Monday, March 10, 2008
Times for the Great Canon on Monday and Tuesday
On Monday and Tuesday of this week, we will have Compline and the Great Canon of St. Andrew at 5 p.m. in the chapel.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Forgiveness Sunday - The Casting out of Adam from Paradise
Today (Sunday February 25/March 9) we celebrate the Resurrection, together with the Triodion service of the Expulsion of Adam, i.e., of Man, humankind, and each of us personally from Paradise. The previous three Sundays were devoted to the Publican & Pharisee, then the Prodigal Son, and then the Last Judgement, which was also Meatfare, when we finished up (or froze) all the meat in the house. On Judgement Sunday, we sang the same Katabasia that will be sung each day for the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete during the first week of the Great Lent: "He is my helper and protector, and has become my Salvation . . ."
This past week, Cheesefare, we enjoyed the sun-shaped blini, complete with fish and sour cream. After tomorrow, Maslenitsa, when we finish up all the glorious butter, eggs, cheese and milk, it will truly be a bodily expulsion from paradise on Pure Monday, the first day of the Great Lent.
As usual, it is the evening services that are most instructive. Besides our attendance and prayer at Vigil, there is useful reading available. Probably the best for gaining a Lenten understanding is the introduction in the Lenten Triodion, translated by Mother Mary and Bishop Kallistos (Ware). Father Alexander Schmemann's Great Lent: Journey to Pascha can also be helpful.
RESURRECTION, Tone 8:
By a tree the author of evil mightily cast me down; but, having been uplifted upon the Cross, Thou, O Christ, didst with greater might cast him down, putting him to shame; and Thou didst raise up him who was fallen. (Matins, Ode 6)
Being simple in Thy divine and beginningless nature, Thou didst render Thyself compound by taking on flesh, subsuming it within Thyself, O Word of God; and having suffered as a man, as God Thou didst remain beyond suffering. Wherefore we magnify Thee in two natures, indivisible and unconfused. (Matins, Ode 9)
EXPULSION FROM PARADISE:
O precious Paradise, unsurpassed in beauty, tabernacle built by God, unending gladness and delight, glory of the righteous, joy of the prophets, and dwelling of the saints, with the sound of thy leaves pray to the Maker of all: may He open unto me the gates which I closed by my transgression, and may He count me worthy to partake of the Tree of Life and of the joy which was mine when I dwelt in thee before. (Vespers, Stichos, Tone 6, on Lord I Have Cried)
Adam was driven out of Paradise, because in disobedience he had eaten food; but Moses was granted the vision of God, because he had cleansed the eyes of his soul by fasting. If then we long to dwell in Paradise, let us abstain from all needless food; and if we desire to see God, let us like Moses fast for forty days. With sincerity let us persevere in prayer and intercession; let us still the passions of our soul; let us subdue the rebellious instincts of the flesh. With light step let us set out upon the path to heaven, where the choirs of angels with never-silent voice sing the praises of the undivided Trinity; and there we shall behold the surpassing beauty of the Master. O Son of God, Giver of Life, in Thee we set our hope; count us worthy of a place there with the angelic hosts, at the intercessions of the Mother who bore Thee, O Christ, of the apostles and the martyrs and of all the saints. (Matins,Stichos,Tone 6, on the Praises)
This past week, Cheesefare, we enjoyed the sun-shaped blini, complete with fish and sour cream. After tomorrow, Maslenitsa, when we finish up all the glorious butter, eggs, cheese and milk, it will truly be a bodily expulsion from paradise on Pure Monday, the first day of the Great Lent.
As usual, it is the evening services that are most instructive. Besides our attendance and prayer at Vigil, there is useful reading available. Probably the best for gaining a Lenten understanding is the introduction in the Lenten Triodion, translated by Mother Mary and Bishop Kallistos (Ware). Father Alexander Schmemann's Great Lent: Journey to Pascha can also be helpful.
RESURRECTION, Tone 8:
By a tree the author of evil mightily cast me down; but, having been uplifted upon the Cross, Thou, O Christ, didst with greater might cast him down, putting him to shame; and Thou didst raise up him who was fallen. (Matins, Ode 6)
Being simple in Thy divine and beginningless nature, Thou didst render Thyself compound by taking on flesh, subsuming it within Thyself, O Word of God; and having suffered as a man, as God Thou didst remain beyond suffering. Wherefore we magnify Thee in two natures, indivisible and unconfused. (Matins, Ode 9)
EXPULSION FROM PARADISE:
O precious Paradise, unsurpassed in beauty, tabernacle built by God, unending gladness and delight, glory of the righteous, joy of the prophets, and dwelling of the saints, with the sound of thy leaves pray to the Maker of all: may He open unto me the gates which I closed by my transgression, and may He count me worthy to partake of the Tree of Life and of the joy which was mine when I dwelt in thee before. (Vespers, Stichos, Tone 6, on Lord I Have Cried)
Adam was driven out of Paradise, because in disobedience he had eaten food; but Moses was granted the vision of God, because he had cleansed the eyes of his soul by fasting. If then we long to dwell in Paradise, let us abstain from all needless food; and if we desire to see God, let us like Moses fast for forty days. With sincerity let us persevere in prayer and intercession; let us still the passions of our soul; let us subdue the rebellious instincts of the flesh. With light step let us set out upon the path to heaven, where the choirs of angels with never-silent voice sing the praises of the undivided Trinity; and there we shall behold the surpassing beauty of the Master. O Son of God, Giver of Life, in Thee we set our hope; count us worthy of a place there with the angelic hosts, at the intercessions of the Mother who bore Thee, O Christ, of the apostles and the martyrs and of all the saints. (Matins,Stichos,Tone 6, on the Praises)
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