The Canon of St Andrew

I'm going to write today about the importance of Lent. This is basically one of the the cornerstones of the Orthodox faith. I'll start with a definition of Lent from wikipedia:

"Lent, in most Christian denominations, is the forty-day liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter.[1] The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert, where, according to the Bible, he endured temptation by Satan.[2] Different churches calculate the forty days differently.

The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial—for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ."


There are differences between how East and West observe Lent, which are as follows:


"In Western Christianity, but with the exception of the Archdiocese of Milan which follows the Ambrosian Rite, Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday.[3] [1] The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death.[2]

In those churches which follow the Byzantine tradition (e.g. Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics), the forty days of Lent are calculated differently: the fast begins on Clean Monday, Sundays are included in the count, and it ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday. The days of Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday and Holy Week are considered a distinct period of fasting."

Most pre-Lenten festivals are pagan in origin and are used today as a celebration of excess before Lent officially begins. My opinion on this is that it's really just an excuse to be slovenly and party til you drop instead of focusing on what is the most important issue: Christ's suffering on the Cross for our salvation. Also, things like Carnivale and Mardi Gras are, again, fueled by money and the tourism trade and it becomes more of an acceptable "pilgrimage" to participate in one of these events rather than to be a part of something much bigger, and far more important. But I digress.

The Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is the main supplemental teaching text during the Sundays of Great Lent. I found this from monachos.net:

"The Great Canon of St Andrew is read each year as part of the ascetic labour of the Great Fast (Lent). Divided into four portions, these are read during the services of Great Compline on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings of the First Week ('Pure/Clean Week') of the Fast. The whole Canon is then read in its entirety on Thursday of the Fifth Week (actually read 'in anticipation' on Wednesday evening).

The Great Canon is one of the great works, if not the great work, of the Church's hymnography of repentance. It is steeped in biblical imagery, yet it is not simply a condensation of biblical themes. In the Canon, all the human events of scripture—creation, fall, exile, return, longing, redemption—all are made personal. They become my events: my creation, my fall, my redemption. Their story is my story, and I am made intensely aware of all its depth. The Canon begins:

'Where shall I begin to weep over the cursed deeds of my life?
What foundation shall I lay, O Christ, for this lamentation?'

The Canon thus brings each of us into the story of scripture; stirs us with moving imagery to realize the depths of our sin. We begin to see our exile, our distance from Christ; and from that distance, we begin to repent."


I wish this could be taught to all Christians.