What services are there during Lent? Peculiarities of the Lent service

Lent begins seven weeks before Easter and consists of Pentecost- forty days - and Holy Week - weeks before Easter itself. Pentecost was established in honor of the forty-day fast of the Savior, and Holy Week - in remembrance last days earthly life, suffering, death and burial of Christ. The general continuation of Great Lent together with Holy Week - 48 days.

Accepted with particular rigor observe First And Holy Week

Not very long ago historical centuries V Orthodox countries During Lent, the lives of citizens changed greatly: theaters and baths were closed, meat trade ceased, and in the first week of Lent, as well as during Holy Week, classes in educational institutions, all government institutions were closed so that believers could go to church for very important Lenten services. According to historians, pious people in Rus' in the first days of Lent did not leave their homes unless necessary.

Last Sunday before Lent called Forgiven or “Cheese Empty” (on this day the consumption of cheese, butter and eggs ends). During the liturgy the Gospel is read with a part from Sermon on the Mount, which talks about forgiveness of insults to our neighbors, without which we cannot receive forgiveness of sins from the Heavenly Father, about fasting, and about collecting heavenly treasures. Accordingly Gospel reading, Christians have the pious custom of asking each other for forgiveness of sins, known and unknown grievances on this day. This is one of the most important preparatory steps on the path to Lent.

Accepted with particular rigor observe First And Holy Week Great Lent. Lent implies abstinence from meat, dairy, fish foods, as well as eggs, but the extent of your fast must be agreed upon with the priest, in accordance with your state of health.

The first week of Great Lent is particularly strict,
and the Divine service - duration.

Holy Pentecost, which reminds us of the forty days Jesus Christ spent in the desert, begins on Monday, called Clean. Not counting Palm Sunday, there are 5 Sunday days in the entire Lent, each of which is dedicated to a special memory. Each of the seven weeks is called in order of occurrence: first, second, etc. week of Great Lent.

The service is distinguished by the fact that, during the entire continuation of the Holy Pentecost, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays there is no liturgy(unless there is a holiday on these days). In the morning, Matins, hours with some intercalary parts, and Vespers are performed. In the evening, instead of Vespers, it is performed Great Compline. On Wednesdays and Fridays Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, on the first five Sundays of Great Lent - the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, which is also celebrated on Maundy Thursday and on Great Saturday of Holy Week. On Saturdays during the Holy Pentecost period the usual Liturgy of John Chrysostom is celebrated.

In the first four days, (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) on the Great Believe is read Canon of St. Andrew of Crete with refrains to the verse: “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.” This canon provides numerous examples from the Old and New Testaments in relation to the moral state of the soul of a person mourning his sins. The Canon is called great both by the multitude of thoughts and memories contained in it, and by the number of its troparions (about 250, while in There are about 30 of them in ordinary canons).

Orthodox believers try not to miss these services with the reading of the canon.

On Friday of the first week During Great Lent, after the Liturgy, the consecration of “koliva” takes place - this is boiled wheat with honey, in memory of the Holy Great Martyr Theodore Tiron, who provided beneficial assistance to Christians to preserve the fast. In 362, he appeared to Bishop Eudoxius of Antioch and ordered that Christians be informed not to buy food defiled by the blood sacrificed to idols by Emperor Julian the Apostate, but to consume kolivo.

First Sunday of Lent is called " The triumph of Orthodoxy", established under Queen Theodora in 842 about the victory of the Orthodox on the Seventh Ecumenical Council. During this holiday, temple icons are displayed in the middle of the temple in a semicircle on lecterns. At the end of the liturgy, the clergy sing a prayer service in the middle of the temple in front of the icons of the Savior and Mother of God, praying to the Lord for the confirmation of Orthodox Christians in the faith and the conversion of all those who have departed from the Church to the path of truth. The deacon then loudly reads the Creed and pronounces an anathema, that is, he announces the separation from the Church of all who dare to distort the truths of the Orthodox faith, and “eternal memory” to all deceased defenders of the Orthodox faith, and “for many years” to those living.

