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Explanation of Triodion,
Great Lent, & Holy Week, Leading up to the end of the
Pentecostarion
By Archimandrite
Nektarios Serfes
Boise, Idaho
USA
By the Grace and love of our
Lord God once we enter Holy Great Lent which always begins on a
Monday, and known as Clean Monday, there are commemorations for
each weekend (and during the weekdays), leading up to Holy Week
and Holy Pascha -our Lord’s Holy Glorious Resurrection, and
thereafter the commemorating period of the Pentecostarion to the
end which concludes on the Sunday of the Blind Man.
Let us keep in mind that the
dates of these services indicated during the Triodion, Great
Lent, and the Pentecostarion are movable feast in the Orthodox
Church.
Before Orthodox Christians
enter Great Lent the Church prepares us with what it calls the
Triodion.
What is the
Triodion?
This is the Orthodox liturgical book that contains the variable
portions of the Liturgy and other services for a particular
period of the Orthodox ecclesiastical calendar. It begins on the
fourth Sunday before the Great Lent, the Sunday of the Prodigal,
and ends on Saturday of the Holy Week. Triodion is also called
the period between the Sunday of the Prodigal and Holy Pascha.
The name derives from the fact that during the season the Canons
contain only three odes instead of the usual nine. The canon is
a series of nine hymns, ‘odes’ used at the Orthros (Matins). The
nine odes vary so as to correspond with the theme of the
particular feast. The introduction of canons is ascribed to St.
Andrew of Crete. Other famous authors of Canons are Melodos, St.
John Damascus, and St. Theodore the Studion.
How did the Orthodox Church determine the celebration and
date of Holy Pascha?
For more information about this subject matter you can access
the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website which best
explains this determination;
Dating Pascha in the Orthodox Church
Why is the celebration in the
Orthodox Church that it calls Holy Pascha the day of
Resurrection so important?
Holy Pascha the day of Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is
very important in the Orthodox Church, because it’s the greatest
and oldest feast in the Christian calendar. Especially for
Orthodox Christians there is no greater feast then celebration
of Holy Pascha. Let us note that the celebration of Holy Pascha
has preeminence among the Orthodox are many, all based on a
particular passage of the Holy Apostle St. Paul First Epistle to
the Corinthians, ‘if Christ has not been raised, then our
preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain’ (15:14).
Characteristic of the importance of the
Resurrection for the Orthodox is the fact that Holy Pascha is
also called in Greek “Lampra’, the brightest day of all. At the
mid-night Paschal Divine Liturgy the Resurrection light that is
brought to the Orthodox home and to the graves of our loved
ones, is taken to be the visible symbol of a new life in the
Resurrected Christ, a life of joy after the sorrow of the Cross.
And though the Passion is observed with the depth and
significance it befits the supreme sacrifice of Christ, it is
His Resurrection that seals the redemption issuing from the
Cross.
Without it, the Orthodox feel, the divine
drama would have remained unfulfilled in terms of the experience
of human life by which a triumphant katharsis must follow all
sacrifices including that on Golgotha. In the Orthodox Church
the Sunday Liturgy of the year is devoted to the Resurrection
rather than to the suffering Christ. Hence the joyful tone the
Orthodox Eucharist and underlying victory against the forces of
evil implied in the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ.
In this respect, the etymology of Pascha claimed by some as
deriving from the Greek verb ‘paschein’ (to suffer) is
erroneous. The name Pascha is merely the approximate rendering
by sound of the Hebrew name for Passover. Therefore Christ
Passover from death to life –offering to us all everlasting life
through His Glorious Resurrection.
What is the Pentecostarion?
The Pentecostarion also spelled Pentekostarion is the Orthodox
liturgical books containing prayers, hymns, and readings for the
season between Pascha Sunday and the Sunday of All Saints (First
Sunday after Holy Pentecost).
What is an Epitaphios?
