[4][5][6] In the New Testament account of Holy Week, after Palm Sunday, the Sanhedrin gathered and plotted to kill Jesus before the feast of Pesach.

As he sat at the supper table with his disciples, a woman named Mary anointed Jesus' head and feet with a costly oil of spikenard.

Next, after recitation of Psalms 50–51 and a special prayer, a loud noise (in Latin strepitus) was made, which was originally a signal for the ministers to depart but was later interpreted as symbolizing the confusion and terror that accompanied the death of Jesus, including the earthquake that, according to the Gospel of Matthew 27:51, followed.

A similar celebration of matins and lauds of Good Friday and Holy Saturday used to be held towards the close of each of the preceding days.

[22][23] In the Episcopal Church in the United States, a member of the Anglican Communion, the office of Tenebrae is celebrated on Spy Wednesday.

Later that evening (in parish practice) or early the following morning, the matins follows the special format known as the Bridegroom Service which is used the first three days of Holy Week.

The hymn, (written in the 9th century by Kassia) tells of the woman who washed Christ's feet in the house of Simon the Leper (Luke 7:36–50).

Do not disdain me Your handmaiden, O You who are boundless in mercy.Where Byzantine music is used, the composition expresses the poetry so strongly that it often leaves many people in a state of prayerful tears.

At vespers, to which may be joined the celebration of the Presanctified Liturgy, and which, strictly speaking, is the liturgical beginning of Holy Thursday, many of the hymns sung at matins are repeated.

[25] It is on account of the agreement made by Judas to betray Jesus on this day that Orthodox Christians fast on Wednesdays (as well as Fridays) throughout the year.