On the second Sunday of Lent memory is made St. Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonites, who lived in the 14th century. According to Orthodox faith he taught that for the feat of fasting and prayer, the Lord illuminates believers with His gracious light, as the Lord shone on Tabor. For the reason that St. Gregory revealed the teaching about the power of fasting and prayer and it was established to commemorate him on the second Sunday of Great Lent.

On the third Sunday of Lent during the All-Night Vigil after the Great Doxology the Holy Cross is carried out. All believers venerate the Cross, at this time it is sung: We venerate Your Cross, O Master, and holy resurrection We praise yours. In the middle of Lent, the Church exposes the Cross to believers in order to strengthen those who fast to continue the feat of fasting by reminding them of the suffering and death of the Lord. The Holy Cross remains for veneration throughout the week until Friday. Therefore, the third Sunday and fourth week of Great Lent are called “Worship of the Cross.”

On the fourth Sunday I remember the great ascetic of the 6th century - Saint John Climacus, who from 17 to 60 years of age labored in Mount Sinai and in his creation “Ladder of Paradise” depicted the path of man’s gradual ascent to spiritual improvement, as on a ladder leading from earth to everlasting glory.

On Thursday in the fifth week the so-called " standing of St. Mary of Egypt", on which the Great Canon of St. is read. Andrew of Crete, the same one that is read in the first four days of Great Lent, and the life Venerable Mary Egyptian. The service on this day lasts 5-7 hours.). The life of St. Mary of Egypt, formerly a great sinner, who left the world and decided to live in the desert in fasting and prayer and through this acquired not only forgiveness from God, but also holiness, should serve as an example of true repentance for everyone and convince everyone of God’s ineffable mercy towards repentant sinners.

On Saturday in the fifth week is accomplished " Praise to the Blessed Virgin Mary": read great akathist Mother of God. This service was established in Greece in gratitude to the Mother of God for Her repeated deliverance of Constantinople from enemies.

On the fifth Sunday of Great Lent follow-up takes place Venerable Mary of Egypt.

On Saturday in the 6th week At Matins and Liturgy, the resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus Christ is remembered.

Sixth Sunday of Great Lent- the great twelfth holiday, on which the solemn Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem to free suffering. This one is called differently Palm Sunday, Week of Vaiya and Flowering. On the eve of the All-Night Service, willow branches (vaya), with which believers come to church, are consecrated. Then candles are lit, with which the believers stand until the end of the service, thereby signifying the victory of life over death.

Palm Sunday ends Pentecost and Holy Week begins.

Holy Week dedicated to the memories of the suffering, death on the cross and burial of Jesus Christ. Christians should spend this entire week in fasting and prayer. This period is mourning and therefore the clothes in church are black. Due to the greatness of the events remembered, all days of Holy Week are called Great. The last three days are especially touching with memories, prayers and chants.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week are dedicated to remembering the last conversations of the Lord Jesus Christ with the people and disciples. The features of the service of the first three days of Holy Week are as follows: at Matins, after the Six Psalms and “Alleluia,” the troparion is sung: “Behold the Bridegroom comes at midnight,” and after the canon the song is sung: “I see Thy chamber.” My Savior." All these three days the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated, with the reading of the Gospel. The Gospel is also read at matins.

IN Great Wednesday Holy Week commemorates the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas Iscariot.

Unfortunately, for most people, Lent is associated only with some bodily restrictions on food. Those who are a little more “advanced” in Orthodoxy will also remember abstaining from idleness and entertainment, gossip and condemnation. All this is true. But the essence and significance of the post is by no means limited to this. It is not for nothing that the Holy Fathers called this period, favorable for man, “spiritual spring.” It is impossible to understand this without experiencing the beauty and significance of fasting services. In the article we will dwell only on some of its features, giving rise to an independent, deeper acquaintance.

Why are services long?

The period from the first week to Friday the sixth inclusive is called holy pentecostal and lasts exactly 40 days. The seventh week is called Holy Week and stands out separately. The first fast service falls on the evening of the so-called “ Forgiveness Sunday", since the church day begins in the evening.