On Friday morning, the service of Apokathelosis (taking down
from the Cross) of the Body of Christ is held. The Gospel
relating to the Crucifixion and the receiving of the body of
Christ by Joseph of Arimathea for burial is read. At the moment
the Gospel mentions the Apokathelosis, the body taken down from
the Cross, wrapped up in a white sheet, and taken into the Holy
Altar. Then, the gold-embroidered ceremonial cloth, bearing the
depiction of the dead Christ with His Mother and disciples
looking over Him, is brought out in solemn procession and placed
in rest in the wooden sepulcher Epitaphios. The dome of the
Epitaphios has been already covered with fresh flowers by women,
in remembrance of the Biblical women who performed the
traditional rites of respect to the dead Christ.
Why is then the Epitaphios decorated with flowers, and I
noticed the priest sprinkles a fragrance around the tomb?
The flowers on the Epitaphios symbolize with their fragrance the
myrrh with which the body of Christ was anointed by the women as
also does the sprinkling with rosewater by the priest later in
the service of the Epitaphios?
What are the Lamentations sung in the Orthodox Church on
Holy Friday evening before the Epitaphios by the priest and the
congregation?
At the evening service on Holy Friday, called Epitaphios Threnos,
the famous Lamentations are sung by groups of people from the
entire congregation along with the choir and the priest.
Therefore the Lamentations refers to the Funeral Service for our
Lord. It is actually the Orthros (Martins) for Saturday morning.
The Lamentations is the form of a poetic dirge sung antiphonally
by tow or more groups of people. It is made up of a large number
of verses divided in three long stanzas. As one stanza ends, the
other begins with a different music. It sees that they were
introduced not earlier then the 13th century. The author of
these Lamentations is said to be St. Romanos Melodos. The
Lamentations are also called Encomia, hymns of praise, eulogy, a
solemn panygeric.
The verses of the Lamentations are filled with moving
expressions that can hardly fail to generate deep sorrow “for
the sunset, even though temporary, of the unending Light, for
the loss of spring of Life and of the light of the eyes of the
Virgin’. Angels, prophets, men, birds, the noblest from the
animals, stars and the entire inanimate nature, all that is in
heaven and all that is on earth, ache together and are shaken
from the depths of their hearts upon seeing Life being buried.
But God, being the Light and the Resurrection, will rise again.
And lo, the myrrh bearing women proceed to the tomb but the
angel stands by the rolled away stone ready to announce the Good
News to them and through them to the world for all time to come:
‘Christ Is Risen!’
Can you tell me the order of the cycle of services that
start with the Triodion, then the services for Great Lent that
are observed during the week, and weekends, up until Holy Week,
Holy Pascha, and then to the end of the Pentecostarion
THE BEGINNING OF THE TRIODION
For The Year 2003
February 16th -
Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee
February 23rd - Sunday of the Prodigal Son
March 1st - First Saturday of Souls
March 2nd - Meat-Fare Sunday: The Sunday of
the Last Judgment (Last day for meat products)
March 8th - Second Saturday of Souls : The
Commemoration of all our Righteous and God-bearing Fathers
and Mothers Who Shone Forth in the Ascetic Life
March 9th - Cheese-Fare Sunday : The Sunday
of Forgiveness, the Commemoration Adam Exile from Paradise
(Last day for cheese-products)
Beginning of Holy Great Lent
-Clean Monday-
For The Year 2003
March 10th beginning of Holy & Great Lent
Holy Pascha-Easter April 27th
Holy Great Lent always begins on a Monday,
and a period of forty days of fasting. The faithful now fast
from meat and dairy products. Fish is permitted only on the
feast of the Annunciation of the Mother of God, and Palm Sunday
Once we have entered Holy Great Lent certain Lenten services are
observed during the weekdays: Great Compline,
the 9th Hour and Presanctified Liturgy,
and Small Compline & The Akathist Hymn
to the Theotokos. The Divine Liturgy
for the Feast Day of the Annunciation of the Mother of God is
celebrated on March 25th.
Great Compline is observed on a parish level
during Great Lent on the weeknights, except when the
Presanctified Liturgy is held and Small
Compline and the Akathist Hymn to the
Theotokos is celebrated.
Then again the Great Canon of St. Andrew is
observed on the Sixth Thursday of Great Lent.
For five Fridays during Great Lent The Akathist Hymn to the
Theotokos service is observed. Each Friday during this period
for the Akathist Hymn Service, a particular Stanza is served and
then on the final fifth Friday All Stanza.
