Canon of St Andrew of Crete

A video of the Canon of St Andrew of Crete from Holy Cross Orthodox Church in High Point, North Carolina from Monday of this week:

The Great Canon is served during the first week of the Great Lent. During Great Compline on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, one portion of the Canon is sung after the Little Doxology (Greek practice) or Psalm 69 (Russian practice) is read. On Wednesday of the fifth week of the Great Lent, the Life of St. Mary of Egypt is read together with the entire Great Canon at Orthros (sometimes Thursday proper in Slavic tradition). This practice was implemented during the life of St. Andrew, who was also the author of St. Mary’s hagiography.

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 others in a negative one—the penitents are expected to emulate the positive examples of sanctity and repentance, and to learn from and avoid the negative examples of sin, fallen nature and pride. However, one of the most notable aspects of the Canon is that it attempts to portray the Biblical images in a very personal way to every penitent: the Canon is written in such form that the faithful identify themselves with many people and events found in the Bible.  Source

More recordings from St. Michael Orthodox Church in Louisville, Kentucky:

Bishop Michael: Seven Questions and Seven Answers on Fasting

Lazarus Saturday & Palm Sunday Chants

Lazarus Saturday Stichera, from Presanctified Liturgy for Lazarus Saturday, Friday, April 15, 2011 at St. Maximus the Confessor Orthodox Church, Denton, Texas:

Let My Prayer Arise in Thy Sight As Incense:

O Gladsome Light:

Palm Sunday Troparion from Elevation of the Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Sacramento, California:

Procession of Palms:

Part of Monday’s Bridegroom Service from Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in Beltsville, Maryland:

Behold the Bridegroom cometh at midnight, and blessed is that servant whom He shall find watching; but unworthy is he whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, lest thou be weighed down with sleep; lest thou be given up to death, and be shut out from the kingdom. But rouse thyself and cry: Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, O God: through the Theotokos, have mercy on us.

Hymn of Kassiani in English

Sung on Holy Tuesday Evening (Wednesday Matins) of Holy Week:

Words and musical arrangement here.

Lenten Services in Jerusalem

Midnight Liturgy at the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem — March 20, 2011.

From the file descriptions:

This is the Bishops entrance and Cherubic Hymn from the Divine Liturgy for the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas at the Holy Sepulchre. There were 6 Bishops serving with at least 20 priests, including an ordination! Quite an experience with beautiful chanting and readings done in both Greek & Slavonic!

Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

A montage of the sights and sounds of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts celebrated at Golgotha in the Holy Sepulchre, March 30, 2011.

Resources for Lent, Holy Week & Pascha

I will be posting less the next few weeks so that I can attend to some personal goals. The blog will stay open and I will still post from time to time. In the interim, here are links to several posts that have been featured here in the past that can provide resources for Great Lent, Holy Week and Pascha.

Great Lent Resources:

The Journey of Great Lent: Bright Sadness

Hymns in Anticipation of Lent

Forgiveness Vespers

Spiritual Reading for Great Lent

First Week of Great Lent: The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete

The Presanctified Liturgy

Chants from the Presanctified Liturgy

In Many Tongues: The Sunday of Orthodoxy

Lenten Meditation

Sundays of Great Lent

The Doors of Repentance Open Unto Me

Holy Week Resources:

Holy Week Resources

Lazarus Saturday: Rejoice, O Bethany

From Matins for Palm Sunday

Behold the Bridegroom Comes at Midnight

Epithets for the Passion of Christ

Great and Holy Monday

Holy Week Chants

The Mystery of  Holy Unction

Lamentations — Statis 3 — From Holy Friday

Las Lamentaciones del Viernes Santo (same as above but in Spanish)

The “Little Services” of the Church (from Holy Tuesday)

Epitaphios — Great and Holy Friday & Holy Saturday

Today Hell Cries Out Groaning — Holy Saturday Hymn

From Matins of Holy & Great Saturday

How Shall I Bury You, My God?

God Has Died in the Flesh and Hell Trembles in Fear

Why Christ Descended into Hades — Sermon by St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Pascha Resources:

Christ is Risen from the Dead!

Singing “Christ is Risen!” in Many Tongues

The Midnight Pascha Service

The Midnight Pascha: A Visitor’s View

The Doors of Repentence Open Unto Me

The choir of Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in Beltsville, Maryland, chants Alexander Ledkovsky’s setting of “The Doors of Repentance,” at the vigil for the second Sunday of Great Lent, 2011. Words below:

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

The doors of repentance do Thou open unto me, O Giver of life,
for my spirit waketh at dawn toward Thy holy temple,
bearing a temple of the body all defiled.
But in Thy compassion, cleanse it by the loving-kindness of Thy mercy.

Both now and ever and unto ages of ages, Amen.

Guide me in the paths of salvation, O Theotokos,
for I have defiled my soul with shameful sins,
and have wasted all my life in slothfulness,
but by thine intercessions deliver me from all uncleanness.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy
And according to the multitude of Thy compassions, blot out my transgressions.
When I think of the multitude of evil things I have done, I, a wretched one,
I tremble at the fearful day of judgment;
but trusting in the mercy of Thy loving-kindness, like David do I cry unto Thee:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.

In Many Tongues: The Sunday of Orthodoxy

The following videos are from this year’s commemoration of the Sunday of Orthodoxy, celebrated this past Sunday throughout the world:

From North Carolina, USA:

From Tanzania:

From Greece:

In Ukrainian:

Sermon of Archbishop Bishop Mark Yegoryevsky celebrating the Sunday of Orthodoxy in Vienna, Austria at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, translated into German:

A sermon for Orthodoxy Sunday by Metropolitan JONAH (in English).  His homily speaks to the triumph of Orthodoxy over a secular culture by examining the icon of the human person:

The Trisagion (“Holy God”) from the Divine Liturgy in English & Slavonic from Taiwan:

Hierarchal Divine Liturgy for the Sunday of Orthodoxy from Bulgaria.  The choir sings beautifully in Slavonic:

The Sunday of Orthodoxy: Its Perils and Challenges

The first Sunday in Great Lent is known as the Sunday of Orthodoxy, commemorating the restoration of icons to churches after the Seventh Ecumenical Council. As such, it proclaims the triumph of orthodoxy over heresy.

This year, at Sts Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Potomac, Maryland, the sermon for this feast was given by Dr. Lewis Patsavos, who is is professor of Canon Law at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts. His theme: “The Sunday of Orthodoxy: Its Perils and Challenges.”

This is a challenging sermon. Dr. Patsavos avoids triumphalism and calls us to think seriously about the meaning of Orthodoxy: right belief, right worship and a way of life that glorifies Christ and transforms.

Hymns in Anticipation of Lent

A little late, but still worth listening to — from Holy Cross Orthodox Church in High Point, North Carolina.

Includes:

Open to Me the Doors of Repentance.
The Noble Joseph
The Angel Cried