Church services of Lent differ primarily in their duration. Their goal is to set a person in a repentant mood, to prepare the soul for the meeting with the Risen Christ. This is achieved through intense prayer.

During the evening service of Great Lent, Great Compline is served instead of Small Compline. At Matins the usual canon to the saint is replaced three-songs - special canons consisting of three songs. In addition, special readings are made Lenten hours . At Vespers they also sound proverbs (excerpts from the Old Testament).

Particular attention in Lent is paid to reading the Psalter. This applies to both home and church prayer. During a week in the temple, the entire book is now read twice instead of once.

Prayer of Ephraim the Syrian

During Lent, we often hear the following prayer in church:

Lord and Master of my life, do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, covetousness and idle talk. Grant the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant. To her, Lord, King, grant me to see my sins and not condemn my brother, for blessed are you forever and ever. Amen.

The words of this prayer belong to the holy ascetic desert of the 4th century - St. Ephraim the Syrian. It is read on days of fasting not only in church, but also at home along with the morning and evening rule. In this case, the recitation of the prayer is accompanied by a large number of bows.

It should be said that the abundance of bows is one of the main features of the services of this fast. Prostrations are made by believers not only during the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian, but also at other moments of the services. This rule does not apply only to Saturday and Sunday services.

The penitential canon of Andrei Kritsky

From Monday to Thursday of the first week of Holy Pentecost, a special service is held in the evenings with the reading of the Penitential Canon. This is one of the most outstanding works of church hymnography, written by St. Andrew, Archbishop of Crete. In general church use, the canon was already known in the 10th century.

Why was this work called Great? This name is due not only to its large size (the canon is divided into four full parts), but also to the abundance of thoughts, comparisons and allusions from the Old and New Testaments.

The general mood of creation reflects the state of the soul, which bitterly mourns its sins. The same repentant mood is conveyed by the repeated refrain: Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me. On Thursday of the fifth week of Great Lent, at Matins, the canon of St. Andrew of Crete is read in its entirety at one time.

This service was called "Mary's Standing" in honor of the memory of the Venerable Mary of Egypt, which takes place this week. At the same time, the life of the holy ascetic, who spent forty years in the desert, is read in the temple. This service is the longest of all church services and lasts approximately five hours.

Specifics of Lenten Liturgies

Another of the main features of Lenten services is that in weekdays Full Liturgies are not served in the church. The only exception is for the Feast of the Annunciation, if it falls during the week. What is the reason for this specificity?

The fact is that Lent implies some limitation of a person in things that are joyful and pleasant for him. And this applies not only to physical oppression, but also to mental oppression. Of course, the main spiritual joy for a Christian is the Eucharist (communion), celebrated during the Divine Liturgy.

The full Liturgy is not celebrated so that we can re-evaluate this gift of God to man and have time to “hungry” for it. However, even here a small concession was made for the believers. Another feature of fasting services is that on Wednesdays and Fridays, instead of the full service, .

Already from the name you can understand that on it people can receive communion of the pre-consecrated saints of the Body and Blood of Christ, which are usually prepared on Sunday. Such a Liturgy is never served again in the year.

Liturgies are celebrated in full rite on weekends. Moreover, on Sundays of Lent, except for Palm Sunday, it is served Liturgy of Basil the Great. It takes place only ten times a year. It differs from the Liturgy of John Chrysostom in the more extensive and deeper content of the secret prayers of the Eucharist, read by priests at the altar.

Lent memorial services

Three Saturdays of Lent in a row, starting with the second, are called parents memorial Saturdays . On these days, the funeral Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the Great Requiem Service are served. On the eve of Friday, a parastas (funeral funeral) is performed. evening service with the reading of the 17th kathisma).

These are days of special remembrance of the dead. Such services are motivated by the fact that on weekdays of Lent there is no church commemoration of the departed, since a full Divine Liturgy. In order not to deprive our families of the Church’s prayers for them these days, parental memorial Saturdays were established.