Services for the departed in the Lord, before and during Great
Lent are commemorated on certain Saturdays, and a Memorial
Service is celebrated at the end of the Divine Liturgy.
For Six Sundays (and certain Saturdays) the Orthodox Church
observes commemorations during Holy Great Lent, and thereafter
Holy Week, Our Lord’s Holy Resurrection, His Ascension, Holy
Pentecost, the day of the Holy Spirit, and concluding with end
of the Pentecostarion with the celebration of the Sunday of All
Saints.
March 14th First Friday of the Great Fast,
Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos, First Stanza
March 15th Third Saturday of the Souls
March 16th The First Sunday of Lent, of
Orthodoxy
March 21st Second Friday of the Great Fast Akathist Hymn,
to the Theotokos (Second Stanza)
March 23rd The Second Sunday of Lent of St.
Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica
March 28th Third Friday of the Great Fast,
Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos (Third Stanza)
March 30th The Third Sunday of Lent, of the
Veneration of the Holy Cross
April 4th Fourth Friday of the Great Fast,
Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos, Fourth Stanza
April 6th The Fourth Sunday of Lent of St. John
Klimakos
April 11th Fifth Friday of the Great Fast,
Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos (All Stanza)
April 12th The Saturday of the Fifth Week The
Saturday of the Akathist
April 13th The Fifth Sunday of Lent, of St.
Mary of Egypt
April 19th Saturday of St. Lazarus
April 20th Sixth Sunday of Lent, Palm Sunday
At this point we enter Holy Week on Palm Sunday evening
commemorating Service of the Bridegroom Matins
Holy Week For The Year 2003
April 21st Holy Great Monday
Morning Presanctified Liturgy;
Evening Bridegroom Matins
April 22nd Holy Great Tuesday
Morning Presanctified Liturgy;
Evening Bridegroom Matins
April 23rd Holy Great Wednesday
Morning Presanctified Liturgy;
Evening Holy Unction
April 24th Holy Great Thursday, of the Mystical
Supper
Morning Divine Liturgy;
Evening Crucifixion Matins
April 25th Holy Great Friday
Morning Royal Hours;
Afternoon Apokathelosis (Taking down of our Lord from the Cross)
Vespers;
Evening Lamentations Matins
April 26th Holy Great Saturday
Morning Vesperal Divine Liturgy;
Midnight Resurrection Matins & Divine Liturgy
April 27th Holy & Great Sunday of Pascha
Agape Vespers
Bright Week & The Pentecostarion
For The Year 2003
The Church now observes Bright Week and
the Pentecostarion.
We now break the fast and Bright Week is observed, during this
week fast free, all foods allowed. Bright Week also known as
Renewal Week.
Monday is observed as the beginning of
Bright Week
April 28th Bright Monday
Feast of St. George the Great Martyr (Moved from April 23)
April 29th Bright Tuesday
The Commemoration of Saints Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene and
other Newly revealed Martyrs of Lesbos (According to Greek
usage)
April 30th Bright Wednesday
May 1st Bright Thursday
May 2nd Bright Friday
Commemoration of the Feast of the Life-giving Spring
(According to Greek Usage)
May 3rd Bright Saturday
May 4th Second Sunday Of St. Thomas
May 5th Third Sunday Of the Myrrh-Bearing Women
May 6th Fourth Sunday Of the Paralytic
May 21st Wednesday of Mid-Pentecost
May 25th Fifth Sunday Of the Samaritan Women
June 1st Sixth Sunday Of the Blind Man
June 5th Thursday of the Ascension of our Lord
This Feast Day is always observed. Forty Days after our Lord’s
Holy Resurrection. This now ends the cycle of Holy Pascha and
Called: Apodosis of Pascha
June 8th Seventh Sunday Of the Fathers of the
First Ecumenical Council
June 14th Saturday of All Souls
Memorial service for the departed in the Lord
June 15th Eighth Sunday Of Holy Pentecost. This
service is always observed Fifty Days after our Lord’s Holy
Resurrection
June 16th Monday of the Holy Spirit
June 21st The Saturday after Holy Pentecost Of Holy
Pentecost: The Apodosis of Holy Pentecost
The End of the Pentecostarion
June 22nd Sunday of All Saints
Glory Be To God For All
Things!
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