A basic distinguishing feature of the Great Canon is its extremely broad use of images and subjects taken both from the Old and New Testaments. As the Canon progresses, the congregation encounters many biblical examples of sin and repentance. The Bible (and therefore, the Canon) speaks of some individuals in a positive light, and about Read more...
The eucharistic Divine Liturgy is not celebrated in the Orthodox Church on Lenten weekdays. In order for the faithful to sustain their Lenten effort by participation in Holy Communion, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is served. The service is an ancient one in the Orthodox Church. We officially hear about it in the canons Read more...
The first Sunday of Great Lent is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy. It commemorates the restoration of the Holy Icons and the triumph of the Orthodox Faith against the terrible heresy of the Iconoclasts. As in those heretics who refused to honour the Holy Icons. For more than a hundred years the Church was disturbed Read more...
As well as serving the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, we also commemorate the Venerable Alexis the Man of God Saint Alexis was born at Rome into the family of the pious and poverty-loving Euphemianus and Aglais. The couple was childless for a long time and constantly prayed the Lord to grant them a child. Read more...
This Sunday was originally dedicated to Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (February 23). After his glorification in 1368, a second commemoration of Saint Gregory Palamas (November 14) was appointed for the Second Sunday of Great Lent as a second “Triumph of Orthodoxy.”...his life story continues at:https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/03/20/12-2nd-sunday-of-great-lent-st-gregory-palamas
Saint Zosimas (April 4) was a monk at a certain Palestinian monastery on the outskirts of Caesarea. Having dwelt at the monastery since his childhood, he lived there in asceticism until he reached the age of fifty-three...click link to continue reading https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/04/10/18-5th-sunday-of-great-lent-st-mary-of-egypt
Saint Moses lived in Egypt during the fourth century. He was an Ethiopian, and since he was black of skin he was called “Murin” (meaning “like an Ethiopian”). In his youth he was the slave of an important man, but after he committed a murder, his master banished him, and he joined a band of Read more...
Saint Cyprian was a pagan and a native of Antioch. From his early childhood his misguided parents dedicated him to the service of the pagan gods. From the age seven until he was thirty, Cyprian studied at the leading centers of paganism: on Mount Olympus; in the cities of Argos and Tauropolis; in the Egyptian Read more...
