When it is said
It is the exapostilarion, the hymn that follows the canon near the end of Matins, on Holy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
On the first three days that Matins is the Bridegroom service, which parishes hold on the evening before.
The Greek book asks for it to be sung slowly, with its own melody, three times over.
Where it comes from
No author known
The wedding garment
Jesus told of a king’s wedding feast where one guest came in without wedding clothes and could not answer when the king asked him why (Matthew 22:11-12). In this hymn the singer sees the hall made ready and admits he has nothing fit to wear, so he asks Christ, the Giver of light, to make his soul’s robe shine.
Outside the door
On Holy Tuesday the services dwell on the wise virgins in Jesus’s parable, who were ready when the bridegroom came. They went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut (Matthew 25:10). This hymn, sung at the same services, speaks as one who stands at that door with nothing to wear.
The Scripture in it
But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless.
But while they were on their way to buy it, the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Τὸν νυμφῶνά Σου βλέπω, Σωτήρ μου κεκοσμημένον,
καὶ ἔνδυμα οὐκ ἔχω, ἵνα εἰσέλθω ἐν αὐτῷ,
λάμπρυνόν μου τὴν στολὴν τῆς ψυχῆς, Φωτοδότα,
καὶ σῶσόν με.