About the main Lenten services to attend
Last time we already talked about the fact that the most important thing during Lent is celebrated in churches. In Orthodox worship, a new, unfamiliar world of spiritual laws and truths is revealed to a person.
Crossing the threshold of the temple, we actually enter a completely different space, as if we find ourselves in a different coordinate system: instead of our usual “flat”, “horizontal” existence, we find ourselves participating in a different existence with a “vertical” component. Entering the temple, we feel that from here we can begin to move along this vertical - movement towards God. And during Great Lent, a person’s rapprochement with God is more like a meteoric rise, largely thanks to the special Lenten services.
If you didn't have time to accelerate
Of course, it all begins with Forgiveness Sunday and the following 1st Week of Lent . Let us explain: In church tradition, Week is called our ordinary week, and Week is Sunday. Often inexperienced people confuse and call the 1st Week “passionate,” but Passion Week is at the end of Lent, before Easter. This slight confusion may stem from the fact that the Church takes the First Week, the beginning of Great Lent, extremely seriously. This time is a kind of acceleration for the entire Lent, and experienced Christians try this week not only to visit church more often, but to attend services every day. At the evening services of the 1st Week of Great Lent, the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete . This largest service in Orthodox worship is divided into four parts and read from Monday to Thursday. Anyone who has listened or read this Great Canon at least once in his life awaits it with special impatience, since it is a kind of tuning fork that sets the spiritual note for the entire upcoming Great Lent. The 1st Week ends with Sunday, which is called the Week of the Triumph of Orthodoxy . At the services of this day, the Church thanks God for the opportunity to turn to Him, for the fact that holiness as an imitation of God in love has become a common, albeit very difficult, thing for people.
But now the 1st Week has passed, and Lent is entering into its, so to speak, usual daily liturgical rhythm. If for some reason someone hesitated and, as they say, missed the “acceleration” first week, one should not think that now they can give up on the entire Lent. Everything is just beginning, and moreover, you can start fasting both physically and spiritually at any moment. To do this, you need to integrate into the liturgical life of the Church, to feel the special prayerful mood of ordinary everyday Lenten services.
h §… In the case of two saints on the pre- or post-celebration of the twelfth feast
The regulations for performing services for two saints during the period before or after the feast can be found in the 12th statutory chapter of the General Menaion and in the successions on September 11, November 23 and 24, December 27 and others.
According to “God the Lord...”:
troparion of the holiday, troparion of the 1st saint; “Glory”: troparion of the 2nd saint; “And now”: troparion of the holiday.
Kathisma
according to the Charter (2 kathismas are always read, including during the winter schedule).
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