Behold the Bridegroom Comes at Midnight…
Below is a beautiful homily from St. Theophan the Recluse that I recently shared with my Patreon Community and wanted to also share with all of you.
You have now heard, beloved, the moving hymn, "Behold, the Bridegroom Comes at Midnight," which is sung at matins during the first three days of Passion Week. So that the hymn will be understood by all, and will bring to all the desired benefit, please allow me to offer your charity an explanation for it.
The hymn, "Behold, the Bridegroom Comes at Midnight" reminds us of the Saviour's parable in which He compares the kingdom of heaven with ten virgins who, according to an ancient custom, took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. The composer of the hymn had precisely this parable in mind. We present it here and shall explain it briefly.
Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins, says the Saviour, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took their oil in their vessels with their laps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. (Matt 25:1-13)
The explanation of the parable is as follows: the ten virgins, of which five were wise and five foolish, symbolize us Christians. Some of us are wise because of our faith, our virtuous life, and because we are prepared for our death; others are foolish due to their unbelief or cold indifference to the faith, their impure carnal life, and their being unprepared for their death and the judgment that will immediately follow it, for it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).
The foolish ones, it is said, took their lamps but did not take oil with them. What do the lamps and oil for the lamps mean? The lamps are our souls, according to the Saviour's words: the lamp of the body is the eye (Matt 6:22), by "eye" He means the heart of man, or soul. The oil symbolizes alms, according to St. John Chrysostomos's interpretation, or good deeds in general. Therefore, the foolish Christians, going out to meet the bridegroom, did not prepare for their souls good deeds, which could have supported their spiritual life. The wise ones, it is said, took oil in their vessels with their lamps, meaning they stocked up on good deeds in order to worthily meet the bridegroom.
Who is the bridegroom? Jesus Christ.
When and how do we go out to meet Him? Our entire lives must be since their beginning a preparation for our personal meeting with Him, because every soul after its death must appear and answer before Him, as to the Author of our life.
Throughout our lives we must take care to acquire and preserve in our hearts a living faith and an ardent love for God, so that after our deaths standing before the terrible throne of the Lord of glory will neither be shameful nor to our condemnation. We will go out for the general meeting with Him during our resurrection from the dead, when all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of the condemnation (John 5:28-29).
The bridegroom, that is, Jesus Christ, is in no hurry to cut our lives short with death, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9), and is equally delaying His glorious, and dreadful, second coming so that the sons of the kingdom may multiply more and more. Meanwhile, people, temporarily seduced by the sweetness of sin, by its impurity, and seeing that the world remains stable, think it will remain as such forever, and they themselves, enjoying robust health and other material good, immerse themselves in spiritual slumber, not caring for their correction. and thus sleep the sleep of sin. However, precisely at the midnight of their sinful sleep, when none among the sinners thinks about the grave dangers in which they find themselves, a loud voice is heard: behold, the bridegroom comes, go out to meet Him. Then all will temple and light their lamps, that is, with spiritual attention. At that time it will be good for the wise Christians: their souls will ignite will the sweet love for God; but for the foolish, it will be bad. Their souls, like lamps without oil, will die out, that is, they will grow dark and cold from the lack of love for God, the source of love, and will start to taste the torments of hell. They will ask the wise Christians for oil, that is, for good deeds, but those will not give it to them, so that they also may not be lacking. They will go and buy oil from those that sell it, that is, they will suddenly remember to do good deeds, and will look for opportunities to do them, however, precisely at this time when they wish to do good deeds, the bridegroom will come, death will catch them by surprise, and will place them before the heavenly Judge without any virtues whatsoever, reeking of the filth of their own lawlessness. They will desire to go inside the bridal chamber of the heavenly kingdom, which all of us from birth are destined to enter, the reason for which we all live. Their Lord will not allow them to enter, and will say to them: I do not know you. Watch therefore, the Lord concludes the parable, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
Now all of us understand the church hymn: "Behold the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is that servant," that is, every Christian, "whom He shall find watching, again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless (sleeping the sleep of sin). Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep (that is, do not be weighed down with the sleep of sin), lest you be given up to (eternal) death, and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom. But rouse yourself crying: Holy, holy, holy, art Thou, O our God, through the prayers of the Theotokos have mercy on us." Amen.
Season of Repentance by St. Theophan the Recluse
Blessed Holy Week, my sisters in Christ! May we be found worthy to receive Him and proclaim, Christ is Risen!
