by
Fr. George Dion. Dragas
The Great and Holy Lent (Megalé Sarakosté)
comprises nearly 6 full weeks, actually 40 days, which precede the Great and
Holy Week. It starts on a Monday, known as the Clean Monday (Kathara Deutera) and is terminated on a
Saturday, known as Lazarus Saturday (the Saturday before Palm Sunday, which
marks the beginning of Holy Week). The 40 days of Lent include the 5 Sundays
that precede the Great and Holy Week.
The
The first week of Lent, which begins with the Pure Monday and is also
called Pure Week, has always been distinguished from the other weeks by its
severe fast. Even today, in spite of the tendency that exists among many
Orthodox Christians not to observe the Lenten fast, the fast of the first week
is largely kept. This is especially the case with the first three days of this
week, when people abstain from all kinds of food and some even from wine and
oil.
As for the meaning of the Fast, the Orthodox Church has always stressed
the need that it must not be merely material, but also spiritual, for it should
not be just mere fasting from food, but fasting from vices and passions.
The period of Great Lent is
primarily a period of intense and fervent prayer. The sacred Services (Acolouthies) are more numerous and
lengthier and so are the readings from the Holy Scriptures. At least four
Divine Liturgies are celebrated each week: the Liturgy of the Presanctified
Gifts (Proégiasmené) on Wednesdays
and Fridays, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom on Saturdays and the Liturgy of
St. Basil on Sundays.
A Period of special hymns
The hymns of the Great Lent are
richer and have been clearly composed on the basis of a certain plan. This is
why they present an inner coherence and unity of themes each week. Thus, during
the first two weeks the benefits of fasting are exalted, while the true manner
of spiritual exercise (asceticism)
and the virtues that should accompany it (i.e., humility, brotherly love,
mercy, etc.) are clearly indicated.
During the four weeks that follow, the
hymnography borrows its themes from Gospel parables. The third week develops
the theme of the return of the Prodigal Son. The fourth week borrows its themes
from the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. The fifth week is connected
with the parable of the Good Samaritan and the Workers of the Vineyard. The
sixth week is based on the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus. This choice
reflects the ancient practice of using these Parables as Gospel readings of
these Lenten Sundays.
The hymns also reflect the theme
of the weekly cycle of the feasts. Thus the hymnody of some of the weeks has a
special character; for instance, the hymns of the third week echo the fore-feast
of the Feast of the Veneration of the Holy Cross. The hymns of the fourth week
echo the post-feast of the same Feast. Those of the sixth week echo the themes
of the fore-feasts of the Feasts of the Raising of Lazarus and of the Sunday of
the Palms.
Special significance among the
days of the Great Lent is attached to the Sundays and to some of the Saturdays
by dedicating them to important church Events and Persons.
The Saturday of the first week
is dedicated to the Great Martyr Theodore of Tyre and to the memory of the
miracle he performed with kolyva.
According to the tradition he sustained the Christians with kolyva and so prevented them from eating
foods, which according to an Edict of the Emperor Julian the Apostate, had been
contaminated with the blood of meat offered to idols.
The first Sunday of the Great Lent was originally connected with the memory of the
Prophets and especially of Moses and Aaron. This is still reflected in the
Bible readings specified for this day: Hebrews
The second Sunday of the Great Lent was not initially connected with any special
commemoration. Since 1368, however, this Sunday was dedicated to the memory
of S t .
G r e g o r y P
a l a- m a s Archbishop of
Thessaloniki—the most wise and erudite theologian and fighter against the
heresies of his own time. St. Gregory fell asleep on the 14 of November in 1359
and his memory was appointed for this Sunday as a continuation of the Sunday of
Orthodoxy on account of his fight for the Orthodox Faith against rationalist
scholasticism.
The third Sunday of the Great Lent is called S u n
d a y o f t h e
V e n e r a t i o n o f t h e C r o s s
(Stavroproskynéseós), because
the Church invites the faithful on that day to Venerate the Holy Cross in order
to be strengthened by it to continue their exercise of fasting. It is possible,
however, that this feast was appointed because it is stated in the Ménaia that on the 6th of March a
commemoration is made of the Discovery of the Holy Cross. It should be noted
that, according to the Typikon (the
Book of the Liturgical Rubrics) of St. Sabas, the veneration of the Holy Cross
is observed not only on this Sunday but also on the Monday, Wednesday and
Friday of the following week. This is, as it were, a post-feast period of the
Feast of the Veneration of the Holy Cross.
The fourth and the fifth Sundays of Great Lent did not, originally, have any
sort of festal character. Thus, on these days the acolouthy of the Saint of the
day was sung together with the acolouthy of the Resurrection. Later on,
however, it was determined that the fourth Sunday should be linked with the
memory of S
t. J o h n C l i m a c u s, whose book the Ladder (Climax) is read during Great Lent in the monasteries. Similarly,
the fifth Sunday was linked with the memory of S t.
M a r y
o f E g y p t, who is the
most brilliant example of repentance. Both commemorations seem to have been
appointed most probably by transference from their original dates (the 30th of
March and the 1st of April).
The week before these two
Sundays the fifth week of the fasts is further adorned with two exceptional
Services. At Matins on Thursday the Great
Canon is sung. This wonderful poem of A n d r e w o f C
r e t e which presents to us the saintly figures of the Old and New Testaments
in order to teach us how to imitate the acts of the righteous and how to avoid
the acts of the sinners. At Matins on Saturday the A c a t h i s t H y m n is sung. This is a hymn dedicated to the
Annunciation of the Theotokos and was ordered to be sung, according to the Synaxarion, during this Saturday in
memory of the Salvation of Constantinople in 626 from the attack of the Arabs
which was attributed to the Theotokos. This hymn was not composed at that time
but preexisted and its poet remains unknown to this day. Both the Great Canon
and the Acathist Hymn are sung first
in parts - the first one during the first week of the Great Lent and the second
one on the Fridays of the first four weeks of Lent - but on the fifth week they
are both sung in their complete form. Usually, however, they are not sung in
the Matins as the Triodion appoints,
but in the evening at Compline in order to facilitate the people to follow
them.
The fast of Great Lent ends on
the Friday of the sixth week. For this reason on this day we sing: “Having
completed the lifesaving Lent ...” It is followed by the fast and celebration
of the Great and Holy Week. The Saturday of the sixth week is dedicated to the
commemoration of the raising of Lazarus and the Sunday following to the
commemoration of the triumphal entry of our Lord into
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