Sunday passions

On the days of Holy Pentecost, another exceptional divine service is celebrated - Passion. It is served on four Sundays, from the second to the fifth, during the days of fasting. Passion came to us from the same place where the black vestments of the priesthood came from - from the West. From Latin "passion" translated as "suffering" .

This service is not available in church charter, so its content may vary depending on different temples. The following of the passion has reached us in the form in which it was compiled in the middle of the 17th century by Metropolitan Peter (Mogila). In fact, this service is the evening service of Lent on Monday. At the same time, an akathist to the Cross or Passion of the Lord is served.

The obligatory part is reading a passage from one of the Gospels about the Passion of Christ. Hence the number of passions in a year - according to the number of four evangelists. After the service, a sermon must be preached, for which the clergy carefully prepares.

Week of the Cross

Among other features of the services, one cannot fail to mention the third Sunday of this Lent. On all-night vigil today the Cross is brought out for worship by believers. At the same time the chant is sung:

We worship Your cross, Lord, and the holy Your resurrection we praise.

The end of the third week marks the middle of Lent; half the journey has been completed. The cross is brought out to believers to strengthen the strength of those fasting, so that it is easier to go the rest of the way. Moreover, this tradition has its roots in Byzantium.

As you know, previously baptism was accepted there exclusively on Holy Saturday, before Easter. To strengthen the strength of the catechumens (preparing for baptism), the Cross was carried out in the middle of Lent. He remains in the temple until Friday, which is why the fourth week is also called "cross-worshipping".

"Praise to the Blessed Virgin Mary"

Completely separate from all services is the so-called "Saturday Akathist", or "Praise Holy Mother of God» . It takes place on the fifth week of Holy Pentecost. At Matins, an akathist to the Mother of God is read "Rejoice, Bride Bride" .

This is the first and only akathist established by the Church Charter. It was written in honor of the protection of Constantinople by the Most Holy Theotokos from the invasion of foreigners in 626. To perform the service, the priests on this day go to the middle of the temple. The Akathist is read in parts, four times. After each part, a kontakion (short chant) is sung. "To the Chosen Voivode" and the temple is censed.

In its atypical festivity for Lent, “Saturday of the Akathist” is similar to the Annunciation. And only in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos are two such great exceptions made during Lent.

As you can see, guard services have a huge meaning and diversity. On the last one, Holy Week they are even more spiritually saturated. This should be discussed separately. However, it makes sense, if possible, not to miss any of the most important services during Lent, because they will not be repeated this year.

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In 2018, Lent begins on February 19. The Church invites believers to spend these days in more in-depth, repentant prayer.

Every day, except Saturdays and Sundays, at all services of the daily circle the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian is read. For the first time during the Lenten Triodion, it is pronounced on Wednesday and Friday. Cheese Week, and for the last time on Holy Wednesday (April 4), after which all prostrations, except before the Shroud, cease until the day of Pentecost.

The fifth Saturday (March 24) of Great Lent is the celebration of the Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos (Saturday of the Akathist), the day before, on Friday evening (March 23), Matins is served with the singing of the Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos. Sixth Saturday (March 31) - commemoration of the resurrection of the holy righteous Lazarus of the Four Days (eating fish caviar is allowed at the meal).

On all Pentecost Sundays, the Liturgy of Basil the Great is celebrated, and in the first week (February 25) at the end of the Liturgy, prayer singing is also performed in honor of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. The second Sunday (March 12) is dedicated to St. Gregory Palamas, a teacher of the Church who formulated the theology of grace. On the eve of the third Sunday, the week of the Veneration of the Cross (March 11), at Matins the Great Doxology is brought out for the veneration of the Honest and Life-giving cross Lord's. On the fourth Sunday (March 18) of Pentecost, the Church remembers St. John, abbot of Mount Sinai, author of the famous ascetic work “The Ladder,” and on the fifth (March 25) the feat of St. Mary of Egypt. On the Feast of the Annunciation (April 7), fish is allowed at meals.

Last Sunday before Easter - Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, Palm Sunday(April 1). On this day, the Liturgy of John Chrysostom is celebrated and willows are consecrated.

