There is a great need for Ukrainian/Byzantine Catholics to become acquainted with major services of the Holy and Great Week and to become more actively involved in the worship of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.It is precisely through personal participation in the hymns, prayers, and Psalms of the Divine Services that enables one to proclaim his/her faith in Christ and experience that true communion with God and with each other.
This Matins service of Great and Holy Saturday is the Funeral Service for our Lord. It should be celebrated on Saturday morning, but, as is usually the case in the Ukrainian Church, is often anticipated on Good Friday evening. The Lamentations is in the form of a poetic dirge sung antiphonally by two or more groups of people. It is made up of a number of verses divided into stanzas. As one stanza ends, the other begins. It seems that they were introduced into the Byzantine Holy Week Cycle not earlier than the 13th century. Greek Typikons written around 1346 mention them as being part of the liturgical sequence of Holy Week. The author, or rather the authors, of the Lamentations still remains unknown. However, Roman the Melodist is heavily borrowed upon. The verses are filled with moving expressions that can hardly fail to generate deep sorrow. Much of the prayers and hymns of this special funeral service see the action through the eyes of the Most Holy Theotokos. All creation is in sorrow. But God, being the Light and Resurrection, will rise again. And therefore we find the myrrh-bearing women proceeding to the tomb. Among many of the Slavic Byzantine churches (the Ukrainian included) the Office of the Lamentations is often called “The Jerusalem Matins.”
