Holy and Great Monday, the first day of Passion Week: traditions and customs. What is good to do on this day

Passion Week 2024. Today is Holy and Great Monday, the first day of Passion Week or Holy Week, an opportunity for the faithful to prepare for the Resurrection of the Lord. In the holy and great Monday the Gospel from Matthew is read about the end of the world “so that we are always ready and waiting for the coming of the Lord to judge the living and the dead (Matthew 24, 3-35)”. On Monday evening, the Gospel will be read about Caesar’s betrayal (Matthew 22, 17-22) and about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees (Matthew 23, 1-39).

By the Observator editorial team on 29.04.2024, 10:16

Holy and Holy Monday, the first day of Passion Week or Holy Week. It is an opportunity for believers to prepare for the Resurrection of the Lord. As traditions and superstitions, on Maundy Monday, women begin the Easter cleaning. According to popular belief, Passion Week is the period in which Christians must fast and arrange their household affairs in order to meet the Easter holiday as it should be.

During this week, general cleaning is done in houses and yards, but the more important chores must be done only on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week.

What is good to do on Holy Monday. Traditions on the first day of Passion Week

According to tradition, on Holy Monday, housewives start cleaning for Easter. Everything is taken out, things are aired, the house is washed and whitewashed. There is an old saying: “Don’t let Easter catch you in impurity, because your house is cursed!”.

Also on Holy Monday, two important commemorations are made. Of Joseph, the eleventh son of old Jacob and the first of Rachel. The Bible says that he was thrown into a well by his brothers and then sold to merchants for 30 pieces of silver. “Here is the dreamer! Let’s kill him and throw him into a well and say a wild beast ate him and we’ll see what will become of his dreams,” cried the brothers, but Ruben, the youngest of them had another variant: “No, don’t shed blood! Better throw him into that well in the desert, but don’t lay your hands on him.”

Joseph, thrown into the well, signifies the placing of Christ in the tomb. And because the well was without water, until the Resurrection of Christ, the grave was the face of death, but after, the grave was no longer considered a place of eternity. Likewise, the sale of Joseph for 30 pieces of silver is a foreshadowing of Christ, sold by Judas, also for 30 pieces of silver.

The second mention is that of the unfruitful fig tree

“And the next day when they came out of Bethany, the Lord was hungry. And seeing a fig tree from afar, having leaves, he went to see if he would find anything in it”, wrote the evangelist Mark. This unfruitful fig tree is the symbol of the synagogue, which did not bear the fruit of salvation that the Christian Church has fully grown. For Isidore Pelusiot, there is another interpretation: “If the Lord does not find rest in him, the next day, that is, after this present life, he will dry him with a curse and send him to eternal fire. The dry fig tree of the Holy Gospel is like a completely dry pillar, which terrifies those who do not bear the proper fruit of virtue”. According to crestinortodox.ro, two parallel meanings emerge from these parables: one historical, looking at the Jewish people waiting for the first coming of the Messiah; another spiritual, eschatological, regarding the preparation and waiting for the second coming of the Bridegroom.