Every year is the year of grace- the present time, the liturgical "today".  The Friday before Lazarus Saturday, this year March 23rd, marks the end of Lent. Monasteries of the Eastern Church, through remembrance of this amazing miracle, benefit from the impact of the Raising of Lazarus from the dead, and are beneficiaries of a preparation [so to speak] which Jesus arranged as His passion drew near.  To strengthen the disciples for his own approaching death He would raise a dead man. Of course this necessitated a corpse. Jesus did not respond to the urgent message of Martha and Mary sent him concerning Lazarus' illness. Lazarus died. After four days Jesus told the apostles "Lazarus our friend is dead. I am glad for your sake I was not there", making it quite clear why Lazarus had to die- so the apostles' faith would be strengthened by the miracle. What a price of grief Martha and Mary paid in the interim.

Palm Sunday, which became in the Northern Slavic lands, the Sunday of Pussy Willows and Flowers, is the tradition we follow. Holy Week now begins, The "Week of the Bridegroom", Jesus, the Word-made-flesh, Eternal Son of the Eternal Father who sent Him to redeem the world and take to Himself  [in Biblical terms] His bride.

Monday of Holy Week in 2013 (it happened this year to be March 25th )
was the Feast of the Annunciation.  Matins is unique, as a long dialog between the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary, culminating in Mary's acceptance: "I am the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me as you say". The Eastern Church never transfers this feast, so on Good Friday or even   Easter Sunday  the Annunciation is also remembered and celebrated. This strongly underscores the importance, the magnitude of the first "condition" of our redemption while also honoring the Work of God-made-Man, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Holy Thursday, Great and Good Friday each have their own beauty as we
remember the final  days of our Lord's life. Jerusalem Matins, dating from an early century and described by the Pilgrim Egeria "or Aetheria (often called Sylvia) was a Gallaeci or Gallic woman who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land about 381-384." Her account includes Easter in Jesusalem, similar to our Holy Saturday "Jersusalem Matin."As I write the next Services are later today.