On the first four Sundays of Great Lent there is also a special service - Vespers with an akathist to the Passion of Christ (Passion). This service is of Western origin and serves as a constant reminder of the saving feat and suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary.

On the first three days of Holy Week (April 10, 11, 12), the last Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts of the year is celebrated. At the matins of these days (the first of them takes place on Sunday evening), the troparion “Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight” is sung, and at the dismissal the words “The Lord is coming for the free Passion” are pronounced.

Maundy Thursday (April 5) - commemoration of the Last Supper and the establishment of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. On this day, Vespers is celebrated with the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great and reserve Gifts are prepared for the communion of the sick. At the end of the Liturgy, during the bishop's service, the Rite of Washing the Feet is performed.

On Thursday evening, Good Friday Matins is celebrated with the reading of the 12 Gospels of the Passion of the Lord, one of the longest and most beautiful services church year. There is an old Russian custom of bringing home burning candles from this service.

Good Friday (April 6) - day strict fasting. In the morning, the Consequence of the Hours of Great Heel with figurative ones is performed; the Liturgy is not served. After noon - vespers with the removal of the Shroud; after the dismissal, the canon “Lamentation of the Most Holy Theotokos” is sung, during which the kissing of the Shroud takes place.

Matins is celebrated on Friday evening or Saturday night Holy Saturday with the burial of the Shroud of the Savior. On Holy Saturday itself (April 7) the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is served, during which the clergy changes from Lenten purple and black robes to white. During this service, the Gospel is already read, in which the Resurrection of Christ is remembered (chapter 28 of the Gospel of Matthew). After the Liturgy - the consecration of Easter dishes.

On Easter night, services begin with the Midnight Office with the reading of the canon of Great Saturday before the Shroud. Before this, during non-liturgical times, the Acts of the Holy Apostles are read in the church. After the Midnight Office, Easter Matins is served with the Paschal Canon of St. John of Damascus, and then the Easter Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

Maria Senchukova

What are “biblical songs”, what prophecies are read, why are there twice as many psalms at services, when prostrations are made - we talk about the features of the services of the first week of Lent

Temple vestments on lecterns are dark in color. The time for extensive, leisurely church services begins. Anyone who intends to attend Lenten services (especially the first week) must be patient. For modern man, drawn into the whirlwind of business life, these services will become a kind of feat.

Pious priests church services They try to celebrate Lent without any abbreviations. And this means that twice as many psalms will be read at the service (the Psalter for the week of Lent should be read twice).

Another rare opportunity for those attending Lenten services. At the morning service, the canon is read (a lengthy prayer text, a hymn). Outside of Lent, we hear between the fragments of the canon (troparions) the refrains “Glory to the Lord of Thy Holy Resurrection”! or “Most Holy Theotokos save us”! or “Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee”!

Now the order is changing. During Lent, they try to fulfill the canons as they did in ancient times. The troparia alternate with Biblical songs, which in their meaning determine the content of the troparia of the canon.

There are nine songs in total, according to the number of songs in the canon.

First- a song of the prophet Moses dedicated to the passage of the Jews through the Red Sea.

Second a song from Deuteronomy, the speech of Moses can be heard only during Great Lent; at other times it is not sung. This is connected with its accusatory content, with a call to repentance.

Third song of praise of the prophetess Anna, mother of the prophet Samuel, fourth And fifth- the prophets Habakkuk and Isaiah, who prophesied about the Savior.

Sixth- the prophet Jonah, who with his three-day stay in the belly of a whale prefigured the three-day stay in hell of Jesus Christ. Seventh And eighth Biblical songs woven into the canon make you think about prayer to God in difficult circumstances. These are the songs of the prophet Daniel and the three youths in the Babylonian oven.

Ninth the hymn of the Mother of God, already a New Testament text, indicating the completion of the Old Testament history. This creates a song that is very deep in content and meaning, with the help of which we can experience the history of salvation: from the flight of the Jews from Egypt to the Good News. However, such a symbolic journey to sacred history possible with the ability to hear and focus.

