verses of Psalm 119 (which is, by far, the longest psalm in the Bible). The Enkōmia are the best-loved hymns of Byzantine hymnography, both their poetry and their music being uniquely suited to each other and to the spirit of the day.
  
  They consist of 185 tercet antiphons arranged in three parts (stáseis or "stops"), which are interjected with the verses of Psalm 119, and nine short doxastiká (" Gloriae ") and Theotókia (invocations to the Virgin Mary). The three stáseis are each set to its own music, and are commonly known by their initial antiphons: Ἡ ζωὴ ἐν τάφῳ, "Life in a grave", Ἄξιον ἐστί, "Worthy it is", and Αἱ γενεαὶ πᾶσαι, "All the generations". Musically they can be classified as strophic, with 75, 62, and 48 tercet stanzas each, respectively.
  
  The climax of the Enkōmia comes during the third stásis, with the antiphon "Ω γλυκύ μου ἔαρ", a lamentation of the Virgin for her dead Child ("O, my sweet spring, my sweetest child, where has your beauty gone?"). Later, during a different antiphon of that stasis ("Early in the morning the myrrh-bearers came to Thee and sprinkled myrrh upon Thy tomb"), young girls of the parish place flowers on the Epitaphios and the priest sprinkles it with rose-water. The author(s) and date of the Enkōmia are unknown. Their High Attic linguistic style suggests a dating around the 6th century, possibly before the time of St. Romanos the Melodist.
  
  The Evlogitaria (Benedictions) of the Resurrection are sung as on Sunday, since they refer to the conversation between the myrrh-bearers and the angel in the tomb, followed by kathismata about the burial of Christ. Psalm 50 (51) is then immediately read, and then followed by a much loved-canon, written by Mark the Monk, Bishop of Hydrous and Kosmas of the Holy City, with irmoi by Kassiani the Nun. The high-point of the much-loved Canon is Ode 9, which takes the form of a dialogue between Christ and the Theotokos, with Christ promising His Mother the hope of the Resurrection. This Canon will be sung again the following night at the Midnight Office.
  
  Lauds follows, and its stichera take the form of a funeral lament, while always preserving the hope of the Resurrection. The doxasticon links Christ's rest in the tomb with His rest on the seventh day of creation, and the theotokion ("Most blessed art thou, O Virgin Theotokos...) is the same as is used on Sundays.
  
  At the end of the Great Doxology, while the Trisagion is sung, the epitaphios is taken in procession around the outside of the church, and is then returned to the tomb. Some churches observe the practice of holding the epitaphios at the door, above waist level, so the faithful must bow down under it as they come back into the church, symbolizing their entering into the death and resurrection of Christ. The epitaphios will lie in the tomb until the Paschal Service early Sunday morning. In some churches, the epitaphios is never left alone, but is accompanied 24 hours a day by a reader chanting from the Psalter.
  
  When the procession has returned to the church, a troparion is read, similar to the ones read at the Sixth Hour throughout Lent, focusing on the purpose of Christ's burial. A series of prokimena and readings are then said:
  
  At the end of the service, a final hymn is sung as the faithful come to venerate the Epitaphios.
  
  On Friday night, the Matins of Holy and Great Saturday, a unique service known as The Lamentation at the Tomb (Epitáphios Thrēnos) is celebrated. This service is also sometimes called Jerusalem Matins. Much of the service takes place around the tomb of Christ in the center of the nave.
  
  A unique feature of the service is the chanting of the Lamentations or Praises (Enkōmia), which consist of verses chanted by the clergy interspersed between the verses of Psalm 119 (which is, by far, the longest psalm in the Bible). The Enkōmia are the best-loved hymns of Byzantine hymnography, both their poetry and their music being uniquely suited to each other and to the spirit of the day.
  
  They consist of 185 tercet antiphons arranged in three parts (stáseis or "stops"), which are interjected with the verses of Psalm 119, and nine short doxastiká (" Gloriae ") and Theotókia (invocations to the Virgin Mary). The three stáseis are each set to its own music, and are commonly known by their initial antiphons: Ἡ ζωὴ ἐν τάφῳ, "Life in a grave", Ἄξιον ἐστί, "Worthy it is", and Αἱ γενεαὶ πᾶσαι, "All the generations". Musically they can be classified as strophic, with 75, 62, and 48 tercet stanzas each, respectively.
  
  The climax of the Enkōmia comes during the third stásis, with the antiphon "Ω γλυκύ μου ἔαρ", a lamentation of the Virgin for her dead Child ("O, my sweet spring, my sweetest child, where has your beauty gone?"). Later, during a different antiphon of that stasis ("Early in the morning the myrrh-bearers came to Thee and sprinkled myrrh upon Thy tomb"), young girls of the parish place flowers on the Epitaphios and the priest sprinkles it with rose-water. The author(s) and date of the Enkōmia are unknown. Their High Attic linguistic style suggests a dating around the 6th century, possibly before the time of St. Romanos the Melodist.
  
  The Evlogitaria (Benedictions) of the Resurrection are sung as on Sunday, since they refer to the conversation between the myrrh-bearers and the angel in the tomb, followed by kathismata about the burial of Christ. Psalm 50 (51) is then immediately read, and then followed by a much loved-canon, written by Mark the Monk, Bishop of Hydrous and Kosmas of the Holy City, with irmoi by Kassiani the Nun. The high-point of the much-loved Canon is Ode 9, which takes the form of a dialogue between Christ and the Theotokos, with Christ promising His Mother the hope of the Resurrection. This Canon will be sung again the following night at the Midnight Office.
  
  Lauds follows, and its stichera take the form of a funeral lament, while always preserving the hope of the Resurrection. The doxasticon links Christ's rest in the tomb with His rest on the seventh day of creation, and the theotokion ("Most blessed art thou, O Virgin Theotokos...) is the same as is used on Sundays.
  
  At the end of the Great Doxology, while the Trisagion is sung, the epitaphios is taken in procession around the outside of the church, and is then returned to the tomb. Some churches observe the practice of holding the epitaphios at the door, above waist level, so the faithful must bow down under it as they come back into the church, symbolizing their entering into the death and resurrection of Christ. The epitaphios will lie in the tomb until the Paschal Service early Sunday morning. In some churches, the epitaphios is never left alone, but is accompanied 24 hours a day by a reader chanting from the Psalter.
  
  When the procession has returned to the church, a troparion is read, similar to the ones read at the Sixth Hour throughout Lent, focusing on the purpose of Christ's burial. A series of prokimena and readings are then said:
  
  At the end of the service, a final hymn is sung as the faithful come to venerate the Epitaphios.