Great Lent has its own special liturgical sign. This is the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian, first pronounced at the evening service of Forgiveness Sunday. During prayer, as the first time, bows to the ground are made, but sometimes twelve prayer petitions are added: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” when pronounced, they bow with a bow from the waist.

These days you can discover for yourself what small services called hours are dedicated to. At these services, chants are sung that reveal their liturgical meaning. And if someone was burdened by them, was late in the morning for the third and sixth hours, or, on the contrary, was in a hurry to escape from the first in the evening, and did not suspect the existence of the ninth at all, has the opportunity during Lent to become imbued with the importance of these services.

The meaning of the first hour is expressed by its troparion, which they begin to perform in a special way, making prostrations to the ground while singing this text:

Usually the priest sings: “In the morning, hear my voice, my King and my God,” and bows to the ground. The choir sings this chant and also bows to the ground while the priest recites special verses: “Inspire my words, O Lord, understand my title,” “For I will pray to You, O Lord.” To these verses the choir sings the troparion “Tomorrow I will hear...”, all this alternating with bows. When you hear the chants of the first hour of Great Lent, you immediately understand that this is the morning invocation of God.

At the third hour they sing in a similar way, remembering the event of Pentecost: “Lord, who sent down Thy Most Holy Spirit in the third hour by Thy Apostle: Do not take Him away from us, O Good One, but renew us who pray to Thee.”

The sixth is the recollection of the terrible moment of the Crucifixion of Christ in order to save us from sins: “And on the sixth day and hour, on the cross, Adam’s daring sin was nailed into paradise, and tear up the handwriting of our sins, O Christ God, and save us.”

The ninth hour is no less terrible in meaning, this is the time of the death of Jesus Christ: “Who at the ninth hour tasted death for our flesh, put to death the wisdom of our flesh, O Christ our God, and save us.”

Lenten services are not only an exceptional period of prayer. They can become diligent students. The fact is that during Great Lent, during different moments of the Divine service, three books from old testament: Genesis, Proverbs of Solomon and the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. In the ancient Church, people preparing for the Sacrament of Baptism listened to texts that every Christian should have known during the services of Lent (Forty Days, that is, Great Lent). Today, Lenten services provide an opportunity to fill gaps in knowledge (if any).

And Bible songs, and hours, and readings Holy Scripture, and the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian: all this will remain with those praying for almost the entire post. Namely, in his first week, in addition to liturgical revelations, a person will be called to deep repentance. For four days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday), a special service is performed in the evening, reading Great Compline with the Great Canon St. Andrew Kritsky.

Great penitential canon St. Andrew of Crete stands at the semantic center of the services of the first week of Great Lent. The canon begins with the words: “Where will I begin to cry about my accursed life and deeds? Will I make a beginning, O Christ, for this present mourning? But, as you are kind, grant me remission of sins,” that is, how to begin to repent, there are so many sins that it’s even difficult to decide which one to confess first. There is only one hope - the mercy of Christ.

The content of the canon is a conversation between the penitent and his own soul. The canon is large, it is divided into four parts, so it is read for four days. His words reveal a retrospective of humanity’s long and painful journey to salvation. I remember a lot biblical characters(Moses, Aaron, Abraham, Joseph, “Elijah the charioteer”), whose example should move the human soul to cleansing repentance.

The example of Christ himself should serve the soul as an image of firmness in spiritual work: “The Lord fasted forty days in the desert, and after a hunger, showing what is human; soul, do not become lazy, if an enemy comes to you, let him be reflected from your feet through prayer and fasting.”

The Lord, during his forty-day feat in the desert, was tempted, remembering this, the soul should not be lazy, but through prayer and fasting it will drive away the enemy.

During the days of Great Lent, you can receive communion at an unusual Liturgy - the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. The Eucharist, which is familiar to everyone, is celebrated during Lent only on Saturdays and Sundays. And on Wednesday and Friday, Christians receive communion with the Gifts consecrated on the previous Sunday. That is why it is called the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. This service is quiet and modest.

During the first week, abstinence from food is supposed to be strict, but on Friday, at the very end of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, consolation awaits those fasting.

On this day the memory of the martyr Theodore Tiron is celebrated, about whom life history you can find out that in the 4th century he helped Christians avoid reproach by teaching them how to eat without buying contaminated food in the market. In a night vision, he appeared to the Archbishop of Constantinople and told him to prepare kolevo, boiled wheat mixed with honey.

Following the example of the Christians of Constantinople, modern Orthodox Christians prepare a kolvo, consecrate it at the end of the presanctified Liturgy, and distribute it to parishioners. This is how the most difficult, first days of Lent end.

On the eve of the most important holiday in Christianity - the Bright Resurrection of Christ - there is a time of testing and spiritual purification - the period of Great Lent. The traditions of holding services during Lent differ from services outside the Lenten period. All services are aimed at cleansing and focusing on repentance - which we have done. Let's take a closer look at what passion is during Lent.

What is this?

The meaning of the definition of “passion” is translated from Latin as “suffering”, and from Church Slavonic as “passion”. Passion in Orthodoxy - what is it? These are special services that have important, a peculiar sequence of chants telling about the suffering and trials of Christ. Passion is considered the last of the ministries that emerged. It is served only four times a year, and precisely during the Lenten service: on the second and third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Great Lent, always in the evening. During the reading of each of the passions, chapters from the Gospel are read, which enlighten listeners about Christ and his sufferings. When following passions, people traditionally stand with lit candles. At the end of the service, worshipers worship the Crucifixion and the Cross of Christ, which are located in the middle of the temple.

A little about what passion is for Lent has already been described above. Next, we will tell you how successions are carried out in compliance with certain traditions. Passion is a certain kind of divine service, including Orthodox chants.

At each Passion held, certain chapters from the stories recorded in the Gospel are read, namely:

The first passion involves reading the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh chapters of Matthew.
At the second pass, the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters of Mark are read.
When performing the third passion, chapters from Luke are read: twenty-second and twenty-third.
The fourth passion includes a reading of the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters of John.

To conduct the service, a Crucifix is placed in the center of the temple, and lighted candles are placed opposite it. The Gospel is also placed in the middle. Believers venerate the crucifix at the end of the service and at the very beginning. It is very important that the rector of the temple begins the reading of prayers. He conducts the service of the first passion, after which the priests continue the service, depending on their rank. The worshipers stand on their knees, holding candles in their hands. Blessed silence has a certain influence and makes every person in this atmosphere involved. Initially, they listen to the singing of the choir's texts, and only after that they move on to reading certain passages of the sacred legend.

Also at the Passion, touching texts are read, which are included in the service held in Good Friday- the day of the physical death of the Lord.

It is obligatory to read the sermon by the priest, which is dedicated to the Great and Terrible, Saving Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. The delivery of a sermon by those praying is listened to with a special feeling; often the sermon leads to a vivid manifestation of emotions in people, tears appear in their eyes. The chanted texts evoke deep emotional experiences in listeners and promote empathy for the Lord.

After the end of the reading of the passion and sermon, the choral singing continues, when the words “We adore your passion, Christ,” are heard. They are accompanied by universal bow to the ground. At the end of the service, all worshipers go to the Crucifixion with the goal of bowing before it.

Orthodox Russian Christians treat the ministries of passions with great reverence, as they have a significant influence on believers. In the process of worship, believers gain peace of mind and peace.

The question of what a passion for Lent is does not require special explanations or additional definition of the importance of these services for Orthodox Christians. Such services set people in a certain mood and direct them on the path necessary to achieve true repentance and cleanse the soul of sinful and unkind thoughts. This is just as important as cleansing by abstaining from food, and is also a preparatory measure for Easter. Those who pray cleanse the soul and find peace. Enduring deprivation and spiritual abstinence, people following the path of the Lord come closer and ascend higher and closer to him, thereby not clinging to mortal needs and realizing the importance of peace and spiritual values (moral above material), trying to atone as much as possible for the bad things done in life and sinful actions and thoughts. The more trials a person undergoes during his life, the more he is spiritually purified before the Lord and the happier and purer his soul will be after repose.